Having read Nerdanel's post about how she would have acted differently to Covenant if she had found herself in the Land, it led me think of other examples where maybe I would have acted differently.
For example, take Kevin's Watch. This is a sliver of stone reaching 3000ft into the air, which has a rude stairway, described more like a ladder cut into the side. I don't know about anyone else but I have walked up a 3000ft mountain and down again and it is not that easy! Covenant had vertigo and admittedly had some trouble with the Watch, but if I had to climb down that stairway there is no way I could've made it!
Kevin's Watch - Could you climb it?
Moderators: Orlion, kevinswatch
I originally envisaged Kevin's Watch quite inaccurately, as a vertical pillar with the stairs winding round it, making it tapered. I imagined there would be a sheer drop right next to the staircase, so as a fellow vertigo sufferer I definitely wouldn't be able to climb down that!
Now I know more precisely SRD's vision of Kevin's Watch I suspect I'd have less of a problem with it. For me vertigo is a problem with perspective rather than height itself. If I can see for a long way and something moves in the foreground then my head will spin until I touch something in my field of view (this can even happen at ground level). I'd be okay to climb down the steps of KW backwards like TC did, but it would be damn tiring and I'd need quite a few breaks.
Now I know more precisely SRD's vision of Kevin's Watch I suspect I'd have less of a problem with it. For me vertigo is a problem with perspective rather than height itself. If I can see for a long way and something moves in the foreground then my head will spin until I touch something in my field of view (this can even happen at ground level). I'd be okay to climb down the steps of KW backwards like TC did, but it would be damn tiring and I'd need quite a few breaks.
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Loredoctor
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So did I.Nav wrote:I originally envisaged Kevin's Watch quite inaccurately, as a vertical pillar with the stairs winding round it,
I'd have a go certainly, im not afraid of heights.
But if you're all about the destination, then take a fucking flight.
We're going nowhere slowly, but we're seeing all the sights.
And we're definitely going to hell, but we'll have all the best stories to tell.
Full of the heavens and time.
We're going nowhere slowly, but we're seeing all the sights.
And we're definitely going to hell, but we'll have all the best stories to tell.
Full of the heavens and time.
I'm not afraid of heights, so I would try.
But on the other hand, even if I was afraid of heights, I would try anyway. It really wouldn't be nice to starve to death, even if the view was magnificent.
What's scary about Kevin's Watch is the slipping part, particularly if you aren't in a good shape and have leprosy. However, I think the Watch cannot be as bad as it might sound from the text, or otherwise someone would have slipped from it in the books and died.
But on the other hand, even if I was afraid of heights, I would try anyway. It really wouldn't be nice to starve to death, even if the view was magnificent.
What's scary about Kevin's Watch is the slipping part, particularly if you aren't in a good shape and have leprosy. However, I think the Watch cannot be as bad as it might sound from the text, or otherwise someone would have slipped from it in the books and died.
well, if you popped into the Land on the top of Kevin's Watch....how much CHOICE would you have??? egad. i would have but i wouldn't have been happy about it. and i'm sort of clutzy as well...the chances of a misstep are GREAT. i probably would have gotten down the QUICK way!! 
you're more advanced than a cockroach,
have you ever tried explaining yourself
to one of them?
~ alan bates, the mothman prophecies
i've had this with actors before, on the set,
where they get upset about the [size of my]
trailer, and i'm always like...take my trailer,
cause... i'm from Kentucky
and that's not what we brag about.
~ george clooney, inside the actor's studio
a straight edge for legends at
the fold - searching for our
lost cities of gold. burnt tar,
gravel pits. sixteen gears switch.
Haphazard Lucy strolls by.
~ dennis r wood ~
have you ever tried explaining yourself
to one of them?
~ alan bates, the mothman prophecies
i've had this with actors before, on the set,
where they get upset about the [size of my]
trailer, and i'm always like...take my trailer,
cause... i'm from Kentucky
and that's not what we brag about.
~ george clooney, inside the actor's studio
a straight edge for legends at
the fold - searching for our
lost cities of gold. burnt tar,
gravel pits. sixteen gears switch.
Haphazard Lucy strolls by.
~ dennis r wood ~
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Digital Thought
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What a wonderfully interesting topic. From the sheer weight of topics here at the watch, it's hard to come up with new material. Well done. 
May I theorize of the possibility that the Stone Downers of power, such as Trell, would be able to easily catch a daughter who shouldn't be up on the watch alone, or cause the stair to catch her should she be in front of him. I guess I'm saying that the stairway in my mind was the kind that kills. You don't run down these stairs, ever. THat's my take.
Nerdanel, I think you said many things & said them well.Nerdanel wrote:I'm not afraid of heights, so I would try.
But on the other hand, even if I was afraid of heights, I would try anyway. It really wouldn't be nice to starve to death, even if the view was magnificent.
What's scary about Kevin's Watch is the slipping part, particularly if you aren't in a good shape and have leprosy. However, I think the Watch cannot be as bad as it might sound from the text, or otherwise someone would have slipped from it in the books and died.
May I theorize of the possibility that the Stone Downers of power, such as Trell, would be able to easily catch a daughter who shouldn't be up on the watch alone, or cause the stair to catch her should she be in front of him. I guess I'm saying that the stairway in my mind was the kind that kills. You don't run down these stairs, ever. THat's my take.
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I seem to recall that the stairs are only 500 feet or so to the slope of the mountain...still a very long distance. Having been a rock climber in my youth, I would have undertaken the trek with ease...as I have gotten older though, I am not so sure.
My impression of the stairs is that they are some 3 body widths or so across, so unless one were very careless going over the side would not be an issue. It is the downward momentum and the steepness that would make it tricky. If it were otherwise, and the stairs were a mere body width across, only the very bravest would even attempt to ascend the stairs without rope, gear to secure it, and the experience to use it.
It has been so long since I read it, but don't Covenant and Linden make the descent under the Sun of Rain in TWL? Now that would be a task!
My impression of the stairs is that they are some 3 body widths or so across, so unless one were very careless going over the side would not be an issue. It is the downward momentum and the steepness that would make it tricky. If it were otherwise, and the stairs were a mere body width across, only the very bravest would even attempt to ascend the stairs without rope, gear to secure it, and the experience to use it.
It has been so long since I read it, but don't Covenant and Linden make the descent under the Sun of Rain in TWL? Now that would be a task!
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Digital Thought
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Are there any stairs anywhere comparable in the world??? Perhaps an Aztec pyramid's middle path????
These felt more like the stairs from Lord of the Rings, when Gollum leads them into Mordor through the back way. This is not a stairway I would even want to attempt in my naturally aggressive state let alone handling this on medication or any other sort of way. I really don't think I could handle it. I would turn away. Call me coward, but I wouldn't do it. I truly wouldn't climb that stairway. It was too scary. I could not do it.
I could better handle 300,000 orcs or viles or whatever might be piling out through the Hilter machine. But I couldn't handle a mother crying out for her missing little girl through the night, over and over again. I'd almost wish they'd shoot her it was too sad to hear. But finally, her baby comes to her late, late in the night. She is okay. The rest of the night's sleep is happy & full of wonderful dreams and they come out fighting & laughing. But I couldn't deal with that stairway without so much respect that I might notice names on the stairs like Hollowood Stars....
These felt more like the stairs from Lord of the Rings, when Gollum leads them into Mordor through the back way. This is not a stairway I would even want to attempt in my naturally aggressive state let alone handling this on medication or any other sort of way. I really don't think I could handle it. I would turn away. Call me coward, but I wouldn't do it. I truly wouldn't climb that stairway. It was too scary. I could not do it.
I could better handle 300,000 orcs or viles or whatever might be piling out through the Hilter machine. But I couldn't handle a mother crying out for her missing little girl through the night, over and over again. I'd almost wish they'd shoot her it was too sad to hear. But finally, her baby comes to her late, late in the night. She is okay. The rest of the night's sleep is happy & full of wonderful dreams and they come out fighting & laughing. But I couldn't deal with that stairway without so much respect that I might notice names on the stairs like Hollowood Stars....
Sums it up for me too. I don't like heights; maybe I also would have barfed at some point during the descent, but you just have to grit your teeth and get it done. Being alive is generally preferable to being dead, and that sentiment would make me suffer through bruised and battered knees and hands to make damn sure I got to the bottom in one piece.Lucimay wrote:well, if you popped into the Land on the top of Kevin's Watch....how much CHOICE would you have??? egad. i would have but i wouldn't have been happy about it.
Runes spoiler:
Spoiler
The stairs become a moot issue for anyone else summoned there after Linden. Climbing down Kevin's Rubble should be a breeze by comparison. Of course, after SRD is done with the Last Chronicles, there probably won't be a Land left for anybody to be summoned to anyway. The man is diabolical, I tell you. 
Matrixman wrote:Sums it up for me too. I don't like heights; maybe I also would have barfed at some point during the descent, but you just have to grit your teeth and get it done. Being alive is generally preferable to being dead, and that sentiment would make me suffer through bruised and battered knees and hands to make damn sure I got to the bottom in one piece.Lucimay wrote:well, if you popped into the Land on the top of Kevin's Watch....how much CHOICE would you have??? egad. i would have but i wouldn't have been happy about it.
Runes spoiler:
Spoiler
The stairs become a moot issue for anyone else summoned there after Linden. Climbing down Kevin's Rubble should be a breeze by comparison. Of course, after SRD is done with the Last Chronicles, there probably won't be a Land left for anybody to be summoned to anyway. The man is diabolical, I tell you.
eggsactly!!!
you're more advanced than a cockroach,
have you ever tried explaining yourself
to one of them?
~ alan bates, the mothman prophecies
i've had this with actors before, on the set,
where they get upset about the [size of my]
trailer, and i'm always like...take my trailer,
cause... i'm from Kentucky
and that's not what we brag about.
~ george clooney, inside the actor's studio
a straight edge for legends at
the fold - searching for our
lost cities of gold. burnt tar,
gravel pits. sixteen gears switch.
Haphazard Lucy strolls by.
~ dennis r wood ~
have you ever tried explaining yourself
to one of them?
~ alan bates, the mothman prophecies
i've had this with actors before, on the set,
where they get upset about the [size of my]
trailer, and i'm always like...take my trailer,
cause... i'm from Kentucky
and that's not what we brag about.
~ george clooney, inside the actor's studio
a straight edge for legends at
the fold - searching for our
lost cities of gold. burnt tar,
gravel pits. sixteen gears switch.
Haphazard Lucy strolls by.
~ dennis r wood ~
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Loredoctor
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My hands were shaking as I wrote that chapterSeareach wrote:Hey LM: that's so bizarre! Having read the first chapter of your novel I actually *assumed* that you spent your weekends mountain climbing!Loremaster wrote:I wouldn't as I have a fear of heights.
I know alot about mountain climbing because I've enjoyed watching documentaries about them and have read abit. But yeah, it is weird Waddley wrote:your Highness Sir Dr. Loredoctor, PhD, Esq, the Magnificent, First of his name, Second Cousin of Dragons, White-Gold-Plate Wielder!
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I'd expect the rock was reinforced with Earthpower, similar to Revelstone.KAY1 wrote:Good Posting everyone!
I'm actually a bit surprised the Watch was the same in 2nd Chrons, after all wouldn't erosion over thousands of years taken its toll? Especially with all those rainstorms from the Sun of Rain.
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Variol Farseer
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In any case, erosion is very slow indeed. A hard native rock, such as most granites, doesn't erode appreciably in a few thousand years unless it's exposed to sandstorms, rivers, tides, or extreme frost heave. None of those conditions apply here.
However, I expect the stairs would have become rather vague and crumbly in that length of time, unless they were reinforced by Earthpower. Likely Kevin did just that, since he expected to be using them for centuries himself.
However, I expect the stairs would have become rather vague and crumbly in that length of time, unless they were reinforced by Earthpower. Likely Kevin did just that, since he expected to be using them for centuries himself.
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