Post #300

Seems like only yesterday that I was doing post #200. 
Well, this one may not be quite as interesting but I like trivia so lets go with that. 


First person to tell me, in a comment, the headline of the first Magazine Rea is seen reading gets to name the next character I create.  Or some other negotiable prize.

Edit:
Ding Ding Ding!  We have a winner! 
Prize may be redeemed as you please. 

This is my 200th post

Obvious milestone, and not much over a year since I started. We've got a few more readers than we did then, and I've certainly gotten better at writing since then.


Little known secret; while this is the 200th post published to the blog, it is in fact the 201st post written. Somewhere, there is a post that was not actually published until today. If you can name which book its in I'll try to come up with something special for you.

Note on Blog; On the Powers of mages

I'd like to start by thanking everyone who's read my blog for doing so. I may not say it often but I value your input and your willingness to put up with my often long winded, rambling, and generally unpublishable grammar/spelling.



I do these sorts of side notes quite often, in case you haven't noticed. It's because I always loved the appendices. Think of this as the background information that most of the characters know, and I'm just putting out there for you to know.







Petra is the most powerful Mage to date; but what is it that defines that power?

Simply put, a mage's power is defined by their capacity to wield magic. Experience and natural affinity are the ruling factors therein.

Natural affinity is the most important factor for most mages. This affinity decides how well a magic user can grasp certain fields of magic. As an example, Alicea has a particular affinity for the air and lightning. Shecan still wield other sorts of magic, but she will always be most effective when she attacks with a bolt of electricity or a gale force wind. Not in damage, fire kills just as easily for her as it would for anyone else, but in energy use. It costs her less to use lightning than to use fire.
But natural affinity also defines how much total energy a magic user would have. This is usually set to a scale. The default scale is the 'T' Scale. A T0 would be a non-user, with a T11 like Petra being unthinkably powerful, and an above-average mage like Alicea being a T7. Immortals are held on an 'I' scale, which indicates experience more than affinity; that's an issue for another day though.
Average depends on the race; Nielda are not more powerful at max, but rather simply more powerful on average(few T1-T2 and more T3-T4 than humans). Ga-Vok average at about a T2, with a moderate total population. Jaguans average at a T5, but have a total magic using population of less than a percent. Gravagans average at T2, with a total magical population of 95%. In essence, average power rises as total pop lowers.

Experience is next most important. A mage's capacity to wield magic improves as they use it. If you do something a hundred times it comes more naturally than if you've only done it once. This is one of the reasons Immortals are epiclly more powerful than mortals; they've been doing this for so long they can drop a hail of pure unadulterated destruction over a square mile radius without even thinking about it, which is made all the easier by it's not really costing them anything. This is how Petra could stop armies in their tracks and command millions of undead. Magic costs an Immortal next to nothing; even for a new immortal, the cost of over exerting your power is gone. You just have to sleep it off when you're done. But even for a mortal mage, experience is critical to success in magic. Practice makes perfect.

Note: Imperial Guards; ranks, branches, and armanents

Since the Guards have now come up at several points I feel like this, one of the most important and ancient institutions of Nieldic society, should be further explored.

The guards are commanded, on paper at least, by a Captain. You may have noticed they have a wierd succesion for Captainship. The Guard assigned to protect the person who becomes emperor/empress becomes captain. The main reason for this is because the Ruler needs to know they can trust their captain and the best way to do that is to build a strong relationship from a relatively young age.
The reality is that the guards are commanded more or less directly by their department heads. The guards cover so many different activities that protecting the ruler, while their primary function regardless, is actually one of their least important responsibilities.

The Sage Program, which has been mentioned, was part of the natural magics department. This department subdivides into stellar; dealing with magic and phenomena in space, Planetary; (from which the Sage Program roots) which attends to naturally occuring phenomena on planets including shrines and sites of power present prior to the arrival of modern nations, and Biological; who deal with things like but generally less threatening than Dragons.
Enforcement was established during the Hundred years of peace that followed the Great Ga-Vok war. They exist to combat organized crime. This is actually one of the most straightforward jobs you can have in the guard because there's only one crime organization in the empire, the Ukown guild. Its establishment will be the subject of a short story or three at some later date.
Espionage is very straightforward. If a human encounters a Nielda, and they aren't offering to sell something, this is probably the sort of person you've just encountered. They start, stop, and prevent wars.
Protection does bodyguarding. There is always at least one guard accompanying any given Noble, Senior Commander, or Imperial family member at any given time. Additionally there will be several hundred guarding the palace.
Lastly there's maintenance. These are the Empire's clean-up crew. Varied branches of maintenance do everything from renew enchantments placed on Nieldic magical sites within the empire to the decadial internal purge of the government(believed by many to be the only reason the Daniellandish government isn't a complete nepotistic wreck of corruption and self-serving pride, they've been known to off Emperors when they decide it needs to be done.) If there was a secret society ruling the government from the shadows, these guys would either be it, or be killing it. It's made of ex-lieutenants and former captains; these guys are, for the most part, in semi-retirement. It's the kind of work where everyone in it has to be 100% proven reliable, patriotic, and with nothing to gain by being otherwise.

Guards are hand-picked, usually out of the military. A certain amount of guard families exist; the captain is traditionally a member of the Spielgans. Not because they are hereditary, rather because no other family manages to consistently produce mages of such caliber or street-smarts. They are where they've been for generations because for generations they've managed to get there, and when they don't no one hesitates to put someone else in charge. All guards are mages, or if not they are warriors of a quality sufficient to match, and usually defeat, mages in combat.


All guards make their own weapon when they complete their extensive training. The Weapon is traditionally a stave, although some guards prefer a sword. It is made of the material mages call 'Bloodstone'. Bloodstone is the product of a particular magical incantation, spoken over blood. It is among the three most magically conductive materials, and one of the two that can be used to make a weapon. The Guard always uses his own blood, taken over the period of several months. By using their own blood they can mold it with their own will, even if they are not a mage, allowing them to call it to themselves from anywhere and magic channeled through it will be more powerful. A guard is always cremated with his weapon; and both are dissolved with magic afterwards.
Guards are also known to carry sidearms, and like all Daniellandish combat professionals are never without their knife.

Author's note chapter two

Although Petra did not know of this conversation, it is relevant and I will include it.



"Headmaster Nothen, have you read my report?"
"Ah yes, the princess. I did read it."
"And?"
"As always Miss Prevance, your decision regarding her house affiliation was quite prudent."
"You mean we're just going to let that monster stay? Her mother's letter made it clear that she had no prior magical knowledge. If she can do that with zero knowledge, just think of what she could do with a decade of necromancy and battle-mage training under her belt. She'd be unstoppable!"

Nothen rose from his large, comfortable armchair and crossed the room to the wall sized window overlooking the school.
"Do you know how much of the school's budget comes from grants and donations from the Empire?"
"For the money? You're empowering a monster for the money?"
"60%, that's the room and board for the school, staff, faculty, and everyone's salaries. Tuition just pays for the maintenece and additions, plus a few of our more passionate teacher's pet projects. All that, and all the Empire asks is that we keep a space open for any of the imperial children if they chose to attend. One student every other century pays for almost the entire school."
"She's evil! Not just mischieveous or insensitive like the others, she's truly evil. No amount of money is worth unleashing an evil like that on the world."

The two faced off silently. Finnaly Miss Prevance spoke.
"She's the most powerful magic user I've ever seen. More than you even, she may well be over a T9. If we teach her she would be unstoppable by anything short of planetary bombardment."
"Then we must hope she grows. Perhaps she can be taught more than magic."



If only it had worked, so many lives could have been spared. Yours would hardly be the first, and it was too late then to be the last.

Oh, and had Petra known of this conversation at the time she would have delivered a more poetic death, possibly with a coin through the brain or turning his digestive system into gold. There's no way she would have passed up an oppurtunity like that, it would still be hard to pass up an oppurtunity like that.

New search bar!

Added this feature to help with navigation, an issue I've had pointed out to me.
While not perfect, obviously having it listed by book rather than publish date would have been helpful, this feature should help new readers to navigate the blog.

As a general rule, Book one is just chapter X while book two is chapter X, 'title Y'.

Tag searches would have been nice, then a reverse chronology shift could have been used to set things in the appropriate order. Sadly I'm not a webdesigner, so designing an actual website like that would probably require is beyond my capacity; or for that matter budget, web space is probably more expensive than someone of my financial status could afford. Last thing I need is to have to pay to do this.

As always, welcome! please start from the begining, While the new feature will help you get where you are going if you know where you are going; the most effective navigation method remains to press '2009' go to october and locate chapter one, book one and read from there.

Maybe a 'next post' button would help...

Edit: I also made it descend from earliest to most recent. Might help a little.

Inter-book note

I have several ideas on where to go next.


As long as I've had this one particular segment of the Universe I've imagined it as a trilogy, or possibly series of trilogies. A particular character, Petra, defines a rather long period of history. Her lives, and deaths, mark clear phases. There are themes, and there is spirituality. However, I don't know if I'm actually qualified as a writer to do it the justice I feel it deserves. She is one of the two most important characters(possibly even the first most important) in all Nieldic history. So while I want to write it, and she would be refrenced in any chronologicly later works, I think it ought to wait until I develop a little more skill.

My second idea is to continue with the Ga-Vok war. The most important parts of Alicea's life would be covered in the next book or two. Again though, I have a theme in mind and it would be a shame to have to instill that theme later instead of doing it properly once. I kind of built from the begining of the last book that Alicea considered Aurou, the Shaman who raised her, to be her father; so it wouldn't be right for her to just transition directly into treating Haelvan, her birth father, as her father just instantaneously. That would never happen in a good book, and I hardly want to give my works any less than that. Once again, I see that I have a problem Directly with my own writing ability.
My ruling here is that Alicea's transition should be written before Petra's life, death, Death, and ascension. If only because managing to pull off Alicea's transition would be a mark of my own ability to right themes and characterization.

So I'm left with a few less important ideas. All of them are in the distant future from what I've written so far. To these people, Alicea, Daniel, Tressa, and their companions are legends, sometimes ancestors. Their lands may be the same, but these are no longer a peaceful Nielda; this is the Nielda as warriors, not their golden age, but one of steel.
A few eras can be considered. [not listed chronologicly]
The frostbourne wars; the Villianess Arcania and her army of the undead, lead by powerful litch(plural), wage a war with the living in the frozen wastelands of the universe. Can Emperor in hiding Johr save his people, or will he fall to the corruption? Who is Arcania, and why does the Dread Necromancer Thalia seek to meet with her? Can Tala the Storm-mage maintain the balance of the surviving races, or will she find that Arcania is the least of their worries?

The Shade invasion; The Daniellandish empire is in its decline. Humanity is at last dominate in the universe. Can the Imperial Guard continue to postpone the inevitable? Will Humanity respond, and even if they do are they strong enough? Where is Death, and what are these rumors of the black swords?

The Plague; More of a series of short stories this one. Seclora has enforced a diplomatic peace between the Nielda of Danielland and the Humans of the universe. But while the Daniellandish strugle against their papery bonds the humans allow no such restraint. Hear the tales of the survivors of the most devestating magicological attack of all history. See the response of the ailing Emperor. Watch the Universe's self-declared protectors as they fall prey to the very fate which they most loathe.

And lastly, the Hierarchies; the empire is in decline, again. The lords of Danielland have taken advantage of these desperate times to enhance their own power. One lord may have the strength to rule, but does he have the right? Read of his daughters and their strugle to bring justice to the empire. And bear witness to the birth of the storm-mage. Also there will be vampires, immortals, and otherwise the continuation of much of this last book's concepts(sprites, golems, Etc...).



I'll put a poll up. please vote, even if their's only one vote it could decide the entire course of the next month or so, possibly even year if I get on a good run.