Chapter 23 - Two week meeting part 3 (18 Jan 25)

Harold waited until everyone had settled again."This part," he said, "is where most people misunderstand how mana actually works."He turned the slate so they could see it. No numbers. Just roles and arrows."The core governing rule of our mana system is that it rewards behavior over innate power," Harold stated succinctly. "The mana system here isn't designed to make super mages, but it can look like it if they accomplish enough," Harold continued. "It's designed to reward behavior. Repetition. Survival and accomplishment."He tapped the slate."Mana doesn't exist in you by default. You get it from perks. A single common perk gives you enough mana for a few seconds of use."Josh frowned. "Seconds?""Seconds," Harold confirmed. "Enough to push harder, move faster, stabilize yourself. If you try to hold it longer without support, you burn out."He shifted the slate slightly."That's why rarity matters. Higher rarity perks don't just give more mana. They give better mana. Denser. More efficient. Capable of doing more within the limits of the perk that granted it."Hale nodded slowly. "That lines up with what the soldiers are feeling.""Good," Harold said. "Because soldiers aren't meant to manipulate material like crafters. They're meant to use mana to become better soldiers."He gestured with his hand, palm down."Stronger. Faster. Harder to kill. More precise. That's the ceiling for them."Beth leaned forward. "And crafters?""Crafters are different," Harold said. "Not because they're stronger. Because their perks allow manipulation instead of reinforcement."He glanced toward Lira."A miner like Lira doesn't get a perk that says 'control earth,'" Harold said. "She gets something like Mine Harder. Her strikes dig deeper. They cut cleaner. That perk generates mana, and that mana is allowed to interact with earth."He glanced toward Lira, noticing the way her hands moved slightly as if feeling the earth in her grip. There was a subtle vibration, almost a hum, that seemed to radiate from her body, harmonizing with the ground beneath her feet. It wasn't just power; it was a connection, a whisper between her and the stone, as if persuading the earth to yield to her will.Lira's brow furrowed as she manipulated her mana. "So I'm not shaping stone. I'm… persuading it.""That's a good way to think about it, if not for that example perk. I think for something like that, you'd be able to drive holes into the earth with mana. maybe scoop some out with some time learning it." Harold said.He continued."A blacksmith gets perks that say weapons you forge are sharper, stronger, and more consistent. That perk lets his mana interact with metal. The product and material"Josh nodded slowly. "So it's constrained by role and intent.""By role," Harold corrected. "A glassblower gets something like heat regulation. Better temperature control in a kiln. That perk lets mana influence fire. It won't let him make explosions with just mana, just controlled heat."The room was tranquil now."In theory," Harold said, "a very high-end crafter could do catastrophic things by pushing those perks to their limit."He paused.Harold paused. "And that's exactly why they don't...for the most part."Caldwell frowned. "Because they'd die.""Yes," Harold said. "Crafters don't respawn if they die acting outside their role. That's not a punishment. It's enforcement. Doing those things isn't crafting, so if they get killed, they won't respawn. Imagine a crafter caught by surprise during a skirmish, choosing to wield raw mana to fend off attackers. In that desperate act, they step outside their role, and if they fall, they're lost to us forever. But they are the best option we have for mass destruction."He looked around the table."Crafters are infrastructure. Lose one, and you don't get them back. Lords know this. That's why cities are so hard to take."Beth's eyes widened slightly."Because the crafters defend them," she said."Exactly," Harold replied. "Not on the walls. In the foundations. In the streets. In ways you can't afford to counter without losing something irreplaceable. How do you fight someone that can manipulate fire on a mass scale or summon a wall of spikes in front of a cavalry charge?"He let that sit."That's why wars are slow. That's why sieges matter. And that's why most Lords never risk their best crafters unless the city is already lost."Margaret nodded slowly, absorbing it.Harold moved on."Now," he said, "Lords."Everyone straightened."Lords are… odd," Harold admitted. "We surpass soldier limits."Beth raised an eyebrow. "In what way?"Harold didn't hedge."We can do everything soldiers do," he said. "And usually better."No one interrupted him."Not because we're special," Harold continued. "Because we accumulate perks faster. And we receive higher-quality perks tied directly to our settlements. We can also get the perks soldiers can get."He tapped the slate again."Efficiency. Stability. Control. Logistics. Governance. Those minor perks stack. They all generate mana. And because our role isn't narrow, that mana expresses like a soldier's. Though honestly, I would kill to be able to get the crafter perks I used to have."Josh frowned. "So a Lord is basically—""A very well-supported soldier," Harold finished. "With a lot of mana, now if that Lord can actually fight, who knows?"Hale studied him. "But still not a replacement for an army."Harold shook his head. "No, I can't be everywhere, and I can still be countered."He set the slate down."My job isn't to win fights," Harold said. "It's to build systems that win wars, then support the people fighting those wars. There will be threats that only I or our elite soldiers can counter. But as I told you, from the Lord test I had to take. There is nothing we can do about angry crafters surrounded by something they can affect."He looked around the table one last time."Mana comes from perks. Perks come from behavior. Roles define what that mana can do. Armies decide outcomes. Individuals decide when to spend themselves."Silence followed.Evan was the one who spoke up this time."Alright," he said. "Then where does that leave adventurers?"Mark nodded. "Because they don't fit cleanly into either lane."Harold didn't look surprised. If anything, he looked relieved."They aren't supposed to," he said.He turned the slate slightly and added a third column."Adventurers are a hybrid role," Harold continued. "They get access to some soldier-style perks. Endurance. Recovery. Combat awareness. The things you need to survive repeated engagements."Hale nodded once. "Makes sense.""But," Harold said, "they also get something no one else does."Mark leaned forward. "Monster perks.""Yes," Harold said. "Adventurers earn perks tied to what they kill, where they kill it, and how they survive it."Josh frowned. "That sounds… dangerous.""It is," Harold replied. "And intentional."He tapped the adventurer column."Adventurers don't manipulate the world like crafters. They don't reinforce themselves as cleanly as soldiers. Instead, they adapt."Beth tilted her head. "In what way?""If you kill something that hunts in the dark," Harold said, "you might earn a perception perk. Kill something with unnatural resilience, and you might earn enhanced recovery. Kill enough of the same kind of threat, and those perks start to stack."Evan's expression sharpened. "So they become specialists.""Yes," Harold said. "But not by design. By exposure. It is our job to build those teams but also diversify them."Mark frowned slightly. "Can they get crafter perks that way?""No," Harold said immediately. "They can't gain perks that allow manipulation. No earth shaping. No fire control. No production perks.""But they can gain traits," Harold continued, "that blur the edges. Resistance. Movement. Senses. Instinct.Last time, there was an adventure team that was famous for having wings and another that could walk through fire."Josh muttered, "Which explains why some of them are already getting weird."Mark shook his head slightly. "Not that weird."He looked at Harold. "From goblins, it's been pretty consistent."Josh glanced at him. "Consistent how?""Low-light tolerance," Mark said. "Not vision. Just faster adjustment when it gets dark. A bit better footing when the ground's bad. That's it."Harold nodded. "That's what I expected, these goblins aren't much of a threat.""Adventurers are how you deal with things that don't fit doctrine," Harold said. "Unknown monsters. Dungeons. Anomalies. They go where soldiers shouldn't and crafters can't."Mark leaned back. "And the cost?""They burn out faster. It's a dangerous life. Sure, they respawn, but they still feel their deaths. " And we went over them, losing a random perk and the respawn timer," Harold said. Silence followed."So," Evan said slowly, "soldiers win wars. Crafters build nations. Adventurers… make sure neither of those gets blindsided."Harold nodded. "Exactly, honestly, the adventurers are one of our biggest assets. We need them alive and working to get more and better perks. Give them ten years to accomplish that, and they will be powerhouses only Lords and Elites can combat."He hesitated, then added, quieter, "So we keep people in their lanes whenever possible. It keeps the respawn rules intact."He looked at Evan, then Mark."And don't spread this," Harold said, "but there will be times when I ask adventurers to do things that fall outside their role. Same with crafters."Mark's jaw tightened. "Because sometimes the situation doesn't care about roles.""Because sometimes," Harold replied, "the alternative is worse."Josh, who had been quiet longer than usual, leaned forward."Then why can't crafters move with the army?" he asked. "Not as fighters. As battlefield engineers."A couple of heads turned."If you've got crafters who can manipulate earth," Josh continued, "they could dig trenches—shape berms. Throw up earthworks. That's still within their role. They wouldn't be fighting."Harold didn't answer right away."That's a fair question," he said finally.He walked back to the table and rested a hand on the terrain model."Yes," Harold said. "In theory, crafters can move with an army and do exactly what you're describing. Digging. Reinforcement. Controlled shaping. All of that stays within role."Hale nodded slowly. "That would change engagements.""It would," Harold agreed. "And some Lords do it, we probably will too."Josh tilted his head. "But.""But," Harold said, "it turns every engagement into a risk calculation that can't be undone."He looked around the table.Battlefields are chaotic. Lines break. Scouts slip through. A crafter doesn't need to be fighting to die. One arrow, one ambush, one mistake—these are their death sentences. They won't respawn. Just being there cancels their respawn function. Lords employ assassins to find and eliminate them. It's chaotic.Beth frowned. "And losing a crafter isn't like losing a soldier.""No," Harold said. "It's worse. You don't replace them. You can train another one. But lose that capability for a time."Lira spoke up quietly. "And most of us aren't trained to think under fire. My home city employed battlefield crafters. They had their own guard detachment that followed them everywhere."Harold nodded. "Exactly. Using crafters as battlefield engineers works right up until the first time it doesn't."Josh exhaled. "So it's a siege thing. Not a field battle thing.""Mostly," Harold said. "Prepared ground. Defensive positions. Controlled environments."He met Josh's eyes."There may be moments where I take that risk," Harold said. "But it will never be the default. And it will never be casual."Silence followed, not uncomfortable, just thoughtful.Mark spoke quietly. "So every time you bend a role, you're betting something you can't get back."Harold nodded. "That's the cost."Caldwell cleared his throat."One thing I'd like clarified," he said carefully. "Your potion works."A few eyes shifted to Harold."You're producing them," Caldwell continued. "Which implies the role system allows it. But you've also been very clear about staying in lanes."Harold nodded. He'd expected the question."Anyone can do anything," he said. "That's the part people misunderstand."Beth frowned. "Then why bother with roles at all?""Because roles decide how good you can get," Harold replied.He leaned back against the table."I can brew potions," he said. "I can make basic healing draughts. I can even push the quality a bit because of settlement perks."Josh tilted his head. "But.""But I'll never be great at it," Harold said. "Not the way a dedicated alchemist would be."He gestured vaguely toward the hall beyond the door."When we produced the first potion here, the village earned the world's first perk for potions. That helped me with improved output."Caldwell nodded slowly. "Infrastructure bonuses.""Exactly," Harold said. "But personal perks? The ones that matter and allow me to really produce some amazing potions? I can't get them."Margaret looked up. "Because they're role-locked.""Yes," Harold said. "I'll never earn the perks that reduce reagent loss, stabilize volatile brews, improve potency per unit, or let someone experiment without killing themselves."He paused, then added, "I had those last time, even got a few that allowed me to manipulate temperature."The room didn't interrupt him."I could brew faster. Cleaner. Safer," Harold said. "I could push limits I won't touch now. Not because I forgot how. Because the system won't support me doing it."Caldwell considered that. "Which means when a real potion specialist comes along…""I step back," Harold said immediately. "I train them. I support them. And I stop being the bottleneck. Which is what I'm trying to do now with my students, but teaching them mana manipulation is taking longer than I thought it would.""Ok, any more questions?" Harold asked, clapping his hands. I'm telling you all this because in the future we will transition from this building phase to the development phase, because that is what will drive our fledgling village to a city and beyond.He reached down and slid a thin stack of slates onto the table."Last thing," Harold said. "I've taken care to copy down every perk the settlement has earned so far. Look it over."His gaze hardened slightly."After this meeting, I'm destroying it."