zompist bboard

Tell me, do the Verdurians have the concept of the Mad Shm similar to our ?mad scientist?? Have there been any famous ones in history or fiction?

Not really: why be a mad scientist (and inevitably fail due to incompetent hunchbacks and interfering heroes) when you can have grand success as an evil wizard? They've taken over Verduria more than once, and not too far away from the city is the rhuk 17e cheltei shrayomei.

zompist wrote:Not really: why be a mad scientist (and inevitably fail due to incompetent hunchbacks and interfering heroes) when you can have grand success as an evil wizard? They've taken over Verduria more than once, and not too far away from the city is the rhuk 17e cheltei shrayomei.

What happened to the other sixteen, I wonder...?

(Mad wizards can be fun; I must admit that when I read the questions, I found myself lumping "mad scientists" and "mad magicians" into one category. I'd love to hear more about Almean magicians, of course.)

Given the interest of Verdurian scholars in science in recent times, combined with their still imperfect knowledge of the world, I can imagine that Verdurian history includes a few characters similar to the scholars of Balnibarbi in Gulliver's Travels--like the gentleman working to extract sunshine back out of cucumbers...

Don't be too hard on the hunchbacks, by the way! Young Frankenstein aside, I think you'll find many of them to be hard-working, tireless assistants--it's their masters who mess things up.

A side note: Permit me to say that as a reader of Terry Pratchett's recent works, I find the Igors (an entire clan of lurching, stitches-riddled, but bright and good-natured hunchbacks, who specialize in mad-scientist-assisting and unorthodox organ transplantation) to be one of his more endearing creations...

p@,
Glenn

Glenn Kempf wrote:Given the interest of Verdurian scholars in science in recent times, combined with their still imperfect knowledge of the world, I can imagine that Verdurian history includes a few characters similar to the scholars of Balnibarbi in Gulliver's Travels--like the gentleman working to extract sunshine back out of cucumbers...

Oh, sure... in early science, the crackpots are mainstream. In an atmosphere where old verities are being exploded like fireworks, it can seem like anything goes, and all that's needed for publication is energy and grandiosity.