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I can’t imagine why they would object?
Nice and warm year round, no problems with shoveling snow or deicing your car, or cold nights.
But even assuming your statement is true, the guy is running around in an air conditioned tuna can having an adventure that few mortals ever get. He should be grateful for the fantastic opportunity to “get behind enemy lines” “see how the other half lives”
Some people just don’t appreciate great educational opportunities.
Only overthinking it if it’s not possible to split demons.
If it is possible, and you’re a wizard summoning what you think is a single demon and you get 4, that might complicate things. Especially if they each had time to increase in power after the split (e.g. they started out 1/4 as powerful…but now each has independently gotten more powerful in the multitasking manner that is now possible such that the sum is more than the original single demon could have amassed in the same time)
True names are a very tricky thing. Sages have been arguing this a lot. Juniors, Seniors, the third…there is very little to keep someone from naming a child the same as someone else…so there must be something more to it.
This is why true names are generally not calling names, they basically have to be more complicated.
Now, I am not a wizard or a sage, so I don’t know a lot about true names, but as a rule, they have to be distinct which is why you often have to trace a lineage. That is probably the only way to accurately name someone. The first person to get a unique name gets it, everyone that comes after with almost the same name has to trace the lineage back further until it’s unique.
Now for humans, this is less of a deal than for demons because no one is trying to summon them…UNLESS you are trying to resurrect them and bring them back from the Planes of the Gods…in that case, you need their linage as bar back as possible to make it unique.
Which makes for an interesting game of OK, this “name” isn’t unique, so I know someone has this true name…what value that is is not clear but…
I would have to argue, that there is something more unique to true names than what meets the eye in the case of Tom and his true name. However it is a fairly unique name, but probably not absolutely unique…
Tom’s ability is rather unusual. I’ve never heard of it being done before…however I suspect the higher ups can do it. I would LOVE to have that power!
I point out that despite what was previously thought, Arch Demons seem to have less than zero difficulty popping back and forth between Astlan and the Abyss.
I am sure, many a wizard will find this quite distressful once they fully realize that no one summoned Exador or Ramses or Bess (whom they don’t yet know about at EOV I)
There has been a general assumption that Arch Demons and Demon Princes require so much energy to manifest on the Planes of Men that local mana sensitive individuals (seers etc in particular) would sense the giant amounts of mana being used and alert people.
I would like to see you speak in a simple cipher with small print and lots of color…
of course, verbally, does lots of color mean you’d be using “colorful language” i.e. swearing a lot?
And yes, Rupert is not bound since no one knew he was a demon.
His father would most likely have given him his true name. I doubt he knows it, but not sure, never asked, that’s a rather sensitive subject as you might imagine.
To play devil’s advocate (ha ha) for Lenamare…who to be honest I don’t like, and I don’t care that he sometimes reads this forum.
By the way, he does sometimes read this forum, so you probably want to be careful about angering him. He’s not as bad about indiscriminate “polymorph other” type spells as Exador but…he does know the salt trick….
But to my point he’s actually not just one man, he’s a School of wizards that works for him (as much as he’d hate to admit it)
And now that he’s kicked Exador and friends out of town on their ass…he’s got the entire council at his back. Or…ooops…spoilers…can’t telll you what I was just writing.
Now of course, Exador has allies as well…but to be honest, and I can say this as a demon myself, they aren’t exactly trustworthy allies. Also not clear how they enjoyed having their armies destroyed…of course whether they are more mad at Lenamare for killing them or Exador for loosing them depends solely on Exador’s powers of persuasion.
Demons, particularly ArchDemons are a fickle lot. One minute your friend, the next your enemy.
Thank goodness none of the Demon Princes have gotten involved. If Lillith or her boy toys ever found out about what’s going on in Astlan, they’d probably jump right in and then we’d all be screwed.
Apparently a lot of people who know what this book is, or think they do, think it is useful.
the problem is, they just don’t know how to open it. They haven’t been able to hack the lock on it. Of course, even if they get it opened, it will probably be encrypted text etc.
The wizard can track the demon and summon them yes. More powerful demons can sense their master over the link…however MOST can not activate the link without a summoning spell from their accursed master.
The vast majority of demons can’t make it to the planes of men without a wizard. I point out that Antefalken requires Damien to summon him, I had to hitch a ride with Tom. Tom can only do it if he can locate a summons to hijack (a very rare trick) or in the case of the ring, he was able to follow a link tied to his true name.
In fact, the speaking of a demon’s true name is historically well known to attract the demon’s attention and the more powerful ones might then show up of their own volition (this is the subject of a lot of horror movies)
E.g. speaking the name three times in a mirror is always inviting trouble in when IV or higher is involved.
However, that is really only the 4.5’s and above, i.e. the direct mana manipulators. And not all of them.
Remember, Ramses and Exador are an Animage and Wizard respectively, so what they can do may or may not be tied to their demon abilities.
But a Type II demon can no more jump between planes than a master jeweler or a chef.
See the rest of you?
This is the sort of loyalty wizards demand of their demons!
Fortunately for you, you’ve already signed up. When you sign up for this site we place a link on you so we can summon your wallet when we need to!
There will be posts and updates here about the next book, and we’ll send out a summons via the mana link when it’s time for your next financial sacrifice!
Glad you liked the book, now of course, I have to ask.
No pressure to get it right.
No intimidation, it’s not like someone’s going to open a demonic gateway in your bedroom and torture you all night if you get it wrong. Hint Hint.
But, who, do you think was the greatest hero in this book? The most magnificent character and true paragon of virtue and sincerity? The most fully realized, got it together character? The one that the readers most empathize with?
Just curious.
Tizzy
The black thing in the chest is actually a visualization of the wizard link binding to an accursed master.
One could go into the logic of why it appears black vs some other color but I won’t, it’s pure speculation.
These links are umbilical cords very much like a ‘Silver Cord’ and they go off from the demon and sort of disappear into the astral plane and then back to the accursed master.
An intact one extends somewhat tautly from the chest for some distance before ‘disappearing’ between planes. If one were to focus on following the link with demon sight, once can generally/eventually see where it goes, unless the wizard has masked it from third party scrutiny, however the demon who has the link attached can always follow it. They always know where their master is, if they desire to look.
When the link is broken, they appear sort of like a severed umbilical cord and sort of coil up closer to the demon, and just trail off, they aren’t going into the astral plane necessarily, although for a while they may….eventually they will shrivel up to nothing and flake away, like an umbilical cord.
If a demon has 2 or more masters, he/she will have one such cord for every master that has bound him or her.
Basically all “link” spells appear to demon sight/wizard sight/etc as a tethering cord between the linked subjects/objects. They are just different colors or patterns etc depending on what type of link it is.
TAG tried that with the interstitial appendix chapters.
Older kindles and the b&w kindles are extremely averse to diffrent fonts, and definitely color.
Things come out very unreadable. He got lots of complaints and did a lot of reformatting, and it’s still not great for some people.
It’s very frustrating, but if you want a nice looking book, the Apple Store is the place to go. If the author owns a Mac (since the only way to go there directly is via a Mac–no PC; you can get there indirectly via Smashwords etc, but then you have basically remove all formatting)
“Written for iBookstore” books can go crazy on fonts, colors, typestyles and color pictures. They are very graphical. But this is because you can only read them on iphones, ipads and computers. All of which are high resolution and color.
Hmm, you should be able to delete anything you posted…or I can do it for you…
Or you can edit it. I think the problem is that the image link is malformed.
There are some different ways to post images what I have done and what I think Rosver is doing is to add them from your album.
See the Camera in the upper right next to the Logged in as: —- the icon bar…
Click on the camera and you can create a photo album and upload images to it.
Then use the editor button to insert image from album.
I’d agree.
Some things are better left to the imagination. Not all puzzles must be solved immediately, and some never.
However, some things are mistakes or could be better explained/described, hence beta reading to catch inconsistencies.
Also keep in mind, characters with a POV will think of describe things in their words, even if they aren’t correct. So a green glass bottle that an obviously drunk person is wielding is interpreted as a wine bottle, by Tom, when instead it could be a ’60’s era bottle of 7 up…which as we all know works fine in the Abyss.
I myself like 7up because it comes in green bottles that complement my complexion.
Perrier is the same and in fact it looks more like a wine bottle than 7up.
Of course, in Astlan (not the Abyss) there really isn’t a single shape/color for a wine bottle. Wine casks, yes. But bottles are refillable objects of various shapes and sizes.
Ranking systems are a problem for another reason: Translations. The exact ranks may be different but depending on whose talking the closest word in a foreign language might translate literally to something of a different rank etc.
For example, I am torturing Talarius by calling him a Paladin. Because by Earth standards, most of you would think of him as being a Paladin. However, as he likes to point out, he is not a Paladin, but rather a Knight Rampant. It’s a function of rank, and by calling him a Paladin, I am demoting him verbally.
All of Rosver’s points are valid reasons.
Plus, there are more planes than Astlan and many don’t have as advanced of defenses.
And not all fourths can transport that many people.
But also…the demons are rather parasitic. They need goods and services and the Abyss doesn’t have a lot of natural resources. So most demons who can transport stuff physically (vs fade in fade out) prefer to make money and accumulate power by being traders/importers.
Further, most of the demons capable of such travel have been around for quite some time, or are pretty smart to begin with.
Sure, mass slaughter is fun for a few centuries, but ultimately boring and not very fulfilling. Particularly since humans die a lot and aren’t much of a challenge.
BUT….and this is critical for BOOK 2….and it really trumps all other reasons….all the previous are just excuses used by archdemons and princes.
The reality is this:
There are Gods.
The Gods depend on their worshipers on the Planes of Men to maintain their rather exorbitant lifestyles.
So the Gods protect their worshipers.
if demons start raiding the gods’ mana generators, [b][i]they will come down and start kicking ass.[/i][/b]
And between the gods and their avatars…well…that’s not a fight a rational demon would want…
I am sure some of us would like to try.
The thing is, a great number of pantheons are more caught up in their own intra-pantheon wrangling and battle. They have their own “good” gods and “evil” gods. And the games they play with each other consume most of their time an energy.
You don’t see much intER pantheon fighting as it can be very destabilizing. Rules of the game are typically mutually agreed upon within a pantheon, going outside the pantheon, all bets are off. It can be deadly, it can be dangerous, it’s unknown. Too much of risk, usually, unless you are certain you can capture more worshipers.
And in fact, that’s what most intER pantheon rivalry is. It’s fought between worshipers on the ground, i.e. by proxy, rather than directly. It’s a cold war between the pantheons.
We demons are, by and large, outside any of the pantheons (yes, there are some definite exceptions). But as a rule, the Demon Princes try very hard to keep demons from screwing with any gods or their factions. We want to remain a neutral force of Evil. If that makes any sense.
We often provide a place of refuge for those fleeing the games of the gods. There are definitely some demons who are “fallen avatars’ of various gods.
There are some refugees of these battle who hole up in the Abyss, because it’s generally not worth the effort of their enemies to pursue them there.
