A neverending field

[Corwin]

"An interesting approach. I'll try to pass on what else I manage to find, of course!"

[Anastasia]

"It poses questions, but none are immediately relevant," Sylvie agrees.

[Corwin]

"That does cover what I wished to discuss," Seira muses. "Except I had this strange thought. Say that either of you were a mortal wizard with ridiculous magic, and you wanted to design a brand new country! Would you work slowly, funneling money into construction and labor normally? Speed things up with magic but leave the actual process largely alone? Outright create a city? Or make a demiplane with the perfect city inside it?"

[Anastasia]

"It would depend on the circumstances," Antenora says immediately, "How fast do I need the city? Are there already people here to work? Are there any pressures or political considerations, or possibly religious ones?"

[Corwin]

"You can wait for as long as it'd take to do things sans magic, but your concerns are money and quality of living. If you wait until your city is built, your economy waits until you get things running properly. On the other hand, magic is much faster, but often costs more. Skilled people would have jobs and on the job training if you built it without magic, but there's only so much demand for some of that vital infrastructure work, and in the meantime all your citizens need to live in mud huts or overcrowded squalor. And so on."

Shrugging, Seira adds, "No political or religious issues that you can think of for this thought experiment."

[Anastasia]

"I'd build it the normal way," Antenora decides, "And work to keep my entire community taken care of as best theyc an, unless conditions were too intractably difficult. Let the community grow in what they create."

"I'd just make it," Sylvie says, "A demiplane if I can afford it and want the added privacy. Why do you ask?"

[Corwin]

"Because I'm a goddess of knowledge, right? And a bunch of other stuff? So I've been looking over this new bit of magic and comparing it to some older spells, and then I got a bit sad that I never got to build a city like that as a mortal. I'm pretty sure I was on the fast track of that when ascending just put an end to direct intervention of that scale."

Seira looks a bit down, before shrugging again. "So! It got me wondering. Are there benefits to doing it the boring way? Something a born mage like me won't see, especially since I'm pretty much a futurist and that affects my thinking? And then I got to think even more, whyever would you want to build a regular city with magic if you can build a better and safer city in a demiplane with magic, given the immense amounts of power you'd need for either? What could I be missing? Aesthetics, perhaps, or worries that some nasty wizard will block the exit and the residents won't be strong enough to overcome that? But you could plan around such issues...."

[Anastasia]

"Tell me, Seira," Antenora says, "Is it the fruit that is sweet, or is it the journey that sweetens the fruit?"

[Corwin]

"I know that saying and a number of parables illustrating it, but I don't believe it applies in this case. When I tried to provide drinking water to the thirsty and the poor, they found having water to drink the important thing. I believe that while people need to have a strong work ethic and earn their keep, there are basic necessities that should be provided for them, even if they have other, harder ways of attaining them. Housing happens to be one. I think back to the ruins of Malmuth, and consider the lessons those shell-shocked people could've learned by standing up and rebuilding their capital the nonmagical way. But I also consider the deaths, the suffering, all the ills that lawlessness would have brought. Is that better because more people could rise up as heroes amidst all this suffering and chaos?"

She glances at Sylvie, curious to hear if she has a different opinion, having grown up in Balmuria as a mortal.

[Anastasia]

"There's a difference between emergencies and a prosperous people, too," Antenora points out, "Of course, if it is a question like that, then use magic or whatever means are best for them."

"I say just do it," Sylvie shrugs, "It works out well enough for us most of the time. Why pretend you have to rely on normal means when you're far from normal?"

[Corwin]

"I think that's the heart of the matter, right there," Seira muses. "I've noticed that you two are dividing this into sets of normal and magical, which would from context be considered abnormal. But why? Magic is something everyone can access, and while not many are truly talented at it, hardly anyone has talents for nonmagical city design. Either way, it takes years of study and then work within the chosen field to get better at it. Why don't you consider magic as a normal option?"

[Anastasia]

"Because," Sylvie waves a hand, "Magic isn't normal for mortals. Unless you're as talented as I am, it takes years of practice and study to even begin. That's the way the majority of Creation is. Archmages don't spring up from nothing."

[Corwin]

But engineers do? Just because it's easy for you, Sylvie, that doesn't make it normal!

Seira shakes her head in amusement. "Seems like we're talking past one another. It was just a thought experiment, anyway. Please allow me to thank you again for coming, Antenora, Sylvie." She nods at each of them as she speaks.

[Anastasia]

Thus the three of you part and...

Okay, last call before Dis. Anything you need to do or set up before that adventure begins?

[Corwin]

I figured that since I passed this quest on to Sylvie, I'd at least ask Thurmar for help with the numerology riddle.