[Archive] The Seventeen Spokes of Might of Karzh Akkadur

Admiral:

The Seventeen Spokes of Might of Karzh Akkadur

What is might? The answer is a wheel of seventeen spokes:

I. Might is the ability to do.

II. Might is the ability to do with impunity.

III. Might is the ability to do with impunity against the will of others.

IV. Might have a life of its own.

V. Might have a life of its own that devours.

VI. Might have a life of its own that devours the hearts of mortals.

VII. Might is hunger.

VIII. Might is hunger begetting jealousy.

IX. Might is hunger begetting jealousy begetting hunger.

X. Might is a golden cup.

XI. Might is a golden cup to fill.

XII. Might is a golden cup to fill with no bottom.

XIII. Might is divine likeness upon earth.

XIV. Might is divine likeness upon earth in mimicry of gods.

XV. Might is divine likeness upon earth in mimicry of gods in hubris.

XVI. Might is all there truly is.

XVII. Might is madness.

- The Seventeen Spokes of Might of Sorcerer-Prophet Karzh Akkadur the Builder, as taught to his acolytes during the foundation of Zharr-Naggrund

Fuggit Khan:

Great stuff as always :hat off

So I’m curious as to why you picked the number 17?

Knowing you, there is some sort of historical/symbolic connotation added?

In the days of alchemy, January 17 was believed as the day that lead could be turned to gold, thus 17 signified “acquisition” in numerous Medieval references.

Interesting parallel to Chaos Dwarfs :hat off

Admiral:

Thank you!

Usually I try to pick some obvious classic potent number like three, seven, nine or twelve (four or eight would come into play in Cathayan cases), or at least eight because of the eight-pointed Chaos star, but with the Karzh Akkadur writings I’ve already set a 7x7 number of texts to flesh out, as the “Seven Times Seven Ways of Karzh Akkadur”, so every number up to 49 will, or might, get covered, with the potent ones reserved for the more central stuff.

Still, 17 wasn’t entirely picked at random. In the Swedish language, 17 and 1000 may be used as light swearwords: “Fy sjutton!” "Fy tusan!"

But learning of the alchemical significance puts a whole new dimension into it. Thanks! I’ll have to look into other such significant numbers for future scribblings.