Did another count and after some editing, the queue is at 80 emails, so I’m going to keep on trying to get through these fast. I think I’m going to make a habit of giving much shorter answers to multi-part questions, since those are the ones that tend to hold me up.
From: Gordon
Dear Luna,
1) Now that you’re officially a graduated mage, what do you feel are the best and worst changes to your situation that came along with it?
2) Do you know if the density of magical creatures is approximately the same throughout the world? Are there some countries where they have a greater presence, because of higher tolerance amount the local mages or simply because they’re able to retain a better foothold for other reasons?
3) Did Alex ever confide what his dream profession was if he never became a mage (and burdened with the ugly mess that came with it)?
4) If you, Alex, Vari and Anne had to move to another country, what would each of your choices be?
1) Best is probably security. I feel a lot safer now that the Keepers can’t just pick me up whenever they feel like it. Worst – nothing really.
2) This is way too difficult a question for me, sorry. You’d have to ask an expert.
3) That’s kind of an interesting one. No, he never has. Never occurred to me to ask, honestly. I always just saw him as Alex.
4) Me – Japan. Vari – probably India, though he’s got some issues with the place. Anne – I think it’d be Wales, Canada, or New Zealand. I’m not sure about Alex.
From: Ian
Hey Luna just have a few questions about your friends on the Council.
1. Do you know why Landis was a trainee with Caldera with him being at least ten years older than her? I only ask because he seems to be one of the better battle mages in Great Britain and I don’t see why he would be in a class with beginners.
2. Has Vari changed how he uses his fire magic now? If I recall he used to create fire by way of combustion but now he seems to be able to use regular flames, is he learning new applications or could he always do that?
3. I remember Arachne saying that with enough practice Alex could physically enter Elsewhere, is there a reason why he would want to do so? Sorry if this is an obvious answer but he seems pretty good with manipulating Elsewhere in dreams already without having to be there, unless I am missing something?
Thanks again hope you guys are doing well now and in the future.
1. I don’t think they were trainees together, so it couldn’t have been that. He might have been in a class with her for some other reason.
2. Yeah, he’s been diversifying. He used to just do heat, but he can create fire effects now, though the heat burst attack spells are still his favourites.
3. ‘Is there some reason why he’d want to do so’ . . . yeah, you could say that.
From: Phillip
I wonder how dark mages like Richard and Morden and others like him come about? What I mean is, we have these dark “chosens” like Onyx and Rachel (don’t tell her I called her by the name Rachel, please!), who got to be “chosen” by just being powerful and tough, but kind of stupid and impulsive. Basically, they became “chosen” because they hit first, without hesitating. The smart ones kind of think too much, and get sidelined (like Alex). So, what’s this whole weird “chosen” business, and you’d think brilliant dark mages like Morden and Richard would see the self-defeating dynamic and start to re-consider how things go – or is there a different long-term game at play?
It’s just the problems of the Dark mage attitude, I think. Their whole mindset makes it really hard for them to work together and means they get an awful lot of thug-types like Onyx who are really good at brute force and really bad at everything else. Hard for them to fix it without changing their whole way of thinking.
From: Brian
Hey Luna I just have a few questions about diviners.
1. Have you or Alex ever seen or heard of diviners that specializes in his short term/combat divination like he does?
2. Do you know if any Dionysian diviners can use short term precognition like Alex and other Apollonian diviners? I looked at the Arcana and it seems they can just make predictions, do all diviners share some common magic or does it differ depending on what branch you follow and you sacrifice one skill for another?
3.. Are there any common or otherwise Diviner focuses? Does it matter if the diviner uses Apollonian or Dionysian style?
4. Do you know if Dionysian diviners tend to be on the Dark side of the fence? I imagine most diviners to be Independent since they are so rare but this divination seems to be on the darker side. Do you know if Alex has met any and do you think he would agree?
5. Has Alex used his Council position to meet up with Alaundo the master diviner? At the very least he might get some more info on why he is the key to Richard gaining power, or just diviner tips in general.
1. Not sure.
2. I don’t really know anything about Dionysian divination, sorry.
3. Not that I’m aware of, and I still don’t know much about Dionysian divination.
4. Why is everyone so fascinated with Dionysis? (Dionysus? Dionysius?)
5. Okay, finally one I can answer. No, as far as I know, he hasn’t.
From: Sotiris
Hi Luna,
Once again thank you for taking time to answer all those questions. It is a delight reading through all of your answers!
I have a couple of questions but since I do not want to take much of your time I will probably split them into two sections. Here we go:
1) I won’t be asking about Richard’s magic type or powers since you have time and again told us that you can only speculate. I will though ask a similar one. Given that you do try to get ready for all possibilities and that we know for a fact that the team does speculate about his magic type, are any of your theories include the possibility he is just a normal guy with enough resources, charisma and intelligence passing of as a mage?
2) I know that power levels can be pretty hard to define (which makes sense, most of the time you are comparing apples with oranges given how diversly magic manifests even within the same magic type), but on the Council’s power ladder how close do you think Alex is to be considered as a Master Diviner?
p.s. I just recently moved to Mornington Crescent and love the area!
1) No, that theory was never a contender. It would be really, really, really difficult to do all the things he does and have the position he has without SOME kind of magical power to back it up, and probably a lot of it. Our best guess was that he was a mage with a relatively unusual/subtle magic type.
2) From what I understand, being a ‘master’ by Light classification is about connections and fame as well as skill. I’d guess Alex isn’t there yet, but he’s getting close.
From: Dakota
Hi Luna,
So I’ve noticed that Alex has gotten pretty good at predicting a bullet’s flight path and moving out of the way. Assuming he couldn’t dodge for whatever reason, do you think he could predict the path of a bullet and deflect it with his knife?
I’m pretty sure he could do it, yeah. He just never has because it’s a lot easier to move out of the way of a bullet than deflect one.
From: Isolda
Hi Luna,
In “Fated” it is stated that a witch put a curse on your ancestor. What does it mean to be a ‘witch’ in magical society? Is that another way to say ‘mage’?
It’s just another word for a magic-user, usually female, usually not a battle-mage. Any woman who can do ‘curse’ type spells has a good chance of getting called that. And yes, that would include me.