:It helps somewhat?  It raises an endless series of other questions that I should set aside for now, because breadth-first search seems wiser than depth-first in this situation.:

If this was a story, the bizarre way that everything here (down to the cheese issued Vanyel) is so far down from the Pareto boundary would be... well, on a Doylist level, it would be a moral homily about the importance of paying coordination costs or just plain checking for better ways.  But on a Watsonian level... one of the factors present in this world, and absent from her home, would be secretly responsible for why things are so much worse here.  Some consequence of Mindspeech, Companions, Vanyel being able to make a glowing light, the existence of gods and prayer, or the peculiar sourness of the cheese, which would be destroying their ability to coordinate as easily as just-humans do under just-physics.  The destructive factor wouldn't necessarily have to be introduced in this first chapter because that rule would make the puzzle too easy, but the key factor would have to be introduced early on.  And the book's literary merit would increase monotonically with how hard the reader kicked herself afterwards for not seeing the consequences right away.

If this is some form of generalized book, obeying standard book-patterns, her Story is going to be About cleverly deducing the factor that prevents this world's civilization from developing the way regular humans do without interference, and reduces it to weird warring kingdoms instead.

If this is generalized reality then that kind of thinking will not work at all.

She's just going to have to try to extrapolate it both ways, and keep track of the difference.

She isn't going to say all this to Yfandes, yet, though, because the Companions are one of the differing factors that got introduced in metaphorical chapter one.  Gosh, she hopes she doesn't start leaking all this stuff through the mind-link.  Which reminds her.

:Do you also know how to teach me shielding?  Or can you tell me things now, so that Vanyel doesn't have to tell me them after he's rested?  He seemed to think it was urgent, if I can learn it now; and even if my practicing has to wait on him, saving him explanatory effort later seems good.:

:It helps somewhat?  It raises an endless series of other questions that I should set aside for now, because breadth-first search seems wiser than depth-first in this situation.:

If this was a story, the bizarre way that everything here (down to the cheese issued Vanyel) is so far down from the Pareto boundary would be... well, on a Doylist level, it would be a moral homily about the importance of paying coordination costs or just plain checking for better ways.  But on a Watsonian level... one of the factors present in this world, and absent from her home, would be secretly responsible for why things are so much worse here.  Some consequence of Mindspeech, Companions, Vanyel being able to make a glowing light, the existence of gods and prayer, or the peculiar sourness of the cheese, which would be destroying their ability to coordinate as easily as just-humans do under just-physics.  The destructive factor wouldn't necessarily have to be introduced in this first chapter because that rule would make the puzzle too easy, but the key factor would have to be introduced early on.  And the book's literary merit would increase monotonically with how hard the reader kicked herself afterwards for not seeing the consequences right away.

If this is some form of generalized book, obeying standard book-patterns, her Story is going to be About cleverly deducing the factor that prevents this world's civilization from developing the way regular humans do without interference, and reduces it to weird warring kingdoms instead.

If this is generalized reality then that kind of thinking will not work at all. She would have put a higher probability on that before Vanyel turned out to be the top professional mage.  Sure, there could be a reason for that, but books have rationalizations too.  That plot development fits a pattern, is the thing.

She's just going to have to try to extrapolate it both ways, and keep track of the difference.

She isn't going to say all this to Yfandes, yet, though, because the Companions are one of the differing factors that got introduced in metaphorical chapter one.  Gosh, she hopes she doesn't start leaking all this stuff through the mind-link.  Which reminds her.

:Do you also know how to teach me shielding?  Or can you tell me things now, so that Vanyel doesn't have to tell me them after he's rested?  He seemed to think it was urgent, if I can learn it now; and even if my practicing has to wait on him, saving him explanatory effort later seems good.:

:It helps somewhat?  It raises an endless series of other questions that I should set aside for now, because breadth-first search seems wiser than depth-first in this situation.:

If this was a story, the bizarre way that everything here (down to the cheese issued Vanyel) is so far down from the Pareto boundary would be... well, on a Doylist level, it would be a moral homily about the importance of paying coordination costs or just plain checking for better ways.  But on a Watsonian level... one of the factors present in this world, and absent from her home, would be secretly responsible for why things are so much worse here.  Some consequence of Mindspeech, Companions, Vanyel being able to make a glowing light, the existence of gods and prayer, or the peculiar sourness of the cheese, which would be destroying their ability to coordinate as easily as just-humans do under just-physics.  The destructive factor wouldn't necessarily have to be introduced in this first chapter because that rule would make the puzzle too easy, but the key factor would have to be introduced early on.  And the book's literary merit would increase monotonically with how hard the reader kicked herself afterwards for not seeing the consequences right away.

If this is some form of generalized book, obeying standard book-patterns, her Story is going to be About cleverly deducing the factor that prevents this world's civilization from developing the way regular humans do without interference, and reduces it to weird warring kingdoms instead.

If this is generalized reality then that kind of thinking will not work at all. She would have put a higher probability on that before Vanyel turned out to be the top professional mage.  Sure, there could be a reason for that, but books have rationalizations too.  That plot development fits a pattern, is the thing.

She's just going to have to try to extrapolate it both ways, and keep track of the difference.

She isn't going to say all this to Yfandes, yet, though, because the Companions are one of the differing factors that got introduced in metaphorical chapter one.  Gosh, she hopes she doesn't start leaking all this stuff through the psionic transmissions.  Which reminds her.

:Do you also know how to teach me shielding?  Or can you tell me things now, so that Vanyel doesn't have to tell me them after he's rested?  He seemed to think it was urgent, if I can learn it now; and even if my practicing has to wait on him, saving him explanatory effort later seems good.: