Till the Mountains Turn to Dust (The Chronicles of Eridia)
Page 16
Telepathic Network, Strain 23X: Archive (General): Psionic Transcript of the QuatWorld Lounge, June 21, 6692; 8:34pm-9:11pm:
berrylady8: Hey, everyone!
shiransbadassdeathstick: Howdy.
snarkygirl: Hey.
heliz: Zangin’!
berrylady8: Did everyone read my post yesterday?
snarkygirl: I did indeed.
heliz: Ain’t had time.
raman(00): Hey, Berry. Yeah, read it. Found it interesting.
darner25: Hello. New here. What was the post?
berrylady8: I’d love to hear everyone’s opinions on the subject, if you’d care to discuss it. And darner25: Nice to meet you; the post is here: QUATWORLD: BRANCH-15 (DISCUSSION): TWIG-11902 (PLEASE READ!). I’d love your input as well.
raman(00): FWIW, I think it’s a logical extrapolation, though the one Quat went with in the movie seems just as valid. Given what (admittedly little) we know about the government of Drell back then, they may well have had a special squad devoted to seeking out the Database. Or not. Without any real hard evidence, I can’t endorse either extrapolation. All I can say is they both seem valid.
grandpa-heppel: Greetings, berrylady8. I read it with great interest, and you present quite a cogent argument. As raman(00) said, it does lack the dramatic punch of Quat’s version, but that does not make it any less plausible, and in fact may well make it moreso. In its own way, your theory is quite original. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard anyone propose that the Database was located right in the heart of the city. Most (like Quat) put it outside the limits of Drell proper or in the elaborate and probably mythical sewer system.
snarkygirl: Or in a glittery undersea grotto filled with cute widdle starfish!
berrylady8: Yeah, well, the less said about Kebel’s rather *unique* extrapolations the better.
shiransbadassdeathstick: Crud, I didn’t even know there was a posting.
heliz: It’s just the usual extrapolatory whackiness. I’m not really into that hypothetical stuff. I just liked the movie.
berrylady8: That’s fine too, Heliz. I don’t expect everyone to share my rather geeky interest in history.
heliz: Hey, you know me—I just come on here to talk about the sex scenes!
snarkygirl: Yes, we’re all painfully aware of that.
raman(00): I have to admit, I think I like your take on it better than Quat’s, berrylady8, but only because yours is more realisitic and seems more probable. That said, the extrapolation Quat used in Covert was more entertaining and made for better film-making. No offense.
berrylady8: No offense taken, raman(00).
snarkygirl: raman(00), probability itself is no good reason to believe something, despite what legions of math nerds say. If we believed things only according to their probability, then we would have no choice but to disbelieve that the War of Unification occurred, that Lal and Ralaro Omroth died simultaneously, that Element Man returned, and that the Cataclysm happened. Which is not to say that berrylady8’s theory is incorrect, of course.
darner25: Okay, I read it. Very interesting theory. Very sensible. I think I’d side with it over Quat’s extrapolation.
berrylady8: Thanks for the support, darner25.
shiransbadassdeathstick: I read it too. Well, skimmed it. No opinion. Sorry. I side with heliz on things like this. Well, not that I’m all about the sex scenes (not that they’re bad) but all those annotations make my head hurt. I like Quat for his artistry—his technique, his sense of pacing, his use of sound and music. That’s what jolts *my* nads. But if you must have an opinion, I think it’s kinda unlikely the Database would be right in the middle of the city, just a few blocks from the government buildings and everything. You can’t keep something like that secret in a location like that for hundreds of years!
heliz: I think he’s got a point, berrylady8.
snarkygirl: On the contrary. Drell was a *city*. Cities are huge, complex places with so many nooks and crannies and hidden alleys and sub-sub-sub-basements that not even the most determined urban explorer could find them all. I, for instance, live in a city, and though I’ve lived in the same apartment for over a decade, I couldn’t tell you the first thing about the interior or contents of the building right across the street. For all I know, it could be full of ghouls. Or, worse, professional movie critics.
grandpa-heppel: I second snarkygirl’s comments. In fact, I’d go one further and say that the location posited by berrylady8 is ideal for the Database: far enough (relatively) from the government buildings to ensure that no one from said government would stumble across it by accident, yet not so far as to be outside the limits of the city proper and thus prey to the countless monsters abroad at that time. And by putting it near an area full of taverns, it helps explain any suspicious traffic at odd hours.
heliz: Yeah, while also risking exposure to tavern traffic at odd hours!
snarkygirl: Yes, because those late-night drunks are such keen-eyed observers. Hm. The more I think about it, the more and more I like berrylady8’s theory. It doesn’t require us to swallow something as inherently ludicrous as Quat’s battle-scholars grimly saving heaps of old scrolls from parchment-hungry wyverns.
grandpa-heppel: Ha! Well put, snarkygirl. And amusing to boot, as always.
shiransbadassdeathstick: Geez, I thought the two of you liked the movie!
snarkygirl: I can’t speak for g-h, but I absolutely adore the movie and think it’s a brilliant piece of art. But that doesn’t mean I believe it’s literally true.
grandpa-heppel: I concur. I can respect a man’s opinion, and even find great eloquence in his utterance of it, without sharing that opinion myself.
shiransbadassdeathstick: Okay, I admit Quat’s “battle-scholar” thing was over the top (though in a fun way), but I still think having the Database just a few blocks from the government buildings, including the freaking *military barracks*, and not only that, but having security that wasn’t much better than a secret password, is going to the opposite extreme. This was Drell we’re talking about, remember. They had one crazy weapon-hoarding, monster-hating government.
darner25: Yeah, and they were too busy looking for weapons and using those weapons to kill monsters to go rooting around for musty books and artifacts they considered practically worthless. I’ll wager the government simply forgot about the Database after a couple of centuries. If so, it doesn’t seem likely the Database would need much more security than a big, badass dude named George.
heliz: Fucking har! George! Love it!
shiransbadassdeathstick: I don’t buy that. I just can’t see the Database folks thinking like that. I mean, if you were dealing with something of great value, wouldn’t you wanna protect it better?
grandpa-heppel: I would surmise that they likely adopted an extremely paranoid and secretive attitude at first, but as decades passed without incident, their guard slackened. Consider the time-span we’re talking about, and then consider the differences that transpire simply between one generation and the next. What the elder group deems of vast importance, the younger dismisses as trivial. The Database existed through dozens of generations, and the attitudes of those generations surely shifted.
heliz: Yeah, so maybe there were a couple generations that went all battle-scholar.
snarkygirl: Actually that raises an interesting point: Are we sure the Database was in the same place during all those hundreds of years?
raman(00): Probably. Have you ever tried to move a warehouse full of material?
snarkygirl: It would be a massive undertaking, I’m sure. But not impossible.
shiransbadassdeathstick: More or less possible than sitting unnoticed right under the government’s nose for umpty-hundred years?
snarkygirl: More, I’d say. A lot more. Then again, that’s assuming the estimates of the Database’s size are accurate. What’s your take on that, berrylady8 (if you’re still around)? You seem to have done a considerable amount of research into the Database.
berrylady8:
I’m still here. I’m just following the conversation with keen interest. As for the question of the Database’s size…well, it would change over time, of course. We know how large it was when the government handed it off to Lummy Hood. It was surely many times larger than that by the time of the fire.
heliz: Lummy Hood. I don’t know why, but that name always makes me giggle.
shiransbadassdeathstick: That brings up another point. If the Database grew so much, where did it grow into? If they didn’t move it, they would’ve had to knock down walls or fill up an entire building or something. That’s one advantage of Quat’s theory. Since he puts the Database outside the city proper, it could sprawl out as far as it needed to. But inside the city? How big could it grow then?
berrylady8: I would imagine they did exactly as you suggested: Knocked down walls or filled a whole building.
grandpa-heppel: Also, it seems more than likely that Lummy Hood and the other early caretakers of the Database took its future growth into account when they chose a location. Though they lived long ago, it does not follow that they were less intelligent than us.
darner25: Excellent point.
heliz: Okay, that’s the second time Lummy Hood’s been mentioned. Good place to quit. I’m off to bed. Got an early morning tomorrow. Night all.
snarkygirl: Nightie-night.
berrylady8: Good night.
shiransbadassdeathstick: Hh. So I guess everyone’s on board with the idea that the Database was in the middle of a busy city?
raman(00): I wouldn’t say I’m “on board” with it. Like I said before, I find it a bit more logical than Quat’s notions, but I’m a practical sort of fellow, so I can’t really get behind any theory when there’s a total lack of evidence.
snarkygirl: As they say, lack of evidence is not evidence of lack.
raman(00): No, but it’s not proof of anything either.
darner25: Well, I have to say I find berrylady8’s theory completely logical and realistic. And though Quat’s an entertaining director, logic and realism aren’t always his strong suits. I mean, just look at Stray.
raman(00): Whoa! Don’t say that too loud! Them’s rumble words round here! That film has a rabid fanbase!
snarkygirl: Don’t worry. The new guy’ll learn fast. Especially if he says something like that when quatbitch182 is in the Lounge.
raman(00): Oh, yeah! That’ll ignite a firestorm as bad as the one that destroyed Drell!
shiransbadassdeathstick: I think people get too worked up about the factual details. Quat’s awesomeness as a director is based on his entertainingness.
grandpa-heppel: No one disputes that. His status as the UR’s greatest living director is well merited, in my opinion. But when one’s extrapolations get as wild as his, people will notice. And talk about it. Alas I think we’ve reached the point where the film industry demands such wildness. People have come to expect wilder extrapolations. Without such excess, a film can’t find a wide audience.
berrylady8: I know, and that’s sad. I dislike such sensationalism.
grandpa-heppel: As do I. In Quat’s case, however, his brilliant artistry makes his sensationalism more palatable.
shiransbadassdeathstick: If he was going only for sensationalism, he woulda made the movie about the Peridor Archives instead. I mean, the Archives had that whole crazy history, what with all the Elders involved, and the Ox Kings, and all those ten-year-long voyages all over the place, and everything.
raman(00): The Archives have been done to death, though. And with a few obvious exceptions, Quat clearly prefers to bring to light obscure backwaters of history, like in Bitter and Blackout. Hardly any filmmakers have dealt with the Database.
snarkygirl: Yeah, well, now a whole shitload of third-rate filmmakers will deal with exactly that in a parasitic effort to cash in on this film’s popularity.
shiransbadassdeathstick: So sad, yet so very, very true.
darner25: Well, maybe one of them will be wise enough to adopt berrylady8’s ideas.
snarkygirl: Wow, suckup much?
darner25: Not at all. Just able to recognize quality and intelligence when I see it.
berrylady8: Why thank you, darner25. It’s lovely of you to say so.
darner25: I mean it. I have something of an interest in history, including the Drell Database, and I think your ideas fit the facts perfectly. Seriously. I’ve spent a long, long time thinking about these things.
berrylady8: A long, long time, eh? What are you, an Elder? ;)
darner25:;)
snarkygirl: Oh, for Vävel’s sake, get a room already.
raman(00): Squee! Name the baby after me! I’m out for the night, my SO’s home! Bye all!
darner25: Good night, raman(00). Nice to meet you.
berrylady8: Night, raman(00). And snarkygirl: You are rude. Like usual. :)
snarkygirl: Hey, the name was chosen for a perfectly good reason.
berrylady8: So, darner25, what other avenues of history are you interested in? I’m something of an amateur historian myself.
darner25: Oh, a whole city’s worth of avenues, actually. For instance, lately I’ve been reading up on the Shen Mystery Scroll.
grandpa-heppel: Ah, now there’s a fascinating subject. So much so, in fact, that it retains its fascination despite having been so heavily extrapolated about.
berrylady8: Indeed. I’ve done a fair amount of reading into that myself. Which theory of its origins do you prefer, darner25 (if any)?
darner25: I’ve always been partial to the idea that it was an elaborate hoax.
snarkygirl: Oh, not *that* old chestnut!
darner25: I’m not saying I believe it. I just think it’s fun to think about. At this late date, I doubt the real truth about the Scroll will ever be known.
berrylady8: Hm. We’ll have to agree to disagree about that, then, for I’m convinced it’s exactly what it appears to be: a batch of brilliant love poems hidden away during the Age of Chaos to protect them from harm.
shiransbadassdeathstick: Bleh. I’ll take hoaxes over slobbery romance any day.
darner25: Oh, I enjoy them both in equal measure. :) On that note, sadly, I must go. I had a busy day today. It was nice meeting you all. I’ll definitely be back tomorrow. This is too much fun.
snarkygirl: Bye, darner25. Ah, another nut for the mix. Just what we needed.
grandpa-heppel: I rather liked him. He seemed a good deal more mature than many of the kids on here lately.
snarkygirl: Yeah, the release of the movie really lowered the Lounge’s IQ.
berrylady8: Why are we calling darner25 a he? Do you guys know this for a fact?
shiransbadassdeathstick: He’s a he.
grandpa-heppel: Oh, I know nothing for certain. It was merely the impression I got based on darner25’s attitude and so forth.
snarkygirl: Yeah, same here. Just the impression I got. Sometimes you can just tell, you know?
berrylady8: Very true.