I Forfeit My Title...

[Straw]

He can give up the title...but he is still a questor. Quitting the title does not remove the obligation to fulfill the contract.

The way I read it doing this does in fact remove the obligation. If Quentyn isn't the Questor of Freeman Downs he is not the titled successor. Him still being a questor doesn't mean a thing in this contract because if it did the Guild of Archivists could have just pinned this duty to any other questor about(when there still were other questors).

Also I have this odd idea that Quentyn will still go on this mission(if not right away then later). After giving up his title the town is off the hook so to say and Quentyn can go on to this journey in order to reclaim that title without worrying that the Guild of Archivists finds some loop hole which allows them to collect what is "theirs" and that he can return home even if he hasn't completed the mission yet. Well that sounded so much better in my mind...

[Greatbeast]

I agree, forfeiting the title wont work...

But it seems to me that the archivist guild might be out to

1) Get their stuff back

or

2) Make some money off some free land.


and I hghly suspect that

3) someone highly placed got annoyed with Quentyn and had an underling go searching day and night for some legal way to get revenge on Quentyn. Possibly the archivist guild is either being used for this role ("Hey Bill, I just found a little historical fact....those missing artifacts are worth a fortune, still missing, and there is someone liable for the task of finding them or having to pay back the guild what its owed....just think of how much good that money would do!"), or is just greedy.



("Hey

[Richter B.]

why is it when i seen that medal hit the ground the music
"Dun Dun Dunnn!!!" played in my head....
now what happens....

[Grumpywolfhound]

why is it when i seen that medal hit the ground the music
"Dun Dun Dunnn!!!" played in my head....
now what happens....

I was thinking more of the dramatic slo-mo, no music at all, the amplified CLANK when it hit the floor, then dead silence.

As far as the archivists go, I think everyone's giving them too much credit. They're bureaucrats, no more, no less. They found a loophole to exploit and went after it like a Senator after a lobbyist. Yes, someone of power may have pointed them in Q's direction, but there's no way to figure out WHO until Ralph lets slip with some more clues.

Boiled down, our hero is faced with a "damned if you do..." choice to save his home town, and our yet unnamed antagonist is in "can't loose" situation.

[Dalak Lutra]

baffled, bamboozled...confused...Slightly agitated. Congrats Ralph, you've out done us once again.

[Shyal_malkes]

nothing like a plot twist to get the forum really cooking

[EdBecerra]

Of course, there's the flip side to this. If it IS a case of the Archivist's Guild being manipulated into serving as a weapon and that comes out...

Well, the government of Sanctuary had a point - if the truth about Quentyn's previous adventure had come out, there would have been fear and panic in the streets, possibly ending in civil disturbances.

Should THIS little attempt by the power hungry in Sanctuary (if indeed that's what this is) leak, it could take down the government as a whole.

I agree with the previous poster - whomever's behind this thinks that (a) Quentyn doesn't have the stones for the job, or (b) he has the stones, but not the ability to pull it off.

And they're failing to plan for the worst case - that he DOES pull it off.

It strikes me as being very Chamberlain-ish. They refuse to plan for the worst, and as a result their plans will go down in flames while they have a confused expression on their faces, screeching in the best villain-ish manner "How is this possible? I/We are INVINCIBLE!!"

[Doink]

Y'know what this reminds me of? Final Fantasy VII. Specifically, the part in which the party learns that Sephiroth is alive and leaves the city of Midgar. The game got much better after that, so this is nothing but good news for me.

Plus, I've always enjoyed human-furry interaction. Even if this interaction should culminate in a disaster that rivals the Hindenburg crash in proportion.

[Greatbeast]

Im suspecting that what happens is this:

They dont think Quentyn will TRY to fulfill the mission in the first place, so they end up winning. (Weee! Free land!!)

If he tries and fails....well at no cost to them, they can Try to collect back debts "owed" by the village to them. Also whoever started this gets rid of Quentyn.

If he tries and succeeds then they get their artifacts back.

One way or the other it leads a step closer to official Trade with humans (Profit!) or a tragedy where humans are considered far more dangerous, borders are shut even tighter, and maybe a "fear factor" goes into play while someone siezes power under the guise of Protecting Everyone (everyfurr ?)

I wonder where Rosad's deciples are, if they even still exist.

[Chaser617]

The problem being that we don't exactly know how the 'central' government of the Seven Villiges works. WE're admitedly taking a lot of liberties with the systems that we do know. We have no idea weather these are conspiritors, or, even worse in my books, some bloody beuracrat figured out a 'I' wasn't dotted correctly, and lord knows how the 'crats think that is a mortal sin....

[Maxgoof]

why is it when i seen that medal hit the ground the music
"Dun Dun Dunnn!!!" played in my head....
now what happens....

I was thinking more of the dramatic slo-mo, no music at all, the amplified CLANK when it hit the floor, then dead silence.

Nah, nah....

More like a *CLANK* medal bounces a bit, and flip *CLINK* smaller bounce and flip *CLINK*CLINK*ROLL*ROLL*ROLL*THUD* as it rolls around like a spinning coin coming to rest.

THEN dead silence.

[Maxgoof]

Of course, there's the flip side to this. If it IS a case of the Archivist's Guild being manipulated into serving as a weapon and that comes out...

Well, the government of Sanctuary had a point - if the truth about Quentyn's previous adventure had come out, there would have been fear and panic in the streets, possibly ending in civil disturbances.

Should THIS little attempt by the power hungry in Sanctuary (if indeed that's what this is) leak, it could take down the government as a whole.

I agree with the previous poster - whomever's behind this thinks that (a) Quentyn doesn't have the stones for the job, or (b) he has the stones, but not the ability to pull it off.

And they're failing to plan for the worst case - that he DOES pull it off.

It strikes me as being very Chamberlain-ish. They refuse to plan for the worst, and as a result their plans will go down in flames while they have a confused expression on their faces, screeching in the best villain-ish manner "How is this possible? I/We are INVINCIBLE!!"

Okay, think about this a bit...

What do the Archivists gain in getting back the land of Freeman Downs? They gain a bunch of land. What use is land to Archivists? Not much. What they want are the artifacts. That's why they were willing to exchange the land for the artifacts, even if it seemed unlikely that they could be recovered.

So, why press their claim now? What do the gain? Again...land...not worth much to an Archivist.

No, the only conclusion is that they are being pushed into doing this, but it is not to silence or get to Quentyn. He can be a Questor with or without the badge, and they know it. He can talk whether he has the title or not.

No, this move was not to get to Quentyn. This move was done because they saw an opportunity presented now that Freeman Downs had a Questor. As a means to get rid of the town.

Why do that?

I'll leave it to you to speculate.

[Madmoonie]

I'll leave it to you to speculate.

Don't do that! I get crazy notations when I do that.

[Wanderwolf]

It strikes me as being very Chamberlain-ish. They refuse to plan for the worst, and as a result their plans will go down in flames while they have a confused expression on their faces, screeching in the best villain-ish manner "How is this possible? I/We are INVINCIBLE!!"

Obviously, you're not familiar with Lord Vetinari. Most successful Archchancellor Ankh-Morpork has ever had, and the longest lived... because he is that most dangerous of creatures:

A heartless but brilliant bureaucrat.

For example: Readers know that a member of the Ankh-Morpork Guards is the rightful heir to the throne of Ankh-Morpork (vacant since the royal family was put to the torch long ago, thus the Archchancellor is in charge). Vetinari knows this, too. And he's doing absolutely nothing about it... because doing something about it would draw attention to the heir, thus assuring the revelation of his heritage. Better to do nothing and let the boy live out his life in happy obscurity.

Another example: Lord Vetinari has the best-appointed dungeons in the Ankh. Why? Very simple; he figures that he will, at some point, be made to spend time in them, so they'd better be comfortable (besides, it makes for fewer escape attempts).

Lord Vetinari could write the Evil Overlord List. While imprisoned in his well-appointed dungeon, he organized the rats into a cadre of personal servants... he's that good!

Yours truly,

The ready-to-bury-the-Pratchett,

Wanderer

[Straw]

I'll leave it to you to speculate.

Hmm... I speculate that the both you forgot the usage fees for that land for over a century. That's more than likely a pretty hefty sum of money. And if the lands revert back to the guild the town will have to either buy the land or start paying usage fees to the Guild(or move away but that's highly unlikely). In either case the Guild of Archivists is going to get a lot of money(since they can name the price). From my experience, money is a pretty strong motivator.

As for why now. I speculate that the cause are young apprentices in the Guild. With all the 'questor mania' in Sanctuary city I suspect that the young archivists have found the dusty old tomes to be a bit more interesting. Maybe the Guild has actually has got more students due to the sudden interest in old times and questors in specific. Someone must have noticed this little contract while trying to find material for finals.

[Jwrebholz]

No way is he getting off that easy. I see Q going on a very long trip in the very near future.

I'm actually kinda disappointed in him. The future of the town's existence is on the line, and he's just going to give up and walk away? Not cool. No questor = no contract. That much is likely true, but not in the way he's thinking. If he quits it's a breach of contract and the town is finished.

And land is worth much to an archivist. Land can be sold for money--LOTS of money. If they don't want to sell it, they can charge rent. I don't know about you, but the bank that owns the land my house sits on is making money hand over fist, as is the landlord that owns my brother's place.

Wealth is a very powerful motivator.

[Madmoonie]

It strikes me as being very Chamberlain-ish. They refuse to plan for the worst, and as a result their plans will go down in flames while they have a confused expression on their faces, screeching in the best villain-ish manner "How is this possible? I/We are INVINCIBLE!!"

Obviously, you're not familiar with Lord Vetinari. Most successful Archchancellor Ankh-Morpork has ever had, and the longest lived... because he is that most dangerous of creatures:

A heartless but brilliant bureaucrat.

For example: Readers know that a member of the Ankh-Morpork Guards is the rightful heir to the throne of Ankh-Morpork (vacant since the royal family was put to the torch long ago, thus the Archchancellor is in charge). Vetinari knows this, too. And he's doing absolutely nothing about it... because doing something about it would draw attention to the heir, thus assuring the revelation of his heritage. Better to do nothing and let the boy live out his life in happy obscurity.

Another example: Lord Vetinari has the best-appointed dungeons in the Ankh. Why? Very simple; he figures that he will, at some point, be made to spend time in them, so they'd better be comfortable (besides, it makes for fewer escape attempts).

Lord Vetinari could write the Evil Overlord List. While imprisoned in his well-appointed dungeon, he organized the rats into a cadre of personal servants... he's that good!

Yours truly,

The ready-to-bury-the-Pratchett,

Wanderer

Sorry to burst your bubble but I love Pratchett books and I need to correct a few things. First off, Vetiniri is a Patrician, not an Archchancellor. He also does nothing about Carrot being the rightful heir because does not want to be the King. Carrot knows, and Vetinari knows Carrot knows, and it also gives Vetinari a bit of legitamacy. Perhaps a bit of a power check for Vetinari as well. The reason he doesn't kill him is the Vetinari is not a heartless killer, and does not not promote unecessary violence (necessary violance on the other hand.....) That one cell is so great is because he knew that he might thrown in it someday. Most of them are not as well furbished or, for that matter, lock from the inside. Basically, the reason (IMHO) why Vetinari is so succesful is that he understands a great deal about the human (or other species as well) mind and knows how to get things done without them really knowing they are doing it. He dangerously intelligent, if you think about it, and with very minimal effort gets things done. He gets others to do things for him. Like Vimes or Lipvig.

[Tom Mazanec]

I am disappointed in Q. The heroic thing to do would be to go out after those artifacts. He has already succeeded in some (admittedly easier) quests. I never pictured him as a quitter. And how will it affect his career to be known that, when the going gets tough, Quentyn quits.

[RHJunior]

Yet, so far as he understands, the quest is impossible.... An unknown number of historical artifacts, lost over a hundred years ago, probably scattered all over the known world by this point.... and if he fails, the town is STILL lost. He knows the LAST questor "died in harness" and the debt still is standing, he's not yet been given any information that would say his part in the agreement would be any different.

You're not getting the full perspective here, the scope of the task.... or Quentyn's relative youth and inexperience. He's barely in his teens. For all his bravado, he's a half-trained stripling. And he lives in a nation that is so fearful of the outside world that it has shut itself off behind impassible barriers of swamp and fog. Any information they have about the outside world--- from cultural norms to maps-- is over a hundred years out of date at best..... what's more the outlands are populated by dangerous, violent giants known as humans, and other creatures and races even more dangerous than that.

You've basically gone back to the 18th century and asked a 16 year old boy to take his popgun and a sack lunch and plunge, alone, into the unexplored heart of Darkest Africa looking for your great great granny's lost box of family heirlooms that someone sold to a jungle chieftain by mistake when she was 5.... when the last guy you sent apparently was killed because he vanished without a trace.

[Madmoonie]

This taking such a big leap it could be considered spaceworthy, but I don't suppose the 'civial war' was THE Civial War?