One of the first people I met when I arrived in Runeheim was Tora. As soon as I sat down and introduced myself as a fellow engineer, she asked “do you want to see some schematics?” She retrieved an entire box filled with recipes and diagrams. She showed me just a few, and what I saw was incredible. Black powder weapons beyond anything humans built, a spyglass powerful enough to observe the surface of the moon, a build plan for an functional greenhouse underground. She’d show me a seemingly impossible diagram that would take me hours to understand, let alone invent, and go “oh, that’s just something I scribbled while drunk”. This woman is a true genius, and may be one of the most brilliant people alive in the world, period. She solves impossible problems as a drunken joke and works with dwarven secrets most men will never see. And yet…
She would rather spend the night making lewd jokes with the Grey Company than talking about engineering. She could be building marvelous devices to improve the town, but wastes her time smithing wagon parts and repairing armours. She could have a thriving business selling the things she can make and amass a fortune with just a fraction of her skills and resources, and just… doesn’t care. She can make flame launchers and bombs and fights with a sword instead. I don’t think she knows what a gift she has and the true value of her talents. Or perhaps she does and simply believes it’s hers to do with as she pleases?
I’ve been working on an invention of my own. A woman named Grin came to town on the same caravan as me. She doesn’t speak due to an injured throat, and I saw an opportunity to help her. I’m designing a device that will produce sounds for her, allowing her to speak aloud once more. A chance to use my skills to make something new and meaningfully make a person’s life better. It’s a hard problem, and I’ve been relying on the help of Dr. Heimer for the anatomical knowledge required. I showed my plans to Tora, she didn’t seem all that interested. What has our resident genius been working on that time? What goal more important and engaging than giving a person her voice back? She showed me her schematics. She wants to build a statuette… of herself. Tiny Tora, she calls it. And all the skills and knowledge and talents of the world’s greatest engineer are brought to focus in order to design an intricate clockwork contraption. So Tiny Tora can shake her ass.
Tora truly is intelligent beyond belief. I could tell that from a single look at her diagrams and five minutes of conversation with her. Even the ass-shaking motor is an impeccable work of artifice. But the woman is borderline insane! She knows every science from physics to anatomy, but can’t grasp basic economic concepts that are obvious to Ragnar, a man who can’t read and talks to his sword. One moment she’s solemn, rational and insightful, the next she’s poisoning a vindictive noble with magical toxins as a prank. I see her passionately fighting to protect the dwarves from oppression and cruelty, then I find out she’s studying to become a torturer? What kind of career aspiration is that? Who in their right mind goes “I really wish I knew more about torture”?!
Everyone here trusts and respects her. Lady Dragomir respects her. The dwarves trust her, alone out of all the humans here. Hell, even I trust her, when she speaks seriously and I can feel the amount of thought and wisdom her words reflect. But I legitimately cannot tell if she is a madwoman who happens to wield incredible skills, or a bored genius playing dumb as one big joke. Or perhaps she really is just a person of great intellect and terrible judgement. A powerful mind with no principles to guide it. Runeheim will be making many important decisions soon, and I do not know if following Tora’s advice will lead us to a bright future only she understands right now, or bring us all to ruin as she laughs.
