Annotated Chapter 20 Cover
This cover is intriguing to me, especially since it ended up being the only time we actually saw “ralds,” the principal currency of Gastonia. (John realized, quite correctly, that ralds would need to be fairly flat like most Earth currencies if they were going to be at all convenient to carry in one’s pockets or bags for trading purposes.)
However, I think the symbolism is a little obscure. Re-reading it, the image seems at first to be about money and how it can outweigh the other things that make life worthwhile (like science, lawmaking or other writings, and the signs of one’s culture).
But I felt the chapter was about the act of measuring a person’s worth. Syr’Nj, Gravedust, Scipio, and Harky will all experience evaluations from some brutally unforgiving judges, and will deal with that in dramatically different ways. You could connect that to the scales here, with the left side measuring the totality of what Syr’Nj is (science, learning, wood elf regalia) and the right representing how the Heads of Houses measure things (will she make us money? How much?). But that reading is far from obvious.
Hey, _I_ understood the symmetry. But then again, I’ve read the Book of the Dead too. Anubis is a really unforgiving SOB, and his pet crocodile is not the last thing I ever wanna see.
Could have put a feather quill pen in there with the scrolls to nail the point down
I forgot all about this cover but thought it was very straight forward.
If you wanted to add to the symbolism, part 2 could have been a axe balancing out the scale to don’t at revolt but that would be heavy handed unless you are going straight to the class war.
Another interesting bit of trivia about this cover is that was inked and colored by my brother Jason.
I believe this chapter marks the time that we started speeding up page production to move from three up-dates a week to five.
Jason would be inking and coloring a lot more covers and pages.
Flat, stackable coinage makes it take less space on your table, but doesn’t really affect having it in your coin purse all that much.
Big thing is that a nice, flat surface gives you space for pretty pictures and markings about how much of what the coin is made of, and thinness makes it take very slightly more skill to debase it without the different metal admixture showing through.