Ask Luna #39

From: Leon

Hi Luna
A long time watcher here from New Zealand- and that is not meant to be creepy, honest.
So I had a couple of questions:
Firstly how much of a super hero did you feel when you got to save Alex for the first time? Did you ask him to give you a special code name?

Secondly does anyone know anything about Richard’s magic association (family? Powers? Ok that last one is all superhero again. What is the correct phrasing?)

That long-term-watcher line made me think of The Avengers. ‘I watched you while you were sleeping, wait, that came out wrong.’ Did anyone else think that? Okay, so just me.

Saving Alex was pretty awesome. I don’t think I’ve ever told Alex, but back in the first year or two, I felt really useless a lot of the time. I mean, he was a full mage, and all I had was this stupid curse that didn’t do anything but hurt me. It felt like he was always having to rescue me and explain everything. So getting to the point where I could actually save him . . . yeah, that felt good. I like being competent. It’s nice.

Re: Richard, it’s ‘family’ for the general branch (elemental, living, or universal) and ‘type’ for the specifics (fire, earth, life, divination, etc). And no, we don’t know, though we’ve done a bit of guessing.

From: Kyle(TheJugglingBard)

Hey Luna, quick question about Alex’s magic. Lets say, for example, Alex is fighting a boxer. A boxer who has been boxing for a long time. This boxer would react mostly on muscle memory. He would see a punch coming and his body would move and react accordingly, without him ever (consciously, at least) deciding to move that way. Would Alex be able to see his reactions coming? Also, wouldn’t that be a fantastic way for him to sharpen his immediate danger “radar”?

Not only can Alex do that, from what he’s told me, that’s exactly what he DID do back when he was training up his defensive precognition. He says more skilled fighters are less predictable, but all of them fall into habits. Doesn’t just apply to boxing, either. The more time I spend duelling, the more I notice the same thing happening with duellists. If you pay attention you can start to guess the move before it comes, and you don’t have to be a diviner to do it.

From: Wodden

Dear Luna,

Once again, thank you for your response to my enquiries.

If you could spare the time, I wonder if you could elaborate a bit on “international magic politics” for me.

You said that there are “power blocs” and alliances between national magic councils – to what extent do they mirror mundane alliances? Are the US and UK close magical allies as they are in the normal, visual world? Are there any unusual relationships that fly counter to any expectations that may be founded on mundane world experiences?

On a related note, when the mundane powers come to blows, how do the national councils react? Is there any feeling of nationalism or patriotism to the mundane state? Or is it an individual choice with the council in question remaining “neutral”?

For example, in WWII, did Allied mages take the field on a national basis , on a council basis, or did they avoid the conflict? I would assume that if they did get swept up in the wars of nations, the lines between Light and Dark would blur further, eclipsed by mundane national interest. Would this be accurate?

I apologise for distracting you from your own studies in this way, but I am of an historical bent and tend to get fixated on such things. Your indulgence is appreciated.

Yours Faithfully,

Wodden

Ugh, you are seriously pushing the limits of how much I know here. I just don’t spend that much time on international magical politics. I mean, it’s not the same as for normals, you can’t just look up the BBC website and find out what the news is and which countries have signed a treaty and who’s fighting with who. Most of this stuff is secret. I know there are a few websites that cover it, but the ones that are any good aren’t public and I don’t have access.

Okay, so based on the very little that I DO know – and don’t take any of this as gospel, by the way, since I’ve no idea how accurate it is or whether it’s out of date by now – they mostly mirror relations in the normal world, except when they don’t. The British and North American Councils get on pretty well. They have exchange programs and stuff. With the European Councils it’s a bit more murky, and it changes more. I think the European Councils get on less well with each other. As for the rest of the world, we get on decently with the Middle Eastern Councils, badly with the African ones, and with the Asian ones there’s kind of a you-don’t-come-here-we-don’t-go-there thing. They’ve been opening it up a bit but it’s still not friendly.

As for World War II, it was really really complicated. The Gate Rune War was going on at the same time and some mages were fighting along national lines and some were fighting along Light-Dark lines and it was a huge mess. You’d have to ask an actual mage historian if you really wanted to learn about that.

From: sheyd

has anyone ever called richard dick? and if yes, did he die in a painful way?

Oh, sure, I’ll get right onto finding that out for you. I’ll go trek out to Richard’s mansion, get past the various psychopathic Dark mages and other associates he’ll have hanging around him, all so I can ask him a question about a stupid pun on his name. I’ll just go do that now, shall I?

Honestly. How do you guys think I find out this stuff? It’s not like I know everything, I do have to get it from somewhere.