Better and better...

Ten mile hikes are not unusual for me, much less two five mile hikes with rest in between.

Despite a sedentary occupation, I would be able to get regular exercise walking outdoors, and the beginning and the end of the day is the nicest time to walk.

I would save money, and get good food, and continue to enjoy the company of Otto and family.

I silently give thanks to God, and seek more details...

Q9: What are the work details (salary, work hours, etc.)?
Q10: How much for room and board from Otto?

In reply to Oak (msg # 33):

Eleven hours in the summer, and xix in the winter as they do have candles and lanterns but they try to economize.

You begin at fifty marks a week, and room and board is fifteen marks a week.

I silently give thanks to God, and accept the offer, with heartfelt appreciation...

In reply to Oak (msg # 35):

You go over to the computer shoppe.  Its three men, two young, and one quite ancient, and their head of office.

"My name is Herr Dedrick, this is Abelard the Ancient, he does not speak much, but he has very quick fingers and a mind for numbers." Abelard glances your way dartingly, and then is back to flicking his fingers quickly across the page.

"Beck is new to t his, and not much at the more complicated maths, but we have our hopes." An eighteen year old freckled redhead gives you a shy smile at the joined table all work on.

"Cline here serves as numbers and as a fetchman to get things.  He works well, but then gets antsy." A skinny little man is working away, and his whole body is almost vibrating.  "So he spends half his day at the board and half running to get things.  He will get your lunch from the market if you give him money."

"Yes, yes, yes, I cannot sit still. The pastor in the church was much angry with me until he made me an usher."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:52, Fri 27 Aug 2021.

OOC: I assume that either:
(1) Sassen is translating
(2) One of them is translating
(3) They all speak English
(4) My grasp of German has been blessed beyond my previous skill level... :)

I meet them with interest, giving friendly nods.

"Well met.  'Peace be unto you.'"

"What types of problems need to be solved?"

In reply to Oak (msg # 37):

Herr Dedrick is translating.  He explains that knowing other languages is necessary as occasionally merchants from foreign lands come thru town.  So he knows German, Spanish, French, English, and a bit of Russian.  He is stilted in English.  It is clear he thinks is English is better than it really is.

He gives you a scroll of paper marked on one side, and a quill pen and an inkwell.

He firsts tests you on your knowledge of Roman numerals. Then on adding single digit to single digit numbers.  He's favorably impressed that you have 'the bare minimum of an educated man'.  Then its on to multiple digits by multiple digits...woohoo.  So challenging!  And multiplication and long division.

Others look over your shoulder as you do the work, and its of course correct.  The only problem is using a quill pen.

"Have you been schooled by the Venetians?" He asks showing you a small book in a foreign language that he calls the Treviso Arithmetic.

After that, he pulls out another book from his small book shelf, and treating it with respect shows you a copy of Euclid's Elements in German.

"What do you know of this?"

Yes, the quill pen will take some practice, but doing the math is sheer pleasure.  Roman numerals, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division are simple but satisfying.

I look with interest at the Treviso Arithmetic, trying to discern what it is about.

"I do not recall how I arrived here, and it seems that there is much else that I cannot recall properly as well.  I have no memory of Venetians, but what I have heard of them reminds me of what I remember of my homeland..."

And I smile with pleasure as I look at Euclid's Elements...

"Ah, it has been a while since I have had this pleasure.  I do remember in my youth spending time creating geometric proofs not just as a part of my required studies, but additionally as a hobby from sheer enjoyment."

In reply to Oak (msg # 39):

It looks to be a handbook about teaching the basic math you've just been doing.

"A learned Venetian sought to teach young merchants math to enable them to be better traders so he made this ....book of how to learn mathematics. It is an odd and wondrous thing."

Well, he challenges you to do the various proofs and show him some of yours.  Several hours pass enjoyably, and then he nods.  You finish up with calculating the weight distribution on a ship.

"You have more than enough skill to serve here.  Now there are two more things we need to know to know this job fully.  One is the math of the Dream, and the other is the Math of Many Cities.  I shall show you the latter first, and the other tomorrow."

He shows you eight different 'foot' measures, five 'inch' measures, nine 'pint' measures, and so on and so forth with gallons, and jugs, and petals, and legs, and short loads, and high loads, and wagonwheels and half wagonwheels, and dumfar, and toalbelts and another dozen different measurements and then its measurements for inside ships.  And then its measurements for coinage with twenty three different types of coins.  And  you have to be able to translate one Berlin gallon and a Brenn petal weight, not liquid, into a half wagonwheel, or any other combination.  And you have to know what can't be translated like a Closonne jug is solid and thus can't be turned into a Norman pint which are liquid.

"I was a teacher in my homeland.  Would it be useful to anyone if I taught mathematics, as this book does?"

I am not quite as strong with engineering or physics problems, but mathematics and I are old friends.

Once the conversion factors and types are known, converting stuff is simple yet satisfying.

I give thanks for finding such a suitable position, and eagerly await learning more about the math of the Dream..

In reply to Oak (msg # 41):

I'll skip  your post for tommorrow for one now.

You make it back to Otto's and have baked potatoes and squash bread and sausage with sauerkraut and milk.

You spend time learning German and tending the kids before sleep.

The next day, you spend the first two hours learning calligraphy.  Evidently your math when finished  has to be presented to the customer, and it has to look good.  You're allowed to scribble away to get there, but then you have to do a clean rewrite.

Then its Math of the Dream.  Its differential and integral calculus with some odd approximations tossed in for calculations that would simply be too vast to do normally. It measures navigable paths through the Dream, and frequently the quickest route is not the shortest.  And the routes change per number of ships an dnumber of men and the skill of the navigator is involved too.

Frequently you have to do a dozen different routes to find the best one, and each route is made of segments that can be from ten to a hundred pieces.

And evidently its a requirement that you fully visualize what you're doing as you're doing it, at least for the final copy.  It makes the route 'more stable'.

OOC: BTW, any response to my teaching query?

I wondered if my double-post would generate a response.  Fun!  :)

I am thankful for the position (mathematics, and with an English speaker!), and for the walk to and fro, and for the room and board, and for the opportunity to learn German, and for the family.

Being able to help with the kids is a highlight of my day.  I sing, and have them try to teach me their songs and games.

I look in on the market to see if there are any fruit options.  Fruit is a beloved part of my diet, so I might even be persuaded to pry open my wallet if the type of fruit and the price were right.  Apples, bananas, berries, oranges, pineapple...  I'm skeptical of finding the latter in the sixteenth century, but if this strange world has Venusians, you never know what other surprises there could be.

My calculus is a little rusty, but not bad.

My calligraphy could be worse, since I had a drafting class in junior high school.  However, mastering the quill pen is a challenge.

Mathematical visualization, particularly for geometric problems, is one of my strengths.

I observe what I can of my hosts, my employers, our customers, and the others I encounter in the village, trying to learn names and facts and relationships and personalities...
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:50, Tue 31 Aug 2021.

They have no idea as to whether a math teacher could be useful.  But as you study the community, you spot some bright men you think might be suited for learning.

There are Apples of several different varieties such as the Duke's Gift, and Red Green, and High Hill Farm and Rhone, and Pears when in season (not now).  Pineapple and bananas is unheard of.  Oranges are available, but quite expensive.  Berries are available, both black and a light yellow berry.

As to Venus there are 'young trimtak' which tastes like slightly rotted weak coffee, and is very hard. And there are giantfruit, which are the size of a basketball, but most of that is bland rind, and only the interior orange size is pulpy, liquidy mess of extreme sourness along with some sugar and seeds.  Evidently, the dinosaurs on Venus eat these, and the rind is used by them as fiber and the rest goes out the end to sprout another tree.  And in order to survive the dinos mouth and long trip inside, it has to have a lot of rind.

The merchant Gregor laughs crudely as he tells you these details.

"Most Venusian fruit, and they have a lot, why it won't survive the trip.  Be all rotted."

If the prices are reasonable, I try for an apple of whatever variety is more tart, and sample the berries, and sample the giantfruit.

I also do some research on church options for Reformation types like me...  :)

Through both observation and conversation, I gather information about this universe in general and the Venusians in particular, gleaning whatever I can about what to expect if and when I am able to get there.

I also keep an eye open for what differences there are between this universe and what I know of my own universe in a similar time period...
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:32, Mon 06 Sept 2021.

High Hill farm apples are dense, tough, small, and tart.  Its said that they grown on a windy hill area so they have to be tough.

The giantfruit takes you a good fifteen minutes to get to the center.  The juicy slush is about teh same acidity as those old grapefruit metal cans.  Enough to seriously pucker up your face.

There is a single Lutheran church in town.

You pick up 1@3 Venusian Knowledge.

There is less war than you'd expect with the Dream providing an outlet for energies and a place of refuge for losers in political conflicts.

And you note that on the inside of one of your table legs at which you work is a tiny ladder cut into the leg. Each rung is about a tenth of an inch apart.

OOC: Thus far, I have gleaned that Venusians:
(1) have a language that sounds like mine
(2) wear clothes that look like mine
(3) live in the next century or more
(4) live in a land with dinosaurs, giantfruit, and young trimtak
(5) use the Dream to travel to and from Earth

Any other interesting tidbits in my 1@3 Venusian Knowledge?  Religion?  Culture?  Technology?  Etc.?

I observe all I can about the village, and those who dwell therein, and those who come to do business therein.  I am especially interested in those who have traveled to and from Venus...

I go to the Lutheran church on Sunday.  Are Otto and family Lutheran?  If so, I go to church with them if I am welcome to do so.

As I learn more German, I share not only songs and games with the kids but also stories.  As I do so, I gently prompt to see if they know stories pertaining to those small enough to make and use tiny ladders.

And I pray for the opportunity to meet the ladder users, and to befriend them if they are not evil...

In reply to Oak (msg # 47):

Venus is known for its humidity, giant ferns, volcanoes, high cloud cover most of the time, heat, air conditioning, canals, auroch ranches on the Second Continent, locals who are tall and very thin and finned and fast and not human.  Lots of human colonists.

You meet at your job, a Kol (title) who is travelling back to Venus with Russian Orthodox worked gold items. He is human.  he wants you to do some calculations on the probability of being beat out by another Kol vs. the probability of taking a slower convoy, or a faster and more dangerous single ship.

The Little People live in the Dream you're told.

I find out whatever I can about how to enter the Dream, and about the Little People.

I also find out whatever I can about life on Venus, including possible jobs for someone with my skills, and Reformation-friendly church activity, and details about the aliens...

In reply to Oak (msg # 49):

The usual way is to get on a boat and head toward the Edge of the World.  Little People you are told are one of the old myths that people in prior, less advanced times used to believe existed in the walls of houses.  There are a wide variety of them with differing powers, inclinations, and appearances.  Most can change sizes from very small ...ant....to small....human child.

Mathematics is important everywhere.  You do hear that some mechanical computers are on Venus.

Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists, RCC, Anglicans, Orthodox....that's about it.  There are also some rumors of Hidden Religions which sound like pagan cults to you.  There is said to be some entities in the Dream that some people think are gods.

There are three main theories about Venusians.  They were creatures of the Dream who migrated to Venus.  Or they are Humans changed by the Dream.  Or they are native Venusians.

They are known to be stoic and laconic in public.  Such that public singing is not a thing for them.

I pray for increased discernment, both in general and to perceive whatever entities created the little ladder...

I also try to find out more about them from the old tales, such as likes and dislikes, personalities, culture, etc...

In reply to Oak (msg # 51):

You are checking on some sums, and after you're done, you take another glance at the ladder on the interior side of the table leg.  It is fancier, with a railing now.

The Dorvacki are said to be evil, bringing forth monsters who leap from under bridges and out of the way places to waylay travellers, and take them back to their undersea caves.

The Tiklan are the most numerous, being able to eat nearly everything, and to fall asleep for decades if need be.  Each manling of them has ten wives, of which he spends one year with one wife, and then the next, and so on, but if a wife were to displease him, he might sleep the rest of her year away.

The Darong might be one, or a group, or a title that is passed on.  He is a mighty spellcaster.

The Eso live in the foam of sea waves.

The Mixclaq are said to be malevolent or mischievous depending on the tale, but all agree, very tricky.  Known for setting fires, and spooking people.

I continue learning about the language, the culture, the dream, the ladder builders, the family I stay with, the church I attend, my coworkers, the town dwellers, etc...

OOC: Feel free to fast forward me to any interesting interactions, whether it be folks I am getting to know (especially the parents and the kids I'm staying with), the ladder builders, more info about the dream, etc.  :)

In reply to Oak (msg # 53):

A week later, you hear a faint tap noise down near your right foot as you are finishing up a calculation for filling up a ship.

OOC: Am I in visual and/or audio range of my coworkers, or am I able to converse quietly with this small visitor without attracting notice?

In reply to Oak (msg # 55):

You are in visual and auditory range.

I shift very gently to steal a glance toward the source of the sound...