Cauldron of Plenty.

Ray McCarthy

Ray McCarthy

Sentient Marmite: The Truth may make you fret.
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I thought it might be made of copper, being from near start of Bronze age. It could be made of riveted sheets of bronze as most cauldrons 600BC to 1800BC in Europe / British/Hibernia Isles are.

But what makes it go?

How do my merry band get it to feed them?

The last original users are 600 years dead or else perhaps ...
 
I think we need more info on the item and background.

Do you want it to look magical or should it look like its from the time period you mention? what does it do? does it supply an endless amount of whatever is in it? How was it found (yard sale, flea market, antiquities dealer, archaeological dig, etc.)

There are other things it could be made of like carved from a single piece of stone or simple plane looking work of pottery. Or slightly odd an be carved out of a single piece of wood (can't put this one over a fire though).

The ones mentioned above could be plain and unassuming, so you don't know their special.

If its magical, it could glow. Maybe with some crystals imbeded in the side it could light up.
 
Sorry ...
I thought EVERYONE knew.
It's one of the four treasures of the bronze age Tuath Dé (later renamed by monks to Tuatha Dé Danann).
It magically produces food. But how?

My characters are very cold and very hungry, they suspect what it is, as the same chamber has a spear, a glowing sword and mysterious stone pillar. An outer cave/chamber has ... well stuff that leaves them in little doubt who these things belonged to.

Of course perhaps all this has a guardian.

Ray McCarthy said:
I thought it might be made of copper, being from near start of Bronze age. It could be made of riveted sheets of bronze as most cauldrons 600BC to 1800BC in Europe / British/Hibernia Isles are.
Click to expand...
As I said, it probably looks like a regular 1700BC to 1800BC Bronze Age cauldron. That's not important.
My characters live in the "Otherworld" that Manannán Mac Lir took the Tuath Dé to, 600 years ago in their time-line. It was already inhabited by Elves, Dwarves, Dryads.

My Fair person (the human Tuath Dé boy), Elf, Dwarf and Dryad (all teenagers) are high in the northern mountains above the snow line and at the end of the Arctic. Time is slipping compared to our world. So that nearly 2,500 years have passed for us, the Tuath Dé left at start of our Iron age in Ireland.
So also in the "party" are an Irish girl and American boy from early 1970s, obviously if they find a "return" portal, perhaps more than forty years will have passed. The Irish girl is very well up on her Celtic myth, so privately she suspects already this might be trip you'd not want to come home from. Any reader familiar with Celtic Legend will suspect this from the instant she and the American are transported. Which currently is Chapter 10.
So the first 9 chapters are entirely set in Otherworld with not much references to "here"

revised Opening
http://www.sffchronicles.com/threads/551709/page-2#post-1893070

Start of Chapter 10 (was originally a separate story).
http://www.sffchronicles.com/threads/551787/#post-1897254

Incidentally the "Otherworld" isn't in Bronze or Iron age or even Mediaeval any more, without the dark ages etc and synergy of the other sentient species they are at about a Renaissance (1300 - 1798) level of technology. No electricity, but most of the rest we had then and some extra stuff. More magic :D
 
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Hmm...could this Cauldron of Plenty be powered by some mechanism of the inter-dimensional possibility/probability/potential of mutual exchange? (This would require the assumption/given that the cauldron exists in every possible other dimension of reality, in your universe.) So, you put something into it, and its function is to search its other inter-dimensional incarnations for the most recent, and most similar version of what has been put in. So, a character could start things off--unknowingly--by throwing a discarded apple core into the cauldron in your story (thinking perhaps that it is a worthless artefact)...a moment later your characters could notice the cauldron humming, and then glowing, and then *piff*, it has filled with the closest pairing of from another dimension of what they threw into it..so, perhaps in one nearby reality it was used to store pears...the Cauldron of Plenty's magical gift has caused it to seek out and exchange those pears for the apple core, a near organic equivalent (mass is irrelevant to this mechanism)--your characters have activated its mechanism, so they receive the boon. They throw water in, and it returns tepid soup...it's a cooking cauldron in a nearby dimension. But it can only exchange what it finds nearest it in time...and only once. So, after the apple-core/pears exchange, if your characters throw a pear in, those original pears have already been exchanged by your group, and the cauldron searches further throughout inte-dimensional time for the next closest exchange-match...it brings back a bunch of dessicated old potato peelings. Next time they try to exchange water, they get wine gone to vinegar, etc. There could even be an understanding and supporting of this magical mechanism amongst some of the folks of various dimensions, and so they would keep the cauldron full of needed goods in their own realities, to assist those cauldron-users in other dimensions (there could also be bad people who keep poisoned foodstuffs in the cauldron, because..well, they are just pure evil...thus your own group of characters could have an unhappy--possibly deadly--event when, say, one of them eats bread that appears in the cauldron after an exchange without ever suspecting that it might be poisoned).

You, with your great imagination Ray, could surely work out the mechanism I sketched here...not sure if this is of any potential use to you, but maybe it will start the cauldron bubbling! :) CC

ps--sorry, I haven't read the story excerpts, so this may be completely inappropriate to your world.
 
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I forgot to mention...
They have a wolf, owl and Rook as companions.

Earlier when cleaning fish the dwarf caught, there were no left over gruesome bits. If they'd had an apple core someone would have eaten it. The fish was some days ago.

I rather suspect the Cauldron needs something put in to give out a feast. Rocks and snow is about all they have. They are wisely wary about even touching any of the four treasures without some information.

I think even magic has limits.
Also it doesn't to to analyse (in the story) how it works, though usually I put such in my private notes.

They thought their quest was about an item in these caves, which now isn't mentioned on the scroll / map they have. The item isn't here. The reference to it seems to have been in their imagination. Someone wanted them here and messed with their minds a bit.
Now they are at the destination. Suddenly it doesn't make sense why they came. They are cold and hungry and don't know what to do next.

Of course as I have a plot outline / summary, I know what they need to be doing and how it ends. But some of the details I left out are biting me. On foot you can't carry much food.
 
If I were writing it, I'd probably go for one of the old favourites like a drop of blood -- or spit, or tears. Then the cauldron's tuned to you, and it gives you the food you like. You could see how that might annoy the others, if no one else likes kippers (for example) but it mightn't be obvious to them at once why it won't give all sorts of different kinds of food.

Or the rook could drop in a worm, and get a thousand worms in return...
 
Hex said:
drop of blood -- or spit, or tears
Click to expand...
Or probably a suitably magically enhanced mix of all three, with earth. Oh yes it's the right time of year! If only the Owl and/or Rook can fly downhill & South and bring back a hazelnut. The small cobs grow on hazel scrub in mountains, below the snow line.

Hazel nuts are probably very special. I'd forgotten about them.

We have a Wizard, Mage, Enchanter and Telepath/Glamour wielding person of unknown other Magic powers.
The Elf Princess has no Magic. Nor the the American. The Irish Girl comes from a large family in a long line of large families. She's the seventh. :D
 
Following on from Hex's idea; it could become attuned to its bearer's taste for a set period of time (24 hours? Moonrise to moonrise?) so for a day everyone would have to eat/drink one person's favorites. Cue squabbling over who gets to bear it next...
 
Juliana said:
Moonrise to moonrise?
Click to expand...
Maybe dusk only. Dusk is special and some nights don't have a moonrise. So miss dusk and you get nothing till next chance.

Especially given that the Dryad and Elf are seriously unhappy already about what they have been eating.
The first argument will be about who is actually allowed to choose at all!

I've figured out a mechanism as to how they get instructions to work it ...
a) Experimenting with Magical treasures is known to be often fatal.
b) They'd not easily guess how to use it.

I think it's a different cauldron that brings dead warriors back to life.
I think because it's REALLY old, I'll have it be made of copper sheets. The earliest part of Bronze age is Copper age and this was an ancient magical treasure at the beginning, brought from wherever the Tuath Dé "really" came from* (either Spain or Norway, but more likely the North).

(
* The Beaker People did come to Ireland at start of Atlantic Bronze age, replaced in Ireland only by the Bronze age people that made all the fancy gold stuff that people think is Celtic, but is actually 1000 years older than Celts, who were Iron Age ... proto-Celts about 550BC, Celts as we know them more like 400AD and later. If the Fir-Bolg^ were the "Beaker People" and Tuath Dé the replacement main Bronze age in Ireland we may never know.
^ Fir-Bolg = Men of Bags / Bag men.
Tuath Dé might mean "Tribe of Dea", or "People of God", the monks invented the "Danann" suffix, that much is known.
)
 
Oddly would be acceptable probably to all except the wolf. Well perhaps the owl wouldn't be too happy.
All owls are carnivorous birds of prey and live mainly on a diet of insects and small rodents such as mice, rats and hares. Some owls are also specifically adapted to hunt fish.
Click to expand...
Rooks are almost omnivorous. But they love a bit of fresh road kill.

I expect a desperately hungry wolf and owl would eat sweet porridge. I think I'll keep it as the original Cauldron of plenty though.

One source of conflict between Dwarves & Elves is Hunters vs Vegetarian.
The Elves aren't vegans as they do have limited dairy from their own native species of "wool" providing animal. The Dryads mostly eat a treacly / syrupy maple like sap from their specially cultivated tree*, but unlike the Elves don't have the almost religious objection to meat, fish, eggs and honey. The Dryads are certainly a different kind of species, able to spin silk and laying an egg. Alice realises they are biologically a nymph (Dryads and Naiads are nymphs of a different kind in myth) that breeds without becoming the adult form, else what is the silk for?

I'd forgotten
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Porridge :D
I have various printed versions and Gutenberg eBook of Grimm's Fairy Tales.


[* Omnivorous Tree Vampires? ]
 
Venusian Broon said:
I have a distinct childhood memory of the Ladybird version of The Magic Porridge Pot which had some wonderful illustrations of a village getting swamped by a tidal wave of porridge.
Click to expand...

I remember that! Terrifying. Prepared me for a teenage fear of nuclear war, though.
 
I'm not happy with this magic cauldron being brought into service. They'd still have no heat or shelter. They can't easily carry it as wolves. They only managed to get here by being changed to wolves.

Maybe over 100km to go in near Arctic conditions on the mountains. Perhaps I've made it too hard.
Maybe they should turn into giant birds?
Crane / condors / albatross except bigger. I think you need about 1m of wing span per 10kg of weight.

The Crane is the bird associated with Manannán Mac Lir (Lir = Sea). (I think the children turned to swans are a different Lir, the Children of Lêr).
 
Ok this is my idea how they use the Cauldron of Plenty. Megra is an Elf Princess, and Ghiloric a Dwarf, but many many thousands of years ago they were not so separate, they are the same Species. Anrhi the Dryad isn't even a Mammal. Kevlin is one of the Fair Folk, a human, Tuath Dé (Later named Tuatha Dé Danann). Alice is Irish Girl, and Bill an American lad.
Corbie is the Dean's Familiar (a real rook) so in Telepathic contact. It's of course news to them that there is a Magi Council plan, that will certainly be a topic of conversation after they have eaten. Bill can understand Alice when she uses English. He can otherwise only understand Kevlin (His Glamour/Telepathy). They all understand Alice no matter if she is using English or Irish due to her magic. But she's marginally clearer to all except Megra and Bill if she uses Irish.

The rook cawed.


"I have your attention?" said Corbie, "The Dean says Alice should explain nothing. He says Alice is an unexpected bonus that allows the Magi Council to change the plan."


"Fine," said Megra.


"You can use the cauldron twice. Get something to write with and put the instructions in the book or back of the scroll."


"I have a pen and notebook," said Alice.


"Have Megra write in high elvish so no-one else can read it. On the dawn after the second meal fly to the Black Enchanter's tower, but don't be seen. Alice can change Faolchú too. Kevlin, let Alice change you. I'm advised she knows a better bird to use than a crane. Alice and Kevlin mustn't talk out loud about this."


Alice gave Megra her small notebook and ballpoint pen.


"How does it work?"


"It's a tube of ink," said Alice in Irish, "the tip is a metal ball." Alice somehow had the idea that she should speak as little English as possible. She had fine tuned her magic so only Megra could hear the translation.


"Ready, Corbie," said Megra. She tested the pen with a little picture of the rook.


Corbie paused after each phrase and waited for Megra to read it back. This is something like Megra wrote.


Move the stone of destiny. Take out only two of the preserved hazelnuts. The ceremony only works at dusk. You need to mix the liquid of a shared loving kiss, some blood for life and a tear for loss, or tears. A couple must do this. It needs the triad from both mixed into earth just at dusk. The liquids may be collected in a bowl shortly before dusk, add the blood last. Place that earth moistened by the couple together in the cauldron. Carefully crack the shell of the hazelnut and together plant it. Then embrace and kiss till the cauldron is filled. Megra and Ghiloric should do it the first dusk. Then Kevlin and Alice. Because you are not great Magi and Druids trying it again by the same moon might kill you. This magic can't work for Anrhi even if she had another Dryad partner to kiss. We think Alice is better doing it with Kevlin, she is more Tuath Dé than she realises.


"Do the couples need to practice?" said Megra, "Do we have to be standing?"


"No need to stand or practice. Not unless you want to," said Corbie. He then fluttered off Megra's shoulder and staggered a bit making strange noises.


"I think," said Ghiloric, "that's Rook humour." Megra was still kneeling. He looked into her eyes. "Are you comfortable with this?"


"I can't say I'm excited by the prospect of kissing and embracing a dwarf," said Megra, "but actually you're not obnoxious, I'd sooner starve than kiss that cousin I was betrothed to. Just don't tell anyone. Also I'd prefer not to have an audience. It must be nearly dusk now."


"We get the hint," said Kevlin, "we'll go next door. Let's get the hazelnuts."


They slid the stone pillar and found a small gold box in a hollow under it. Anrhi took out two hazelnuts.


"These two are good inside," she said. She focused her magic. "I have time to get some earth. It's not long to dusk."


She put the box back and they put the pillar back.


"Bill," said Alice, "We all need to go out for a while."


"Except Megra and Ghiloric," said Kevlin.


"When you come back," said Megra, "send in Anrhi with the earth and we will send her to fetch you when we are done."


Bill was mystified.


Anrhi held out her hand.


"Can you give Anrhi the torch?" said Alice, "She can read Ghiloric's guide marks quickly."


"Can you explain what is going on, Alice?" he asked as they went back up the passages.


"I don't think I can," said Alice.


Kevlin grinned in the dark. He was fairly sure Alice understood the implied instructions from the Dean that Bill wasn't to be trusted.
 
It seems like you already have your idea here, Ray. But this reminds me of the Dynamo magic stunt with the bucket and fish. Might come off a bit comical, but I can imagine your characters doing everything they can think of, with no luck, but then they just tip it up (over their heads?) and a bunch of fish drop out of it :ROFLMAO:
 
I didn't have a clue till the ideas above.
So we are on to the next crisis.

The magic Enhanced Rook to the College with the Dean is a bit like a Mobile Phone when they first came in. Initially they (and I) forget the Rook's ability. Of course they realise now that there is stuff they haven't been told.
 
Glad you found your inspiration, Ray! Sorry I went on at such length...for a moment there as I was typing it felt as though I was in a flash-fiction contest! :)
 
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