Technology level

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« Reply #15 on: May 14, 2013, 09:21:01 pm »
Quote from: Wilshire
I'll give you the Coffers door, that is sweet.

The Medial screw is just a miracle of slave labor, see pyramids.
Astronomy wasn't their own findings, it was the Inchoroi, so they don't have much that was special.
Art, while cool, doesn't make me think of technology.

As for the wall thing.... its just confusing, can't really tell what it is or isn't, more magic I suppose.

Like I said originally, and you also brought up, magic more or less takes the place of technology, the Coffers entrance is a great example of that.

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« Reply #16 on: May 14, 2013, 09:21:05 pm »
Quote from: lockesnow
also note the glyphs on the medial screw.  reminds me of the sorcerous runes around Kellhus' seeing flame.

So just what does that say about Inri Sejenus ascending to the Nail of Heaven at the peak of a nonman mansion?  Was he standing on a similar screw?

Is Esmenet right that the Nail of Heaven is a GALAXY?

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« Reply #17 on: May 14, 2013, 09:21:11 pm »
Quote from: Wilshire
Wasn't the inside of the Ark also inscribed with innumerable runes, or am I remembering something wrong?

Regardless, anything covered in runes has got to be some kind of magical. It always reminds me of the chorae (or Iyokus and his summoning circle), but I'm sure there are many more uses for covering rooms or objects in fancy magical runes. I'd like to know what.




Wondering if the whore's shell is covered in tiny runes?

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« Reply #18 on: May 14, 2013, 09:21:16 pm »
Quote from: Curethan
Kellhus' mobile campfire is covered in choric script iirc.
Which is a weird adjective to use, but I guesss it makes sense considering sorcerers sing.

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« Reply #19 on: May 14, 2013, 09:21:26 pm »
Quote from: Madness
The ark is described as covered in "alien filigree," Wilshire, which amounts to the same.

I've often wondered at the past and future prevalence of sorcerous objects. Is there something more powerful than Chorae?

"The shining bronze sheets were gone - the Skutiri. In Seswatha's day they had ringed the Turret's base, nine thousand, nine-hundred, and ninety-nine of them, each taller than a man, and each scored with innumerable lines of sorcerous script" (WLW, p848).

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« Reply #20 on: May 14, 2013, 09:21:30 pm »
Quote from: Meyna
More on Damascus steel here: http://www.reddit.com/r/Blacksmith/comments/16t49n/damascus_steel_theories/

The top reply is as entertaining as it is enlightening.

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« Reply #21 on: May 14, 2013, 09:21:34 pm »
Quote from: Wilshire
That was hilarious, and, assuming this guy is right i, that is about what I thought. So basically the metal ores they found in Damascus just happened to have the proper amount of carbon black "impurities" to make their swords super badass. sweet.

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« Reply #22 on: May 14, 2013, 09:21:39 pm »
Quote from: Auriga
To be honest, I get these high-tech (well, the sorcerous version of high-tech) vibes from the Nonmen mainly because of the words Bakker uses to describe them. Their magic involves spells called "parabolas" and "bisecting planes". From skimming over my e-book of TJE, I saw that Cil-Aujas has places called things like "Repositorium" and "Fifth Anterograde Gate". This word choice just gives the reader a vibe of a very complex civilization. In a way, it's much like Tolkien who consciously uses older Germanic words and as few Latin words as possible, as a way of setting the mood.

I don't think Bakker would describe the Thunyeri, for example, as people who have theorems and anterograde gates.

(That being said, I don't think the Nonmen are that much higher than the rest of Eärwa in their technology level, apart from the sorcery department. To use the Tolkien parallel again, the Nonmen would be roughly like the Numenoreans/Gondorians compared to the rest of Middle-Earth's humanity.)

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« Reply #23 on: May 14, 2013, 09:21:45 pm »
Quote from: Madness
Both those top comments were awesome, Meyna. Thanks for that.

I always, always wanted to try making swords. And clearly, learn to fight with them.

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« Reply #24 on: May 14, 2013, 09:21:49 pm »
Quote from: Auriga
Whoa, missed something in my own post:

Quote from: Auriga
Cil-Aujas has places called things like "Repositorium" and "Fifth Anterograde Gate"

I just googled the word "anterograde" and got this, as the first result:

Quote
Anterograde Amnesia
Anterograde amnesia is a loss of the ability to create new memories after the event that caused the amnesia, leading to a partial or complete inability to recall the recent past, while often traumatic long-term memories from before the event remain intact. This is in contrast to retrograde amnesia, where most memories created prior to the event are lost while new memories can still be created. Both can occur together in the same patient. To a large degree, anterograde amnesia remains a mysterious ailment because the precise mechanism of storing memories is not yet well understood.

Quite subtle, Bakker.

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« Reply #25 on: May 14, 2013, 09:21:55 pm »
Quote from: Madness
Lol.

It'd be interesting if Nonmen started defining their physical boundaries within smaller and smaller contexts based on their history of continuing loss.

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« Reply #26 on: May 14, 2013, 09:22:00 pm »
Quote from: Auriga
Quote from: Madness
It'd be interesting if Nonmen started defining their physical boundaries within smaller and smaller contexts based on their history of continuing loss.

It really is an interesting idea. TJE also mentioned how Akka notices that the Nonman artworks and architecture in pre-amnesia times are very different from those in post-amnesia times.

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« Reply #27 on: May 14, 2013, 09:22:06 pm »
Quote from: Madness
+1. Yeah, I liked that too - though I found it as a mark of obsessive documentation, whether that contrasts what you might be saying. They wanted their expressions to capture more and more of the things they were forgetting.

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« Reply #28 on: May 14, 2013, 09:22:26 pm »
Quote from: Auriga
Quote from: Madness
though I found it as a mark of obsessive documentation, whether that contrasts what you might be saying. They wanted their expressions to capture more and more of the things they were forgetting.
Yeah. It doesn't exactly contrast with what I said, since it's still artwork that reflects their metal state (in this case, amnesia). I dunno if the "Anterograde Gate" thing was a reference to Nonman culture, or if it (more likely) was just a shout-out to readers familiar with the terminology of mental disorders.

I do wonder what sort of artwork and technology exists in Ishterebinth...they must have kept themselves really busy all this time, especially with dull monotonous work, to prevent themselves from going Erratic. Maybe by repeatedly polishing jewels or improving swords, for years and years. We know that Cil-Aujas, during the last days, had a population of human slaves (the Emwama) whom the Nonmen presumably used as "memory carriers" (akin to how Cleric uses the Captain to stay somewhat in reality). I assume that Ishterebinth still has human slaves, to fill this role. 

(And also because I can't really imagine Nonmen picking up trash and cleaning stables.)

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« Reply #29 on: May 14, 2013, 09:22:32 pm »
Quote from: Madness
That's actually a decent hypotheses; they can't do anything more emotionally intense than what they've already been through, lest they crowd out the good memories.

I want one of those swords :D!