The assassination market needs to be at least semi-publicly observable—in the story’s case, the weight of the money in the named cylinder pulls it down, showing how much money is in the cylinder.
Ahh, that was the bit I missed. Okay, that makes sense now.
Edit: Upon rereading, I think this could perhaps be a bit clearer.
To one side of him were suspended cylinders. And each hung at a different height, held by oiled cords leading away into the depths. And upon each cylinder was inscribed a name. The merchant looked at one marked ‘Sammael’. A man he had never met, and never would.
Cylinders hung suspended, okay. Held by cords leading into the “depths”—what?
Into one of the holes by that particular cylinder, he dropped several heavy gold coins. Some time after their clinkings ceased to echo, the cylinder hoisted ever so slightly. Into the other hole he dropped a pouch containing: a parchment note listing a particular date, a fat coin in fee, and a stout lock.
Holes by that cylinder- presumably in the wall or floor? The money goes into the locked treasure room, not the cylinder. And it causes (somehow) the cylinder to rise, not fall.
Holes by that cylinder- presumably in the wall or floor? The money goes into the locked treasure room, not the cylinder. And it causes (somehow) the cylinder to rise, not fall.
The idea is that the room in the dungeons has two compartments which the two holes lead to: one contains the locks and predictions, and only the ‘winning’ lock is used when the person is assassinated (my offline analogue to crypto signatures), but the other just holds the money/rewards, and is actually a big cup or something held up by the cord which goes up to the ceiling, around a pulley, and then down to the cylinder. Hence, the more weight (money) inside the cup, the higher the cylinder is hoisted.
I guess ropes and pulleys are no longer so common these days as to make the setup clear and not requiring further explanation?
(This is one of the vulnerabilities as described—what’s to stop someone from dumping in some lead? As I said, real-world equivalents to crypto are hard. Probably this could be solved by bringing in another human weak point—eg. specifying that only the merchants are allowed to put money in.)
The described pulley setup will simply accelerate until it reaches one limit or the other depending on the balance of weights. In order to have the position vary with the load, you need a position-varying force, such as
A spring.
A rotating off-center mass, as in a balance scale. (This is nonlinear for large angles.)
An asymmetric pulley, i.e. a cam (in the shape of an Archimedean spiral).
A tall object (of constant cross-section) entering a pool of water.
Ahh, that was the bit I missed. Okay, that makes sense now.
Edit: Upon rereading, I think this could perhaps be a bit clearer.
Cylinders hung suspended, okay. Held by cords leading into the “depths”—what?
Holes by that cylinder- presumably in the wall or floor? The money goes into the locked treasure room, not the cylinder. And it causes (somehow) the cylinder to rise, not fall.
The idea is that the room in the dungeons has two compartments which the two holes lead to: one contains the locks and predictions, and only the ‘winning’ lock is used when the person is assassinated (my offline analogue to crypto signatures), but the other just holds the money/rewards, and is actually a big cup or something held up by the cord which goes up to the ceiling, around a pulley, and then down to the cylinder. Hence, the more weight (money) inside the cup, the higher the cylinder is hoisted.
I guess ropes and pulleys are no longer so common these days as to make the setup clear and not requiring further explanation?
(This is one of the vulnerabilities as described—what’s to stop someone from dumping in some lead? As I said, real-world equivalents to crypto are hard. Probably this could be solved by bringing in another human weak point—eg. specifying that only the merchants are allowed to put money in.)
The described pulley setup will simply accelerate until it reaches one limit or the other depending on the balance of weights. In order to have the position vary with the load, you need a position-varying force, such as
A spring.
A rotating off-center mass, as in a balance scale. (This is nonlinear for large angles.)
An asymmetric pulley, i.e. a cam (in the shape of an Archimedean spiral).
A tall object (of constant cross-section) entering a pool of water.