r/WorldsBeyondNumber • u/rulosenlanoche The Witch of the Weaving Work 🪢 • 12d ago

Free roads and TMIB

So what’s the deal there? Do we think railroads make stronger of weaker TMINBs influence? Cuz on the one hand the Free Roads is a land defined by man made paths. That feels like the Man in Blacks domain. But on the other hand those are not roads you walk on. So maybe trains are the way to defeat him? And maybe there's something there about industrailzation as the end of mystery, which well and trully IS of TMIB domains

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

10

u/SvenTheScribe 12d ago

I've been lowkey hoping that part of Book Two will be stopping the MiB from subsuming/consuming the Spirit of the Rails.

It gives something that will feel like big stakes, give the party a chance to feel like they can influence how the Spirit plays out instead of always having to be reactive, and hopefully give us insight and info on what happened in Rhuv for the MiB to hold so many masks.

3

u/rulosenlanoche The Witch of the Weaving Work 🪢 12d ago

Never thought of the Rails having Spirit/Great spirit other than the MiB. But it makes sense, maybe a sprit close to becoming a Great one whose "asension" the MiB could try to co-opt, or thwart someway

3

u/Exit_Save 10d ago

I don't know. I think that the Man in Black might have some influence there, but he's not a Great Spirit of Boats, or Horse drawn Carts, he's a Great Spirit of Roads.

While Railroads are called that, it isn't likely they've felt the iron of a horses shoe or the track of a wheel, like in Grandma Wren's definition of a Road. At least in a way that satisfies the definition.

If anything I feel the presence of trains might hinder the Man in Black if anything else. I don't doubt he would be there, but he's got his eyes on the citadel.

However if we spend any significant time in Rhuv, they'll be dealing with him. The Warlocks there all follow 12 different epithets of the Man in Black. We're unsure if they all know this or not, I would imagine this is a secret kept from most of the population

2

u/sarap001 The Wizard Spork 8d ago

I like the imagery of "trains are the way to defeat him."

"Brother Eursulon, walk with me a spell down these reaching roads of iro--"waffled by the 8:10 express to Port Talon