Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

Posted: **Sun Sep 06, 2020 7:41 pm**

The 1st Trial of Ymiden, Arc 720

The very first trial of a brand new season seemed like the best time to embark on a whole new endeavor; one that if all went as planned, could change the world forever. It would be the first step towards lifting up and taking to the skies; soaring high above the ground alongside the birds and fabled dragons. All without one bit of magic weaved into the workings. Eli was nothing if not ambitious. But on the other hand if he'd planned things better and hadn't gotten distracted by his own designs along the way, then this trial would have been the one for the land schooner's maiden...voyage, for lack of a more suitable word.

So, instead it was the trial for building the craft, fine tuning the design if necessary, and making those last bit adjustments along the way. And now, he and Perdie could do it from the comfort of their own home. He'd suggested they work in his workshop, since as a rule it would be dusty and cluttered already and wouldn't matter if it got more dusty or cluttered in the process of building. And there were already dings and burn marks on the surface of the workbench he'd dragged home just after they'd purchased the place. If any more came of the project, it would be just a touch more character than had been before.

There was plenty of room in the workshop to scatter their materials as need be, and for both of them to work without being cramped. Eli had already stripped the three wheeled garden cart that he'd dragged up before, and had cast the upper body of it aside for some other future project not imagined quite yet. What he had left was the frame with the arms and handles cut away and repurposed. The axles were still intact, though he'd temporarily removed the wheels so that when he put them back on, they'd be the altered ones, courtesy Perdie's own brand of weaving magic. In the meantime, he was busy patching up the main sail that he'd rig up, once they'd lashed the basket onto the frame.

The sail itself was in very good shape. The old sailor who'd given it to him had sworn that it had only been used once, and gently. That turned out not to be true. Eli had found more than one hole and more than a few small tears in the thing. So he'd gotten himself a sewing kit and a box full of fabric scraps from a generous seamstress in Desnind. What had been intended as a plain white sail would now be littered with small patches of red, green, yellow and a handful of florid pieces as well. But it would work.

He was no seam maker either. He'd pricked himself with the needle more than a half dozen times already, and was busy nursing his latest injury while staring at the craft, back at the sail and back again as if completely lost in thought. Imagining plans, possible problems and future scenarios that were a long way from arising just yet. "You know, I was thinking about this main sail," he said to Perdie while struggling to thread his needle again. "I've thought all along that since it's an ordinary boat sail, it would only be good for pushing the craft along on the ground."

"When the time comes to switch things around and lift up off the ground," he considered, speaking to Perdie but at the same time appearing lost in the process, "the tail fin will stay on, and so will the side ones though I'd probably add larger ones. But the main sail would go. It's upright, perpendicular to the ground." He'd had to look that one up before using it in front of anyone else; perpendicular. "It would blow the thing all over the place, wreck havoc and so on. But..."

For a trill or two he fell silent, gave the needle and thread another try then set them down again. "It would help with lifting off, wouldn't it? Without it, I'd need a really steep hill with another steep ramp at the bottom and how often do you find those?" Not very often he didn't think. "So I was thinking of a way that I might re-rig the sail so that once we get to the lifting off part and it's done it's job of moving us, I can collapse it quickly and unfurl two new sails aside of it...each. Something like a pair of large bat wings," he suggested, putting his hands together to demonstrate.

"They'd be set lower than the main sail, just over the operator's head, and would be parallel to the ground. They wouldn't make it go faster like the main sail does, but they'd give it more lift than would be otherwise." While he'd tried to explain what he saw in his mind's eye, Eli had been busy scribbling out a sketch to show her. It wasn't as good as she might have done herself, but as drawings went, it was fair enough. "Of course the along the ground part needs to be mastered before it'll be ready to lift up and away, but what do you think?" he asked Perdie.

Posted: **Wed Sep 30, 2020 10:53 pm**

Not Quite Ready!...

20th Cylus, 720

T

hey were ready to start building. Perdita was excited at the prospect of this, but she was concerned that she wasn't going to be able to do justice. They made their way into his workshop and Perdita looked at him with an expression which told of her inner turmoil. This place needed tidying up, and she knew that he had no wish to have it tidied. At least, Perdita considered, she finally understood a saying her mother had used from as early as Perdita could remember. "My fingers itch," she said with a smile. She'd tried to maintain a neutral expression on her face, but had failed miserably, she knew, and so she simply turned and looked at Eli with a level gaze. "You're very messy."

It was all that needed to be said.

Things were, however, in order of some kind and Perdita grinned - her usual brief smile - and blushed as she took a second needle and threaded it. Then, she handed it to him. As she did, she listened to what he said. His idea about the sail was interesting. She was sitting, checking the weave on the basket they would sit / lay. It was vital that it was as tight as it could be, as neat and without any gaps.

Looking at his drawing, Perdita's brow furrowed. "I see. Yes." It would work, she thought. Then, she looked back down and considered it. "Eli?" There was pure curiosity in her tone. "Can we make them flap? Like a bird when they fly? Where he had suggested that, she considered it. "Would that work?"

Posted: **Wed Oct 14, 2020 6:18 pm**

Eli didn't have any proper, university learning. In spite of not having the nels, he might have been able to work his way through to some sort of degree or other, had he been interested enough. However, his approach to book learning was more of a 'what he wanted or needed to know, when he needed to know it', sort of thing. He'd done alright so far. But he doubted Perdita's reference to the state of her fingers, could be found inside any book. He got the gist though and grinned before shrugging.

"I know just where everything is. It might not look like order," he insisted, referring to the arrangement in his workshop. "But move a thing and I'll never find it again." Probably wouldn't be able to focus either, to be honest. Perdita's approach was much more tidy than his own, however, which he found charming and appealing in it's very own way. So long as it didn't spill into his workspace. He grinned again when she threaded the needle and handed it back to him. "I've had to thread a surprising number of needles," he said, frowning when he thought of it, since the skill wasn't one that immediately sprang to mind when considering engineering and mechanical things. "I've never developed a knack for it. Thanks."

The way Perdie's cheeks pinked up whenever she looked up at him, or otherwise attempted to avoid direct eye contact, fascinated and charmed him as much now as it had the first time she'd done it. He'd caught himself staring more than once, but not just at her blushing cheeks. But her eyes and lips, and, wondering if he placed a kiss on them, would they feel as soft as they looked...Well, as distractions went, Perdie was as worthy a one as they came.

Which meant he was late comprehending the question to ask, and slower to blink his mind clear and answer. "Flap?" he considered. "It would sure be nice if that would work." Having considered that, Eli returned to the work of putting the whole contraption together. At least in large sections so that eventually they could haul it down and out of the house, and put those pieces together on sight. Meanwhile, as he rigged out the wheels and reattached them to the cart's frame, he thought on it further.

"The wings would have to be very large," he said. "The wingspan will need to be large already, which means they and the rigging will need to be strong to prevent them breaking away. But it's different, gliding and flapping. They'd need to be stronger still for flapping, which means extra weight on top of what they've got to support already." He wasn't at all sure he was explaining his thought process clearly, though he could see it all in his mind quite clearly.

"It's the physics of it. Your basket weave makes the cart lighter than it would be, was it made of wood or metal, but the frame is weighty on it's own. Then there's us, and we add weight of our own to the thing. Bird's bones are hollow," he said. "Bats too, I guess." And if he was supposing that he might know anything at all about those mythical or maybe not so mythical dragons, and he'd only be guessing, maybe theirs were hollow as well. At any rate, he decided once he'd gotten the wheels back on and stood up. "Just gliding, no flapping."

Posted: **Tue Oct 27, 2020 8:21 pm**

Not Quite Ready!...

20th Cylus, 720

H

is assurances that there was order in chaos apparently fell on deaf ears. In truth, Perdita chose not to say any more because, frankly, it obviously worked for him. Besides, she had no wish to change him, or how he did things. There was his process and she was quite happy to encourage him in following it. When he spoke of threading a needle, though, and how he'd never got the hang of it, Perdita's expression turned thoughtful.

"Then, invent something," she said, her eyes rather serious on him, "to make it easier." He was an inventor, after all, an innovator and maker of things. Useful things, whimsical things, weirdness and wonders. A device to help when threading needles should be straightforward. The issue, she thought, was that often the way that the thread bent or drooped or split meant that it wasn't easy. "Maybe a wire," she ruminated. "Thread the wire to the needle" and then, "the floss to the wire,". That way, he could pull back the wire and the floss would follow.

It was very much Perdita's opinion that Eli could do anything, invent anything and therefore a floss-threading implement would be no bother at all. He didn't want to flap the wings, and Perdita nodded. Then, she frowned. "Why bigger?" she asked, thoughtfully. "We could give it an elbow" And there, in their home, Perdita lifted her arms, out straight either side of her - and she flapped them, twice, while they were held out straight. Then, she repeated the movement but this time only flapped her lower arms - again, twice - by bending her elbow. "Controlled by a wheel?" Perdita wondered. "Or lever. Elbow." But, if the weight of it was the issue, that didn't relieve that issue. So, Perdita frowned slightly and asked, even as her hands continued to work. "Could it be hollow?" She asked. Holding up a bamboo reed, she gestured to that, but then added, "even if it was metal?"

If it worked for birds, she figured.

But, all of that conversation aside, they needed to get this thing built and so Perdita lowered her head, once again, to what she was doing. Putting her hair behind her ear, she sighed as it immediately fell forward again and she just ignored it. The weave on this would need to be extra tight and she made sure to annotate the design she had. "What do you think?" she asked, a few moments later, handing him the updated diagram of the way she'd amend the basket as it wrapped around the frame. "Is that better?" Compared to their first draft, it had been edited and refined. "If you're happy," she said, "I'll get started?" She gestured to the piece that was the frame of their craft. If he wanted to, that was. Serious eyes regarded him and, of course, as always, Perdita blushed.

Posted: **Tue Dec 15, 2020 8:05 pm**

Perdie seemed unconvinced, as to Eli's insistence that for him, where there was chaos, there was a particular order and appeal to it all. She might not have said it, but it was written all over her face. He only grinned and left it at that. It seemed to him that they were, the two them, different in a number of ways. Different enough to make and keep things interesting so far as he was concerned. But not so much that they couldn't possibly be reconciled. Made him like her all the more, serial tidiness and all.

"A needle threading device?" he considered while she'd threaded the needle for him, and expanded on just that vision. "Well it's nothing as grand as flying, or carriages without horses to pull them," he admitted. "Useful though. I bet there's a market for that. Selling something like that to shops and seamstresses could bring in coins to finance the grander things. You think?" And then he couldn't help but grin again, just a little. "I think you just dreamed up your first invention." Her idea, after all, that he could put together easily enough due to how she'd described it.

When the topic turned back to wings flapping, however, Eli took on a more thoughtful expression. Elbow, she said. "Joint. As far as collapsible wings go, that would definitely work. If the framework was hollow, it would also lighten up the whole craft." Which would be very helpful indeed. However, so far as flapping was concerned, he shook his head. "We could lighten up the craft quite a lot, but we can't make ourselves lighter, and even you took out the weight of the flyer, there's still one or two of us to consider. The only way around it would be some sort of, I dunno, like something whipped up by an alchemist, some sort of weightlessness potion."

But that prospect didn't appeal to Eli at all. "Engineering only. Gadgeteering. No magic or potions." Then it was back to building. Her on the weaving part of the project, him on the metal and wood components. "That looks great," he said when she asked him. "Perfect, in fact." So while Perdita got started on that, Eli got busy altering the sail to plan, after having altered the frame of the cart already.

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