The Wee Bairn's Bonnie Buik o Rounlist is less accessible than its title might suggest; the vocabulary and hand are both archaic, and the letters are dense and uneven. Still, after some close attention (and the invaluable help of a glossary of old Dwarven) you manage to get yourself into the right frame of mind to interpret the contents. The tome is actually quite well-indexed, although you have trouble locating information on "enchanting equipment"; eventually you hit upon two sections that seem to discuss the kind of thing you're imagining, one short and one much longer. The short passage deals with the specific case of imbuing power or properties into items crafted by mundane smiths; it mostly details the shortcomings of this method, particularly that few such objects are constructed with enough 'life component' to perform magic effectively, though a process is outlined for testing the flux of magic through the item in order to determine whether it will be of any use. Cross-references are given to sections documenting more effective alternatives like reforging or the incorporation of mundane objects into larger works.
The longer of the two, in contrast, is near the beginning of the book and discusses the general rules by which all magical objects are created, though only in the broadest of terms. It lists the same three sources of "alle Myghte" as you were previously told, that is, sky, earth, and life — though water is unmentioned even as a footnote; examples of materials allied with each group (most of which are unfamiliar, though you notice "skie Airen, ðæt biþ, yefallen Tongel or Dræggay" under 'sky' and "trewe Stele rihtlie yfolden" under 'earth', among others) as well as of their proper use (earth magic, for example, dominates in armour and weapons, while sky magic is more important in trinkets, and life magic appears to be necessary as a base to hold any magical object together) are given as well. You are surprised to find that the book quite openly and easily confirms the long-held rumour that the blood of living beings is perhaps the most important reagent in runesmithing, which runesmiths themselves don't (in your experience) talk about. Flipping back a few pages to earlier material you also learn that runesmithing, and apparently all magic, is conceived of as the manipulation of three primes supposedly given to living things from the gods: "Wille, Myghte, and Schape", with the Myghte found naturally in substances deriving from the three sources intensified and given Schape by the work of runesmithing and imprinted with the smith's Wille to form a specific enchantment. Indeed, the matter of will is given special emphasis: since the creations of runesmithing lack will of their own, but only contain imprints of the will of their creators, it is apparently imperative to learn to maintain a detailed, specific, and fixed internal understanding of the purpose of such a creation during the entire creative process so that it will do exactly what it was intended to and nothing less or, so much the worse,
more. Accidents that may have happened by the release of Myghte insufficiently constrained by Wille are heavily implied but not detailed, and you have quite the strong sense that the details may have been thought inappropriate for the young children who apparently made the book's audience. This is probably also why the reader is sternly warned to experiment with the extensive appendix of ritual diagrams only under parental supervision. You decide you're going to have to find some time to play with those. Carefully.
Eventually you are distracted from reading by your growing hunger, and you set out to the dining hall as you'd planned. Over the next several days you return to
The Wee Bairn's Bonnie Buik often during your free time.
On one of those days, you are given a proof of the design for your mandated commemorative goblets, for your consideration.
2
It's... pretty bad. The design is gaudy and inelegant, the bowl is just a little too big for your hand, and the whole thing looks ready to tip over if you actually set it on a table.
A) Reject this design and make them fix it!
B) Just pretend to like it so you don't make waves.
Poll
8 (88.9%)
Author
Topic: SpamDwarves: Low King Golian Duskbrow of Abystok! (Read 25348 times)