Re: What does a Dwarf Day consist of?

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_vwpVoZZWYd8hZj4BoMY7KdQz3aql3BXSDy5qY08puNSAR7oOXpoPiTBtOECghLMDu2->
Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 20:19:54 +1200

On 5/31/2011 2:59 AM, Sean Foster wrote:
> The above issue has bugged me for a while - a general dwarf that is, be they
> clay, stone, silver.. The Different Worlds #24 issue hints at Dwarfs
> living/working in massive mechanical works (my first though being the
> Clanking City) with statements like "Dwarfs have inherited the vast ancient
> works which drive the sun about the sky.". A combination of large scale
> industrial plant with lots of cogs and gears, and those cool pneumatic
> message tube systems I can remember as a kid. Is this the case?

So long as you understand that when the Mostali look on the Otherside they see cogs and gears and what nots.

> Do they live in large Underground Cities/Dungeon complexes, and when the
> steam horn goes off they all exit their homes in concert and head to the
> main entry into the World Machine that is below the surface of Glorantha,
> large wrench in hand. Something like the images of staff heading to the
> plant in the Hudsucker Proxy (Cohen Bros ) flick, or 1927's Metropolis
> (Fritz Lang).

Dwarves work around the clock. Because they go for centuries without seeing the sun, they have little need for uniform night/day cycles.

> Or do they live in large Cities (in Mountains) reminiscent of the recent
> Lord of the Rings take on the Mines of Moria. Each City being
> self-sufficient, with "hydroponics", Fungi Farms and maybe vol/mole farms.

Growing things is evil. The Dwarves eat alchemical sludge instead.

> This being the case, how do they work towards repairing the world machine?

By performing their daily tasks. Every gear they turn, every batch they produce strengthens the repair mechanisms of the World Machine. They have no need to go to distant places to repair rogue gearshafts when the machine will correct it for them. The one thing that interferes with the repair of the World Machine is other factories out of synchronity. Thus the Dwarves are quite happy to wall themselves up to avoid other races but they go to great lengths to ensure that other factories are following the correct procedures.

> What do you imagine a dwarfs day consisting of?

Pretty much as has been represented. Rather than altering the literature about mostali to have gameable PCs, it would be better to have the PCs trying to be ordinary mostali but failing for external reasons. For example, what if there's no material to make stuff to fulfill their quota? The other mostali are content to do nothing (except study Growth Literature and practice Closedhandism) but the PCs will have other ideas. And once the PCs have acquired a rep of Going Outside and Getting Things Done, the foremen will start giving them tasks to do in order to fulfill their own quotas and even involve them in internal factory politics.

--Peter Metcalfe