Modern Runelords

[Ahriman238]

There's a saying, with a number of variants I'd heard recently. "God created all men, but Sam Colt made them equal."

Because my mind works in odd ways, I connected this to a moderately obscure fantasy series by David Farland, Runelords. "The World where armies stand back and watch their Kings fight."

The conceit of the series is that magic exists largely in the form of 'forcibles,' magic branding irons with the rune for one of the essential qualities of men (strength, glamour, grace, hearing, metabolism, sight, smell, touch, voice, and wit) if one man (the Dedicate) is branded and then another, the quality will be transferred to the second. So, you can have the strength of 10 men, but you create 9 men who are too weak to get out of bed. Likewise, you can give yourself incredible vision and powers of observation, if you do not mind making another man blind to do so. Metabolism puts the Dedicate into a coma during which they will not age, but gives speed and rapid healing, at the cost of rapid aging. The Dedicate and recipient are linked throughout their lives, if the Dedicate dies, the gifted loses his Endowment, if the gifted dies, the Dedicate gets theirs back. A man can give just one endowment once, but can receive as many brands as his flesh will hold without overlapping. Other rules, a Dedicate cannot be tricked or just jabbed with a forcible, he has to accept it of his own 'free will,' which in this context means he understands what's going on and what he's giving up, and in no way prevents coercion or blackmail. It is possible to pile on Endowments and then give them all to someone above you, you'll still lose the quality but if someone else Endows you with it again, you can at least function normally.

In the series, evil and generally indifferent nobles rack up dozens to thousands of Endowments to become unstoppable juggernauts on the battlefield, forcing even good men to use the forcibles and create their own Runelords, the only real defense. One thing I did love was how consequences were examined, metabolism was a key Endowment as it kept one's superstrength from snapping one's bones (or rather, made it so broken bones weren't such a big deal) but people who piled that on learned the hard way that traction and inertia are twin bitches.

My question is, how would this play out in a world with modern technology and a less feudal mindset? If every nation in the world gained plans to make forcibles, say next week, what would happen? Would the information be suppressed as well as anyone can suppress open source? Would people decide not to use it, would they decide to use it and if so, how? Does Donald Trump start paying hobos a lifelong salary to Endow him?

[Ted C]

It is possible to pile on Endowments and then give them all to someone above you, you'll still lose the quality but if someone else Endows you with it again, you can at least function normally.

As I remember it, if you've given an Endowment, and then someone else gives you the same Endowment, it's automatically passed "up the chain". Once you give up your strength or wit or whatever, you can't get it back until the recipient dies. This was used to great effect, actually. Give your Lord an endowment. Others give that Endowment. You stay in a safe place while the Lord goes to war. Others give the Endowment to you, which means the Lord keeps growing stronger.

In the series, evil and generally indifferent nobles rack up dozens to thousands of Endowments to become unstoppable juggernauts on the battlefield, forcing even good men to use the forcibles and create their own Runelords, the only real defense. One thing I did love was how consequences were examined, metabolism was a key Endowment as it kept one's superstrength from snapping one's bones (or rather, made it so broken bones weren't such a big deal) but people who piled that on learned the hard way that traction and inertia are twin bitches.

Metabolism made you faster. It was "Stamina" or something that made you tougher.

My question is, how would this play out in a world with modern technology and a less feudal mindset? If every nation in the world gained plans to make forcibles, say next week, what would happen? Would the information be suppressed as well as anyone can suppress open source? Would people decide not to use it, would they decide to use it and if so, how? Does Donald Trump start paying hobos a lifelong salary to Endow him?

Dictators and exploiters would love it. I'm sure a market (black, gray, or open) for Endowments would arise in "developed" nations.

[The Yosemite Bear]

just imagine that sociopath in Africa with all those child soldiers, and sex slaves....

[Ahriman238]

Oh, I don't doubt there will be people willing to use it. I guess the question should be 'how unmanageable would such people be?' In the books, with little technology, there is no effective counter for a Runelord except another Runelord, forcing everyone to adopt the practice. Is that still true in a modern world? I'm pretty sure Raj Ahtan would be pretty tough to kill, even with a lot of artillery, but he's exceptional.

[Gaidin]

Beheading was always dependable, even for Raj Ahtan. Hit him with a big enough rifle round(hearing wouldn't help since they travel faster than sound) for the first hit. Hell you don't exactly have to aim for the head. He had enough damage done to him in one of the books that it still took time for him to heal and I'm not so sure he healed properly. After you hit him with the big enough rifle round you can just unload on him with other modern weapons.

[Raj Ahten]

The physical endowments are the least problematic kind in a modern setting. The appearance and voice boosting endowments are much more dangerous. My namesake got fortresses to surrender to him just by asking them to through his unearthly beauty. Get a demagogue or cult leader to use such techniques amplified through mass media and common people don't stand a chance.

Not to mention every well funded political group could now have supernaturally convincing shills making their case. Not much room for reason left unless you yourself have taken willpower endowments to resist.

In reputable society I could see the irons being banned though because those that give up their bodies are often nothing more than shells. Like prostitution only permanent.

[lance]

I don't see much use in conventional armies, but SEAL teams, secret service and the like should get a good boost.

[Broomstick]

Question relating to the original fantasy series: how does a medieval-tech level society keep all the helpless cripple dedicates alive for long periods of time for the benefit of the runelord? Sure, the blind/deaf/voiceless ones could still care for themselves, but the too-weak-to-get-out-bed ones? The comatose ones?

[Ahriman238]

It depends, you want the Dedicates to stay alive because you lose the Endowment if they die. Some keep them in communal dorms others scatter them around a bit. There's a priceless bit where the heroes are faced have to choose whether or not to butcher a bunch of the villain's helpless Dedicates to weaken him enough to maybe have a shot at taking him down.

Anyways, you need a servant, or one of the other Dedicates to bring food and water to the bedridden ones. Metabolism Dedicates are very low-maintenance, being closer to suspended animation then anything, IIRC you just have to dribble a bit of water down their throats every few weeks. They don't even seem to age, unless they've been out a really long time which is rare because the more metabolism you pack on the faster you age.

[Ted C]

Question relating to the original fantasy series: how does a medieval-tech level society keep all the helpless cripple dedicates alive for long periods of time for the benefit of the runelord? Sure, the blind/deaf/voiceless ones could still care for themselves, but the too-weak-to-get-out-bed ones? The comatose ones?

Ahriman covered it pretty well, but the standard procedure was to house the donors in a fortress with a staff of servants to take care of them. With the widespread use of endowments, there are plenty of people who are experts in providing care for a group of people with a variety of physical and mental handicaps.

[lance]

They also had the Dedicates in a chain system so that if the wrong one was killed the lord might suddenly loose the strength of ten men, but you now have to deal with a person with said strength in tight confines blindsiding you