Lexicon Thoughts

[jeregenest]

Lexicon of the Firmament has its first round tomorrow and I'm wondering what sort of participation this lexicon will get. Its summer which always makes things difficult to get together and just maybe this Lexicon is a little too narrow-band for most folks. Should be fun no matter what happens.

I really want to do two entries again but I'm trying to be good and limit myself to one. I have this great entry for

Benjamin Franklin, the American Wizard, was a man of prodigious self-education and social connections, intimate with political, social, economic, and scientific power. He was the first to create a public library in the United States, he was instrumental in the development of both electrical study and meteorology (the study of climate and weather), was a member of the Royal Society, and was acquainted with the magical luminaries of Europe including Cagliostro himself.

What makes Franklin a subject of interest for this Lexicon is his invention of the glass armonica, a musical instrument that creates sounds by rubbing water on differently shaped glasses. Franklin wrote "Of all my inventions, the glass armonica has given me the greatest personal satisfaction." With this armonica it became possible to attune magic to specific celestial frequencies in ways that had not been done before. Franklin utilized the armonica in his great Aquila working of 1776 that is widely held to be responsible for mobilizing the eikones behind a new endeavor, the American Republic.

For a period after the invention it was all the rage in ritual working, leading to the Eridanus Conundrum and the Ophiuchus Intervention. After these events the glass armonica faded from popularity, though the role it played in magic is no less and some practicioners of celestial magic still make potent use of it.

Franklin’s own glass armonica is still extant in a museum in Philadelphia.

See Also: Eridanus Conundrum and Ophiuchus Intervention

Comments

[robotnik.livejournal.com]

I love it! Of course I'm a sucker for anything about Ben Franklin. But don't the entries in this one all have to be about constellations?

I'm recusing myself from all the Lexicons brewing at the moment, just because my schedule is too wonky and I'll be without internet for a while with the move and all that. But I'll be reading whenever I can, and I'm really interested to see how these more tightly focused Lexicons (this one, Mike's yearbook) work out. And I hope Bryant does the secret movie history one too.

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

The Lexicon is about the constellations, not encessarily about a constellation. But your right, this entry could do with some more information about the Aquila working.

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Benjamin Franklin, the American Wizard, was a man of prodigious self-education and many social connections, intimate with political, social, economic, and scientific power. He was the first to create a public library in the United States, he was instrumental in the development of both electrical study and meteorology (the study of climate and weather), was a member of the Royal Society, was acquainted with the magical luminaries of Europe including Walpole and his Hellfire Clubs and Cagliostro himself.

What makes Franklin a subject of interest for this Lexicon is his invention of the glass armonica and the subsequent Aquila working. The glass armonica is a musical instrument that creates sounds by rubbing water on differently shaped glasses. Franklin wrote "Of all my inventions, the glass armonica has given me the greatest personal satisfaction." With this armonica it became possible to attune magic to specific celestial frequencies in ways that had not been done before.

Franklin utilized the armonica in his great Aquila working of 1776 that is widely held to be responsible for mobilizing the eikones behind a new endeavor, the American Republic.

Aquila, the eagle that carried the thunderbolts of Zeus, is one of the three birds of Sagittarius. Franklin’s working called forth the fire of Sagittarius, the lightning of Zeus to bring change to Jupiter’s throne and to alter the very spirits of the land to accept a new order. Its workings are still enshrined in the seal of the Unite States and in its currency. The themes of the celestial music Franklin utilized still resonate through the federal mint where there are pathways into that part of Briah governed by Aquila..

For a period after the invention of the glass armonica it was all the rage in ritual working, leading to the Eridanus Conundrum and the Ophiuchus Intervention. After these events the glass armonica faded from popularity, though the role it played in magic is no less and some practitioners of celestial magic still make potent use of it.

Franklin’s own glass armonica is still extant in a museum in Philadelphia.

See Also: Eridanus Conundrum and Ophiuchus Intervention

[robotnik.livejournal.com]

Nice. Now I'm trying to picture what an armonica looks like. Does it have little fingers that run around the rims of wine glasses?

I was working in the Scientific Instruments Collection at Harvard on Tuesday. After years of hiding it in a basement, they've now turned it into a pretty cool little museum with a definite "cabinet of curiosities" vibe: gold astrolabes and stuffed chameleons and 17th century Italian lenses and great auks.

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

oohhh...pretty. I want to go.

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Oh what the heck, I posted it.

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Without internet? How can one claim to be an academic and be without internet? And what about your geek creds? A move is no excuse!

I don't think we've exhausted the possibilities of Lexicons. And yeah I'd like to see Bryant do his movie one as well.

[sben.livejournal.com]

I've got a Continuum (time-travel RPG) lexicon (on one of the eras Down from here) simmering on a back burner. Once I pound my web server into shape, I'll start it up.

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Could be fun, though its been eyars since I've read that book. My copy went bye-bye long ago.

[shiffer.livejournal.com]

I AM SO THERE.

Ahem. Yes. But do you think you'll get enough people to sign up for that one? Time travel is not the easiest subject out there and it's popularity has always been niche-like.

[sben.livejournal.com]

It's all about the Continuum mailing list, baby. I figure we could get a good three or four active contributors from there. (I actually think that's a decent guesstimate: (number of people on the list) * (percent interested) * (percent who understand/like the lexiconcept) * (percent who have time) * (percent who still have time midway through)). That plus those of the Usual Suspects who dig Continuum would get us to critical mass.

No, I haven't thought about this at all.

And I do realize that this doesn't really touch on Jere's (implied) subject of pushing the boundaries of lexicons. (I'd still love to see that eras-of-film lexicon someone (Bryant?) proposed a while back.)

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

You going to participate in Firmament?

I think 6 is a good minimum for a Lexicon. Not sure what the maximum is, I haven't had it on one of mine though Toothpaste seems to. Perhaps in the area of 15.

[shiffer.livejournal.com]

I'm planning (along with gryphonk and yellowrhymer) to open one in late July, set around supernatural occurances, conpiracies etc. in Israel. It'll be in Hebrew (first non-English Lexicon? Not sure).

I've set the maximum number of players at 13, and just from looking at potentials it seems a bit tight. 6 is a good solid minimum, I think. Leaves you four for the closing... yeah, it works.

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Why set a maximum? I have never understood that idea.

[shiffer.livejournal.com]

Two reasons:

1. I think that too many people make for a very disorganized (not to say difficult) Lexicon. It's not a problem any Lexicon I know of had to face yet, but I think 25-30 writers will actually interfere with each other more then synergise. I think 15-17 is the area above which people start having too many entries to read each time, too many things to refer to, too many characters to develop them properly etc.

2. We have a very large talent pool at our disposal. At the core of which is a fairly large group of very talented people (some of the best roleplayers and RPG writers in the Hebrew language) surrounded by a much larger group of moderately (or less) talented people. I'd like to get as many people from the first group as I can, especially since a lot of them are my friends and I think this kind of game is better if you play it with your friends (note: in these confined conditions the odds of finding a Hidden Talent is negligible). Having a maximum number of players gives me a non-offensive way to turn a lot of the second group away. Also, see article 1.

[robotnik.livejournal.com]

Yeah, The Toothpaste Incident (24 writers on the first turn, I think?) was pushing the upper limit of managable in its early rounds. Plus Toothpaste had so much action going on in the comments to each post. Of course, there was even higher than usual attrition, including yours truly, so it worked itself out.

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

I've never had that many people clambering for one of mine so its hard to say. The ones that I've seen with a cap (and then closed membership) usually seem to be crippled from the normal attrition. Like I've said before I think new blood is actually an important part of the Lexicon process.

[shiffer.livejournal.com]

We have around 15 people we specifically want in it on a short list, all other then me have never done a Lexicon (well, it's the first Hebrew Lexicon, what can I do). We'll send them invitations and see how many join. After that we'll send the second round of invitation and then post an open call. Since we know practically everyone who's liable to join (including if we post an open call) we feel that the invitation system gives a better handle on the kind of writers would work well with the concept.

In any event I'm planning on opening it up for casual writers around the third turn or so, depending on attrition.

Ideologically I'm actually for non-locked games, myself, mostly because that's how I got to you guys. In this case, however, it's a supply and demand thing. Like I said, we'll see.

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Keep me informed.

[sben.livejournal.com]

Probably not (but thanks for asking): I'm not sure I have the creative juice for a whole lexicon on constellations. (Ironic for someone whose favorite book when in kindergarten was something like this (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0395248302/).)

(Actually, thinking about it, it's the astrological aspect that doesn't grab me.)

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Thats to bad. Not every lexicon will work for everyone. But I'm selfish and like everyone to do mine.

[shiffer.livejournal.com]

You really didn't give this any thought, did you?
(Also, it never occurred to me that there's a Continuum mailing list. Send me the link, I'd love to check it out when I have the time, no pun intended)

You don't think a Lexicon entirely about time-travel is pushing the boundries? Have you read any good time travel fiction or theory lately? 'Cause I haven't.

That said, I'd be into an eras-of-film Lexicon. Or H58's "crisis on infinite exiled earths" one. Or Mike's Barons of Saburbia. Or kadath's next SciFi Lexicon (http://www.gweep.net/~given/homeworldwiki/). I'm not quite as easy as vaklam but I'm pretty close, as long as it's mid-July or Up.

[sben.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not so sure it would be entirely about time travel (though that would be a big part of it, naturally). It would also be a travelogue of those 2000 years, fodder for a hypothetical GM running a Continuum game in (or with visits to) that era.

No, I haven't read any good time travel stuff in my Age, though I may a little Down from here. I'll let you know if that happens.

The Continuum list (http://lists.topica.com/lists/continuum-rpg-l/). (It was started back when Topica seemed a viable contender for the title of "good free mailing list provider". It hasn't done so bad, considering it's been six years, but I certainly wouldn't start a list there today.)

(message from Elder)

[sben.livejournal.com]

Yes, you will. Mark it in your Yet.

Re: (message from Elder)

[sben.livejournal.com]

Okay.

[shiffer.livejournal.com]

Well, obviously not entirely. No Lexicon is entirely about it's subject matter. What is it they say about books needing more then fancy backgrounds and high ideas? I forget.

Thanks for the link. Your elder says "hi".

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

I'm actually curious about how this will work. You really have two elxicon themes. One is spellin out an era f about 2000 years. The other what time travelers have interacted with it. Was this a time traveling epoch? Like I said my Continuum-fu is weak.

[sben.livejournal.com]

Well, all epochs are time-travelling epochs. Some are more dangerous than others, and some are off-limits.

My vision of the lexicon was actually to have the "official" subject be describing the era: Societies, events, spanner corners, plots of Narcissists (or Antedesertium, the further-Down empire of Narcissist time travellers), whatever. Some of it would deal little or not at all with time travel (imagine a time traveller writing a travel guide to ancient Babylon for 21st-century compatriots); some of it would deal with it deeply (the war with Antedesertium).

This really wouldn't be that different than, say, how Lexicon 500 turned out: Some of it was explicitly Nobilisy; other bits were only tangentially connected.

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Makes sense to me

[head58.livejournal.com]

I hope you'll do my supers one as well, when the time comes for that (probably late summer). Since it's mostly your fault and all.

[robotnik.livejournal.com]

Right: your supers obsessions are my fault. But yeah, that would be a fun one to do, too.

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Why yes. Before he met you Chris hated superheros. Never touched a comic book and never, ever ran superhero games.

Its all your fault Rob. You should be ashamed.

Goldstein! Goldstein! Goldstein!

[head58.livejournal.com]

I suppose I should be more accurate: my desire to run this particular "crisis on infinite exiled earths" sort of thing is your fault (http://www.livejournal.com/users/robotnik/7796.html).

Re: Goldstein! Goldstein! Goldstein!

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Wow that post was a blast from the past.

[head58.livejournal.com]

I have it Memoried. I think it was the last post before I actually signed up for an account.

Also, it was necromancied in January of this year so it's not that far gone :)

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Right...

Its just funny reading stuff from two years ago. My how time flies.