From alt.pub.dragons-inn Thu Oct 19 10:17:25 1995 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:8814 Path: netcom.com!ix.netcom.com!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!news.onramp.net!usenet From: rodney@onramp.net Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [HAM] Beaurocracy sometimes works Date: 18 Oct 1995 12:58:37 GMT Organization: On-Ramp; Individual Internet Connections; Dallas/Ft Worth/Houston, TX USA Lines: 567 Message-ID: <462tlt$4np@news.onramp.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: hou09.onramp.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 1.1PE (Windows; I; 16bit) Oct 18, 1995 Summary: quick settling progress, half way [Admin - this whole post could be considered Admin, since it is things not generally known. Also may be too game / mechanistic / not literary for some. But it is real from a character view. Again, all characters are my creations. Henry, Helen, and C.T. rights reserved. Very willing to participate in other threads, y'all need healers. Note- magical "out"/limits for plots requiring cripples stay so. Time is screwy in APD-I, so I'll give it a week for anyone that wants to participate and assume "duty calls" around those who don't.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Well, since you are on a tight schedule I imagine we need to start with registration as mages. You do have mage auras, but we need to know more than that. I'll get someone from Admin that still is in the building. As we establish the bona fides, we may be able to snag some of the departmental authorities you need to see." "This may take as long as three hours. Have you eaten? We could ask the Dragon's Inn to send something, they can handle almost any request, and set aside a room, or rooms, for late check-in." "Thank you for recognizing our urgency." "No, we haven't checked in and would like to eat. Personally, cold cuts or stew would be fine with some hot, spiced cider. Helen and C.T.?" "I think a chicken chef's salad and some more of that cider would be nice. C.T.?" "If they can do a quiche, that and some fruit for dessert with a delicate white wine would be just fine." "Expect that to cost a few silver." Sniffing over the counter, "Do you have a preserve of some form on the body? We can handle odor, but mixing magics sometimes causes interference." "Yes." "Okay, I see Charlene from Admin coming this way." He hands them three palm sized, sixteen page pamphlets. "Here's your 'do not do lists'- boiled down it is - avoid death, destruction, and mayhem like a normal civilized person and pay restitution/fines for minor stuff. Details inside." "Charlene, these people need to be registered and IDed as to home world. Then they would like rating for Production and some items evaluated by Sales. Here is a transcript of this initial interview." Looking at a reference on his desk, "You will please follow her to interview room four B. And food will arrive in about half an hour." A grey line appears on the floor. "Hey, Char, want a snack while we're ordering?" "Thanks, Ted. It looks like you've got me busy for a while. I would like their evening's special." Placing her feet on the grey line, she starts off. A summoned Imp appears as they turn to depart the desk. Charlene pays it no attention, so they follow her. Fading with distance they over hear- "Boy, you will take this message to Littlefair at the Dragon's Inn, steel plaza _not the other one_." ----- ----- ----- ----- Following the grey line, they walk corridors that seem much longer than the building should hold. Looking back over the shoulder, C.T. exclaims "Hey, we seem to be walking on the walls now!" "Oh, don't worry about it. We kind of warp space around her to suite our needs. Without these lines it would be hard to find things, since they move, but one adjusts. And now I believe this is our room." They enter a room with a five by eight conference table, comfortable chairs, and a blackboard. There is a stone stage about two feet tall and eight by ten at the end. Snagging a paper out of thin air, Charlene sits down, saying " Alright, be comfortable, this may take awhile. I need basic info that I'll use on all the forms. Please reply in the same sequence, that will make it easier." "Names?" "'Enry Allan Mann, spelled _H_enry." "Helen Hofstein" "Connie Touchstone. I also go by C.T.." "Species?" "Human" "Human" "Human" "World of origin?" "We just came from what we know as 'Loam', though I believe humans tend to call their worlds 'Soil' or some such and you may have another name. I was born elsewhere , they on Loam. We arrived here by teleport spell failure." "Worlds TBD, and" running fingers down the form, "arrival Generica by spell failure." "Age physical?" "34" "30" "35" "Age calender?" "76" "51" "38" "Mildly interesting, do we have alternate forms or tend to wear disguises?" "None of us." "That saves paper work, Height?" "5' 6"" "5' 6"" "5' 5"" "Weight?" "135" "147" "139" "Hair is evidently ... brown as is goatee, red, and blond. Eyes are, ah brown, ... blue, and ... blue. Gender is male, female and excuse me, C.T., but I can't tell." "No comment" "-Excuse me?-" "C.T. is shy. While being mature, Connie seems to be at the very low end of whatever it is that distinguishes male and female. Not wanting to be in the social games of either chase by or dominance among males, C.T. prefers remaining ambiguous, unisex clothes etc. Can we respect that please?" "Okay, Androgeous then. Distiguishing marks and scars, if we have to identify a body?" "Neck scar from where I was killed." "Several small scars and burns from lab explosions." "none." "Okay, that is the identification information form. If we issue badges, we'll use that." Drawing another page from thin air, Charlene goes on, "Now on to actual mage data. You know, it seems like you've done this before? This really is going smoothly. Your other worlds do this Henry?" "No. I was put on -trial-." "Bummer. Type of magic?" "I don't know your term, but _we_ use mana, directly. The prior world used ritual and components. They also split mages and clerics as different fields. Ours works both ways." "Oops, wrong form then, just a moment." She returns the current paper _somewhere_ and gets a beige one. "This becomes more essay oriented. Source of Mana?" "This could be a long discussion. I've given lectures on the subject. Many think it comes from the earth (especially dwarves). Some from the sky. Some think Dieties, all living things, the elements, personal energy, and /or positive and negative spheres. All theories can be demonstrated as working for individual people. But it requires _Talent_ to be used, almost always." "Not to get thamatological, but _your_ source?" "Some of the above, indeterminate. Personal energy, powerstones, and skill using ambient mana. Indirectly, some Diety (Mikshall) assistence in the form we call aspect which increases our skill for healing spells." "Various .. sources. We'll ask you to demonstrate in awhile, but for now we want to stick purely to mage activities as much as possible." "We don't / can't really seperate. But we will stay with what seems magish topics." "Then we understand each other. Probably for we of the Mage Guild Generica, it is good you've been through something similar. Let's see, skip to specialization ... healing ... by aspect." "Types of spells?" "Helen, take over? My throat is getting dry." "All kinds. Elements, protection, movement, meta, bless, curse, food, mind, and illusion to name some." "Bless and curse are religeous aren't they? And weren't we avoiding that for now?" "No. Not seperate clause. But accepted practice is to refrain from giving those to mages of low skill. Henry and I can, But C.T. cannot, yet. And _those_ two have many prerequisites." "That's getting into differences that we will need to record. But we are still working on the general case with you all. _Definately_ you are not the component and memorize type mage that we generally see, though many of those have progressed to not needing the materials." >knock< >knock< "Is this four B? I followed a grey line?" "It is if you have Mary Littlefair's artwork with you!" quips Charlene. "Mmmmm, I smell it." They take delivery and dig in. Their hunger is definately stimulated by the aroma arising from their plates. The cider has cooled despite being packed in a warmed jug. This provides the demonstation as Henry levitates the jug and C.T. provides a small fire under it safely on the stage. "I think I speak for all of us when I say we fell better after that. Travel sure makes one hungry. And sitting in a high mana area -ah-!" "I think we can record a minor demo for the record, too. But we need to get on with particulars. We don't need detailed spell lists or fine details, but I need to record limitations in general." "Skill drives success and decreases with distance. As Henry has told us, we vary from component types in that effects including duration are certain (except combat spells), but casting success is not. Terrible failure may cause harm, random effects, or perhaps accidentally summon a demon." How do you control for this?" "_We_ do it four ways, 1) the bulk of spells are cast in a pentagram, 2) we only cast spells we know at maximum likelihood, Henry insists and it is a good rule, 3) we keep power reserved for banishing demons, 4) healing spell failure almost never brings demons, even with abysmal failure. That seems to be one of magics quirks, and not just us." "Oh, and being very white mages would keep _us_ from being attacked. That would make five." "How often has it occured? Henry, you seem to know more." "Yes, we've had about eight or ten occurances over two hundred mage years activity. But then we have been very white, so it isn't very representative of our type mage, just ourselves. One did _not_ *banish* immediately, but was held by pentagram. It would have gone off and caused trouble for someone. I require *banish* be learned ASAP and before *enchant*. Color me hard-nosed." "Ted wrote that your auras were very white, but had black and a few other colors? We have necromancers in the guild and at the local university. Want to talk about it?" "We could each raise the dead, given enough power. Part of that process is summoning of souls, which is necromatic." "And I probably show darker. A gift from a neglected God, and off the track of _mages_. I can do zombies, but don't and never have. Dislike necromancers." "Right," reading transcript, "'white with black surrounded, male shiny black streak, and a couple earth tones'. You realize that I'm winging it here. I have to turn this over to someone that _actually_ understands. You mentioned prerequisites?" "Like mundane subjects, you know, plant ID before teas and compresses so you don't make a poison ivy poultice." "Makes sense. Anything else I should write down on generalities before we go on to enchanting?" "Yes. Manastones, pools, fountains, and ceremonies. We need =power= if we are to pull off a resurrection here. If you have a form for "mana mage", then someone has records on what manastones are, and you may have some put away. Pools are a natural store and fountains are even better. Ceremony allows mages to work together to add available mana." "-Please- emphasize those points." Makes marks *colored*. "Another meaning of ceremony is casting ritual. Low skill requires verbal _and_ somantic gesture, medium one or the other, and high neither. C.T. can heal somewhat with a word. Henry and I just by willing it to happen." "Sounds very useful. You won't starve around here, that is for sure. Well, let me file this," reaching up, loses page that is replaced by another (blue this time) and continuing, "you have mentioned enchanting. You have samples?" "We have items we are willing to _sell_ to fill our needs, some that we would rather not, and some cursed so that no other may use." "Do you have any you are willing to demonstrate?" "Let me think. Our best items only we can use. If you had another mana mage, he could cast spells he otherwise could not with some of our things. Umm, a medalion that makes light for anyone, but the charges get used up. Same for a wand that will seek and purify water. And a messkit that cooks by itself, no fire - three enough?" "You could use some leftover fruit and wine to make a compote?" "That's an idea. Might not be too good, but I could tell it was cooked. Hand me the 'kit, ingredients, medalion and wand. I'll get someone in research to do a quick verification test." She gathers the items as given to her and departs for a short while. "Both of you see where spending some time on politics and beaurocracy can give you benefit? We are seen as helping them maintain control, while being direct and cutting through red tape to the results we need." "Jury is out until results occur." "True. Now relax and enjoy the mana charge environment. ... And practice savior-faire." Charlene returns. "I was right. Cooked blah. And the other two performed. If you make a list of what the rest do, then we can get an estimate from Sales as to value- subject to verification, of course." "Caution- failure is as if ourselves casting should go with the items. C.T. be useful and make the list." "Okay..." *color* writing again appears. "That _does_ drop the value some. Besides what you brought, what can you create?" "The cook sets are easy. We can make containers that prevent food spoilage. Food testers. Air and water purification. Silenced carpet squares. And our really big sales item - armor that is lighter, prevents, and absorbs some damage." "Production _could_ use help on armor, always in demand. The others may be specialty markets depending on cost and alternatives. In my humble opinion, you will have no income problems. Reducing damage is a more rare 'chant." "With more mana, we can do more. And we would want to buy gems to make into mana stones. Also, we would need safe storage and recharge area, like a twenty foot cube room (preferably high mana), and a pentagram (we'll make that if we have to)." "I'll note that to production and see it is considered for your net profit calculation." "There are things we can but _won't_ do. Combat and thiefly type stuff. White mages, remember?" "Noted ... also. Well, I _think_ that is enough for initial contract possibilities. Quantities and prices TBA. Let's see what else we must do tonight. Um, register ck, pamphlets ck, prices TBS - , pentagram rental _is_ available - need price - , gems are available - , library is across the street, TBD on thaumatology lectures, and yes, we'll store items, doesn't look like you have much." "Part 1 done and ... filed!" She grins widely and with a conspiratorial wink, says "I find it helpful to have a sense of humor during dry paperwork." "Part two, clerical stuff." "Not really our province. Go straight south, over the river and you will come to several churches. We have some fanatic citizens, but not many . Mikshall, Goddess of healing rings no bells with me - . You may wish to avoid the God of suffering, doesn't sound compatible. Ilmater- Goddess of mothers may be nice to you." "Personally, I don't get very involved. I don't know if they have a council of churches, or something." "Clerical ranks? it helps sometimes on notes" "Full." "Accolyte." "Difficult to express. You know how some seige engineers are officers, but are not military? I still have highest rank on my planet, but I'm sort of a 'Joe-the-Immerser'." "Meaning? I'm a mage, not a cleric." "Oh. _Joe's_ find and consecrate the first clerics. Usually it is by fire-walking, going though a waterfall, swinging thru air, cliff-diving into waves (that's a double), being buried/entombed. Elemental symbolic stuff. It was a duty taken to get me off planet." "May I ask why?" "Double Pyrric victory. I burned the town I was in charge of, in winter. Stopped an invasion and kept most townies alive, but you can't lead after that. _Don't_ record that reason, it weighs on my soul. Even if that army _was_ cannibals, and I'd do it again, to destroy so much ... . I -never- want to be a Lord again." "I've made you sorry you asked. I'm sorry about that, too." "Bad part of the job. I get those sometimes. ... On with your current needs. Healing fees, we can make a list. It sounds like we should know what you can do?" "Our combined capability-" "Hack and slash- about double what an ordinary citizen take and remain standing (I say it this way because I've seen hero types that could take _massive_ amounts)- combined/sequencial effort is limited by time, maybe a thousand different people a day. (I was commandeered for a dwarf-orc war.) More at mana cost and more per person, at spell failure risk." "Just a momment for my notes." Shuffling, "Disease about twenty a day- time and some mana limitations." "Unpoisoning is mana limited,eight?" "Un-lame or regrow limb. Twice. Definately mana limited." "Instant limb/ un-lame, is out of our current mana range. As is resurrection, or we would be still at home . Curses, magical injury, and spell failure do apply for lack of results. So may _Her_ displeasure. Vengeful. On my second world, _She_ could halt everything but time from working for a person. And that was just for hurting one of _Her_ clerics. Of course, _She_ was a major God there. Not so our world." "Then there is non-magical. I'm a good physician, fair surgeon. Henry teaches at the hospital we made next to our church at home. I also know alchemy, with a lot of healing experience, but _here_ would need component availability. One only gets minor results with my recipes, but 'healer in a jar' can be a lifesaver." "For the third time, you can make a living here. I guess that is nice to know. Anyway, part two is mostly TBD, sorry." "No. That is a good start. At least you've pointed us to who to see. Remember, we are from out of town?" "If you're happy, I won't worry about it. On to part three-" "Don't know about mana- ." "Reason for resurrection, I know he is dead and don't mean how, but why the effort?" "Who is he, Helen?" "Weaver's apprentice. Tailor's son, about six. Danny? maybe." "Well, its a matter of church reputation, community expectation, and that we set out to do it when we didn't have =power= at home." *note, to all forms, copies - I think we need to help this guy* "Your return _is_ possible, maybe. How do we find it?" "Beats me, not my kind of expertize. We have place-names, rulers, coinage sample (small)." "I know, make a list." "Yes." "Not my area either . We do run courriers to other worlds. Packages are cheaper, but we still need to figure out _where_ before anyone can tell you how much or when." "Alternate sources of resurrection. Gee, I don't know. May be off-world sub-contract. Your time constraint is tight. . Do you have any alternate plans?" "Don't want to do it, but I could try to summon a cleric from my second world. But since I do not know where I am, I'd rather not try. Then there is the ever so undesirable direct appeal. I've called clerics to actually consecrate churches. I've let _them_ deal with _Her_ and still got backlash. Maybe _She_ wants us here and it wasn't an accident. I don't know. Doctrine is to try to handle things without _Her_ involvment. _She_ gets lots of calls and sometimes has a temper." "Sounds like we want to avoid the latter. Gods get messy. This looks like the end of your list. Anything else you have thought of?" "Taxes? on enchanting or healing." "We pay net after tax on work done in guild. Healing would probably be that same 'commandeering' for war or disaster." "We would not mind, if we are kept safe. Its expected in our line of work." "Well, I think _we_ are finished. My goodness, its midnight. Come back about nine? I'll send a copy of the clerical and resurrection inquires to each of the churches, if you like, before I leave." "Please." "Follow me back to the desk." She pauses at the door while a grey line appears. They return the same _wrongly long_ distance. ----- ----- ----- ----- "I guess you need to know that Dragon's Inn is straight south (left as you exit), on the Plaza of Glittering Steel." "You've been most helpful. Our things?" "Ted, still on? These people could use a visitor's locker. And I need to do a bit more filing. Wait for me?" "Relief's late. Ah... , you know I'll wait." "Just place your stuff in the hole to your left. And here is your key ... just give it to the desk in the morning." "Thanks, Ted, You've been helpful too. Maybe thay are watched after. Nothing happens to them on the way to the Inn in the dead of night. --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Inside every good Engineer is at least a little magic." 'Enry Allen Mann More about me than you want to know- http://rampages.onramp.net/~rodney Comments, inquiries, ... rodney@onramp.net Anticipated next post - Economics Lesson