History Headscratchers / TalesOfTheQuestor

* The Expansionist party's platform is basically politically screwed to hell and back. The problem is so is the Free Trader's. As of recently the bauxite plants growing aluminium, Antilla's metal shortage has been effectively solved. Sure its pretty much all just aluminium but that is a very versatile metal, and the fact there was bauxite poisoning at all is because the Raccoonans had access to Bauxite but couldn't figure out how to process the damn stuff. So with now access to plentiful new metal for interior trading and resource... what real push is there to trade with the outsider kingdoms at all? Think about it, the Racoonans literally have everything, they have virtually a monopoly on magic and the means to artificially generate more lux to use as they see fit, they have approximately ALL the advanced education regarding the energy source and its use (if there is any academy outside the mistwall with advanced knowledge on lux, it doubtlessly doesn't hold a candle) they have advanced science that is ages ahead of everyone else, they even have gunpowder based weaponry (which means some alchemist had a fluke before anyone else's alchemist had a fluke, and lets be honest, knowing all their other boons they almost certainly have better firearms than renaissance Europe did so its going to mean the armour of the soldiers of any other kingdom won't be able to stop a bullet like they were well capable of well into the shot and pike era of warfare in real life. They still have plenty of land, are in NO danger of starvation or famine, they control the weather in their region to maintain a constant Spring/Summer, they have much better medical care and technology and there only real economic incentive to trade has been snuffed by an extremely lucky biomancer, its not a perfect solution to the metal crisis but its enough to stifle any talk of interacting with the outside world for centuries because at the end of the day, what do the neighbouring kingdoms have that the Racoonans could possibly want? At this point gold and other metals would just be a nice luxury to have until some alchemist finds a way to transmute aluminium into other kinds of metal. I think Ralph wrote himself into a corner here.

** My guess would be that it's a three-state gate, and RH just forgot the side input.

* What's the eighth logic gate rune? Since seven of the runes are the same as the standard sigils for the seven basic logic gates, I'm not going to list them, simply that the triangle with no circle at the top [[http://www.rhjunior.com/eng/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/npc00230.png here]] doesn't seem to have a parallel among the and, or, xor, nor, etc. gates. Is it some kind of "proceed as previous" gate? Because I don't see why they would need a new one, since it should be either a standard pre-existing connecting rune or completely unnecessary.

* What's the eighth logic gate rune? Since seven of the runes are the same as the standard sigils for the seven basic logic gates, I'm not going to list them, simply that the triangle with no circle at the top here: http://www.rhjunior.com/eng/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/npc00230.png doesn't seem to have a parallel among the and, or, xor, nor, etc. gates. Is it some kind of "proceed as previous" gate? Because I don't see why they would need a new one, since it should be either a standard pre-existing connecting rune or completely unnecessary.

*** Lady Absinthe says specifically that Dolan made the deal in order to keep himself amused while the land's protection lapsed. That same protection should have meant that there would be no Hunt for the old duke to need to avoid.

*** Self-correction: aluminum totally can kill ''crops'', if the soil is very acidic (and it did mention that Silver Springs had fairly acid soil). Given the Seven Villages' and in particular Silver Springs' agrarian economy, a permanent crop failure probably would turn the place into a ghost town, and if it can poison plants it could credibly be refined by plants. It wouldn't have spread anywhere else though, since it's as much a matter of native soil chemistry as of actual toxic influx, and the poisoned ''people'' still wouldn't happen.

** Raconans were driven out before the deal was stuck, due to them being unaffected by the red plague, and when the deal ended, the Unseliegh lord did not know that there was a Raconan in the area, and that rule was not a hard code rule.The lord of the duchy died nor long after he stuck the deal, passing it on to the current duke. He only held onto the deal for a short amount of time himself, leaving the hunt absent for the most the decades.

** Raconans were driven out before the deal was stuck, due to them being unaffected by the red plague, and when the deal ended, the Unseliegh lord did not know that there was a Raconan in the area, and that rule was not a hard code rule.

* The timing of the fae princeling's deal with Fenwyck is off. The period in which the Wild Hunt couldn't happen there would be 100 years (the expiration period, apparently, of "Racconans live here") plus however long the princeling's vilification scheme took, plus however long the Racconans lived there in peace. Yet the old duke made a deal with the princeling 100 years before Quentyn's arrival to avoid the Wild Hunt. Wouldn't the Hunt have been obviously absent for decades by then?

*** Self-correction: aluminum totally can kill ''crops'', if the soil is very acidic (and it did mention that Silver Springs had fairly acid soil). Given the Seven Villages' and in particular Silver Springs' agrarian economy, a permanent crop failure probably would turn the place into a ghost town, and create exactly the kind of threat that the biomancer dude was trying to fix. It wouldn't have spread anywhere else though, since it's as much a matter of native soil chemistry as of actual toxic influx, and the poisoned ''people'' still wouldn't happen.

*** Self-correction: aluminum totally can kill ''crops'', if the soil is very acidic (and it did mention that Silver Springs had fairly acid soil). Given the Seven Villages' and in particular Silver Springs' agrarian economy, a permanent crop failure probably would turn the place into a ghost town, and create exactly the kind of threat that the biomancer dude was trying to fix. Even so, the poisoned ''people'' still don't fit.

*** Self-correction: aluminum totally can kill ''crops'', if the soil is very acidic (and it did mention that Silver Springs had fairly acid soil). Given the Seven Villages' and in particular Silver Springs' economy, a permanent crop failure probably would turn the place into a ghost town, and create exactly the kind of threat that the biomancer dude was trying to fix. Even so, the poisoned ''people'' still don't fit.

*** Self-correction: aluminum totally can kill ''crops'', if the soil is very acidic (and it did mention that Silver Springs had fairly acid soil). Given the Seven Villages' and in particular Silver Springs' economy, a permanent crop failure probably would turn the place into a ghost town, and create exactly the growing threat that the biomancer dude was trying to fix. Even so, the poisoned ''people'' still don't fit.

*** Self-correction: aluminum totally can poison crops, if the soil is very acidic (and it did mention that Silver Springs had fairly acid soil). Even so, we're still only talking about crop failures; there would be no poisoning epidemic among the citizens.
* The timing of the fae princeling's deal with Fenwyck is off. The period in which the Wild Hunt couldn't happen there would be 100 years (the expiration period, apparently, of "Racconans live here") plus however long the princeling's vilification scheme took, plus however long the Racconans lived there in peace. Yet the old duke made a deal with the princeling 100 years before Quentyn's arrival to avoid the Wild Hunt. Wouldn't the Wild Hunt have been obviously absent for decades by then?

*** Correction: aluminum totally can poison crops, if the soil is very acidic (and it did mention that Silver Springs had fairly acid soil). Even so, we're still only talking about crop failures; there would be no poisoning epidemic among the citizens.

*** I did look it up. That second link there goes to "metal toxicity", and [[http://www.emedicine.com/MED/topic113.htm this one]] goes to its reference. Dietary aluminum (even the refined metal) is not a threat to individuals with healthy kidneys and GI tracts, and the ores are generally too chemically stable to release dangerous ions (which is the reason it's so hard to refine...and why plants that purify it are also hard to believe). Aluminum ''refinery waste'' is pretty nasty, but even then the aluminum content doesn't seem to be the problem.

*** I did look it up. That second link there goes to "metal toxicity", and [[http://www.emedicine.com/MED/topic113.htm this one]] goes to its reference. Dietary aluminum (even the refined metal) is not a threat to individuals with healthy kidneys and GI tracts, and the ores are generally too chemically stable to release dangerous ions (which is the reason it's so hard to refine...and why plants that purify it are also hard to believe). Aluminum ''refinery waste'' is pretty nasty, but even then the aluminum content isn't the problem.

*** I did look it up. That second link there goes to "metal toxicity", and [[http://www.emedicine.com/MED/topic113.htm this one]] goes to its reference. Dietary aluminum is not a threat to individuals with healthy kidneys and GI tracts even for pure metal, and aluminum minerals are generally too chemically stable to release dangerous ions (which is the reason it's so hard to refine...and why plants that purify it are also hard to believe).

*** I did look it up. That second link there goes to "metal toxicity", and [[http://www.emedicine.com/MED/topic113.htm this one]] goes to its reference. Dietary aluminum is not a threat to individuals with healthy kidneys and GI tracts.

* The timing of the fae princeling's deal with Fenwyck is off. The period in which the Wild Hunt couldn't happen there would be 100 years (the expiration period, apparently, of "Racconans live here") plus however long the princeling's vilification scheme took, plus however long the Racconans lived there in peace. Yet the old duke made a deal with the princeling 100 years before Quentyn comes to avoid the Wild Hunt. Wouldn't the Wild Hunt have been obviously absent for decades by then?

*** I did look it up. That second link there goes to "metal toxicity". Dietary aluminum is not a threat to individuals with healthy kidneys and GI tracts.

*** I did look it up. That second link there goes to "metal toxicity". Aluminum is not a threat to individuals with healthy kidneys.

* Bauxite [[http://sales.riotintoaluminium.com/document_get.aspx?id=199 isn't actually poisonous]]. In fact, aluminum is extremely common in the Earth's crust, (third biggest component after oxygen and silicon), and most lifeforms have a high tolerance to it. A stream cutting into a bed of the stuff could not poison the land.

* Bauxite [[http://sales.riotintoaluminium.com/document_get.aspx?id=199 isn't actually poisonous]]. In fact, aluminum is extremely common in the Earth's crust, (third biggest component after oxygen and silicon), and most lifeforms have a high tolerance to it. A stream cutting into a bed of the stuff could not poison the land.