Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

After the miraculous display from the spirit Svariella, Brent felt both a new sense of direction as well as being slightly overwhelmed in his task to design and construct on behalf of the Induk spirit. To have been singled out so explicitly by the Spirit of the Lake was exciting and somewhat ego-boosting, yet it demanded a whole new level of responsibility. He now had not one, but two buildings to complete in a reasonable time and he was reminded that it needed a safe and sound design for the people who would use it.

With his bag of drawing and writing supplies and a warm cloak to keep off the chill, the aspiring builder set off to the home base of the Aesir, keepers of knowledge: Yggdrasil Citadel. He was glad of the warming weather. Trees were budding with new leaves and many people were out on the streets as he wound his way through the cobbled streets of Raelia. Passing through the gates into the inner city, his gaze was met by the flourishing garden-like park that marked the entrance to the Yggdrasil Citadel.

Although he knew of its location, it was rare for him to visit the religious centre of Raelia. Brent treaded carefully along the marked trails and asked the occasional robed Aesir the way to the Citadel entrance. Flowers of bright colours lined the trails and the soft babble of a stream could be heard among the lush gardens. Birds twittered from the high branches above and a definite splash marked the presence of leaping fish.

As he neared the Citadel, the sheer size and grandeur was almost overwhelming. But in a more pressing sense, Brent wondered how he could possibly make Svariella’s Temple even remotely compare. Well that was why he was here seeking to learn, was it not? Trying to push the feeling of uncertainty away, he approached one of the robed Aesir.

“Excuse me, Sir.” Brent began. “It is well-known that the Aesir are the keepers of knowledge in Melrath. I’m looking to learn some theoretical knowledge on the design of architecture, or even, engineering. Do you know of anyone well-versed in that field?”

The man of spirits brought his hands together and replied, “I may know of an Aesir or two, but… Hey, aren’t you the Svariella man? The one who is going to build her a temple?”

Word had definitely gotten around.

Brent shifted uncomfortably, not used to being recognized on the spot. “Um, yeah. I’m Brent Forrester. And I’ll be leading the construction of the temple and the winter lodge for Svariella’s Chosen.”

“You know what? We do have a library and probably some books on the topic. Let me take you there, and then you can get started right away.”

The Aesir turned quickly on his feet and Brent, still a bit surprised at the sudden help, followed after the man of spirits.

Brent limped along at a slower pace, not only due to his gait but also due to the immense grandeur of the Citadel. Pillars rose high and there were beautiful arches and stained glass decorating the insides of the building. Mosaics of wonderous scenes of nature glittered on the floors and the halls were so grand and airy. When they arrived at the Knowledge Hall, tall shelves of books were placed in between the deep blue columns. Even though Brent had read the occasional book, he’d never seen the insides of a library like this.

“I think you’ll find what you’re looking for over here,” said the Aesir and led Brent to a section of books at the far end. He pointed to a couple of shelves and pulled out one book as an example. An Introduction to Timber Framing Techniques.

“Oh. Ohhhh! Let me see that.” Came Brent’s response, as he had no idea that such books existed.

“I’ll leave you to it,” the Aesir replied with a smile and a wink.

With the book in his hands, Brent started flipping through, now far more excited than he had been before coming to the Citadel.

Brent soon found himself engrossed in the book. It discussed column width and dimensions, the benefits and disadvantages to square versus rounded columns, column arrangement and spacing… And that was just the chapter on columns! Where previously Brent might have simply copied the spacing of another building or tested the strength of a beam between two pillars by physically adding a heavy object to try it out, it seemed as though there were more reliable ways of designing that didn’t need so much trial and error.

As he read more, the book outlined concepts like ‘loads’, which could either be the weight of the roof, or in the case of a second floor, it might be the weight of people or furniture that is supported by the columns and walls. The latter was a bit harder to determine because people can go in and out of the room and the designer would have to guess what the largest number of people would be in the room at any given time.

The chapter on beams divided them into structural beams and floorboards. It was stressed that structural beams were not only bigger but more importantly thicker or deeper in height. In fact, sometimes it was useful to have them taller than they were wide because they didn’t bend as much. It was a strange concept, since Brent would normally just place boards down flat because it was easier to nail them in. Positioning a board upright seemed counter-intuitive since it was more likely to wobble. He would have to experiment for himself, but perhaps it did offer additional strength. He could imagine bending a flat floorboard slightly with something heavy, but if it was upright, he doubted he could bend it like that. Floorboards seemed more like a ‘final touch’ rather than something truly structural, and it was strange to think of so much wood being used just to make it look nice and ‘walkable’.

After flipping through a couple of chapters, Brent realized that the library also offered desks and tables, so he relocated there. Taking out some parchment and ink, he started writing some notes, particularly the pieces of information that seemed contradictory from what he knew so he could re-evaluate it later. There was all so much information, and this was just the first book. He wondered why he hadn’t thought of this earlier. Right. He hadn’t been about to design two buildings earlier.

The builder went back to the original section of the shelves and took out another book. This one was on the properties of stone. It listed what seemed like hundreds of different types of rock with varying properties, and it seemed like a whirlwind of only somewhat useful information. While the type of rock probably mattered, as long as it was coming from a proper quarry, he should be alright.

Brent found another book that discussed how to construct with rock. Now this seemed more applicable to what he was looking for. Although there was a little bit regarding the actual mechanics of cutting and shaping stone, more of it was focused on creating the necessary scaffolding to support arches as the stones were being placed, as well as the ratio of ‘window’ to ‘wall’ for a structurally sound wall. Too much ‘window’ could easily see the collapse of a building because there’s not enough material supporting the roof or walls higher up. There were a couple of diagrams of bridges, which he found hard to tear his eyes away from, but he tried to focus on more temple-like buildings.

Still slightly overwhelmed by the immense knowledge contained in the books, Brent went back to the first one and got out a fresh sheet to draw upon. Using some of the diagrams contained in the book, he sketched out a couple of columns with beams running between them. There was another chapter on braces, diagonal cross-beams near the top of a column, and he added them to his sketch. Lastly, he added arrows to represent the weight of the floor above and tried to conceptualize how the weight was being transferred from the people to the columns. First it went from the people to the floor boards, then across to the main structural beams, and then finally to the columns with the help of the braces to better transfer the weight. The book also noted that the braces helped with any lateral pressures in case there was any wind or other sideways pressures that might cause the column to wobble.

The whole construction and design had gotten a lot more complicated yet he felt better prepared to take on the project. Flipping to the back of the book, he noticed an appendix with lists of different types of wood, and the amount of weight they can carry based on the size and shape of the column or beam. Now this was gold. Someone had actually taken the time to determine when the timber would break under too much pressure.

At this point, he had a much better understanding of the fundamentals but he was reluctant to return the books, namely the one specializing in timber and the other on stone. It was a library, was it not?

Tentatively, he got up to find one of the Aesir working among the shelves. She was a pretty young lady and had a large stack of books being sorted onto the shelves.

“Excuse me, Miss, would it be possible to borrow these books?” Brent asked as he held out the two for her to see.

The stack of books wobbled like an unsteady tower and Brent reached out to keep them from falling as she put them down.

“These are non-fiction construction books. None of the non-fiction books can be taken out of the lib… Oh? Ohh!” The young Aesir suddenly interrupted herself as she looked over Brent trying to take him in. “You’re not… are you the one building the temple for Svariella? Prophet Lani told us all the story last night and said that if the Aesir could do anything within reason to help, that we should. I didn’t think you’d come here of all places. And I thought you’d look… different?”

She stammered a bit in apology and then vigorously nodded. “Yes, yes, of course you can borrow them. Just, just, remember to return them. They are really valuable and hard to replace.”

It was the second time that trial that Brent had been greeted with some sort of familiarity. It was definitely not the norm and he wasn’t sure if he liked it, but he thought he’d play it out a little. With a bow, he reached out to grasp the Aesir’s hand gently in his. Bending slightly, he kissed the back of her hand and said, “You have my thanks, young lady. May the Induk Svariella favour you with a thousand colours.”

He was pleased by the girlish smile that lit up her face. After he bid her farewell, he left the main citadel to briefly explore the vast gardens and park. The babble of the stream caught his attention and he followed the sound to the shrine of Vynmur. Was there a place set aside for Svariella? It was almost like a mini-Melrath as he followed the watercourse upstream. Eventually he came to three pools. This had to be the shrine to Svariella. Kneeling down, he closed his eyes and listened to soft sounds of the water.

“May I have the strength to succeed in this, Svariella, and the knowledge and ability to create something beautiful for you.” He whispered softly. “Not only for your chosen, but for the beauty and healing you embody. I will not let you down, Lady of the Lake.”

With renewed reverence to the Induk, Brent slowly made his way out of the gardens and back to the tavern he was staying at. He would find a way to build a temple worthy of the Induk of the lake.