(Haven't had a chance in recent months... year? to log into cf, but trying again of late (of course it's currently hung))

But this well written explanation makes me think... what if there were means of inquiring mobs about items. The extent of this would directly correlate to how much effort a coder would wish to invest... such that not every NPC should know much about ANY item whatsoever. But maybe the likelihood of a dwarven area/ruins/cities would be known to dwarf NPC's as a basic example. The question would be what kind of qualifiers exist or could exist to make it practical... at least this way if you saw an item in use, spoken about, or written about, you could have some options in game to find the area.

A side contemplation could be a change in the way item searches work to be more vague for items not currently included. Maybe a level, but even outside of that, only the area it could be located in.

Apologies in advance if this has been too regurgitated or already suggested prior.