#gemcut

[luna4sart]

Guess who did a commission? This owl! For a pretty cool artist @smolsasaIt's kinda awesome that years after drawing her magic I get to draw her magic crystals too. ^^

[silverravenstudio]

✨𝘉𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘖𝘱𝘢𝘭✨

✧ On its own, Opal is well-revered. Throughout history, early humans thought of it as a mystical “night stone” that glowed in the confines of pitch-black caves. Eventually, it took on a meaning of mysticism and power. Many civilizations thought it held the remnants of spirits.

✧ Boulder Opal is unique in its own right. Miners first discovered it in 1870 in Australia. To this day, most of the Boulder Opal on the market is found in Western Queensland.

✧ Shamans & Healers believe that the overarching meaning of Boulder Opal is betterment. Its energy is about improving your life and chasing your dreams.

[dragonbleps]

opens seven tabs of research to get the right description for a phrase that'll be used exactly one (1) time in this WIP

that's just how writing goes

[stochastique-blog]

Love you

@lerogems НОВИНКА Гидротермальный хризоберилл!

Уникальный минерал, который так редко встречается в природе. Несмотря на свою редкость данный камень стал известен с древних времен и его востребованность не спадает с течением времени. Свое название хризоберилл получил от греческого слова “хризос” - “золотой”. Сегодня ТАЙРУС является мировым лидером по выращиванию уникальных драгоценных камней. Гидротермальный хризоберилл, по своим характеристикам абсолютно идентичный природному!

Еще один берилл из колл��кции TAIRUS GEMS. Сегодня хризоберилл популярен в Европе. Зелено-голубоватый оттенок, насыщенный цвет, высокое качество огранки – все это делает хризоберилл ТАЙРУС идеальным для создания и реализации ювелирных шедевров.

Основные характеристики хризоберилла: - Химическая формула: Al2BeO4. - Твердость: 8,5. - Плотность: 3,7. - Светопреломление: 1,744-1,755 #изумруд #рубин #сапфир #александрит #морганит #рубеллит #украшенияназаказ #ювелир #ювелиркиев #ювелирукраина #ювелирныекамни #lab_created #lerogems #labgemstone #gemstones #gemstone #coloredgems #coloredgem #labcreatedgems #created #labcreated #greengems #stone #green #rawstone #rawstones #cutstone #gems #gemcutting #emerald #gemlover #emeralds #ruby #colombianemerald #colombianstone #sapphire #огранка #огранкаподзаказ #ювелирныеизделия #ювелирныевставки #изделиеназаказ #ювелир #ювелирный #камень @lerogems https://www.instagram.com/p/BwrMUXQB5Xr/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=b89m50ns5rdi

[ariaste]

Can I ask your process on editing? I am currently in my second round of edits (beta read) for a short story collection and a second draft for a novel (which is getting A LOT of changes now that the first draft is done)

If everyone has a different writing process I have a feeling editing is even more varied but I'm curious to what your process is and how you decide to stop editing/which edit will be the final one

My editing process varies depending on the book. Every book is different, so every book has different needs. There are books I have published which are almost a raw first draft (Tadek and the Princess) and there are books I have spent 7 years drafting and redrafting and REDRAFTING (A Taste of Gold and Iron), and there are books which I drafted in 3 months and then had to do really heavy revisions on.

But if I had to pick sort of an overarching thing... Editing is about looking at the big picture. Like, if writing was coming up with the world, editing is about doing geographical surveys and strategic terraforming and paving over those initial trails you blazed through the wilderness. What helps with those tasks? A MAP. You cannot hold a whole book in your head at once, so if you know the draft is clunky and the engine is making weird noises when you rev it up, a useful trick that I sometimes use is to make a murderboard. A murderboard is essentially a map of the book. Here is a previous post i wrote about murderboards, with links to two examples of murderboards I did for actual published books.

As for when to stop editing... when I can take a step back from the book and say, "Yep, this is the way I want it to be." Sometimes that means taking it to a high polish that you can see your face in; sometimes it means intentionally leaving it rustic. It's like gemcutting versus those big log carvings that people make using only a chainsaw. Or photorealistic painting versus impressionism. They're both art, they're both beautiful, but the effect is different (and with writing, there's always a risk that someone will look at a piece of writing that is intentionally left "raw" and say "this is Bad BECAUSE it's not polished to a high gloss" rather than asking whether that might have been an intentional artistic choice on the part of the writer (or interrogating why they think something has to be "perfect" to be artistically valuable).

So I guess the lesson there is like... Develop the self-knowledge to be aware of what goal you're aiming for, know when you've reached it (or what steps you can take to move closer to it), trust the process but also admit when the process is over, and forgive yourself for being human. You can't actually make a perfect piece of art, and if you did then it wouldn't really be YOURS, would it? Your art is going to have your fingerprints on it. That's good, that's the point. And I really feel like in the age of AI, we as a society might start to develop a real appreciation for writing that IS raw in that way that only a human can produce, the same way that the advent of photography led to the huge rise in more stylized, "weird" art rather than purely representational art.

Hope that helps!

[samueldays]

I have made the mistake of letting myself be talked into running the Exalted RPG again. Rereading the 3e corebook, I am reminded that the mechanics are bizarrely bad in so many different ways.

Like many RPGs, Exalted has abstract skills that cover wide categories, as a matter of gameplay convenience and character archetypes. "Melee" skill applies to both dagger and polearm. "Perform" skill applies to both harp and trumpet. "Larceny" skill applies to both disguise and pickpocketing.

except for the "Craft" skill!

Craft is bought as a series of narrow subskills like Craft (carpentry) or Craft (woodwork) - yes, those are canonical examples. Some are oriented to a material like Craft (gemcutting), some are oriented to a result like Craft (weapon forging).

This is dumb in its own right, to have one skill which is sliced much more finely than the others, and so costs much more XP than the others to achieve similarly broad competence.

This is super dumb in the context of the previous edition, which tried dividing Craft only five ways by element: Air, Earth, Fire, Wood, Water. But then the previous edition quickly picked up esoteric elements like "Vitriol" and non-elements like "Necrotech" in splatbooks, and they had a great test case in Craft becoming bloated with too many subtypes, and a hint that Craft should be unified into a single skill. They did not take the hint.

And then there's Excellencies.

Exalted 2e was already suffering a problem of Charm bloat. ("Charm" is the name of a single discrete superpower, a character will have many of them.)

Exalted 3e made an attempt to slim that down by declaring that Excellencies, the basic dice-adder Charm, should not have their own rules entry and should not cost XP, being instead a side benefit of knowing a proper Charm in the appropriate Ability. It was not very effective, but there was an attempt.

And then I see that Exalted 3e reversed this decision for the Dragon-Blooded Charms, for some godforsaken reason. DB Excellencies were turned into a sort of Minimum Viable Product that is dice-adder + a tiny benefit like "a stunt award for this roll also gives a silver craft point". The benefit varies by Excellency.

So we are back to Charm bloat, PLUS de-standardization as an ass-backward reason for why Excellencies should exist as separate charms, PLUS inconsistency between Solar Excellency and Draconic Excellency mechanics in use, PLUS inconsistency at the abstraction level of character progression and learning Charms.

[satureja13]

The Boys are back home from their trip to Henford where they'd celebrated Summer Solstice. Time to return to their underground police department and send Ji Ho back ingame to investigate Jack's murder. Vlad isn't happy about this. There is a killer on the loose ingame. What if he kills Ji Ho too and Ji Ho has to endure his dying in full consciousness? Anything feels, smells, looks, sounds, tastes so real ingame. And so they are arguing back and forth. Ji Ho wants to go back. He wants to chase Jack's murderer and he needs to dig his feelings out. And he also wants to provide the Therapy Game for other creatures in need. Ji Ho and Vlad actually don't need to talk at all, they know very well how the other feels over their Bond. I guess they do this hoping the others would chime in and take their side. But they are just quietly doing their stuff and enjoy the show. Ji Ho and Vlad never talked to each other that much ^^' And even though they are arguing, that's a good sign that their relationship slowly evolves. Vlad: "Don't go." Ji Ho: "Jack is your best friend and there are creatures out there who need our help. You know I have to go. And I want to get my feelings back - I want to love you."

'Came in from the city walked into the door I turned around when I heard the sound of footsteps on the floor Said he was a killer, now I know it's true I'm dead when you walkout the door Hey babe I'm hooked on you

Can't stop now Don't you know I ain't never gonna let you go Don't go'

Yazoo - Don't Go

Eventually Vlad gave in. He also wants to arrest and punish Jack's killer. But he insisted to charge the bond before Ji Ho logs in. They are still a bit weak after teleporting the TukTuk and he wants Ji Ho in a good condition ingame, in full strength and awareness. What Ji Ho didn't expected was, that Vlad was kissing him instead of just hugging him, as usual! Poor Vlad. He must be very afraid and upset, so wants to make sure the Bond is fully charged. Otherwise he wouldn't have done this, since he always refuses any (avoidable) romantic interactions as long as Ji Ho doesn't love him.

Now Ji Ho doesn't want to leave ^^' Vlad: "Be careful. Come back to me - log out immediately if anything is odd." Ji Ho: "Don't worry. I will come back ..." and then he whispered "... for more."

Vlad wanted to watch over Ji Ho from inside the chamber but Sai didn't allow it. Vlad is so upset, he would pull out Ji Ho at the slightest disturbance and compromise their investigations. So he sat outside. Saiwa: "You gave him hell ^^' " Ji Ho: "You heard it?" Saiwa: "We all heard it." Ji Ho: "Oh."

The others were worried about Ji Ho too and wanted to watch his every move, but they continued their work to not make Vlad even more axious.

And then Princess Jihovere was back in Saarburg. Only a few minutes after she left the game. The crack was still there!

And there was still an opening! Princess Jihovere stepped closer to see what's down there.

'There's evil in the air and there's thunder in the sky And a killer's on the bloodshot streets And down in the tunnels where the deadly are rising Oh, I swear I saw a young boy down in the gutter He was starting to foam in the heat'

Bat out of Hell - Meatloaf

And then she saw him. There really was someone down there far below!

The Princess knelt on the ground to take a closer look and maybe find out who it was. And what he was doing. He was picking up the gemcut skull Greg had lost/sacrificed! Is this the crossroads demon who fulfilled Greg's imprecise 'change their hearts' wish, somehow mistook it and took Jack's heart so he died? ö.Ö' Omg and Greg said 'their hearts' - is there/will there be another corpse?

She must have made a careless noise because the demon looked up to her - and cast a spell! And he looks like Kiyoshi! (Since he's a NPC it's kind of obvious that Tiny Can chose Kiyoshi, because he really is a demon.)

The spell hit the Princess and for a few short seconds - before she blacked out - she felt everything. All her lost feelings - all at once. The pain, the loss, the sadness - but also joy and love! So much brighter than anything Ji Ho ever felt before!

Luckily Greg and The Queen still were near and heard the Princess' scream.

The Queen: "Godess! Is she dead?"

Greg carried the Princess back to Saarburg. When she regained consciousness, she looked in the lifeless eyes of a skeleton. Did the demon now kill her too?

Oh no, poor Vlad! They are monitoring everything back home, Vlad must have witnessed his death! And he felt through their bond what Ji Ho felt. He must be devastated. But Ji Ho can't log out yet. He's still ingame, not like Jack, who'd been kicked out after he found himself dead. Maybe he can ask the skeleton some questions about the demon? And maybe NPC Jack is here too? Wherever 'here' is...

to be continued...

TMI: After Vince Clarke left Depeche Mode, he and Alison Moyet formed Yazoo (they'd known each other since school days). Later Vince formed Erasure and Alison started a solo career. Alison Moyet has one of the most amazing voices I've ever heard o.o

The Therapy Game Master Post with the sessions and places so far is -> here

From the Beginning  ~  Underwater Love ~  Latest Current Chapter: 'Who killed Jack?' from the beginning ▶️ here Last Chapter: 🕹️ 'The One' from the beginning ▶️ here 📚 Previous Chapters: Chapters: 1-6 ~ 7-12 ~ 13-16 ~ 17-22 ~ 23-28

[noamuth]

House Strighym: Provider of Fine and Decorative Art

While many Noble Houses in Menzoberranzan vie for political power, strength and influence, Nedvyllanna prioritizes wealth and vanity. Her House is one of artists and crafters, the best of the best--particularly painters and jewelers.

Art is highly valued among Lolthite drow, and skilled artisans are at a premium. Nedvyllanna sends talent scouts out to peruse the bazaar whenever her current artisans seem to be stagnating, and this helps them not only look for new talent, but also to see what sort of trends are rising and falling in the markets.

Rather than talent scouts directly confronting a potential addition to the House's crafters, several pieces of their art is bought to bring back to Nedvyllanna and the Head House Merchant for appraisal. If deemed of high enough quality, the artist is brought into the House to serve as one of House Strighym's artisans.

Dalamus' skills were recognized as so valuable as to be brought into the House as a Master of Crafts for the decorative arts of gemcutting and silversmithing. In addition to creating jewelry to sell, he was also to oversee the other jewelers to make sure the quality remained high.

The other Master of Crafts, Kalanzar, was in charge of overseeing the same for the fine arts of painting and sculpture sold by House Strighym. Both of them report to the Head House Merchant, Rikorvir.

[the-world-annealing]

The Fairy Godmother's Gift

"...good heavens! Only your foot, of all the kingdom's, fits this glass slipper! Do you know what this means?"

"...yes my prince, it's me. The woman you dan-"

"Yeah, yeah, we'll get to that, what I want to know is how you made this slipper."

"Huh?"

"I mean, obviously I had my scholars take a look at this thing the moment I found it on my doorstep, and they all told me that it was utterly beyond modern glassblowing techniques. It fits only your foot, out of millions! Even the greatest artisans can't make anything to that degree of precision! And yet you carelessly left it behind as you ran away."

"I guessed the fairy godmother could always make new ones, if I really needed them."

"Wait, a fairy godmother? You have the favor of the fairies? Why are you living in squalor?"

"All her spells wears off at midnight. It's a literal party trick, nothing more."

"I'm quite literally still holding this slipper."

"That's weird, the rest of my outfit changed back. So it doesn't automatically transform back at midnight... and she can't just unconditionally reverse all her enchantments either... Which means the midnight thing was a lie, and she has to actively focus on an item to turn it back?"

"It would explain why the sole thing to retain its new shape was the one both of you misplaced. But the particulars don't matter, the fact that her creations can stick around permanently does."

"...and that means..."

"Our struggling kingdom is saved! We'll be the microengineering capital of the region, the empire, the world! Glassblowing, goldsmithing, gemcutting... and who knows, perhaps some future technology will greatly benefit from the ability to arrange gold thread with nanometer-level precision."

"Hold on, how are you getting the fairy godmother to play along with all that? She just wants to help her charges move up in the world. Me, my mother, my grandmother..."

"..."

"Oh."

"Ella... will you marry me?"

[lemonlamblaura]

For the fanfic ask game: 5. What’s something you learned while researching a fic?

Ooh, this was a fun one!

In chapter 10, I had to read about lapidaries, or rather, gemcutters. More precisely, I wanted to show a scene of the gemcutters working, and it took a lot of work to find historical accounts of how it was done, specifically in the late middle ages to Renaissance period. I suppose with newer methods of gemcutting, people didn't bother to keep much documentation of old ways of doing it. Most of what I learned I showed in the scene with the experienced lapidarist filing down a sapphire. I also learned that the dust from the gems was kept to use in medicine of all things! This is shown in chapter 20 when Astaroth comes back and gets an elixir made of juice, herbs, and crystal dust. Different crystals had different effects on the body. People also thought the light that shone from crystals was holy or had a special power to it. It was all very interesting!

Thanks for your question! 🩷🩷🩷

[dragonbleps]

Which of the Dals have killed the most? :)c

We love fictional death and violence <3

Okay SO, it's actually kind of interesting--

Dalamus Sarangerel (Final Fantasy 14/XIV), despite being the youngest of all (humanoid?) Dals and leaning more heavily towards the Good side of the Good/Neutral/Evil spectrum, has probably killed the most people. As Warrior of Light, he's basically a one man army and an unstoppable living weapon, sent into enemy territory often on his own and plowing through anyone (or anything) getting in his way, up to and including defeating gods. While he's a "good guy," whether his actions are "good" or not depends on perspective, of course. That's a lot of death.

Dalamus Rex (The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim), is next in line. Turned into a vampire against his will (or, rather, without his knowledge until it was too late), with no guidance from a Sire, and little regard for the lives of others, Dalamus was an unpredictable hellion for the first century of getting used to his vampirism. The day after he Turned, he slaughtered a good portion of Whiterun as guards attempted to take him in for the murder of his fiance, his first victim. Over the next century he would vacillate between guilt-ridden and blood-starved, and a blood-starved vampire kills far more than it needs to feed.

Over time, he has mellowed out and gotten himself under control, largely for the safety and comfort of his loved ones--they are the anchor of his morality. He does not kill to feed or indulge in bloodlust if he can help it. ...But he does enjoy ripping and tearing and maiming. He's scary in battle because he enjoys it, fights unfairly, and he's hard to kill.

Dalamus Strighym (DnD/Baldur's Gate 3). A Drow born in Menzoberranzan, one learns self defense really quickly in order to survive. But that is what most of his kills have been: self defense. That said, he does not shy away from killing if it serves his own interest, either. He killed his older brother Orgoll, and has killed rivals in the gemcutting/lapidary trade. He killed in defense of his Matron while serving House Strighym as Patron. And he kills enemies who threaten his goal of removing the Mind Flayer parasite and returning to Menzoberranzan (which he doesn't yet realize will never happen, barring one rescue mission).

Dalrex the Deathclaw (Fallout) admittedly new in my roster of Dals and not really fleshed out much, but as an Alpha Deathclaw, trouble tends to find him. He wants nothing more than to be left alone and hoard shiny objects and interesting materials and gadgets, but, well... When resources are scarce and rumor comes around there's a big pile of them sitting around somewhere, guarded by a single Deathclaw, some people are willing to take that chance.

Dalmatius Damon Rex (Fantasy Modern Earth AU). Damon Rex became a vampire on purpose in order to exact very dramatic revenge on his abusive father, killing him brutally. But beyond that, he has only ever killed maybe a handful of people over his 250 years, some out of self-defense, and some on accident when learning to control his new thirst. Maybe a few who discovered he was a vampire and attempted to slay him.

Pokemon verse Dal, MonHun verse Dal, and Stardew verse Dal have not killed anyone. As far as I know lmao

[strangerconnection]

honestly my gemverse shit so self indulgent etc etc i throw half these characters are like milk-soaked webkinz cats. ofc theres like indepth lore but on tbe surface level it looks like im just throwing some poor gems against a brick wall. theres so much convoluted random shit that i bullshit my way thru. like anathema beinf technically a fusion but actually he is the result of a fusion getting shattered and then rebuilt but with the pieces of both the silica n calcite n hes nothing like his old components

also the fucking calcites in general executioners who end up cannibals half the time bcuz they're meant to crush gems with their teeth. they got replaced eventually but a ton still exist AND they're a common accidental inclusion. so gems end up w calcite traits often

also the process of gem-making.... so they're injected into kindergartens BUT they're taken out later in the form of raw gems and they are given their gemcuts by WARDITES via cutting with super sharp claws. this is also how certain defects and cut qualities occur. then once the gems are put back in the kindergartens to have their forms develop fully n later emerge :-P

[vythanis]

🦴Have they ever broken a bone or had any sort of major injuries before? If so, what was their ailment?

Vy'thanis has been remarkably lucky when it comes to breaking bones, but not quite so lucky when it comes to major injuries. He has a two-ilm wide band of scarring around both wrists from the time he spent as captive of an insane void-hunter. (Content warning for torture on that prompt I linked.) He was chained up and the shackles tore up his skin, then got badly infected. The conjurer did what he could when Vyth was rescued, but the infection was pernicious and left scarring.

He's got multiple nicks and cuts on his hands and fingers from slipping with a chisel while gemcutting, as well as a scar on the back of his head from falling in the creek and hitting a rock when he was ten.

[clouseplayssims]

So I'm working on behind-the-scenes things for Edirann while getting ready for round 3, and I need some thoughts/opinions on hobbies!

I'm trying to make my lists an even number for the sake of ease (I tend to roll dice) and I'm stuck on some.

As a refresher:

Arts & Crafts

1. Painting 2. Flower Arranging 3. Drafting 4. Candlemaking 5. Knitting 6. Sculpting 7. Sewing 8. Basketweaving 9. Dyeing Fabric 10. Toy Carving 11. Weaving Fabric 12. Soapmaking 13. Pottery 14. Care for Bonsai 15. Pet Rock 16. Sculpting

Cuisine

1. Cooking 2. Baking 3. Bartending 4. Gluttony 5. Winemaking 6. Candy Making 7. Growing Food 8. Tea Ceremony 9. Raising Livestock (for the sake of food) 10. Juicing

Film & Lit (need 1 more option!!)

1. Reading 2. Scholarly Discussion 3. Writing 4. Listening to Stories 5. Watching Plays 6. Acting 7. Telling Dragon Legend 8. ????

Fitness (need 1 more option!!)

1. Swimming 2. Skating 3. Log Rolling 4. Cardio 5. Yoga 6. Tai Chi 7. Horseback Riding 8. Chopping Wood 9. Martial Arts 10. ????

Games

1. Puzzle Games 2. Chess 3. Darts 4. Poker 5. Pool 6. Skittles 7. Axe Throwing 8. Knife Throwing 9. Planning Sieges 10. "Train Set" (need a better word for it, and a default)

Music & Dance (need 1 more option!!)

1. Dancing 2. Organ/Piano 3. Harp 4. Fiddle 5. Lute (regular) 6. Lute (exotic) 7. Drums 8. Singing 9. Violin 10. Chinese Zither 11. Reciting Sonnets 12. Listening to Music 13. Firedancing 14. ????

Nature

1. Entomology (bug hunting) 2. Fishing 3. Birds 4. Cloud Watching 5. Hiking 6. Rodent Keeping 7. Beekeeping 8. Trapping 9. Gathering Flowers 10. Gardening 11. Foraging 12. Chickenkeeping 13. Mining 14. Livestock Keeping 15. Pressing Oils 16. Ant Keeping

Science (need 1 more option!!)

1. Stargazing 2. Weather 3. Metallurgy 4. Bubble Blowing 5. Magical Technology 6. Studying Slides 7. Giving Lectures 8. Anatomy 9. Potion Making 10. Collecting Geodes/Fossils 11. Worm in a Jar 12. ???

Sports (need 1 more option!!)

1. Soccer 2. Netball 3. Golf 4. Boxing 5. Tossing a Ball 6. Hunting 7. Jousting 8. Fencing 9. Dueling 10. Archery 11. Swordfighting 12. ????

Tinkering (need 1 more option!!)

1. Repairing 2. Woodworking 3. Carpentry 4. Gnome Making 5. Barrel Making 6. Blacksmithing 7. Gemcutting 8. Smelting 9. Repairing Wagon Wheels 10. Armorsmithing 11. Leatherworking 12. "Robotics" (need a better description) 13. Restoring "Carriages" 14. ????

[placesyoucallhome]

FFXIVWrite #6 Ring

He’d grown up not that far from the Chapel of the Twelve, deep in the Shroud, where only bandits and sylphs bothered to go otherwise. He would hear the bells chime in the morning and night, welcoming Azeyma and Mephina, day after day after day. His tribe hadn’t, entirely, acquiesced to the wider traditions of Eorzea, having their own ceremonies between couples under the eyes of Mephina alone. But there was usually still an exchange of something, jewelry, a ring. 

An unending band, meant to mean eternity. He’d made a fair few, especially when he was still training, earning his keep and hospice bed. Rough at first, but goldwork he’d caught on to quickly. Gemcutting not so much. Making and remaking the same ring over and over and over, enough so he’d once wondered if they were giving them out like pieces of cheap candy. They were probably melting them down in the back, actually. 

He knew it was all bullshit anyways, stones fell out and bands broke, people returning rings when the coupling fell through, the protective ring of the Twelve shattering over his head as he realized the wolf Dalamud was instead a dragon. 

He no longer took orders for rings, having decided to specialize in clockwork instead, making and remaking mammets, some well older than he. They could possibly exist forever, with regular maintenance especially, right? Magitek had, if the tales he’d heard of Azys Lla were true. Besides, those eternal bonding bands were supposed to go on the left hand, weren’t they? Would they mean a thing if he had no hand to put it on? Or maybe the clockwork hand he created would survive far beyond him, an artifact to discover long after he was gone. 

Nemo frowned down at the golden metal hand he was strapping to his arm, it creaked as he thought, fingers shuddering as he concentrated on stretching them out, and curling them in, six gems on his wrist flickering and connecting to his aetherial current. The heat of summer made his mottled skin ache and burn, even more so in the sweltering Thavnairian sun, but he had a new ring of gems to worry about, and a sennight to try and find them. He’d make something worth lasting the test of time, he just… needed a better gemcutter to do it.

[jbt7493]

yknow what'd be cute? (dwarf fortress feature) if different... okay this is like my minecraft opinions. Uh if the game had like, ideal cuts for different types of gems so that it knew like, okay, an emerald cut emerald is gonna be better than a tapered baguette cut emerald but a brilliant diamond is better than a table cut diamond.

but first off like the basis you'd use for that is subjective anyway and secondly you dont have control over what type of cut you get so either you'd just be slightly changing the average value of the gemcutting job and adding more variance to it (frustrating if you get the "wrong" cut repeatedly on your expensive gems), you'd make higher skill gemcutters more likely to randomly pick the "right" cut (this would be the reason to do it, since cut gems don't have a quality level so gemcutter skill isnt super meaningful, but then you'd end up with ONLY emerald cut emeralds and it'd make it less fun), or you'd get the ability to pick and then it'd be just as much a case of it being boring that all emeralds are emerald cut instead of having variety with zero upside

it might be neat if in history scholars/gemcutters could discover/invent new gem cuts. i was thinking about how like, scholardwarves can for instance discover the germ theory of disease. but it doesnt seem to have any mechanical impact. it'd be neat if civilizations and scholars discovering new things gradually changed the technology level available to you. but that would be... a whole nother game on top of what is already a hell of a fuckin game. does seem a little silly that a civilization can be largely identical for a thousand years though. i mean its not like human civilization didnt have stagnation periods but in dwarf fortress you can achieve all the criteria that should be necessary to get some technological progress from pretty much any model of history but especially the correct one - enough food that everyone comfortably eats 3 meals a day and the stockpile only grows, big booms in population, people are able to spend time on labor other than engaging in food production and construction, and plenty of incentive for a new technological leap - and you can get scholars discovering new things. but you can't use them. well, obviously its just not a developed feature. but it does seem like the sort of thing that they should want to do eventually; im not sure they do, since i know there's a specifically desired tech level that they see themselves at in terms of development. i mean i guess it's just preferable to keep things available as you add new features instead of adding new features that you need to fuckin grind to get access to.

would also make it annoying to make a new world if you dont enjoy having to not only make a new fort but get the fort to an affluent level and then get a bunch of scholars to jerk off for a while for a *chance* at unlocking the feature you want to use. so yeah this is also a bad feature.

damn, two features thought of in one post and both suck ass i am not good at this