Quote:
Originally Posted by (E)
Regarding the point of order. Stonecutters guild vs the inventors guild. This is a suggestion for option f).
With a bit of jiggling both could be true. The inventors guild is currently a political power. What if the stonecutters guild was a political power and is now holding on by the skin of it's teeth.
The stonecutters guild still holds the Council's remit for repairs to city property, walls and so forth. The inventors guild holds the remit for "new construction that incorporates mechanisms and mechanical engineering" and being a council guild they are fairly adept at ensuring new projects fit their remit. They may or may not farm out work to the stonecutters guild.
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We can work with this. How about
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Stonecutters' and Inventors' Guilds
The stonecutters' guild, formally known as the Rocksplitters, Bricklayers, Masons, Tilesetters and Allied Artisans Lodge, is exclusively a dwarven guild (with the odd exception of especially talented and persistent individuals), compared to the Inventors' Guild, which has a widely eclectic racial mix. Thus, when dwarves hold a balance of power in the council, the stonecutters' guild gets a lionshare of work, but then the Inventors' Guild's star rises when there's a friendly body in the mayor's seat. Thus, the town's architecture shows a periodic mixture of styles depending on which guild held favour at different times.
Unfortunately, the dwarven representation on the town council has recently suffered some reputational damage and is at an ebb in its power. First, about 10 years ago, was the Underwar of the Piebald Jarl, when the renegade dwarf led his Huss Magpie Legion on a ransack of the basements, cellars, sewers and underground treasure vaults of the city. The then stonecutter guildmaster and city councillor, Lowmaster Fimblewort, being a cousin of the Piebald Jarl, was implicated as being a collaborator in the planning of the assault.
Fimblewort refuted those accusations and continued as a respected council member, later becoming the City Quaestor, in charge of the city's finances. However, he soon proved his accusers correct when he embezzled millions in city funds and absconded to the Piebald Jarl's domain, where he is now reported to be living in luxury.
Thus, the remaining dwarves on the city council are viewed with some suspicion and the flow of work to the stonecutters' guild has been largely cut off. Therefore, there are often, as yet unsubstantiated, rumours and imputations that various monster and army attacks on the city and damage to the city infrastructure were instigated by stonecutter interests in drumming up more work for them.
There may also be a current problem, in that the Inventors' Guild will tend to incorporate some kind of novel mechanism, architectural folly or untested style of construction in their civil works (such as
singing buttresses). Compare this to the stonecutters, who generally adhere to tried and tested architectural norms that have been developed over centuries. Recent civil works then, which had to involve some form of "invention" to win the council contract, may have a tendency to collapse or be easily brought down. For example, there is some widespread concern that the recently rebuilt Imperator's Gate, destroyed by the Wyvern of Roses, has a serious design flaw that could be targeted by the next invader.
Adventure Seed 1
The city wishes to see Lowmaster Fimblewort brought to justice, as may the stonecutters' guild to repair the damage to their reputation. A cadre of wandering mercenaries is tendered for the mission of travelling into the halls of the Huss Magpie renegade dwarven stronghold and abducting the runaway councillor. Complications may arise when the adventurers discover that the Piebald Jarl is amassing a greater army for another assault on Newbridge, this time with a brigade of
Siege Beasts and
Tunnel Trolls for what would be an Under-and-Overwar, this time.
Question 28
What novel design innovation does the New Imperator's Gate involve? And what is its fatal design flaw?
Who knows about this problem, and which enemy is trying to get ahold of the plans?