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Yes, he does. But the point of this was, and no one but Tom (and I and the readers) know is that he was using the arrow heads (they are really more like golden darts at this point–at least compared to his size) and it’s the magic of the arrow heads that allowed him to break the “encryption” (see–analogy from narrator–it’s not really encryption but like that) that keeps the mana flow sacrosanct between illuminaries and avatars.
So doing it without the arrows will/would take a lot of work/practice…and practice would probably be dangerous.
And may I say, from one of the people holed up in this cave with the house guest, he’s not a pleasant guest. He is surly and ungrateful and really not that fun to be around.
Plus it’s getting crowded in here, with Tom, Rupert, Boggy, Antefalken, Me, Talarius, the Incubus and Boggy’s friend. For one thing, there’s no Denubian Choco-Coffee[i](TM)[/i] Tom is NOT an accomplished host…I can tell you that.
OK, to be fair, I don’t think there would be room for a band, and no electricity for a stereo…and apparently Antefalken only wants to play his own ballads…
Aside from this though, the Abyss severs higher level links between priests and their gods. This is, in particular the reason that any mortals that die down here are stuck down here, they can’t get to their afterlife from here.
Plus, Talarius isn’t a priest. <"[color=darkred][b][i]FOR THE LAST TIME, I AM A NOT A PALADIN--I AM A KNIGHT RAMPANT[/i]![/b][/color]"> “[color=darkblue][b]Stop interrupting my imaginary conversations, knight rampager![/b][/color]”
Sorry about that, as I was saying the guy is a real pain in the butt.
So I am guessing you aren’t getting the feathered serpent reference to myself?
Nor to the Spaniards arriving before I could return?
Aztecs, or the Mejico’s as I called them, for them it was pretty common. Mayans and Zapotec were known to do it…but not as much is known about them as the Aztecs where other tribes could rat them out to the Spaniards…and in fact they admitted to the Spaniards what they did.
I don’t think anyone ever said it was common in every religion…but some did it…there are some religions that practice eating their enemies for religious purposes…not a lot…but it did happen…
But I really don’t remember where this conversation started…
But people in the book don’t have to know about quarks…only the narrator does which is me. 🙂
narrators often make analogies and/or add detail for their audiences beyond what the subject of stories actually know.
They know there are other worlds, they can get to ones similar to Astlan, with similar magic systems or at least non-contradictory systems.
They [b][i]might[/i][/b] be able to get as far as Greyhawk or Morrowind but I think that would be really pushing things. Arduin is a slightly more likely limit, if it even still exists.
Not clear they could ever get directly to a high tech world…they might get to a steam punk world though.
Hmmm…what about a War Hammer 40K world? Now that would be interesting.
Anyway, according to the documentation in the library (here) all the worlds the wizards can get to have very close to the same rules of magic.
Now, that’s talking direct spells. Indirectly, via the Astral Plane, they can of course get to places like Earth. The problem would be, could they “land” on it. Not clear that their magic would let them. For one thing people from there don’t look like people, they look like unbound demons.
This is the distortion effect, and I assume it works both ways for them
Well…you do realize that not all wizards and students know the same things, education and knowledge is not as democratized in Astlan as on Earth.
Lenamare is very good. There are other wizards that understand his work and can follow it, and presumably his work is based on the works of others. But not all of this is going to be commonly available. You will see this more in book 2 as we get to see the inner workshops of other wizards. Some of these guys and their allies have very unique magicology or whatever you want to call it.
Also Exador is a good wizard, a very experienced one, but I think it’s pretty clear that Lenamare is a much better wizard than Exador. Lenamare is a human and he’s able to go toe to toe with an archdemon wizard who is at least 2 thousand years old. Exador supplements his wizardry with being an archdemon…i.e. he’s cheating.
To outsiders, they look like equals, but in reality, Lenamare is much more skilled/faster learner than Exador. Exador has been honing his game for millenia, Lenamare for what? 3 decades? (He is 37 at the time of the book–according to the Timeline). In fact, if I were to guess, I’d say that one reason Exador hates Lenamare is because Lenamare can go toe to toe with him and win, despite all of Exador’s advantages.
Now, that being said, it is common perception that Alexandros Mien (in his prime) was a better wizard than Lenamare is today. Whether this is true or not, I can’t say, but Alexandros Mien is considered to be the Greatest Known Living Wizard (and this is really within the known realm of the Council—can’t say about Natoor etc)
So…the question might be, which students is the narrator talking to?
Again on the heat.
Actually, electrical devices can work at relatively high temperatures, look inside a modern engine. Electronic devices are a different story but…electrical?
Apparently someone else here is on the side of darkness…so to speak…
Wizard lover!!!!!!!!
(by the way, that’s one way to get in a fight anywhere in the Abyss–say that to someone)
Hmm, by your description, not sure what the difference between them and the ArchDemons are…they work the same way…
Seriously, you can only trust the humble democite (like a plebocite–but with demons)
And by humble democite, I basically mean, me, and of course, my friends. i’m now up to more than one hand of fingers worth, which is a record for me…
Egyptians…very good example…
Clearly, if the Pharaoh is a god, making sure he has servants in the afterlife by killing his current servants is definitely a sacrifice…someone else could have used them
Well, several of the Central American groups did actually do human sacrifice.
Very typically it was warriors of the opposing tribe who were captured in battle and then had their hearts cut out in the temple.
Aztecs, Mayans and Zapotec.
I know this because I visited them at various points in time. The sacrificial life forces were enough to power a demon conjuring to get me there.
I loved wearing my great feathered headdress. For some reason though they thought I was rather anthro-serpentish…admittedly, I do have a rather extended torso but calling me a feathered serpent always seemed like a stretch.
I’d promised to come back and visit them, but the next time I had the opportunity, the Spanish had already arrived….
Yes…this is actually the discussion that T-A-G is having on Amazon.
Personally, I don’t see the point of beta reading, other than to catch the transcription errors caused by T-A-G, and those are many.
But as far as lucidity, clarity, completeness, logic etc…since I’m dictating it to him, you know that it will be perfect on the first try.
Whatever he said…who knows.
However, I dictated the story, and I know all about nuclear reactions and quantum mechanics. See me talking to Edwyrd on the ship where I ask if the ship has a spare nuclear reactor to drive it to shore.
Heck, if I know about Aztecs, Mayans and Zapotec’s surely I must know about Quantum Mechanics…it completely follows…
