You can check out any time you like but you can never truly leave. Barring memory erasure, you'll always be a Kunstler on some level. Even if for whatever reason you decide to go as far back to normal human life as possible. You'll always have your skills to fall back on. It'll always be a part of you in some way. Still, it's not unusual for someone to leave Grunthal, or step down from the official membership roster.
Most people who leave Grunthal are just returning to their 'home' faction where most of their friends still live. They've gone as far as they want to with their training, or have lost interest in the lifestyle. We can't keep people from choosing to leave. We can't stop someone from setting up their own school and trying to teach, or writing a book about it. Most of the 'secrets' are probably already out there to be found by spending a few trawling through the interwave. Someone's probably even going to post the links right after this, I swear. But really, where's the fun in that?
Part of the reason they're kept 'secret' is to keep lower level trainees from trying them before they're ready - they'll only hurt someone - and to give a sense of accomplishment and achievement as someone moves up and grows in skill. Part of the 'secret' is the adapting of the skill to the Kunstler's own body, and teaching them how to make it work for themselves, which is individual to the Kunstler and requires a lot of skill on the part of the Meister. It's possible to know everything and still not know how to make it work.
On the other hand, some of us are contracted to the Gruppe for a fixed term. If they had cybernetics or maintenance subsidized they have to pay the balance owed on that before leaving if they want to go before the contract is up. Most of us are Deltaware level, paying that off out of pocket gets expensive, and ducking out on the fee makes getting maintenance harder because people will be wary about working with someone can't pay. It's a little like a cellphone contract, only we make sure that anyone going this route is specifically and completely aware that this is the case beforehand. It's an affordable way of getting Deltaware and Edgeware grade work done, but requires a lot of work afterwards to pay it off.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Most people who leave Grunthal are just returning to their 'home' faction where most of their friends still live. They've gone as far as they want to with their training, or have lost interest in the lifestyle. We can't keep people from choosing to leave. We can't stop someone from setting up their own school and trying to teach, or writing a book about it. Most of the 'secrets' are probably already out there to be found by spending a few trawling through the interwave. Someone's probably even going to post the links right after this, I swear. But really, where's the fun in that?
Part of the reason they're kept 'secret' is to keep lower level trainees from trying them before they're ready - they'll only hurt someone - and to give a sense of accomplishment and achievement as someone moves up and grows in skill. Part of the 'secret' is the adapting of the skill to the Kunstler's own body, and teaching them how to make it work for themselves, which is individual to the Kunstler and requires a lot of skill on the part of the Meister. It's possible to know everything and still not know how to make it work.
On the other hand, some of us are contracted to the Gruppe for a fixed term. If they had cybernetics or maintenance subsidized they have to pay the balance owed on that before leaving if they want to go before the contract is up. Most of us are Deltaware level, paying that off out of pocket gets expensive, and ducking out on the fee makes getting maintenance harder because people will be wary about working with someone can't pay. It's a little like a cellphone contract, only we make sure that anyone going this route is specifically and completely aware that this is the case beforehand. It's an affordable way of getting Deltaware and Edgeware grade work done, but requires a lot of work afterwards to pay it off.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?