As one of those involved in the production of "Great Empire', but speaking strictly as an individual, I'd like to repeat one of Geoff's points that seems to have been lost in some of the general monomania.
It's a fundraiser dudes. Its a way of making money for Tentacles. The money for auction items such as the Great Empire book - and items donated range from works of art like GE to book drafts to used games and dodgy horror videos - go into reducing the cost of attending the con, of hosting guests, and of publishing resources like Tradetalk, Ye Booke of Tentacles, and the other diverse products of the Chaos Society. It's a very roleplaying thing - part community spirit, part working as a group with whatever resources come to hand, and part making it up as we go along.
Greg and Jeff (the authors) gave Tentacles a manuscript. Tentacles decided what to do with it. In this case, Fabian decided on an auction approach - other options were considered - involved Pip and I in some (very light) editing, and commissioned Claudia Schille to create some beautiful maps, stunning layout, and to publish a limited number of works to the highest standard possible. This was all done in the final weeks of convention preparation, where organisers' time and financial resources were all stretched to the limit. Many of you understand the amount of work that goes into a convention - some evidently do not.
Yes, its theoretically possible that it might have been published as an unfinished work: that was one of the original options considered. For a variety of practical reasons, it was not the way we went.
Claudia's maps and a parallel exploration of 2nd Age Jrustela are already available in YBOT 6.
Those who are so miffed about the creation of this beautiful work have yet to suggest alternative means of convention fundraising.
And as for all this 'elitist' bullshit...
Maybe another post. :)
John
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