Questions?

[merlinscribe]

If 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.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

How do the Elven mages of Vieliessar's time differ from the Elven mages of Tiercel's time? Previously it seemed that Elven mages were able to touch the Light without needing a Dragon. But it now seems in Tiercel's time that Elven mages can only awaken their magic if they bond a Dragon. Has the nature of the Flower Forests changed? Or has the nature of Elven magic changed after Vieliessar negotiated her pact with the Dragons?

[merlinscribe]

The nature of the Flower Forests is unchanging and eternal. They exist as reservoirs of the Light, and as such the Elven Mages (Lightborn) of Vieliessar's time were taught to draw on them for the power to work their spells (as opposed to the extremely skanky practices they got up to before Mosirinde Peacemaker reformed them). The Lightborn Elves who bond with dragons in Vieliessar's time basically don't need the Flower Forests any longer and have an absolutely infinite resource of Power to draw upon.

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".

[(Anonymous)]

Interesting! Any elaboration on those pre-Flower Forest practices?

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?

[merlinscribe]

Interestingly, I covered this in detail in DELIVERANCE OF DRAGONS, but since you won't see that until May, I can summarize it here. What the Elves drew their power from pre-Mosirinde was other reservoirs of Light, i.e. Elves, animals, and Otherfolk. (Yeah, there was not a huge amount of difference between them and the Endarkened in those days.)

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.

[(Anonymous)]

Oooooh very nice I look forward to reading about the history of Elven magic. Would love to know more about the lands to the east of the Greythunder someday too!

[merlinscribe]

For that you would have to go very far back in history, though I'm not calling it impossible. We'll have to see after this book comes out.