#Goodmountain

[stupidphototricks]

Dwarf tradition, in The Truth. Long quote but there is so much to unpack here.

"A dwarf needs gold to get married." "What… like a dowry? But I thought dwarfs didn't differentiate between--" "No, no, the two dwarfs getting married each buy the other dwarf off their parents." "Buy?" said William. "How can you buy people?" "See? Cultural misunderstanding once again, lad. It costs a lot of money to raise a young dwarf to marriageable age. Food, clothes, chain mail… it all adds up over the years. It needs repaying. After all, the other dwarf is getting a valuable commodity. And it has to be paid for in gold. That's traditional. Or gems. They're fine, too. You must've heard our saying 'worth his weight in gold'? Of course, if a dwarf's been working for his parents, that gets taken into account on the other side of the ledger. Why, a dwarf who's left off marrying till late in life is probably owed quite a tidy sum in wages—You're still looking at me in that funny way…" "It's just that we don't do it like that…" mumbled William. Goodmountain gave him a sharp look. "Don't you, now?" he said. "Really? What do you use instead, then?" "Er… gratitude, I suppose," said William. He wanted this conversation to stop, right now. It was heading out over thin ice. "And how's that calculated?" "Well… it isn't, as such…" "Doesn't that cause problems?" "Sometimes." "Ah. Well, we know about gratitude, too. But our way means the couple start their new lives in a state of… g'daraka… er, free, unencumbered, new dwarfs. Then their parents might well give them a huge wedding present, much bigger than the dowry. But it is between dwarf and dwarf, out of love and respect, not between debtor and creditor… though I have to say these human words are not really the best was of describing it. It works for us. It has worked for a thousand years." "I suppose to a human it sounds a bit… chilly," said William. Goodmountain gave him another studied look. "You mean by comparison to the warm and wonderful ways humans conduct their affairs?" he said. "You don't have to answer that one. Anyway, me and Boddony want to open up a mine together, and we're expensive dwarfs. We know how to work lead, so we thought a year or two of this would see us right." "You're getting married?" "We want to," said Goodmountain. "Oh… well, congratulations," said William. He knew enough not to comment on the fact that both dwarfs looked like small barbarian warriors with long beards. All traditional dwarfs looked like that.* *Most dwarfs were still referred to as "he" as well, even when they were getting married. It was generally assumed that somewhere under all that chain mail one of them was female and that both of them knew which one this was. But the whole subject of sex was one that traditionally minded dwarfs did not discuss, perhaps out of modesty, possibly because it didn't interest them very much, and certainly because they took the view that what two dwarfs decided to do together was entirely their own business. — Terry Pratchett, The Truth

I super love the footnote, of course, but unexpectedly now I kind of want this version of a dowry to be a thing. I mean, the dowries of the bad old days where the man basically bought the woman from her parents, that's not okay. But this.

I'm a parent, and in no way do I feel like my kid owes me for their upbringing, education, or even (I'm anticipating) a few years of post-college living at home. Not at all. I can't imagine not taking care of them or attaching any strings to that care.

But that's not what this is. Really, ideally, it's a way for parents and children to give each other the gift of the child's independence, their autonomy, their adulthood. To officially and tangibly say that their relationship from this point on is no longer parent/child, but something more on an equal level.

For that matter, I imagine the child is free not to have a relationship with their parents any more at all, if they want. No obligation, no guilt. If parents want to be in their kids' lives when they're adults, they'll need to make sure their kids actually like them as people.

Well. I know that our world of humans doesn't work like this. Even if we put a monetary value on what we owed our parents and paid it, we'd still feel obligated to them, at least a little. Even if our kids paid us back, we'd still feel like we had the right to control them, at least a little.

But man. That g'daraka thing sounds wonderful.

[zagreuses-art]

a poster/cover for The Truth I designed in printing class. It uses risograph printing, relief carving, and typesetting.

[ID: a black and white relief print in the style of the illustrated police news. At the top inside the title "The Truth" is printed in bold . Below, in a room a photorealistic Gutenberg press is highlighted by a spunky halo of news print. Gunilla Goodmountain, a dwarf with a black beard and medieval style clothes, is standing with a hand on the press. His husband Boddony, another bearded dwarf, is holding a box of lead type. In the foreground William deWorde, a man with long-ish hair in a collared shirt, is sitting at a desk with a hand in his har, editing something with a pencil, he looks stressed. Sacharissa Crisplock, a woman with long curly hair in a vaguely Victorian dress, is leaning over the end of the desk with a sheaf of paper. Otto chreik, a dracula style vampire in a tailed waistcoat, is holding up an iconograph. At the bottom of the illustration "Pratchett" is printed in a border in smaller bold text. End ID]

Easter eggs:

- the printing press is a reconstructed Gutenberg press

- the news text behind it features an apology from the Oxford Gazette (arguably first newspaper) about the last edition being delayed due to The Great Fire Of London; a letter to the editor of the London Times by Charles Dickins; a page of ads from the 1800's; and a article from the Illustrated Police News about a 'orrible murder

- i based the art style on the Illustrated Police New's more cartoon-y illustrations

- I based Gunilla Goodmountains design on a illustration of Gutenberg

- I meant to have the text be in Boddoni (because that's the other dwarfs name) but I mixed up font trays and it ended up being Weiss I think, the "Pratchett" is in sestina I believe

- it was really hard to line up all three layers of this

[potato-lord-but-not]

Some doodles and slight redesigns !!

[pratchettquotes]

"Ah, good," said the Patrician. "Now, I would just like to ask one or two questions, if I may?"

Goodmountain nodded.

"Firstly, is Mr. Cut-My-Own-Throat Dibbler involved in this enterprise in any significant managerial capacity?"

"What?" said William. He hadn't been expecting this.

"Shifty fellow, sells sausages--"

"Oh, him. No. Just the dwarfs."

"I see. And is this building built on a crack in space-time?"

"What?" said Gunilla.

The Patrician sighed. "When one has been the ruler of this city as long as I have," he said, "one gets to know with a sad certainty that whenever some well-meaning soul begins a novel enterprise they always, with some kind of uncanny foresight, site it at the point where it will do maximum harm to the fabric of reality." [...]

"What?" said Goodmountain.

"We haven't noticed any cracks," said William.

"Ah, but possibly on this very site a strange cult once engaged in eldritch rites, the very essence of which permeated the neighborhood, and which seeks only the rite, ahaha, circumstances to once again arise and walk around eating people?"

"What?" said Gunilla. He looked helplessly at William, who could only add:

"They made rocking horses here."

"Really? I've always thought there was something slightly sinister about rocking horses," said Lord Vetinari, but he looked subtly disappointed.

Terry Pratchett, The Truth* *For the anon who requested the bit about cracks in space-time from this excellent conversation in The Truth, where Vetinari demonstrates the Ankh-Morpork approach to urban planning.

[pourablecat]

Hi! Love your doodles!

How about Gunilla Goodmountain & Bodoni finally getting married?

Boddony: In public? W-why on earth would you want to see that???

Goodmountain: I never knew you were such a voyeur, William.

[sparkly-angell]

There is no cis dwarf in Discworld

[falliblefabrial]

LOOK WHAT MY FRIEND DREWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Inducting new people into Discworld one friend at a time

baby’s first discworld fanart ✌️ Guess which book i started with lol

[stupidphototricks]

The thing about The Truth is that it's actually a great action movie. I mean of course it is:

"Do you know what they called a sausage-in-a-bun in Quirm?" said Mr. Pin, as the two walked away. "No?" said Mr. Tulip. "They call it le sausage-in-le-bun." -- Terry Pratchett, The Truth

But my very favorite scene, the one that reaches out and grabs me, is when Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip are threatening William in the newsroom, and the realization hits that Goodmountain can secretly communicate with William through typesetting:

Goodmountain's hand moved again, flicking letter after letter from its nest. Armed? coff 4 yes -- Terry Pratchett, The Truth

which is brilliant, so there's a silently-planned insurrection with an unexpected denouement that all plays out as if it was filmed in Technicolor with surround sound, teach me your ways, Sir Terry.

And we're only a little over halfway through the book here. There's still time for characters to make light conversation as everything falls apart around them:

"And there's another magazine that would sell, too," said Sacharissa. Behind her, a piece of the press collapsed. "Hello? Hello? I know my mouth is opening and shutting," said Goodmountain. "Is any sound getting out?" "Cats," said Sacharissa. "Lots of people like cats. Pictures of cats. Stories about cats. I've been thinking about it. It could be called... Completely Cats." -- Terry Pratchett, The Truth

and for Chekhov's Paper Spike to fulfill its purpose, and for Sacharissa to try out some nonstandard negotiation tactics:

"Let us use your 'ing' presses or I'll 'ing' shoot your 'ing' head 'ing' off!" she screamed. "I think that's how you're supposed to say it, isn't it?" -- Terry Pratchett, The Truth

and for Otto to save the day again:

Otto Chriek dropped to the floor, hands raised like talons. "Good evening!" he said to a shocked bailiff. He looked at his hand. "Oh, vot am I thinking of!" He bunched his fists, and danced from foot to foot. "Put zem up in the traditional Ankh-Morpork pugilism!" -- Terry Pratchett, The Truth

and for William to get A Talking To from Law Enforcement:

"Fred, send someone to take Mr. de Worde down to the cells, will you?" he yelled. "I'm calling it protective custody for now," he added, turning back to William." "Protecting me from whom?" "Well, I personally have an overwhelming urge to give you a ding alongside the ear," said Vimes. "But I suspect there are others out there without my self-control." -- Terry Pratchett, The Truth

and for a poignant moment when it's all over:

"I mean, I didn't try to do anything. I thought: This is a Story, and I have to tell it." "Yep," said Sacharissa, still bowed over her writing. "We've been press-ganged." "But it's not--" "Look at it like this," said Sacharissa, starting a fresh page. "Some people are heroes. And some people jot down notes." "Yes, but that's not very--" Sacharissa glanced up, and flashed him a smile. "Sometimes they're the same person," she said. -- Terry Pratchett, The Truth

which, I mean. You see it, right?

Sir Terry Pratchett.

Our hero.

Who thought of Stories, and had to tell them.

[potato-lord-but-not]

just a little doodle dump!! don’t mind the genshin men I drew them for my sister for xmas

[wellplayed-tp]

Just woke up in a cold sweat.

Imagine:

William De Worde

Sacharissa Cripslock

Otto Von Chriek

Gunilla Goodmountain

Now imagine:

Carrot Ironfounderson

Angua Von Uberwald

Detritus

Cheery Littlebottom

Now... swap their stories.

Imagine Carrot, Angua, Detritus and Cheery being the ones to start the Ankh Morpork Times.

Imagine William, Sacharissa, Otto and Goodmountain getting the Watch off the ground.

Personal favourite mental images:

Detritus as iconographer, just lumbering around with a camera slung on his neck trying to "appreciate da beauty of da play of light"

Imagine Carrot, a dwarf that also happens to be a human that may be the heir to the throne is the person trying to get The Truth to the people whilst also trying to save the current holder of the throne

Angua, a werewolf with a nose for news and ready to fight as AM's first newspaper reporter, who absolutely understands the suggestive phrasing she's put into reports and has no intention of stopping until Carrot turns crimson

Cherry, ex alchemist coming to terms with her identity is now the leader of this band of dwarves bringing forbidden arts to AM so that she can raise enough money to go back to mountains and buy herself from her parents and earn the freedom to be herself

And then of course:

William De Worde, son of Old Lord De Worde, is the first volunteer for the City watch in decades. Obviously, just to spite his father initially, but one does not arrest a dragon without learning a thing or two about camaraderie

Sacharissa, the first openly female officer, blushing at the lockeroom talk, inadvertently finding out who did what crime because "men tell her things"

Otto, the Watch's first Vampire recruit. Vimes. Need I say more?

Goodmountain, just trying to make an honest bit of cash so that he can marry the dwarf of his dreams, training directly under Nobby and finding out just how lucrative a job in the watch can be.

Chef's kiss.

[haiimrowie]

Btw the notes on this post are an absolute goldmine ❤️

It’s not a Discworld joke unless you read it, don’t parse it as a joke, and then carry on with your life for ten years until someone stops you to say something like “It’s a pavlovian response because the dog ate a pavlova” and you scream Terry’s name with enough indignant rage you hope it rattles the pillars of the multiverse so wherever his soul is he’ll hear it.

[itsmultifandommadness]

All ye who hath read ‘The Truth’

Ok so, I’ve almost finished reading ‘the Truth’ (yay) and I have no idea which ship is my favourite out of these because they all kind of work:

William x Sacharissa - Their personalities complement each other well but they both made it explicitly clear they would never be interested in each other

William x Otto - You guys see it too right? They would have that good friends to lovers story and both are pretty dramatic in their own ways but they would have a painful amount to learn about each other

Sacharissa x Otto - Makes sense, they work well together but I can’t tell if it should be brotp or otp

William x Sacharissa x Otto - Kind of solves the whole problem and in theory it could work but they always seem to be split into pairs never really giving us time to see them as a trio

Or alternatively:

Shipping none of them together and just having a really chaotic three person friend group, with Goodmountain kind of being an exasperated dad

I have literally no clue!

[j-august]

This time it was William who restrained Goodmountain. 'Hold on, hold on, there must be a law against killing lawyers.' 'Are you sure?' 'There're still some around, aren't there? Besides, he's a zombie. If you cut him in half both bits will sue you.'

Terry Pratchett, The Truth

[discworldtour]

“Then who is running the city?” said William. “I don’t know,” said Mr. Slant. “That is not my concern. I--” “Mr. Goodmountain?” said William. “Large type, please.” “Got you,” said the dwarf. His hand hovered over a fresh case. “In caps, size to fit, ‘Who Runs Ankh-Morpork?’“ said William. “Now into body type, upper and lowercase, across two columns: ‘Who is governing the city while Lord Vetinari is imprisoned? Asked for an opinion today, a leading legal figure said he did not know and it was no concern of his. Mr. Slant of the Lawyers’ Guild went on to say--’“ “You can’t put that in your newspaper!” barked Slant. “Set that directly, please, Mr. Goodmountain.” “Setting it already,” said the dwarf, the leaden slugs clicking into place. Out of the corner of his eye William saw Otto emerging from the cellar and looking puzzled at the noise. “‘Mr. Slant went on to say...’?” said William, glaring at the lawyer. “You will find it very hard to print that,” said Mr. Carney, ignoring the lawyer’s frantic hand signals, “with no damn press!” “‘...was the view of Mr. Carney of the Guild of Engravers,’ spelled with an e before the y,” said William, “‘who earlier today tried to put the Times out of business by means of an illegal document.’“ William realized that, although his mouth felt full of acid, he was enjoying this immensely. “‘Asked for his opinion of this flagrant abuse of the city laws, Mr. Slant said...’?” “STOP TAKING DOWN EVERYTHING WE SAY!” yelled Slant. “...Full caps for the whole sentence please, Mr. Goodmountain.”

-- power of the printing press | Terry Pratchett, The Truth

[pomrania]

So we all know Terry Pratchett was a fantastic wordsmith, yeah? I picked up the closest Discworld book I had ('The Truth'), turned to a random page, and here's some extremely normal and boring sentences he'd written:

The trolls and the dwarfs were staring at William and the lawyer.

"What are you intending to do with this picture?"

Slant glared at him, and then marched back to the group by the door.

They left.

Goodmountain turned to his workers.

And this was on a spread where there was a lot of dialogue, and a lot of witty sentences; even with that, even written by a master of the craft, there were five sentences with absolutely NOTHING interesting about them, just entirely functional.

[repeating to myself in the mirror] it is fine to write serviceable workaday sentences. not all of them have to be the God-King of Sentences, beautiful in structure, deft in word choice, gilded in metaphor, etc. sometimes a guy has to get from one side of a room to the other.

[oracle-of-moon]

As I said before, I am an incorrigible fan of Discworld, a series of books that already has some adaptations for TV. These days I was sketching the look of the protagonists of The Truth, one of the books in the series. And here they are =]