Just to remind everyone, but a flying ship has been done once before
in Metamor Keep. In my story "Last Tale of Yajakali" the Nauk-Kaee
(a race of gryphons) carry Charles and co. across the Barrier Range
in such a ship that was gifted to them by the Aelves centuries past.
It was noted at the time the Keepers had never seen or heard anything
like it so it was definitely unique.
Also, a more Steampunk future for Metamor was in fact imagined by
Phil two almost two decades ago; he abandoned the idea because it
wasn't what the setting was at the time. Yet in the 1000 timeline
scenes in "Last Tale of Yajakali" we see some elements of this have
developed. So an early progenitor, perhaps inspired by some tale
they'd heard of gryphons carrying a ship through the sky, could
fashion this fantastic ship in the sky indeed.
So have at it. It is good to try new things and keep this setting vibrant.
May He bless you and keep you in His grace and love,
Charles Matthias
At 03:52 AM 11/21/2017, Ryx wrote:
I'm for 'it's a grand idea, but just does not prove to be very practical'
They figure it out, they build it, and they fly it... perhaps
fulfilling the grand adventure, perhaps not. Either way it does
turn out to be something between The Odyssey, Gulliver's Travels,
and Sinbad's travels; a fantastic and Fantastic story but in the end
little more.
The materials are rare, fragile, and prohibitively expensive - if
not downright dangerous - to procure in the required quantities.
The structural design has many minor flaws that are only apparent
during protracted use... appearing weeks into the journey.
The vessel that returns is so markedly different from the one that
set out that everyone admits it just would not work on a large scale.
But it discovers a good bit, it opens dialogue with distant lands,
it creates at least a couple of small but credible enemies for
whatever reason (anti magic, xenophobic, territorial with the vessel
violating their borders - or whatever) who are so far away their
danger is minimal... unless someone from Metamor encounters them
(shipping, most likely). It brings back new and strange things and
ideas, some of which take hold and flourish (recipes, herbs,
disease, medical practices).
Me; I say go for it, even with my misgivings.
Ryx.
On Tuesday, November 21, 2017, 1:20:10 AM EST, Rimme the Weasel
<[email protected]> wrote:
I acknowledge the fear that adding balloon travel to the world of
Metamor Keep might break a few people's idea of a fantasy medieval
world. I think the best way to allay those fears would be to make
this a truly exceptional journey. That is, there is a unique set of
circumstances that enables Lodo and Yurik to build a balloon strong
enough to hold several passengers and supplies, fly them around the
world, and return safely. An event that can't or won't be replicated
again, for any of various reasons:
* There is some drawback to flying a balloon in this universe,
possibly how easily it attracts hostile flying creatures, or perhaps
the balloon's mechanism has an undiscovered flaw;
* There is a lot of luck involved in the expedition (special favors
the crewmen call in, freak weather events, coincidental political
events, etc.), too much to make such journeys commonplace;
* They have to use a special material for their balloon that is too
rare to make them commonplace;
* The special materials themselves have drawbacks that make them
impractical for widespread use (the spidersilk Forgecoldiron
mentioned could be super expensive, or the lattice beams could fall
apart from too much twisting or compression under heat or moisture,
which might force them to find a substitute halfway through... which
ties into my next idea);
* The balloon goes through so many changes that by journey's end,
neither Lodo or Turik can figure out how to mass produce it (and if
that isn't enough...);
* The balloon gets destroyed at the end, and Lodo decides against
building another one;
* Lodo or Turik ends up so shaken by the journey's end (for story
reasons), they refuse to allow anyone to replicate their balloon;
* A major investor in this expedition is so upset at the end that
they pull their funding and suppress as much knowledge of the
expedition as possible.
I'm not just thinking about the mechanics of the balloon, but of the
story itself. Personally, I think there's plenty of stuff that could
happen along their journey as well, enough to make this story more
than just an MK travelogue. It's just a matter of collaborating as a
team to keep the story consistent with itself and with the world,
and that the story-writing process runs smoothly.
On Mon, Nov 20, 2017 at 10:03 PM, Indagare .
<<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]> wrote:
>Okay, the basic idea for the plot is sound.
It could also become a 'lost' discovery - considering the current
Metamor cycle is 1400 years in the past when something as simple as
an iron plowshare (should) be all but imaginary. So someone using
an odd collection of materials to float about the world could
feasibly happen, and work well for a century or two, but eventually
fall out of favor and fade away, becoming eventually lost and a myth
(since the materials would all decay). Or perhaps so prohibitively
difficult to work with that after the initial expedition it's found
unfeasible and shelved.
So, with that in mind, a rather profound anachronism could be
touched upon, explored, but not prove disruptive to the overall world setting.
I kaiboshed railroads for that same reason - too disruptive and a
thousand years out of time. It cost us a decent writer, unfortunately.
Perhaps it could become the MK equivilent of the Antikythera
mechanism? At some point it goes into storage and around the time
the magic and curse returns it's unearthed again? I never intended
it to disrupt the overall world setting, just give people a
reasonable way to explore far shores and maybe introduce some places
that have only been sketched out. I know there's been some things in
Irombi, and I figured this could help with revisiting there as well
as Fan Shoar and other areas. It'd be a bit of a whirlwind trip
around the Central Sea, but it could be fun.
>Forgecoldiron had a few valid points
Yeah, I've read all that, which made me ask about where the limits
on this sort of thing were. Perhaps it might be better as a
fictional story than as a real one - a story that some Keeper is
writing about an imaginary trip around the Central Sea...something
like Johnathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels but with less satire.
>Another important thing to consider; things *fly* in this
worldsetting. Some of those flying things are very large, and not
altogether friendly - dragons, gryphons, roks, enchanted
ballista/catapult shot. How would they deal with the first two;
intelligent. Or the semi-intelligent (flying predators). Or just
obstinate (being shot at from the ground or by mounted flying attackers)?
Assuming the first two could be reasoned with? Probably treat with
them. The latter would be more of an issue and given the logistical
problems coming up with just having to bring maybe three Keepers and
their equipment on board it's probably not a good idea to imagine
them trying to place a ballista/catapult on board as well. They
could presumably fly over ground shooters. Mounted flying attackers
would be a definite problem..
-Indy
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