Questions?
Jul. 20th, 2024 02:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
merlinscribeIf you have general questions about the World of Obsidian and its lore, post them here and I will answer them as best I can. I say "as best I can" because I have been working on this series since the late Cretaceous period and I may no longer remember some answers.
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2024-07-20 09:43 pm (UTC)(frozen) ...
Date: 2024-07-20 09:46 pm (UTC)(frozen) Re: Book 3 of Dragon Prophecy
Date: 2024-07-20 09:56 pm (UTC)The Obsidian Mirror may superficially seem more powerful than any given set of Nine Shrines because entropy.
Unicorns
Date: 2024-07-21 11:31 pm (UTC)Re: Book 3 of Dragon Prophecy
Date: 2024-07-23 09:34 pm (UTC)Authors aren't supposed to have favorites, but I am very fond of Shalkan, too.
Re: Unicorns
Date: 2024-07-23 09:36 pm (UTC)Questions
Date: 2024-07-22 04:43 pm (UTC)Some more from me!(Spoilers below so be warned all!)
1) Can you explain the relationship between Spirit of Elemental Darkness and Darkness? Is the Spirit a smaller, lesser version of the proper Darkness? And is Darkness synonymous with He-Who-Is?
2) Are there Spirits of Elemental Light?
3) What is the door that Ancaladar goes through in Abi'Abadashar? It seems implied it was a failsafe for an Endarkened attack, involving Time and Space. So are we to understand they used magic to push people 6 months and X miles away?
4) What time period is Abi'Abadashar from?
5) Does Idalia Caerthalien (I assume the daughter of Ashaniel and Andoreniel would be called thus) remember her previous life directly or more as she was informed of it as she grew in her elven body?
I'm sure I'll think of more eventually ;)
...
Date: 2024-07-23 09:58 pm (UTC)2. Everyone talks about The Light, and I think there must be slightly more embodied Spirits of Light, but when (frex) a Wildmage calls upon the Light, s/he is calling upon the whole element of Light.
3. That is a Time Gate. It moves people backward in time: the reason Ancaladar was so far away was because he was looking for Tiercel before he realized what had happened.
3a. The Time Gate can be controlled by the Dragon Mage who takes their Dragon through it. Without a Dragon Mage in charge, it's up to the Dragon.
4. Abi'Abadshar was constructed during the second half of the First Endarkened War. Initially the Elves intended to expand their theater of battle across the desert, but when they discovered those lands to be inhabited by the vulnerable Firesprites, they retreated and carried the war elsewhere.
5. Idalia Caerthalien remembered her previous life vividly at the moment she was born. Later those memories were overlaid with new ones as she lived her new life, but she never completely forgot her previous existence as Wildmage and Healer.
Looking forward to the next round.
Types of Mages
Date: 2024-07-24 04:17 pm (UTC)1) For a Wildmage, must the Gods of the Wild Magic *approve* of what they do in order to grant the power loan to them? (I call it a loan because it leaves them beholden to mageprice).
2) If the above is true, is that why only dragon-bonded Wild mages can be corrupted to use their power for the Dark? (High mages can also be corrupted because their power requires no approval outside of their intent and will)
3) In Vieliessar's time, are the Lightborn basically Elven Mages, but rather than having a Dragon to draw from, they have to find power from Flower Forests? IE: Are Lightborn Elven Mages even though they have no Dragon?
4) Am I correct in understanding Elven Mages need a power source that is of-the-light but they do not need the Gods of the Wild Magic to approve of what they do? (Compared to a Wildmage who might be declined when asking for magical help?)
5) High Mages: War Magick evolved during the Second Endarkened War, we know. But little context is given to how. Must a High Mage be human?
6) Tiercel narrates that "Healing spells weren’t a part of the High Magic, but they were a part of the Wild Magic," but Kellen narrates that one could "...hire a Mage to [...] heal their injuries."
Does or does not the High Magick heal? Perhaps that is just still lost knowledge to Tiercel?
Thank you! I'm sure I'll think of more... :)
Re: Types of Mages
Date: 2024-08-04 10:45 pm (UTC)2. Dragon Mages can be corrupted because they are spiritually vulnerable. They are actually more like a cross between Wildmages and High Mages (who are called, at the time their magic first evolves, War Mages) in that their power source can argue with them but will eventually do what they say. Consider how Bisochim overruled Saravasse, making her do things she did not want to do.
3. In Vieliessar's time, the Lightborn draw upon the Light without negotiating with it, so they are closer to being High Mages than Wild Mages. Mosirinde's Covenant requires them not to kill in using their Magery, which was a rule she imposed upon them a very long time ago to stop them from killing the Lightforests and the Otherfolk that lived in them. A dragon functions very much as an inexhaustible Flower Forest for them.
4. Elven Mages (Lightborn and Dragon Mages) do not require the approval of the "Gods of the Wild Magic" in working either "small magics", Dragon Magery, or Lightborn magic.
5. A High Mage must be human. War Magic evolved as an attempt to provide humans with effective magic. The Elves have very little access to magic by the Second Endarkened War.
6. I imagine Tiercel is referring to the Wild Magic, as the High Magic he is aware of would not be used to heal. Certainly the High Magic could be used to heal, in a mechanistic fashion involving pills and cordials, if any of the High Mages of Armethalieh were interested in doing so.
Therefore, the answer to your question is Yes and No. It also depends on which period. The High Magic Kellen knows would be almost unrecognizable to Tiercel.
Looking forward to the next round of questions. :)
no subject
Date: 2024-08-11 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-21 12:25 am (UTC)Over time, there stopped being Lightborn Mages (since among other things they were too vulnerable to the Endarkened), and the only kind of Elven Mages there were, were Dragonbond Mages. When the Dragons turned to bonding with Humans (once there were humans), the Elves lost all magic but their connection to the "small magics".
no subject
Date: 2024-09-26 02:49 am (UTC)So are Lightborn mages no longer being born? Or are they only taught to draw their magic from Dragons now and thus while the Elves still have the potential for Lightborn magic it simply fell out of use? Are all Lightborn mages Dragonborn mages? Or were there Lightborn mages who could not form Dragon bonds? And were there Elves who were Dragonborn mages who could not use Lightborn magic?
no subject
Date: 2024-10-10 10:20 pm (UTC)But in the post-Dragonmage era, Elves capable of becoming Lightborn are not being born. They have surrendered their magic to the Light. For a few thousand years after that surrender, there are still Dragon Mages around, but eventually Death breaks the last Bond and all there remains are ordinary Elves with "small magics" and unbonded Dragons. Since the Dragonbond does not rely on magickal adepthood a new Bond could probably be formed at any time, but the Dragons are understandably wary about doing so.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-11 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-10-23 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-26 04:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-10-10 09:31 pm (UTC)As for what is written by whom, it's rather a case of taking a jar of chocolate frosting and a jar of vanilla frosting and combining them. And oh yes, there are hazelnuts. Ms. Lackey usually gives me an opening scene and a handful of characters, and then I start the book and she throws in various scenes for me to add. She'll often write the ending as well. And of course if I get "stuck" she'll help me out. Of course, her idea of helping me out is usually to say: "Kill a main character!" Take that as you will.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-23 03:52 pm (UTC)Another Volley of Miscellaneous Questions!
Date: 2025-01-07 07:45 pm (UTC)As I continue to re-read everything in preparation for the release of Deliverance of Dragons I have more queries for you, sir!
1 On the cover of Deliverance, is that Tennetarie the White we see?
2 In the Dragon Prophecy we hear of the First Endarkened war, the Second (great) Endarkened war, and we read of the Third Endarkened war in the Obsidian Mountain trilogy. Tiercel's inner monologue refers to the conflict with Aharain as the 'Fourth Endarkened War'. However she is not endarkened, not a being of flesh melded with Darkness so much as Darkness encased in flesh. So Tiercel and Harrier's conflict with her is not an Endarkened war. What are your thoughts? Will Tiercel's take on it catch on? Or will it be called something else?
3 Tiercel surmises that Dragons do not die (of age) unless their bonded dies. Is this true?
4 Will there be a new map in Deliverance of Dragons?
5 Does Vie use a Tarnkappa when she first sneaks into Gunedwaen's hut?
6 Will we learn Pelashia's origins/parentage in Deliverance?
7 When did the elves move from having golden eyes to only black? We see Amrethion Aradruiniel has golden eyes in a vision, but Vie says everyone she's ever known has black.
Re: Another Volley of Miscellaneous Questions!
Date: 2025-01-09 09:28 pm (UTC)2. I'm on the fence here. I don't think people want to think about the Endarkened, so they're unlikely to be onboard with calling something "the fourth Endarkened War." Whether people beyond Tiercel's time, looking back, will want to call it that, is something that could only be answered if a book were written from that time, but I don't think the title will catch on.
3. Yes. Dragons do not die of age. If their Bondeds die, they die, unless their Bond has become a part of a threefold Bond. Such a bond can be added to infinitely, and in that case the dragon could become virtually immortal even as a Bonded Dragon.
4. Alas, no. I wish there could be. I don't think they're even reprinting the map from the last book.
5. No.
6. Yes.
7. This question will also be answered in Deliverance of Dragons.
no subject
Date: 2025-03-03 03:46 pm (UTC)After all these years.
Date: 2025-06-04 01:13 am (UTC)