"If anyone can use them it might merely mean that the sorcery is already done.  Like a fate blessing laying in wait for the right moment."

"No sorceries for me, either," Anders says, "though I've often wondered about my countries Sorcery with iron."

"This seems more like clay that you can mold. Can anyone mold clay? Sure, but are they any good at it?"

"Does raw clay have a Fate, or does it only gain one when someone collects it?"

"It does, but often so far distant that it's beyond sight.  Clay along the riverbed will slowly wash away over the years until it flows downstream to the sea.  It doesn't resist this fate, nor does it seek it, so the threads are still.

"If a potter comes to the river to collect clay for his wheel, the threads of that clay split, but which ones aren't certian until the moment he begins to dig.  Then it is his fate that overwhelms the clay.  The fate of men and women far outshines the fate of base earth."

"Ah... so that explains these crystals," Valentino says. "Well, sort of. Not sure if these crystals occur naturally somewhere, or if they were cut into shape. Perhaps even made?"

"Sorry to keep asking all these questions, Fiora, but you're the only one among us that seems to have an inkling about this place."

"So, the question is, if you find a raw mineral and then cut it into a faceted crystal like these, how does that affect their Fate? If you don't know, that's okay."

"Still not sure I understand all these Fate strands."

He picks up another crystal and holds it in the upright palm of his hand.

"Marna's father was a carpenter. One day, he was visited by a stonemason and a brick-maker. They wanted him to make them something that they could use to haul bricks and stones around that wouldn't hurt their backs so much."

"Thinking this was a good thing, he pondered the problem for a day and then began crafting what he'd come up with. He started with a single wheel supporting the front of a box, attached two legs to the back of the box, and made two handles extending out from the back of the box. Once you filled the box with bricks, you just had to lift the handles in the back so the legs were off the ground, and then you could push the wheelbarrow forward. The wheel, you see, acted as a second person so the load weighed only half as much."

He carefully watched the crystal as he told his story.

"You ascribe more wisdom than I have.  I know how the strands of fate move, but much of this place breaks the rules I know.  It's fascinating.  And I'm sorry, but I have no inkling of how the crystals are made.  I would have thought them cut, but if they respond to voice perhaps they were spoken.  Whatever fate brought them here is already past, and I can't see the past."

Vasily carefully watches the crystal as Valentino relates his story.

"Interesting that the only named character in the story plays no actual part in the story whatsoever. Is that a Vodacce style?"

As Valentino tells his story, the crystal in his hand does indeed take on the shape of a wheelbarrow. Again, it's a rather crude representation though it's clear that it is supposed to be a wheelbarrow.

"So, you think this place breaks the rules of Sorte as you know them, is that it?" Anders seeks to clarify. "Or is it possible that you just don't know all the rules?"

"One of the few things I've learned over the years is that rules are usually made to define a normal occurrence, but they seldom deal with the unusual. Those are conditional rules that get added later."

"Hmmm. Admittedly, neither of you may be a trained storyteller, but if telling a story produces a simple effect, what happens if you sing? Remember, too, that songs can tell a story, but there is a wide range of styles. Perhaps the style of singing produces different results."

"Anyway, shall we move on? Even if we guess correctly, of what use does it have right now?"

"I'm sure there is more to be learned from this, but you are right; we're here with a purpose, so we should try to avoid getting too distracted."

In reply to Anders Mendelsson (msg # 593):

"You're right. Songs can tell a story, too." Alessandra adds.

"That... was... weird... and strange... or are those two things the same?" Valentino says when the crystal changes.

"Oh. Ha-ha-ha. No, Vasily, I can't say that the story is typical of Vodacce. I kind of just made it up. Sounds like you think it needs some editing!"

"I am as fascinated by sorcery as the next person, but this place is so much more than that."

"It does not seem to be typical Syrne construction, so I would like to learn if it is, or it belongs to one of the previous cultures."

"Remember, too, that we don't know all that much about the Syrne. And I'm starting to think that half of that is probably wrong."

"Or it's correct, but only about some of them.  If some people a thousand years hence studied the buildings of Avalon for a century before finding Vodacce, I expect they might be quite confused for a time."  Fiora offers.  "I would love to spend the time to learn everything of this place, but even if I live that long, I have the impression the pearl may not wait."



[OOC: And this was post 1337.  I just had to acknowledge this.]
This message was last edited by the player at 05:00, Thu 02 Dec 2021.

"Valentino, I don't think it necessarily needs any editing. I just had not encountered a story of that form before. Perhaps you've invented something new. You could, perhaps, turn that into fame and power, no?

As for misunderstanding our own history, certainly that is one reason to be sure to record as much detail about the present as possible; so that our descendants will have to rely on guesswork less than we do."

In reply to Vasily Pavlychenko (msg # 598):

"Good point." Alessandra nods.

"I've heard the adage about being doomed to repeat the past if you don't pay attention to it," Anders says. "Not sure I buy into that, though. I mean, there is so little chance of the exact same circumstances occurring twice... not to mention that the person making the decision will have the same experiences on which to base that decision... that it seems unlikely to matter."

"Well, let's check out the next room. We've still got a lot of... cathedral... I'm going to keep calling it that until someone suggests a better term... to explore. I'm sure we'll find a lot of surprises, but I'm starting to wonder if we'll actually learn anything."

He moves down the hallway to the next door, and makes sure everyone else has followed... including Prad... before he opens it.

Vasily follows, somewhat glad that someone else is taking a turn opening doors.

In reply to Anders Mendelsson (msg # 600):

"The more we look, the more chance we've got of learning anything." Alessandra remarks.

The doors in the hallway were staggered rather than be across from each other, so the next door down was on the right. It isn't until you are practically next to it that you realize that there may be something dark on the other side as the green glass of the walls are still translucent but there's not as much light coming through.

Anders opens the door and it is easily discernible what the cause of the darkness is: the decor of this living quarters is all black! It's still all crystal of some sort, but it's black crystal. The outside light that comes in through the back wall and windows is getting absorbed by all the black furniture and furnishings.

You realize this is somewhat consistent with the other two living quarters: the first was light green, the second was dark green, and now this one is black. It takes a little bit of effort, but you can confirm that it is black and not just a very dark green.


The last door in the hallway is on the left, and after Anders opens that door, you easily see that it appears to be an office. There's a desk against the right-hand wall with a chair behind it and another chair beside it closer to the door. There are shelves above the desk, a few more on the wall across from the door, and cabinets against the left-hand wall.

Naturally, it's all made of green crystal.

"Well, still no sign of anything from the Pearl, it seems. This hallway seems primarily to be somewhere that people lived and worked; bedrooms and offices and labs. The fact that it is identifiable as such seems to indicate that whoever created and occupied this place must have a significant amount in common with humans, even if they, themselves, were not human."

"I'm minded of legends of people cursed to find light pianful."  Fiora comments, looking around the black room.  "But I don't think they'd choose to have windows.  What purpose could they have for a room that's so dark when lit by the sun shining in?  Did their eyes see something we can't?"

"That's a good observation, Vasily," responds Anders.

"In some respects, they would definitely seem to be human-like. This layout is perfectly consistent with the way normal people would live. I just can't quite get a handle on what them do different... mentally?"

"Sure, there are different attitudes among people today, but, where you agree with them or not, you at least can understand their thinking. That just doesn't seem to be the case with the Syrne. As Fiora said, what's the point of having a black room... with windows?"

"That's also a good point about them seeing something we can't. Remember, this entire cathedral wasn't exactly visible from the road. I'm still not sure why we could see it from a different angle. Was it because we had the Pearl? Could they see into another realm? For that matter, are WE in another realm now?"

"So, yeah, maybe they could see something here that we can't? How will we ever know?"

"Why didn't I think of that?!" Valentino suddenly exclaims. "It's the Pearl! I bet Prad here sees it... whatever IT is."

"Maybe it even requires some sort of sorcery that none of us have ever heard of! We don't know what it is that changes the crystals just by speaking. Is that some sort of sorcery?"

"The crystals are some form of sorcery, but as I said before, I think it's one that's already done long ago, and now they wait.  The strands of fate between man and crystal flow the wrong way when you're shaping them, theirs reaching to touch yours instead of you imposing yours on them.  Almost..."  Her eybrows rise and her mouth opens in an 'ah hah!' expression.  "Almost like they're feeling your fate to figure out what shape they should take."

In reply to Dread Pirate Robert (msg # 603):

"It is like a Crystal church." Alessandra says.

"Whatever these Syrne were, they were still slaves to the paperwork!" Anders says as he looks over the 'office' without touching anything.

"If they have their own language, I doubt if I can read it, even if it's written in standard script. The letters might be the same, but the words would be meaningless."

"Anyone want to delve into this room now? Or should we continue on?"