Ask Luna #145

And we’re back. 

I’m going to have to make a few changes in how I answer these questions.  The backlog’s up to nearly 100 emails at this point and the questions below are ones I got back in May, so I’m obviously going to have to speed this up somehow. 

The emails I’m getting that are slowing me down the most are (a) the multi-part ones where the guy asks like five questions one after the other, (b) the open-ended ones where I’m expected to write an essay about mage politics in Canada or give a list of every magical creature in existence or something, or (c) the ones that do both.  So I’m going to just start giving very brief answers to these. 

From: Luke

Hey Luna just have a few questions about Alex’s allies on the Senior Council if you could call them that.

1. Spire is very hard to read, since he remains neutral on most issues yet does not seem like he is any less formidable than the other Senior Council members even though he is mostly connected to Independent Mages. Do you how much influence they have on the Light Council? I am making an educated guess the Light Council wanted to keep an eye on the Independent Mages and gave them an representative to appease them, along with keeping a seat locked up so one faction would not dominate the others completely. Perhaps that is what Spire meant when he talked about periodic transitions but I don’t know how much that helps independents in the long run with only one seat unless they have more power than we know of?

My other question about Spire is do you think he is just biding his time to throw in with one side or the other when the smoke is cleared for the sake of stability? On the one hand he seems like he could do just that, but then again he could also just be inclined to stay neutral unless someone forces him to.

2. I like Druss the Red he seems very down to earth and not at all like the the rest of the Light Council with their pretensions of class that. I think Alma mentioned he was connected to the Order of the Shield, do you know if he was a prior member or perhaps even its leader today?

Also do you know how he and Alex get along in general? Are they more allies of convenience or is there a stronger foundation?

3. Bahamus seems to be the closest thing Alex has to an ally since he seems one of the few who appreciate his abilities and has supported him against Levistus. Do you think this is because of Talsid and his alliance with Alex over the years or are there more people in the Light Council that think Alex is on their side?

1. I don’t really know anything about Spire.

2. Druss used to be the head of the Order of the Shield if I remember right.

3. I have no idea, sorry.

From: Randy

1. Do you know what the most common hybrid types that come from the different magical families?

2. Are there adept hybrids as well? If there are do you what the more common ones are?

3. Is the magic type illusion considered to be part of the Elemental Living or Universal families? For some reason I think it could be any of them. Can they use gate magic or does it vary mage to mage?

4. Are there any magic types that belong to all three families or is it just a matter of perspective? Do you know what the more controversial ones that defy easy classification?

1. There’s no such thing as hybrids.  It’s all how you define them.

2. There’s no such thing as hybrids.  It’s all how you define them.

3. It gets classified as living, but you’re right, it could really fit in as any of the three.

4. Sorry, but this is just way too much of a ‘fishing’ question.  Please give me something more specific, guys, I’m not an encyclopaedia.

From: Robert

Hey Luna I just have a few questions about adepts specifically what factions they form. I figure most of them are independent but I am curious about the ones who are Light or Dark affiliated specifically….

1. Is there a reason why there aren’t more pro-adept mages on the Council? I remember that Lee from the Nightstalkers had an impressive tracking ability, Kyle is really good at storing weapons and you could wipe the floor with most of the Light apprentices in dueling. Surely someone must see the uses of adepts even if they don’t give full mage rights ignoring them seems really wasteful.

2. I have heard there are supposed to be Dark Adepts but is that even possible giving how ruthless Dark Mages are in general? The only Dark Adept I can think of is Kyle but that seems like a specific and rare circumstance unless some Dark Mages see the usefulness of adepts?

1. Because just because they’re good at what they do doesn’t mean that the Council trusts them to use what they do in a way that’ll benefit the Council.  There are plenty of adepts who are affiliated with the Council one way or another, but the Council’s jealous of its position.

2. Actually, by some definitions, there are more dark adepts than Light ones.  Pretty much any mercenary/self-interested adept is going to be classified that way.

From: Calvin

1. Do you know what the average Dark Mage thinks of Alex as one of the strongest Junior Council Members? I know the half the Light Council thinks he is secretly working for Richard while the other thinks he is alright, do you know if Dark Mages think the same? I suppose the good part might be seen as weakness or being a traitor or that he is following his own True Path.

2. Do you think that the fact that Richard came back ten years to the exact day has something to do with gate magic? I know he went to another world using Katherine’s space magic but I could not think how he could of came back, unless it was like the bubble realm in Syria where only certain dates are available for it to be accessible.

3. On another note, portals to other worlds and the Jinn keep coming up as we learn more about Richard, do you think that is where he got his weird black threads of magic or do you think he has always had it? If he didn’t I wonder what other powers he has hidden, he couldn’t of become a powerful Dark Mage before he left if he didn’t have something.

1. They don’t really trust him either since he’s a Council employee. 

2. Well, I don’t see how he’d leave this world and come back without it.

3. Yes.

From: Kurt Von Bosse

Hi Luna, I hope you’re doing well today.

I was thinking about the fight inside White Rose’s HQ, when Vihaela took on both Caldera and Slate at the same time. Vihaela toyed with the two Keepers and she didn’t work very hard doing so. So my question is this. Is there anything Caldera or Slate could do to make their magic stronger, so they wouldn’t so far out of Vihaela’s weight class? To put it another way, does the mage equivalent of weight lifting exist to make one’s magic stronger?

We’ve seen mages practicing to have better focus and control of their abilities. You’ve had to do something similar to be able to both use and control your curse. Alex said he had to learn to control his divination because without such control it could have literally driven him mad. I haven’t heard Alex say anything to suggest that adult mages can do something; on their own, to make their magic hit harder or be bigger. This seems to suggest that once a budding mage or adept’s magic fully emerges, the level of power they have at that time is all they will ever have. They can only learn to control their magic and use it more skillfully.

However, if there is a way for a mage to increase their raw power level; and even though I don’t know what it would mean for a diviner to become magically stronger, it seems to me that Alex needs every edge he can get to take on and survive Richard Drakh, his sidekick Morden and Vaal Levistus.

It’s both.  You can do ‘weight lifting’ to get stronger, and you can learn better focus and control.  But there are limits to both, and you have to put in a LOT of time and effort if you want to see real progress. 

In Alex’s case increasing his raw power level wouldn’t do very much since his magic doesn’t actually affect the physical world – that’s like trying to get stronger so you can fly.  But it seems like he’s found a different way around that.

From: Thomas

Hey Luna thanks for answering my questions about the Dark Factions just wanted to ask a few clarifications.

1. Are the Dark Independents faction Chalice is apart of the same as anarchist/pure freedom faction? I apologize in advance if I am splitting hairs, I just assumed that the anarchists meant submit to no one/do whatever they want, while the pure freedom types were the ones wanted to be left alone.

2. Are the “pure power as objective reality” types a minority within the Dark Mage factions? I suppose technically that is what all Dark Mages believe in but is this an extreme position or is it a more common one?

3. On another note this could explain a lot of Richard’s reactions towards Alex’s going against him during his time as his apprentice up until now. I think that is why so many questions are being asked here about why Richard and Morden keep trying to get Alex to sign up with them willingly when he has said no to them on multiple occasions. My question is do you think this “pure power” way of thinking is why so many people keep bringing this up, because like the Light Council they can’t understand the Dark Mage way of thinking?

4. Do you think the Dark Mage factions and Light Council factions mirror each other? In my opinion they are too close for comfort, the only faction I could think that is unique to one side are the Directors but even that might change with the Light-Dark War, if Richard takes over and he gets access to their resources.

1. Probably, yes. 

2. I have . . . no idea, honestly. 

3. I’ve read this one three times and I’m still not quite sure what you’re asking, but assuming I’m guessing right, then, yes, that’s probably the reason. 

4. No, they don’t seem all that closely mirrored to me.  It’s political parties vs a bunch of paramilitaries.