Probably a stupid question...

[Reynard Ashmelayn]

Has anybody figured out what the deuce the Durance and skurj are?

[Variol Farseer]

Of course it's a stupid question, you silly king!

The Durance is the name of the café deep under Mount Thunder where the Viles used to go for vitrim and doughnuts. (Surely you've heard of the expression, 'in Durance Vile'?) Now that the Durance is broken, all the vitrim has been spilt and the doughnuts are rolling everywhere, which is clearly a Bad Thing for the Land.

The skurj are the H@x0rZ of the Land, a strange cross between Cavewights, snowboarders, and 15-year-old war3z d00dz. They are creatures of infinite evil, known for rude manners, bad spelling, and an infinite Despite for intellectual property. In the end they will bring down the Arch of Time by selling caesure kits on eBay. They can usually be found in the Westron Mountains near Melenkurion Skyweir, practising rock-climbing, scree-surfing, falling on their empty skulls, and other extreme sports.

So now you know.

[Reynard Ashmelayn]

Angels and ministers of grace defend us!

No wonder the name sounds so similar to "scourge"

The last thing the Land needs is "teh Intarnet"

Even Foul isn't mean enough to do that.

[saera]

[ScrapOSamadhi]

A serious reply for a change but not a certain one.

From various references the Durance appears to refer to the (unwilling) binding the Elohim Kastenessen underwent to cap the harm in the north:

For at that time was a peril upon the Earth to which we could not close our eyes. In the farthest north of the world, where winter has its roots of ice and cold, a fire had been born among the foundations of the firmament. I do not speak of the cause of that fire, but only of its jeopardy to the Earth. Such was its site and virulence that it threatened to rive the shell of the world.

Because of his dispair we were compelled to bind him to his place, reaving him of name and choice and time to set him as a keystone for the threatened foundation of the north. Thus was the fire capped, and the Earth preserved, and Kastenessen lost.

The Skurj seem to be made reference to in concert with the Durance, my personal opinion are they are the firelike creatures Linden saw in her vision riving the earth. I think they were the creatures originally responsible for the fire in the north (like the Arghule were for the cold - with the help of the Croyel in WGW). They were bound by the Durance and when Kastenessen escaped/was freed as Esmer implied the creatures escaped. It was also mentioned that they found release in Mount Thunder, which leads me to suspect some connection with the Fire Lions.

Hope this helps.

[JD]

There are no stupid questions, just stupid people! Just kidding

[Creator]

A serious reply for a change but not a certain one.

From various references the Durance appears to refer to the (unwilling) binding the Elohim Kastenessen underwent to cap the harm in the north:

For at that time was a peril upon the Earth to which we could not close our eyes. In the farthest north of the world, where winter has its roots of ice and cold, a fire had been born among the foundations of the firmament. I do not speak of the cause of that fire, but only of its jeopardy to the Earth. Such was its site and virulence that it threatened to rive the shell of the world.

Because of his dispair we were compelled to bind him to his place, reaving him of name and choice and time to set him as a keystone for the threatened foundation of the north. Thus was the fire capped, and the Earth preserved, and Kastenessen lost.

The Skurj seem to be made reference to in concert with the Durance, my personal opinion are they are the firelike creatures Linden saw in her vision riving the earth. I think they were the creatures originally responsible for the fire in the north (like the Arghule were for the cold - with the help of the Croyel in WGW). They were bound by the Durance and when Kastenessen escaped/was freed as Esmer implied the creatures escaped. It was also mentioned that they found release in Mount Thunder, which leads me to suspect some connection with the Fire Lions.

Hope this helps.

Very good summary. What do you think would have broken the Durance? I've thought perhaps an errant ceasure but perhaps it was Esmer! And then if the Skurj made a deal with the Croyel .... *shudders* And with Raver infected Sandgorgons... *shudders again* LF may not be the largest of the Earth's problems. Perhaps he whispered a word to Esmer, the Skurj, the Sandgorgons ...

If this thread is true ... the doom of the earth may lay at the feet of the Hurachai!! Without their stubborness, no NOM.... Without their inflexibility Cail would have been welcomed back and no Esmer .... I wonder how these Masters would take that news!!

[Reynard Ashmelayn]

There are no stupid questions, just stupid people! Just kidding

Don't tell me about stupid people, I work in tech support

[UrLord]

Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm not sure whether food service is quite as bad or not, but I've endured at least that part of your pain.

[Reynard Ashmelayn]

I've worked in fast food, too, and it's worse, although you don't encounter as much stupidity. It's part of the cycle of human hatred.

High School is what plants the seed of hate
Employment in fast food is the soil in which that seed germinates
and moving on to tech support is what causes the hatred to emerge in full bloom.

I can't wait to find out the next step in which my hatred of mankind is escalated. I think it'll involve jerry cans and open flame ^.^

[Aleksandr]

What do you think would have broken the Durance? I've thought perhaps an errant ceasure but perhaps it was Esmer!

I can think of several reasons Kastenessen’s binding might not have endured:
1. He was unwilling, thus it was flawed from the start. (Yes, Findail was less than eager too, but recall that at the very last in WGW he accepted his fate).
2. The laws of Life and Death are both broken. Maybe this helped weakened his binding.
3. The creation of a new Staff of Law somehow left a weakness or gap in the old Law that allowed Kastenessen to get free
4. The caesures have weakened the biding by their damage to the Arch.

[Variol Farseer]

What do you think would have broken the Durance? I've thought perhaps an errant ceasure but perhaps it was Esmer!

I can think of several reasons Kastenessen’s binding might not have endured:
1. He was unwilling, thus it was flawed from the start. (Yes, Findail was less than eager too, but recall that at the very last in WGW he accepted his fate).
2. The laws of Life and Death are both broken. Maybe this helped weakened his binding.
3. The creation of a new Staff of Law somehow left a weakness or gap in the old Law that allowed Kastenessen to get free
4. The caesures have weakened the biding by their damage to the Arch.

Good possibilities. I can think of some more:

5. The Durance (if that actually is the name of Kastenessen's binding) took a direct hit from a caesure.
6. The weakness or gap in the Law occurred because Linden plucked the Staff out of the past, leaving a long gap in time without it.

[variol son]

And Anele tells us that the Elohim did nothing to sustain it.

I do not trust these Elohim.

Sum sui generis
Vs

[Aleksandr]

The weakness or gap in the Law occurred because Linden plucked the Staff out of the past, leaving a long gap in time without it.

I’ve seen this stated in several threads and I’m not sure it’s accurate. We are told after all that anything inside a caesure exists across all the instants of time which the caesure contains. So the Staff wasn’t really absent (through it was not available for anyone’s active use); it was simply inaccessible, just as the old Staff was when it was lying lost under Mt Thunder.

[I'm Murrin]

Yes, but as Linden supposed early on in Runes, Kevin's Dirt shouldn't have been possble as long as the Staff was present in the Land (but she could be mistaken - she originally said caesures shouldn't have been possible either, but since they're caused by White Gold they are possible even with the Staff present).