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The Eighth Warden Book 4 - Chapters 28 to Epilogue (Patreon)

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2022-04-20 08:43:03
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2026-10
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Here's the Book 4 finale!

I hope you enjoy, and please let me know if you notice any issues.

I apologize for how long this batch of chapters took to release. I've been dealing with some real-life stuff, but hopefully I'll be able to improve my posting frequency in the future.

Now to start outlining Book 5 ...

--Ivy

Comments

Splutty

Real life stuff is important, if you don't get that taken care of, we might never get another chapter. So take care!

And Then There Was None

Thanks for the chapters. I admit I was very surprised by... how to say it in a spoiler safe fashion: The "wrong shade of blue", and interested to see the long term effects of that.

Raman BNV

Fantastic Finale to Book 4, Ivy! The big surprise has to be Ariadne already being a bondmate. One possibility is that Hera bonded Ariadne in the period just before the burning, while she was in stasis. This would explain why Ariadne survived the stasis while the rest of the mage knights died. Given that she wasn't a bondmate when she went into stasis, it must be one of the new wardens. One thought that comes to mind is that Loofoo was actually Kono and decided to impulsively bond Ariadne. Another possibility is that Bobo has recently become a Warden, and has inadvertently bonded Ariadne. Shayliel could also be the warden to have bonded her as her runic colour is also not known. Ephrenia being overly friendly with Pallisur could be on Arodi's instructions, to be a spy in Pallisur's camp, as it were. The dream world being the same as the divine realm is also a surprise. If Badru is able to do it and that being one of his special gifts, means that Shayliel might have a hand in restoring that ability of his in the future. The eight lines representing the Collision is also a huge reveal. However, without further info into what those 8 lines represent, we are still speculating.

And Then There Was None

So much for avoiding spoilers. That big surprise got me to, I admit I thought Ariadne was going to be the final bondmate, she fit the pattern of having a unique magic type and also being of a different species/ethnicity to the others. If it's not her, I wonder who the final one could be. Bobo is hinted and I don't think him being male rules him out, just reduces the odds. Yassi would be my favorite choice, even if her magic is redundant she's such a strong charachter. Of course it's probably impossible for Yassi, and she probably wont want to be anyone's bondmate and deserves to make that choice for herself. I think... I'm going to speculate we haven't met the person yet. Maybe a seaborn to fit the pattern of a very diverse group?

Brian Woods

…so I think that with the Ariadne surprise, at either the end of Book 3 or the start of Book 4 Corec was mentioned to have a ‘feeling’ about recruiting either Bobo or Ariadne that matched his ‘blessing’ from Hera, or so we suspect. That means Bobo is most likely to be his 8th bondmate. I actually suspect the light blue color is indicative of who cast the Bond in the first place, though I am confused on when is could have happened between Corec having the possibility open to him and the encounter outside that village where her magic started improving. The Dream World being the same as the Totemic/Divine realm shouldn’t be such a surprise, as Rusol met Snake in the same place before he got blessed. Plus, Leena’s bracelet was able to transition a previous user over there physically. It all adds up. I think the bigger surprise is that Traveling, and possibly Seeing and Seeking, seem to be connected to Divine Magic rather than Arcane, especially if Pallisur lost the powers in transitioning to a mortal state. That suggests someone shared something with the old Zidari, both allowing them to use such abilities and warning them not to share it with others for fear of discovery. Who shared the secrets…and why did they do so? Such wonderful intrigue…

ivyveritas

Just one quick clarification -- Traveling, Seeing, and Seeking are all arcane magic. Pallisur's arcane magic was also limited when he transitioned into a mortal body, mostly to the arcane abilities he'd had during his original life. He gained divine magic during his ascension, but he also gained other non-divine abilities, such as arcane Traveling (though only in spirit form/god form). Hope that helps!

Brian Woods

Interesting, though that does bring up another issue for clarification: does that mean when Fox was Traveling to escape from Snake’s snakes, he used Divine Traveling to go from the Mortal Realm to the Totemic Realm, and would have been able to appear anywhere in the Mortal Realm upon returning, rather than utilizing the Arcane Traveling like the Zidari to cross continents? And as an addendum, does that mean Divine Traveling only works across realms, and by using devices like Leena’s bracelet you can ‘upgrade’ so to speak?

Jesse

First off, Great finish to the book. Several things. First, I am pleased the Staff of Life didn't hold a grudge against Shavala. I was rather worried about that. Intelligent items can be a little prickly when they don't get their way. Second the lines have something to do with the collision. Hmm. So Ariadne was bonded to someone. I wonder if that is why she was able to survive where the rest of the Magic Knights that weren't bonded died. So many questions. I am curious if Corec's little Bondmate Blessing can take into account if the potential Bondmate is already bonded or not. Aside from Venni and Sarlo I don't think Corec has been near any other Warden's Bondmates. Those two didn't strike as good matches for Corec regardless of them already being bonded. Are Dragons for your world single sex-reproducing creatures or did another Dragon make a stealth visit while everyone was in Tir Yadir?

ivyveritas

Hmm, let’s take this answer in pieces. First, I should probably note here that while the old gods and new gods have some similarities in their abilities, they’re not the same. Fox, for example, didn’t have to build a new mortal vessel for himself when he crossed between worlds. He took his body with him to the totemic realm and back again. And “mortal vessel” is a misnomer because the totems’ flesh bodies don’t age, unlike the new gods’ mortal bodies. Second, could Fox have reappeared anywhere in the mortal realm when returning from the totemic realm? Yes. He crossed the barriers between worlds because he was worried if he Traveled directly within the mortal realm, the spirit snakes would somehow be able to track where he went. Third, I kind of regret using the word “Traveling” in that Fox scene because in that particular spot it’s used more as a generic catch-all for teleportation-like or world-crossing abilities. I could potentially define all arcane teleportation abilities to fall under the umbrella of “Traveling”, but crossing between worlds is a slightly different (though related) ability. Fourth, is there such a thing as divine Traveling? I’m not sure, because it hasn’t come up yet. Totems and demons can cross barriers between worlds using their own native magics, though subject to significant restrictions. Within the totemic realm, totems don’t need to Travel because distance and time mean different things to them when they’re in their home realm. Within the mortal realm, we haven’t really seen the totems use true teleportation, but it’s implied that they can move faster than normal animals (or at least without stopping to rest). Fox does consider using “Traveling” within the mortal realm, but that could just as easily be arcane Traveling—we know totems can use some non-divine magic, and we don’t have a firm picture yet of what that includes. Fifth, when the totems are in the mortal world, why don’t they Travel (or “Travel”) everywhere rather than running or flying most of the time? I’d say their thought processes are very different than ours, and “urgent”, to them, means something other than our definition for it. Kind of like how the older wardens might refer to a conversation from seven or eight years ago as if it happened yesterday, or how Yelena thought she was 270 years old because that was how old she was the last time she thought about it (when recruiting Lastal), even though that was four years earlier. Also, I re-worded my previous comment, because I think it may have been causing more confusion than it was solving.

ivyveritas

There are male and female dragons, but they can travel long distances for mating, and it's something that happens only rarely. This dragon has been there for 54 years, and this is the first time it's laid eggs. I would agree that neither Venni or Sarlo would be a good match for Corec personality-wise, and neither are Bishop Lastal or Hildra's sister, the other two bondmates he's met. Sarlo's probably the closest of the four--his laconic humor would mesh well--but we've seen that Corec's blessing rarely selects men. As for whether the blessing can trigger on people who are already bonded ... I guess we'll find out ;-)

Jesse

I forgot about Bishop Lastal. I am used to associating him with Treya, but he did meet most of them.

Brian Woods

I suppose the Bondmate question hinges on what Hera meant by ‘His blessing was meant to ensure he always finds the right bondmates,’ and while we interpreted it to only apply to his connections, one could turn the phrase to mean those bondmates who could assist in his endeavors or aid him on his quest for Hera herself. Interesting proposal…

Brian Woods

First, thanks for the exposition! Nice to know some of these weird interactions using the same words was somewhat unintentional, which explains part of the problem. Given that there are 3 references of celestial beings using Traveling and knowing one was possibly misconstrued does help, but allow me to compose my thoughts so as to better explain them. The examples are: when Fox Travelled back and forth at the end of Book 3 to escape from Snake, which you indicate is a different form of Traveling; when Pallisur Travelled to Herasis’s abode in the Totemic Realm, which I assume is considered Arcane Traveling which he likely mastered by ascending; and the most recent version in the Book 4 epilogue, where he Travelled in spirit form to the Mortal Realm and inserted himself into the story proper. If we just took these examples, combined it with your insistence on Traveling being Arcane in design, and recalled that the lore spell on Leena’s bracelet told us a former owner was able to physically Travel from Tir Yadar to the Totemic Realm, the only conclusion to draw is that what I’ve been defining as Divine Traveling is actually just a more powerful application of the Zidari’s technique being utilized by higher beings with access to more power…which now that I think about it is pretty ridiculous in and of itself, but also kinda cool. But, if the technique Fox and Pallisur are using to cross dimensional barriers is NOT actually Traveling proper, then the idea falls apart somewhat, which to be honest wouldn’t make much sense thematically speaking. I’m not entirely sure if you want to try and explain this out, though, since I can readily guess much of this will play out in Book 5 or Book 6, whenever Corec has to do good by Leena and fulfill her wish of protecting her brother’s future.

Brian Woods

Also, there is another implied use of Traveling, in that when Hera met Vatarxis in the Hells she obviously would have had to teleport over there somehow and have come back to meet Pallisur later on. Plus, she retained enough power, Divine or otherwise, to atomize a demon that crossed her path, so the methods used couldn’t have been too taxing. Just throwing it out there…;)

ivyveritas

Great thoughts! Let’s standardize the terminology, just for the sake of this discussion. Let’s say teleportation is a general term for, well, teleporting from one location to another within a single realm. The examples of this that we’ve seen from residents of the mortal realm are all arcane magic, but the term is broader than that, so I’m going to use ‘teleportation’ when I’m referring to the general concept. Travelers are a subset of arcane mages that have a propensity for teleportation, but no ability to use other spells (except possibly for other Zidari magics). ‘Traveling’ as a term came about because of Travelers, which is why it doesn’t have a strict definition. It could mean an innate ability like the Travelers have (rather than a spell that must be learned), or it could mean long-distance teleportation by any arcane means, or it could refer specifically to the Travellers’ abilities. The exact definition isn’t really important; magic can work in different ways to achieve the same end. Ariadne’s blinking spell would be counted as teleportation, but it does not fall under the label of Traveling by any of these three definitions. There were a few Chosar who did know long-distance teleportation spells, but they always called it teleportation back then (possibly because they hadn’t met a Traveler yet? Or if they had, it wasn’t well known). And for crossing between worlds, let’s call that ‘Crossing’, just for the sake of the discussion. No one actually calls it that in the story. That ability is closely related to Traveling, but it’s not the same. The bracelet allows a teleportation spell to be turned into a Crossing spell (the Chosar wizard who tested it already knew a teleportation spell, but that was of course the first time he’d ever crossed over). What can be done with the other sources of magic? Elder. At this point, we haven’t seen anyone use elder magic for either teleportation or Crossing. Demonic. Some demons can Cross between realms, or at least between their own realm and the mortal realm. If they’re strong enough, they can send others who might not be able to go on their own. The more powerful a demon is, the more power it costs to cross over, and this is power that doesn’t seem to be regenerated quickly, judging by the fact that Vatarxis prefers to send weaker agents across rather than going himself. We have not seen any evidence of demons teleporting within the mortal realm. Within their own realm, they can move between hell domains, but we don’t know how that works. Divine/Totemic: The new gods can Cross between realms using divine magic, but only in god form. It doesn’t seem to cost a great deal of power, considering Hera visits Moira’s tomb on a semi-regular basis. Most beings can’t see or hear them in god form, especially in the mortal realm. Some more powerful demons can (as we saw), and five-year old Corec could somehow hear Hera when he was lost in complete darkness in the tomb (because he was lost in the dark and Hera is the goddess of children and families? or because he was young and had mage potential? or because of other reasons?). Magic is flexible enough that there are probably other mages who can see and/or hear the new gods when they’re in god form. The new gods can also Travel (but again, only in god form). Pallisur’s probably using the “innate ability” definition of Traveling here. He never learned a teleportation spell from a spell book (he was specialized as a battle wizard), so he loses the ability when he takes on mortal form. The totems can Cross between realms but it does cost them something—presumably because they take their physical forms with them. If they left those physical forms behind, perhaps it wouldn’t cost as much power, but we haven’t seen that … yet(?) (cough). And, judging by Fox’s inner monologue, the totems can Travel, though we don’t know which definition he’s using for “Traveling”. It could be the same definition Pallisur is using, “innate ability for arcane teleportation” … or maybe he’s got some form of teleportation that doesn’t use arcane magic, but he calls it Traveling anyway. And I wish he hadn’t used Traveling to refer to crossing between realms, because that’s just going to confuse things, even without a strict definition of Traveling. So I may fix that when I edit Book 3.

Brian Woods

…Coolio! So instead of using Traveling as a definitive term for all teleportation abilities other than the battle Blinking Ariadne or other battle wizards use, you want to diversify the terms so as to define their utility differently under different magic genres. For instance, demons or rather Demon Lords use Demon Traveling and Crossing to either go to the Mortal Realm or other Hell Domains, while the Totems and New Gods would manipulate Divine Magic for the same ability. Which, to make a long story short, means teleportation as a power is not considered exclusive to Arcane Magic and thus any Arcane mages who mastered the spell. I suppose that would also mean Seeing isn’t either, as it wouldn’t seem as useful to a battle wizard like Pallis and yet he mentions being able to See through any nearby priests as an ability that carried over from his ascension. That I assume is Divine Seeing as opposed to Arcane. Just a tad awkward thematically since the story uses Traveling interchangeably with general teleportation, but understandable. Can’t wait for Book 5!

Brian Woods

As an addendum, here’s some intriguing information from a quick re-read of the book: in Chapter 7, Ariadne finds it difficult to line an enchanted staff spear with fire; in Chapter 13, Corec still felt the Bond choosing compulsion when talking to Yelena for both Bobo and Ariadne; in Chapter 16, two weeks after either arriving in Tyrsall or leaving the city, Corec manages to figure out the weapon binding spell all at once; and finally, in Chapter 18 some time later, Ariadne finds casting Elder magic elemental infusion much easier than back in Chapter 7 with a much more difficult medium, her gauntlet. Are these events connected? Did someone manage to teach Corec a spell AND Bond the Mage Knight at the same time? As I might have mentioned before, does the similarity in coloring for the sigils show a connection? Inquiring minds wish to know! ;)

Brian Woods

Some other interesting information shared this batch of chapters, and though I don’t expect an answer it might be nice: going by Badru’s comments that there were 2 Wardens before him, Hildra’s comments of being fourth until the death of the one ahead of her, and Leonis/Larse being 1500 years old and currently dead, it would appear the choosing spell for Wardens waits anywhere from 500-1000 years before making a choice about who deserves the power. Regarding that, does it require the time to amass the necessary strength to choose, or is that an arbitrary decision on your part concerning timing and whatnot? And as a follow up question, if it requires the charging time, did Hera supply the energy needed to ‘cheat’ the system, and will that be a part of the next book? And as a second follow up, were Daceus, Seeloo and Vinris the names of the previous Wardens? Given the hidden betrayer line from Pallisur, I have to assume the first two were at least trusted enough as bondmates, but could they have been more?

ivyveritas

What's been stated outright so far is that Pallisur said it takes time to build up enough power for the choosing spell to activate, and Hera was skeptical that he was being completely truthful. As for the rest, we'll have to see... Daceus, Sheeloo, and Vinris aren't wardens or bondmates. Badru has had four thousand years of kingdom-building experience in the center of the largest continent, where humanity, civilization, and wizardry all rose, then fell, then fell harder, then rose again. Admittedly, all his time has been in the "then rose again" phase, but in four thousand years, stuff happens. Note that Daceus's name has been mentioned before ;-)

Jesse

As Ivy said Daceus was mentioned before by the Warden Shayliel when talking to the Elven Ambassador/Spymaster concerning the book he had. I don't know if I should be concerned about Shayleil sabotaging Badru or not. Given he was willing to engage in Pallisur's ritual and seemingly spoke to her about it gives me a mixed impression of the event.

Jesse

Ivy, can the Totems have bondmates like the Wardens? They can make priests like Hera and company can but just hadn't done it before. Wolf and Fox talked about a SHE when discussing Fox's plan. I remember this plan being cooked up by Raven, Bear, and Fox not just Fox. Bear was at Ariadne's ceremony to be inducted into the Mage Knights and Fox mentioned having an appointment in Tir Yadar when he was fleeing Snake's attackers. I had at first assumed he was there to Bless Bobo when Snake's mercenary army attacked but if he had just learned Snake was still around then that likely wasn't the appointment. Ariadne's awakening on the other hand likely was the appointment. I am suddenly suspicious Bobo wasn't the only one blessed at Tir Yadar.

Brian Woods

Mainly, I was curious about what Daceus could have done to be considered ‘trusted’ by some of the most prominent and powerful people in their world if he wasn’t chosen himself, and whether the time before a choosing might have affected the issues facing Rusol and Corec like Corec not knowing about Wardens which seems standard knowledge for the chosen or how the Warden powers interacted with Rusol’s demonic side. And, I agree with Jesse that Shayliel’s interference with Badru seems weird, but also probably necessary as it brought Pallisur to the Mortal Realm. THAT might have been the actual goal, forcing the ritual to happen here as opposed to the Divine Realm and giving someone amongst the Wardens the chance to stop it. Heck, we know the Gods can be killed since Hera took out Owl, and all she had was great proficiency in Arcane and Elder magic with a rudimentary ability in Divine, whereas Rusol seems to be equally skilled in all three if not quite as good as she was, while Pallisur only has his old Arcane spells and moderate use over his Divine strength. Sounds like an interesting final battle to me…

ivyveritas

There is a reason why Corec didn't receive a choosing dream, but I don't know if that reason will ever be mentioned in the story. If not, I'll probably put out a list of unanswered questions (and their answers) at some point after Book 6 is finished. The interaction between demonic compulsion and the warden binding spell is new simply because Rusol is the first demonborn ever chosen as a warden. Binding spells by nature are arcane magic, but the boundaries between different magics aren't hard-and-fast--there are some spells that are similar between certain sources of magic, and sometimes the same effect can be achieved in multiple ways. Every warden must be able to cast the binding spell even if they're not an arcane mage, so it has to be able to link to the other sources of magic. There's a small similarity between binding spells and compulsion, despite their different origins, so when it linked to Rusol's demon side, he was able to modify it.

ivyveritas

The totems can't have bondmates. They can provide blessings of divine magic because of their ascended status and their mastery over divine (totemic) magic, but warden bondmates happen through a completely different process. I wouldn't necessarily say it's impossible for them to figure out a way to do it, but given their reluctance to mess around with the Collision, it seems unlikely.

Raman BNV

As always, Ivy, the epilogue needs to be reread in order to understand everything you're hinting at. The collision itself, what exactly Fox is trying to do, and of course, Pallisur's plans for the ritual. 1) You use two words, Collision and Conjunction in the epilogue. Do they mean the same thing? 2) We really feel the need for a map because Vestath is now described as the biggest continent and also the place where Arcane magic originated. Aravor, Cordaea and their local politics is simply not enough. 3) Shayliel looks like she made Badru forget how to reach the Divine Realm. As a Yanvasta woman and probably Boreas' pawn in this game, she looks to be one of the more important wardens. Her bondmates have some unique abilities. But even Katrin has some special abilities and as her power grows, I wonder if she will simply tell Rusol and his bondmates to stay still and they would have to comply. 4) Wolf is probably referring to Fox asking Herasis for help in stopping Pallisur. Its also possible that Snake is allied to Pallisur. The curious bit of information here is that the totems cannot fight among themselves the way the new Gods apparently have done. 5) Also, the Burning seems to have been a result of Zachal changing something at the last moment. Did he realise what Pallis tried and try to stop the ritual, thereby dying and not ascending himself? 6) The Burning seems to be circular in shape, in terms of both Snow Crown and Tir Yadar. Boreas and Iris being in different places at the time of the ritual, means that their mortal bodies probably survived. Will be interesting to see what role Boreas and Iris play in the coming story.

ivyveritas

1. The word “conjunction” (lower case) is used as a general concept matching its standard definition, in this case: “an instance of two or more things occurring at the same point in time or space”. The “Collision” (upper case) is how the totems refer to a specific thing. Are they the same thing? If a new god and a totem both refer to a conjunction, are they talking about the same conjunction? Perhaps the real question is, when a totem refers to the Collision, are they talking about a thing, or about the midpoint of a thing, or about the thing that maintains the structural integrity of the thing? Or sometimes one of those, or sometimes all three? 2. Maps are difficult—even I don’t have any sketches of Vestath yet—but it’s a large continent in the southern hemisphere, south of both Aravor and Cordaea. We know it’s near enough that it’s one of the three continents where the Senshall Trading Company runs operations. We know the Chosar were aware of Vestath and its people, and could recognize them by sight—and that Ariadne refers to Leena as Vestathi (Leena corrects her). The part about humans and arcane magic is described in Wolf’s scene back in chapter 13. Humans developed civilization, reading, wizardry, and shipbuilding, and sailed north to Cordaea where they encountered the elves, who had been recently granted elder magic by Wolf so they could meet the humans on even terms. The two peoples formed a great empire (at least those groups of them did), eventually creating the wardens to enhance their magic and the Chosar to demonstrate their unity. But in the time of the Second Demon War, they bred more Chosar as soldiers so they wouldn’t have to fight the demons themselves, and at the end of the war, the Chosar rebelled, led by the four wardens who’d lived through it, three of them Chosar (Pallis, Arodi, Boreas), and the fourth being Iris, who delivered the Staff of Life to the Chosar as a threat to hold over her own people for betraying their creations. The Chosar forced their creators out of the great cities and back into barbarism. The knowledge of that history was almost entirely erased before the Third Demon War began (hmm, that sounds familiar; what other history and concepts have been erased?). For the scope of the tale told in The Eighth Warden, Vestath is mostly only important for its part in the origin story. 3. That gave me a sudden vision of Katrin ending the war by telling Rusol he’s a naughty, naughty boy. Hmm … 4. The new gods *can* fight amongst each other, but at what cost? Book 3 epilogue: ===== “Do you think to violate our laws now?” she demanded. “At this juncture? Do you remember what happened the last time we fought?” The reminder brought him up short. When they waged war in the divine realm, their powers were reflected to the mortal realm, but magnified in such a way as to cause great destruction. After the first few incidents, the others had imposed rules on their behavior to prevent further damage. As if anything could be worse than the crime they’d already committed—the crime Pallisur was trying to undo. ===== The old gods pay a different cost. 5. You might learn the answer to this question sooner than expected. 6. Hmm, this part in the Book 4 epilogue: “killing six of the eight wardens immediately. … and soon Boreas and Iris, both unconscious from the backlash, had followed the others into their new existence.” wasn’t really intended to suggest they’d survived the experience. Perhaps I wasn’t precise enough in the wording. During the ritual, Boreas was stationed at Tir Navis. Snow Crown would have been farther north and was caused by something else entirely—the same thing that caused Circle Bay.

Brian Woods

Interesting, so Boreas and Iris did actually die because of the ritual? Like you said, I expected them to have survived, woken up at some point, then after learning of their Divine powers shedding their mortal coils and appearing in the Totemic Realm. If you’re really saying the ritual killed them anyway, the language there needs to change a bit. And to point out on point #5, recall that the mountain collapsed BEFORE the ritual ended, suggesting the Burning was possibly happening outside at the same time, in conjunction( ;P) with the wildstorms raging across the world.

ivyveritas

Basically, Boreas and Iris died before waking up. The backlash from the failed ritual knocked them unconscious, then they ascended before they regained consciousness. The ascension pulled their minds/spirits away from their bodies, so there was nothing left to keep the bodies going.

Brian Woods

…that sort of begs another question: did the ritual backlash only knock out the Warden participants, or every Chosar across the planet? Given that the Wardens were the only ones to ascend I suspect the ritual only granted them the power, but if the consequences ripped through their entire race, is that why all of them died? Their spirits were ‘removed’ from their bodies, but because they didn’t become higher beings they perished? Intriguing if true…

Brian Woods

One more question, if I may Ivy: since you said you want to go for another 2 books for this thrilling saga, which makes me quite excited let me tell you, can you shed some light on whether or not Corec will be the first human or Warden to set foot in Terellia? Given that there have only been about 5 or 6 generations of dorvasta since the world changed, and that one of his special bondmates carries the Staff of Life, it could be a nice expositional info dump for everyone on certain events from the past 5000 years. Is it likely? Inquiring minds wish to know…

ivyveritas

I'd call it closer to 15 to 20 generations, if elves have children at around 250 to 300 years old on average. And they (the dorvasta at least) don't have printing presses, so books are rare and have to be handwritten. The elven people may not retain much information. As for (the reader) getting more information on what happened? Well, we have a nice, big prologue coming up very soon. I've only got two prologues left, so I've got to make them count.

Brian Woods

I suppose I could see that, as most of the sentient races in your world don’t really have access to mass media distribution logistics, but I have to imagine at the bare minimum they would remember their forced exile from Van Kiradaea or Cordaea, the impact of the Staff of Life in bringing them Elder Magic, and possibly a traitorous tale involving Iris betraying her people or a healthy fear and mistrust of both Wardens and Bondmates. Those would likely be orally passed on and the reason for their seclusion from the world, but of course kept from the general public and only circulated amongst the senior administrators of their society. Although, another route might be a divine blessing from Iris herself to share a vision of sorrow and regret over the events that transpired, a High Priestess of Iris to help her guide and protect her former people. Whatever may be the case, it would be very nice to see should you wish to go in such a direction…:)

Raman BNV

What is interesting to note is that the books in the library at Tir Yadar were taken after the Burning, but the Staff of Life was not. Neither were the King's weapons, etc. This leads me to believe that somebody who cared more for the books than for the staff of life did this; probably Pallis or Allos. I would tend to think that Iris should have been the first to come back to retrieve the Staff of Life, unless Iris thought everything in Tir Yadar was lost to the Burning. Otherwise there are a bunch of books on magic floating around somewhere. Also, the books that Yassi hid at the back of her wardrobe before using the satchel to put in her jewelery and clothes seem important.

ivyveritas

Irisis couldn't have opened the door to the Enchantment Repository for the same reason Arodisis dislikes growing old--the new gods are still wardens, but the mortal bodies they create are not. They age like normal, and any spell or spell trigger that requires physical contact won't work for them. She could have taken on a mortal body and found a warden and convinced them to travel with her to Tir Yadar and open the door for her, but she never did. Perhaps she didn't trust the new wardens, perhaps she didn't want the Staff loose in the world after her mortal body died, perhaps she felt it was too close to interference, or perhaps she hasn't needed it.

Brian Woods

Yeah, probably the wards for the doors were keyed to an individual’s rank as opposed to themselves personally. They would have been able to open the castle door by waking up Thedan or Ephrenia because they were high level Mage Knights, but to bypass the Royal Repository door you would have needed either a Warden or a living royal, and because of their ritual and ascension the Celestials had neither. Apparently they tried to get past it, if the scratches around the lock are any indication, but those wards are probably the best the Chosar could produce and immune even to Divine intervention so to speak.

ivyveritas

Yeah, the wardens' access was keyed to them being wardens, because that was how the locks were initially set up way back when. Everyone else was added manually, as needed.

Brian Woods

Would you include the royal lineage in with that, Ivy? Or would royal blood have changed enough over thousands of years to negate it’s usefulness as a security indicator? Like if some other branch of the family took over their heritage might not have been pure enough?

ivyveritas

They couldn't use royal blood as an indicator because the monarchs are elected. If King Argyros died and Prince Lydos was well respected by the people and the military (and particularly by the wardens), then Lydos would have an advantage, but it's not a guarantee he'd be chosen as the next king. And I think just "being king" or "being on the council" isn't going to be concrete enough for the warding spell to trigger on, because from the magic's point of view, it's an arbitrary designation. Wardens are a very specific thing that the magic can identify and trigger on, but the other folks who needed access would have to be added to the warding one by one.

Brian Woods

Ah, I did not realize your Chosar government was democratically structured. I was thinking it was more hereditary in nature, like a traditional monarchy. That opens up new questions about governance, though, but let’s not get into that ;).