[thearchitect] image/text

[emet_sulk]

[ The photograph attached to the post depicts the front of a small shop called Polydegmon's Lapidary and Brew. It's got that 'new store' look, where everything looks pristine and nothing has been touched by grime or dust settling in the corners yet. It's not the most terribly modern-looking place (look, the rent was cheap).

He wouldn't even be advertising it here if a certain someone didn't bug him to. Honestly, he could do without the publicity... ]

I am now accepting commissions as a goldsmith and alchemist. My hours are from midday to six, weekdays only. Or whatever it is you call them. No, my prices are not negotiable.

[ Attached beneath the above terse remark is the address to the store. ]

Additionally, I will NOT accept requests for items to use in warfare of any sort. At all. If I find that you have done so then I will make sure you regret it for the remainder of your days.


(ooc: Please respect that a character will suffer some kind of IC consequence if they try and use his products as IC war propaganda or in serious IC war efforts. Doubly so if they deceive him for it.

[CW: Discussions of warfare in certain threads. Please use discretion when reading.]

Comments

lol np!!!

[konpeito_aji]

And you worry people would want to do that here?

Tell you what, if you want to discourage it, just tell them they're idiots, and defend against whatever. Don't tell them ways you don't want them to use it.

Warfare isn't about the best technology, or even the most weapons or fear. Warrior monks had no weapons, just trained with their fists. They had no economics, and preached against materialism.

[emet_sulk]

Oh really? I'd like to see such monks defend against a ceruleum bomb with nothing but their bare hands.

[ Spoilers: That did actually happen. It didn't go very well for the monks. Or anyone else for that matter. ]

If you think discouraging war is as simple as withholding knowledge of it then you have a poor understanding of mortal nature. Men covet what they do not have. They have always fought to attain more than what they possess as well as to keep what they already do - even if that is nothing more than their very own lives.

I'm starting to think you don't know much about war at all. At the very least, I doubt you have won any significant victories with the claims you've been making.

TW: genocide/holocaust + obvs war

[konpeito_aji]

[Wellll... Nobunaga fought the monks a few times, told them to stop fucking up his shit, then got fed up to the nth degree and set their whole mountain base (including women, children, cultural "holy sites" etc!) on fire.... soooooooooooo......]

[Also he is DYING OF LULZ AT THE NOT KNOWING WAR.]

[Yo, he wishes.]

[Wait, does he?]

[....]
[He should go back and look up some of the World War stuff people have mentioned in passing to him, but he also REALLY does not want to because Japan is doing great in the 2000s and 2100s and beyond, that's what matters, RIGHT? RIIIIIGHT??????? And the 1800s! So what does he need to know about the 1900s or 1700s for?]

[Okay, so skipping Earth's two biggest wars, is definitely a sign in favor of "Yes, Oda Nobunaga wishes he did not understand war so well."]

I didn't say you could withhold knowledge.

[How does he begin to explain it? Their perspectives feel as different as from underground and beyond the sky.]

[Would Kitsuno know? She was after all, not mortal, and had at least observances of her Demon King and the mortal realm.]

There is nothing that cannot be used as a weapon by those intent on doing so. The very ground itself. Earthquakes, trees, air, water. Things meant for life can take it too. All medicines can be poison. Water is necessary for Earth-life, yet it is often used to murder.

I do not have offensive style magic. In order to defeat slimes, and ghosts I literally had to use healing magic to hit them with magic healing shields.

Your friend spoke of how close your society's people are to each other. And how you used a lot of art to express your society's emotional depths and close bonds.

In my world, even art is war. It is known as "propaganda," wherein you use carefully curated "information" or even lies, to stir up emotions and set passions aflame. [The part Nobunaga hates most. He's all for the arts, but he hates the bullshit and won't bother lying to people. This has a lot to do with why he went after the monks. Almost all of it. The politics, and especially, the propaganda. It went beyond undermining him, but constantly telling people to sacrifice each other, or sacrifice their Earthly desires for some magical reward that would only happen when they were dead. Feh.]

Tea ceremony is even war. In order to convince my people they had more to enjoy at home in their own lands by their own production, own merits, own pride, I encouraged artisan pottery and ceramics, the love of tea fields, reminding the warriors of what a luxury was so they didn't view themselves as weapons, and could remember what it was to enjoy things other than war. Yet even that was a RISK - as you spoke of with using weapons that could harm more than the intended. Because it meant having to trust a lot of idiot demons not to get jealous and idiotic of each other, and not to decide that burning and invading each other would be easier than making their own things better. I used tea for negotiations. But I had to deal with poisons so often I had poison testers since my childhood.

Anything that can be used to survive, and promote peace, culture, art, and enjoyment of life, can also be used for war.

I am from an era where guns were only recently introduced to my country. I was one of the only people to see their application in war. The samurai considered them inelegant, the warlords scoffed at them considering them a novelty toy, and nearly everyone thought they were too economically expensive and would have to be imported wholesale. I used them for hunting.

I love the future. A woman from 500 years my future was distressed that I was going to have my falcon hunt a rabbit for her dinner.

I don't think I can possibly express how anathematic that would be to most demons, or even humans in my time.

While here, I have been ecstatic to learn that there are things known as "Food banks" where people donate food to ensure others don't starve. In my time even children were pressed to war and forced to starve. If they didn't hunt, they would starve. She was worried about the rabbit. Again, this is anathematic to my time, but no less wonderful.

I became the Demon King to ensure my people could have luxuries like candy should they so desire. It took a few hundred years, but they did it. They're so surrounded by luxuries, they don't seek war anymore, and I couldn't be more proud.

But this isn't to say sugar isn't war either. Anything with the right (or perhaps wrong?) application can be.

The Chinese invented gunpowder, but they didn't perfect its use in weapons. They used it in fireworks. Art. For hundreds of years it wasn't perfected as explosives until later. Zidane told me of bombs and explosives. Bombs being a living monster in his world, and also an incendiary device for construction safety. Something meant to save lives, but all I could think was how an enemy would try to use it against me.

Like I said, even healing protective shielding can be used as weapon.

I actually admire your stance. [Even though you're a punchy ASSSHOLE!!!!] But perhaps you are so far beyond basic mortals' comprehension, that you have also lost sight of how they think. [Yeah, that's a VERY unsubtle mocking, even if it's written otherwise.] While it's admirable you choose not to engage in the war of information curation, demons can probably find another avenue for weapons creation if you give them so much as an idea that it could be done. Like I said, even tea.

Perhaps focus on the selling points of peace, and your products. In my experience, that's usually how merchants were able to distract me with bribes of candy. And yes, also tea.

[emet_sulk]

Oh, but I do understand you. I understand very well. I have lived thousands upon thousands of lives amongst your kind. It is YOU who do not comprehend me. Such an arrogant but so very typical assumption of one of your kind.

Your peace won't last a century. Your charity will eventually be exploited by the cruel and mean. Surrounded by luxury, you will forget the lessons of history as your eyes turn to your neighbours and you begin to measure their wealth against yours. The names, deeds, and losses of the past will lose all meaning - and then the cycle will begin anew.

War is not a natural state. Peace is not fought for. Peace should never be fought for - THAT is what your stupid little minds can't seem to comprehend.

I have humoured your query more than sufficiently. I'll not be humouring anything further on this subject.