Learning and Teaching in the Northern Province

Where to begin, but isn’t that that point.  The best instructors in the world can do only so much to make a 60 year old woman a Swordswoman.  And, the right kid, a natural if you will, can teach herself anything by watching, hanging out in the smithy, sitting on the wall of the arena, fighting boys, fighting Men.  This is not to say she will not benefit from the hard instruction of a southern Warmaster, but, she may not be the type to be taught, as well. Perhaps it is her defeat that instructs her in killing, perhaps it is her victories that embolden her and terrify others, or her rage from wrongs unrelated to steel.  Perhaps it is the spirit of an ancestor or an elemental that has decided to grow something of the Dark in her, or perhaps it is the time she spends sweeping the Practice room and feeding the men of the Guild that teaches her most, about weakness, assumption, close mindedness, lack of creativity or even doubt.  Whatever it is, it can be safely said that there is learning going on inside the pupil, and teaching, well, teaching is going on but the question is who is doing it.

What can an alchemist discover in her lifetime?  What can she learn from a witch in 8 months of slavery tutelage?  The benefits of structured focused and effective training help prevent the remaking of mistakes, the standing on the shoulders of the witch who came before.

Observation may teach a guide all they need to know about a route but leave some blanks as to why they stopped where they did, and why certain routes were taken at certain times.  To exceed mimicry, which is only the window of learning, one must understand many things in some cases.  How long does it take her to learn 50 knots?  How many escaped slaves or fallen loads will it take her to learn why there is more than one knot to use.  It is assumed that anyone can leap onto a horse with enough courage but a woman who fights from horseback, firing arrows from her thieves bow while hanging from the side of her horse while still guiding it, well, that is a tough skill to teach, even to the gifted pupil.

Some will not teach for any amount of money, the daughter of their enemy.  Others will take your coin and time and leave with little more than you had before you met them.  For others, there simply is not the time to learn.  How much can you learn about birdcalls from a guide on a three day trip through the greenwood?  How much attention can be given over to it, how quickly do you pick something up? Are you the girl that needs to be told twice?  Three times?  Again and again?  Perhaps an injury you received as a child when Kords raided your farm and almost escaped with you, has left your tongue cleft, or your lip scarred, what whistling and clicking then?

To think that a skill can be bought the sword the skill will wield is foolishness, and yet, there are many rich and powerful fools.  Some teach for free, some teach out f love, or even fear, others seek only coin or life debt or revenge.  The best advice, which coincidentally is the single most wasted effort in the history of learning, is to understand what you want and what you are willing to do to get what you want.  Few women wake up wanting to be a swordmaster, what they want is revenge for a rape, the death of their sister/father, the need not to be afraid, powerless, and weak.  Swordmastery may even be a side effect of a well oriented woman who started on a path of revenge and ended in a fief built over the ruins of the camp of them men she destroyed.

So she wants to learn potion making, or does she.  Perhaps what she wants is to be a healer, or to have a man fall in love with her or to hurt the enemy of her lover or to be able to protect those she loves.  What does she really want to learn?  Who best to teach her these things, where to go for instruction what to provide to the instructor, how will she know when she has what she wants?

A foolish girl with no patience or will to learn is as hard to teach as a young girl so full of anger and disappointment that she cannot convince anyone to help her.  Perhaps she just is not strong enough the make a dagger stick but can juggle them all day.  Perhaps she can fight and parry all day but can be pushed over by a large dog.  Maybe she is the best shot with a crossbow but it takes her three times as long to crank it back for a shot, or maybe she is beautiful but unlettered and cannot learn the spells for the languages she cannot grasp.  Or maybe she has the strength and the respect of men but is foolish with her trust or too slow to anger.

She may spend all her childbearing years learning the sword and indeed teaching and yet, the first person she kills is her sister and swears away steel from that day, taking up robes and the path.  Perhaps she learns potions and sells them to the wrong people.  Life cannot be avoided and to think of learning as something different from surviving three harrowing days trapped in a burning fort, or fleeing Kords is a mistake.  Learning starts when the eyes open but it does not stop when they close.  Strength, a cold heart, knowledge of the enemy, pain tolerance, endurance, quickness, elvin steel, sorcery, custom armor, a good mount, adequate rest, fresh food and water, even ground, a cloudless day, a surprised opponent, a terrified opponent, a distracted opponent…  what makes a better warrior, two weeks at the guildhall learning a disarming move?

And yet, who will teach letters.  They may not be observed and mimicked.  Who will show you how to make sword ore?  Who will show her how to turn cattle into armor, teach the times and the treatments. 

How many Kords must she fight with a dagger before she learns that they prefer to grapple and buys herself a spear she does not know how to use but puts red feathers at the base of the point and avoids wilderness contests that way.

Many fools have learned the sword, the bow, the shield.  There are a few powerful women who have learned to hunt, defeat enemies and protect the ones they love without weapons or armor.  And yet, what a sight, Riel Silversleet, in white, her thin blades drawn, her veil on, the blood of many at her feet, her thin calm lips below freckles of blood.  

The adventurer will find many opportunities to learn.  they meat strangers almost constantly, and if swards are sheathed, what is it if not friendship that exists now between them?

Many skills have tiers of knowledge.  Language for instance.  there is a difference between someone struggling in their learning of vocabulary, a person who is well spoken and competent, and a sage or a poet and their ability to use language to its fullest effect.  It is best to describe this as three proficiency slots.  

The same goes for any skill, for instance Mining.  A one proficiency clot miner can work in the mines and not kill himself or others.  It is the equivalent of a years experience.  When he is able to add another proficiency slop, he is then able to train others to mine, can follow ore veins, and build some or the tools and devices or at least inform their manufacture.  When the miner spends a point on the last slot of Mining, her can prospect, develop mines, extract wealth efficiently with few errors.