[Mkguild] On the adventure travel

[Rimme the Weasel]

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 . <brenner.mike at gmail.com> 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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