Real-Life Weirdness

[Flyndaran]

To me, they resemble a combination of Hellraiser's puzzle box and an old-timey diving helmet.

[tanksoldier]

Originally Posted by Irish Wolf

xkcd once ventured a guess that the Voynich Manuscript was an ancient RPG. Maybe we've found the dice for it?

Only quibble is it wouldn't be written entirely in a made up language

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Every dodecadedron is its own set of 12 holes. I wasn't talking about sets of dodecahedrons. Much the way we collect those sizes of screwdriver bits or sockets into sets, perhaps it's a way of collecting a set of different-sized holes, all in one physical object so you can't lose one.

Ah! Ok, I follow you now.

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Not apparently a particularly convenient collection -- a flat board with 12 graduated holes would be a lot more straightforward if it's just a gauge, not to mention cheaper and easier to make.

The advantage of the dodecahedron is that it fits in a pocket/purse/beltpouch a bit more conveniently... but historically people have been happy with punching a hole in awkward tools and simply hanging them from their belt as a display of owning the tools of your trade. Happy enough that having it be some sort of widespread concept seems odd. I can totally think of people commissioning something as a one-off personal quirk but having it be trendy across a broad area is a little odd.

I think it's that it's only found in the colder parts of the Empire seems quite curious, and certainly leaves me more open to the "knitting tool" family of theories - perhaps not knitting per-ce but something involved in making warm yarn or warm fabrics or warm garments?

[Nereidalbel]

Originally Posted by tanksoldier

Only quibble is it wouldn't be written entirely in a made up language

Unless it's intended for only the most hardcore players, and it's written in the equivalent of Orcish.

[tanksoldier]

Originally Posted by Nereidalbel

Unless it's intended for only the most hardcore players, and it's written in the equivalent of Orcish.

Poor marketing strategy if so... maybe that’s why the game died out.

....or maybe it hasn’t died out it’s just a big secret. Hmmmmm....

Originally Posted by Bruno

I think it's that it's only found in the colder parts of the Empire seems quite curious, and certainly leaves me more open to the "knitting tool" family of theories - perhaps not knitting per-ce but something involved in making warm yarn or warm fabrics or warm garments?

They are found singly, in sizes from a golf ball to the size of a fist. Whatever it does the user only needs one, and it can be almost any size.... so one guy makes all the really small hats or whatever, and another separate guy makes all the real big hats.... or the size of the tool doesn’t matter in the size of the garment, but if that was true why not make them all smaller and presumably less expensive?

One of the possible uss was as an example of the makers’ bronze craftsmanship. It’s expensive, it’s hard to make... I can’t imagine your average knitter or Weaver being able to afford one.

[Luke Bunyip]

Originally Posted by tanksoldier

Poor marketing strategy if so... maybe that’s why the game died out.

Somewhere, in a parallel universe, there's most probably a bunch of orcs sitting around a rock playing Accountants & Administrators.

[William]

A good candidate for "the most ridiculously poisonous animal in America": the rough-skinned newt.

This isn't just a bad frog to lick. The rough-skinned newt produces tetrodotoxin -- the stuff in fugu that kills you if the chef's hands shake. For comparison, potassium cyanide taken orally has an LD50 of 8.5 mg/kg. Tetrodotoxin comes in at an LD50 of 0.3 mg/kg, with serious toxicity at 10 micrograms/kg. It was first discovered when three hunters were found dead around their cooking pot, with an humble-looking newt in it with a bright orange belly.

On the theme of "there's always a bigger fish," however, the local caddis flies and snakes have evolved resistance; the flies will chow down on newt bits given any opportunity, poison or no.

For an additional twist of weirdness, it's hypothesized that a much smaller amount of tetrodotoxin is a potential component of "zombie powder," which an unscrupulous witch doctor might administer to make someone stupefied and compliant.

[Flyndaran]

That article was interesting for how localized the adaptation and evolution are. That suggests that it's also relatively rapid at least for the snakes and caddisflies.

[vicky_molokh]

Ever noticed how the Sims seem to speak two slightly different languages based on sex of the speaker? It happens in real life too. When making up exotic cultures, such a case of fluency in two languages can be used to underscore that you're not in Kansas anymore. Or you can make a different line of division - caste, whether one was born during the waxing or waning moon, or even something as changing as age.

[tanksoldier]

For an additional twist of weirdness, it's hypothesized that a much smaller amount of tetrodotoxin is a potential component of "zombie powder," which an unscrupulous witch doctor might administer to make someone stupefied and compliant.

Plot twist: Witch doctor accidentally kills his would be zombies... and the come back as real zombies.