Ask Luna #90

From: John Jones

Am I totally off base in thinking that Richard Drakh may not be the villain he’s supposed to be? I recall that the three people most responsible for stopping the Nazis in WWII were Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin, that latter of whom was not known for his niceness.

I just sort of consider that if Drakh learned of some lethal threat to Mages, or even all humanity, he might choose to do something about it. Saving the world would be the greatest of greater goods. And that “good” could justify a great many lesser evils.

Ugh. I suppose it’s not one hundred percent impossible. Richard does know a lot, and I guess he might know about some threats that we don’t. But I REALLY can’t think of anything that’d require him to go around stirring up the trouble that he has.

Besides, just that kind of argument really puts my back up to be honest. ‘I might have done a lot of evil stuff, but it’s for the greater good’. Really? Did you ask the people who got in your way whether they agreed? Because I’m not sure they’d be so keen . . .

From: Vance freed

Thanks Luna for helping with our ignorance! Since Anne was flayed alive by a contingent of light musicians and alex has been ruthlessly pursued by two factions does he still see any difference between light and dark. Seems like mixed good and bad on both sides of the aisle. Both are equally ruthless. Maybe he just needs more power and control to enforce his worldview? Secondly Anne seemed a match for vihaela. Does Anne feel that way? Thirdly, will alex be able to use the dream stone in any combat capacity? Does it being linked mean he doesn’t need it with him, maybe it’s a part of him? Lastly is everyone loving your new shadow realm, and are you helping Anne with her trauma?

You’re preaching to the choir as far as the first one goes. I never liked the Council even before they decided to flay Anne. Getting more power and control isn’t as easy as all that, though. The low-hanging fruit got picked a long time ago.

Vihaela is very very powerful. So’s Anne, but I think Vihaela would probably have the edge as far as that goes, from experience if nothing else.

I don’t think the dreamstone has any direct combat applications, no.

The shadow realm’s great. I’ve tried talking to Anne, but it’s hard. She’s happy to listen to everyone else’s problems, but she doesn’t like opening up about her own.

From: Cryptid Hunter

Have some Cryptid questions for you that I am dying for answers to.

Is the Cornish Owlman real if so what is it’s story,
same with the Fiskerton Phantom.

Is Spring-Heeled Jack real.

What do you or Alex know about Sasquatch.

these question interest me greatly an I hope to hear from you soon.

PS good seeing that you are back on your feet an taking over Arcana.

Okay, you’ve clearly spent way more time on this stuff than I have. I’ve never in my life heard of the Cornish Owlman or the Fiskerton Phantom. I’d have to Google them to even have a clue who they were.

Spring-Heeled Jack was real, yeah, but I don’t know whether he (it) was magical or just a very imaginative serial killer.

Sasquatches are one of the magical creatures native to the Americas. They’ve never lived over here in the UK as far as I know, and there aren’t many of them left. The few that are still around have gotten very good at hiding.

From: Kurt Von Bosse

Hello Luna,

I would like to run an idea by you that I’ve had about Onyx and Rachel/Deleo and see what you think about it. I think Alex is only half right about why Onyx and Rachel seemed to have slipped in the hierarchy of dark mages that support Morden and Richard. It’s not because they’re psychopaths who can’t keep their minds off of murder. Vihaela likes to torture and murder children which probably puts her at the top of any scale of psychopathic evil we might construct, but she is respected as well as feared in Dark Society and seems to occupy a position with more authority and power than either Onyx or Rachel. Why?

Here’s the short answer I have come up with. Being a Dark Mage’s Chosen isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. Now the long answer; Shireen and Rachel thought being Richard’s apprentices was a pathway to power. Richard pretty much said the same thing to Alex and all of his apprentices. My guess is Morden probably said something similar to Onyx when he recruited him. If Richard and Morden had been completely honest what they should have said is, “Think of me as a Bond villain, like Goldfinger. I want to train one of you to become my henchman; or henchperson if you prefer, like Oddjob. You’ll get to be menacing and do people in, in various creative ways, but I’m the boss and you’ll be my servant.” Rachel/Deleo acted as something of a night watchman for Richard, guarding his property while he was away. Not exactly a position of high status, and we can probably say the same for Onyx.

Vihaela is a different story. I don’t remember if she was anyone’s chosen, but I do recall she has killed or supplanted those dark mages she has worked for in the past. In true dark mage fashion she too took power for herself. That is why she has more respect and authority in Morden and Richard’s organization, she’s earned it. Morden said something very similar to Alex about his own life. Alex could be respected (as a dark mage) because he had made his own path, he didn’t argue the morality of it. Rachel/Deleo didn’t get vaulted to power and high status. She was reduced to searching for shortcuts to power like stealing the Fateweaver or draining and absorbing the power of magical creatures. She didn’t choose her own path; she followed the path Richard set for her.

To sum up, Richard and Morden played their apprentices. Their chosen are little more than gloried servants. Of course, they may also be playing Vihaela and the other dark mages in their employ, but I don’t know enough yet to comment any further in that direction. So Luna, what do you think?

It’s funny you should say that, because I had a conversation with Alex a little while back about exactly that. We were talking about Deleo, and something he mentioned was that he might have figured out why she hates him so much. It’s because she feels like she did as she was told and didn’t get rewarded, while he disobeyed and did. Deleo always played by the rules and did what Richard ordered her to, and she did that for ten, fifteen years, and what did it get her? Nothing. She’s still in the same position she’s always had. But Alex had to get dragged back in and he got appointed straight away to be Morden’s aide. Now obviously Alex wasn’t exactly happy about that, but Deleo wouldn’t care. All that she’d see would be Alex getting promoted over her.

So yeah, I think you might be on to something. Maybe following the rules only gets you so far as a Dark apprentice. At some point you have to start doing something more impressive.