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Apr 26, 2024 2:06 PM

kinds of elf

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Tinuben

sun_guided

XiBeta

"You can only study things like that so much? Why?"

You can say a number of bad things for Tinuben's universe, but it is, when you get down to the brass tacks, consistent.

Isabella Mariel Swan Ψ

subtly_artistic

Alicorn

"Trying to hold the universe still and interrogate it about its underthings never goes very well for the would-be interrogators. Best case scenario, their results don't hold. That sort of thing only works in fantasy."

Tinuben

sun_guided

XiBeta

Tinuben's upbringing tells her, A superstitious human. What more did you expect?

Her judgement isn't so sure, though. Bella seems bright. When she talks about fantasy, she doesn't act like she's rationalizing a lack of knowledge. So Tinuben just says, "To clarify: where I come from, an individual who casts the same spell at the same thing will always get the same range of results, until they gain skill."

Isabella Mariel Swan Ψ

subtly_artistic

Alicorn

"You can usually do that at home," says Bella slowly. "If you don't get cocky. I can expect my boots to go on working, and my subtle arts to do the same general range of things on the same subjects, and people who sell magical products are confident enough in them to make guarantees and pay off the people who are disappointed. But around some things - gods or dragons or fey mostly - all bets are off, and if you try to analyze the patterns of the world - force them into awkward little corner cases, try them under a few sets of conditions and think you know what there is to know about what makes them juke this way or that - then, well, the universe doesn't like being stared at, it might squish you, or at best it'll quit behaving the way you expect when it gets bored of it."

Tinuben

sun_guided

XiBeta

"I see." Tinuben decides emphatically not to visit Bella's world.

"In my home, there are fundamental rules of reality that can be known and used creatively - though few people bother, due to lack of rigor or imagination. The closest thing we have ever had to a universal power were the Old Gods, and they were defeated by the Titans a long time ago."

Tinuben has had extensive issues with Azeroth and its lack of optimization: her chief complaint has been rulers who call on the most powerful heroes to serve as city guards, leaving under-geared adventurers like herself to fight threats the guards could easily defeat. But that was an issue of terrible leadership, not a law of physics against improvement. She's making slow progress convincing Lor'Themar Theron that Silvermoon doesn't need thirty guards at the gates at all times.

Isabella Mariel Swan Ψ

subtly_artistic

Alicorn

"So you live in a science fantasy world," snorts Bella. "That must be nice."

Tinuben

sun_guided

XiBeta

"We don't use that advantage very effectively. If everyone knew that the alternative was being at the whim of universal forces beyond comprehension, I expect we would be far more appreciative."

She sips her drink some more.

"For example, we do not have cherry milkshakes." Tinuben is going to correct this when she gets back home.

Isabella Mariel Swan Ψ

subtly_artistic

Alicorn

Bella laughs. "Well, I may have to constantly check my hubristic ambitions and stifle my curiosity so I don't wind up cursed, entrapped, dead, or otherwise inconvenienced, but yeah, at least we have cherry milkshakes."

Tinuben

sun_guided

XiBeta

"I would offer to let you through the door to Azeroth, when it appears, but 'Trapped in another plane, killed by overeager elvish guards, or eaten by Scourge' probably doesn't appeal either."

"If you are comfortable answering - how would you exercise your hubristic ambitions on Azeroth, if you lived there?"

Isabella Mariel Swan Ψ

subtly_artistic

Alicorn

"I have parents and friends and three years of school to go, yeah, not that keen to be trapped in another plane where I might be eaten regardless of the friendliness of the fabric of reality... I don't know much about the place besides the fact that it doesn't smite people for experimenting on it, so I don't know what I'd do, exactly. Find out where I could apply leverage. Improve - things. Whatever things were around that I could reach."

Tinuben

sun_guided

XiBeta

"The people on Azeroth who want to improve things tend to become adventurers, and fight threats to the cities with which they are allied. And, occasionally, threats to the world. Most of our problems have so far been solved by young people with altruistic or mercantile attentions, a poor grasp of their own mortality, and the ability to kill dangerous creatures."

"Goblin and gnome engineers probably have the easiest technology to leverage, but neither species has interest in building safe, reliable machines - they seek innovation rather than optimization. Humans or elves could probably do much better."

Tinuben hadn't actually thought of taking up engineering before; the framework she had worked within was 'fight enemies with addictive magic, or fight enemies with nifty swords.' Bombs were at least as nifty as swords, and safer if built correctly.

"Relatedly, my weapons don't work correctly here. I'd be interested to know whether they work in yours, but that's the sort of test that would 'at best fail', yes?"