From: Pete
Whilst “normals” are either unaware or not taken serious about magical society, is this the same case with governments? Is there some tacit co-operation between normal and magical authorities?
Short answer is yes. Pretty much every government has a section that deals with magical stuff, and that section has some kind of relationship with the country’s Council. How well they get on varies quite a bit. In the UK there’s a group called SASU affiliated with the Met Police that does the liaising work – mostly the only time we run into them is if something goes wrong, and from what I understand relations are smooth enough, even if they’re not exactly friendly. In other countries it can get a bit messier. From what I’ve heard the US government has two or three competing departments that are supposed to regulate magic, and they don’t get on with the US Council at all.
From: Thorn
Thanks for taking the time to answer questions.
1) How much time has passed since the events of Fated? How much time has passed since the events of the most recent book?
2) Why do you think Alex is writing all this down? Do you think there’s anything he’s leaving out?
3) Could you explain what the difference is between the Junior and Senior Council?
1) About six years and about one year.
2) Would you prefer he kept it all a secret? And of course he leaves things out. Do you tell people every detail about your personal life?
3) There are lots of little differences, but the big one is that the Senior Council get to vote on Council resolutions, and the Junior Council don’t. So while the Junior Council get most of the same perks, the Senior Council’s votes are the only ones that matter.
From: Kurt Von Bosse
Hi Luna.
Now that you are no longer an apprentice will you continue to engage in competitive Azimuth duels or do you think your free time will be taken up with establishing yourself in magical society as a full Mage? On the other hand, might competitive dueling help you gain respect and acceptance from other mages?
I hope this hasn’t been asked before, but when you competed in various tournaments was there any type of magic user who was more difficult to fight than other types or did it simply come down to the skill of the individual opponent regardless of magic type?
I’ve actually gotten a lot less interested in duelling lately. For a while it was what you said, a way to prove myself, but looking back on it, I think I was partly doing it just to have something to keep myself busy. I didn’t want to have too much time to stop and think. Once I graduated, though, and I took a break, I found I didn’t miss it that much. The duelling world gets a bit pressure-cooker – there are all these Light mages who care about it so much and after you’ve been out and about a bit, you realise how artificial the whole thing is. I’m just not sure I care enough to put in the work I’d need to.
As for hardest magic type – obviously skill was the most important thing, but I always found ice mages really irritating to deal with. Very good defence and they always seem to want to drag the bout out as long as possible.
From: Jordan
Have you considered that Richard might be a Sound mage? From the way he’s described I get the impression that he was born with a relatively weak type of magic and that his goal has been to overcome that through planning, use of items and eventually somehow Iron Man-ing his way into being able to use other types. Sound mage would fit the bill, and Alex has mentioned more than once that his most memorable and noticeable feature is his voice. Plus it would fit with Alex hearing Richard’s voice when Morden was being elevated to the Council.
(Sorry for the double-post. Got mixed up on where to send the question)
Yeah, I should probably make it clear, in case it isn’t obvious – if you guys want to send me an Ask Luna question, use the form. Nothing personal, but I really don’t have time to search through comments and other email accounts to find questions sent to the wrong address, so anything that doesn’t go through the Ask Luna form just doesn’t get answered.
As for what your question, that’s actually one we’ve considered and decided was really unlikely. It’s not impossible, but sound magic tends to be distinctive – it’s not the kind of thing you can hide or pass off as something else. Alex also says that it doesn’t fit with Richard’s personality. Sound mages tend to be emotive performer-types, and they’d rather have attention than power. From what I’ve heard about Richard, that doesn’t sound like him at all.