Okay, let’s see if we can get anywhere with this backlog . . .
From: Bryan
Okay so it seems Richard went to another world to develop new ways of getting power a lot of it having to do with Jinn but the main question is where he went and why would he need to go this specific place. The only thing I could come up with was a place with advanced magic and away from prying eyes, and the perfect place would be Syriathis the old capital of the Light Council before the Dark Wars that Abrithirax mentioned. The old council had access to advanced magic, which was supplied in part by magical creatures some of which had to been the Jinn and Richard could have used that as a starting point for his research. Now I believe an old Ask Luna said that Alata was a world that connected to other worlds and perhaps he used that from Syriathis to come back to our world. Unless he used the jinn he had already although I think he would need something more powerful but in any event do you think this is a plausible theory as to where he was for ten years?
On a side note were Alata and Syriathis connected kinda of like a city to a world or was Syriathis on our world only kinda of like a shadow realm that connected the two?
I have no idea. Sorry. This sort of stuff is way outside my ballpark, and anything I say is basically just going to be a wild guess.
From: Sara
So apparently, Richard has a fan club that is interested in his dating life, others want to become volunteer slaves for Vihaela, and there is a segment of the fandom that wants Morden to be Alex’s “daddy”. Now I am sure you are confused/freaked out by this as I am, but that lead me to wonder if in mage/adept society there are people who are for lack of a better word, “fans” of Drakh’s cabal kinda of like how serial killers or mass shooters get them in real life.
Yes, it’s absolutely a thing, and when I found out about it my thought processes went through pretty much the same lines that yours did. I used to think it was totally insane, until I did some poking around on the Internet and discovered that serial killers in prison get actual marriage proposals. So now I still think it’s insane, but insane in a more literal way, as in ‘yes, these people really are that nuts’.
I think maybe these people just have really uneventful lives or something, and never have to deal with this sort of stuff for real? That’s the only explanation I can think of that makes any sense. Or at least the only explanation that I want to believe makes sense, because the alternatives are much worse.
From: Ian
Hey Luna just have a few questions about mage society.
1. Do you know what time period the Precursor mages lived in? Was it prehistory, two thousand years ago, or were there multiple Precursor’s societies over a large period of time kinda of like how we call people in antiquity Ancient Greece/Rome?
2. Have you ever heard of Dark Mages forming their own Council? I can’t imagine they would last long but it would be interesting to see if Dark Mages could form institutions.
3. Have your heard of any instances of elemental mages hiding their magic type? In the Light Council is it even possible to hide your type since their is a public examination? So couldn’t you go through the records and discover if Levistus is a mind/time or whatever mage?
4. I doubt that this is happening now nor in the foreseeable future but I heard that there were Dark Apprentices who took classes in the apprentice program with you, what was that like? I only ask because why would Dark Mages want to learn from the Light Council, I get associations but wouldn’t it make them look weak to other Dark Mages if they went to the Council for instruction? Plus I can’t imagine someone like Onyx listening to a teacher in a controlled setting unless Dark Apprentices are less volatile before they become full Dark Mages.
Okay, look, I’ve been trying to be diplomatic about this, but these emails are just getting too long. I think I’m going to have to put some sort of cut-off limit on these things – 4 or more questions in one email is way too much, especially when they’re vague multi-part ones about topics I don’t know much about.
1. No.
2. No.
3. Yes.
4. This is a decent question but my eyes are glazing over at this point, so I’m going to have to pass. Sorry.
From: John Dee
Hey Luna, thanks for responding to my question.
I’m curious as to why Richard invited Crystal into his organization. Isn’t she being hunted by Dark mages for murdering their apprentices for her ritual? Then, wouldn’t those Dark mages take umbrage – to say the least – with Richard protecting her? His organization is plagued with a lot of infighting. I would have thought that Richard would want to avoid triggering that particular headache.
Also, just how strong is Crystal, anyway? She seems competent, but not on the same level as Abithriax or Levistus, or a master mage. Crystal doesn’t seem to be powerful enough for the trouble she’d bring, including her obsession with Anne getting in the way of Richard’s plans, but that’s my two cents.
I keep on getting questions along the lines of ‘why did Richard do this?’ and my first reaction is always to say ‘I dunno, why don’t you ask him?’. I generally bite my tongue because I’m afraid someone might actually take me seriously.
Anyway . . . yeah, as you’ve probably guessed, I do not in fact know the details about Richard’s recruitment decisions. Presumably he’s got his reasons.
From: Wesley
1. Why do you think Richard waited so long to get Anne? Why didn’t he just leak to the Light Council that she was the one responsible for the Prison Break or just have her openly declare she was on his side? Not that I hoped he would mind you, but was there some other reason that he wanted Alex and Anne on the Council for so long?
2. Do you know why Levistus is so adamantly opposed to Richard and Morden? Alex mentioned that he was just as against them as Sal Sarque was, and I can’t see why he would be. Levistus seems to have more in common with them than he does with the Light Council being just as ruthless and addicted to power. Is there something more to this, or is it as Morden says he just does not want new competition?
3. Did Caldera get promoted after she turned in Alex? Not that I want anything good to happen to her, but I keep noticing she keeps showing up where Alex is. Do you think Alex’s enemies are using her to get to him?
1. Hey, look, another question about Richard’s motives that I have no idea how to answer.
2. He’s the arch-Council-supporting Light mage, they’re Dark mages. They’re like oil and water, they’d never, ever get on.
3. I really don’t care what rank Caldera is.
From: Charles
1. Do you know why there are so many Independents Mages when they don’t have an apprentice program like the Light Council does? I get why they would be more numerous than Dark Mages since they tend to be inherently self destructive but having more numbers than both Light and Dark Mages seems odd. Are they less skilled than average Light or Dark Mages or am I missing something?
2. Do you know what other countries who have Dark Mages on their Light Council? Not looking for specifics but is it limited to less powerful countries such as South America or Eastern Europe, wealthier countries such as the United States and Germany or is it done but a case by case basis?
3. I heard that there were apparently neutral factions in the Gate Rune War, who were not affiliated with the Light Council or Dark Mages ,do you know any details about why this was? I only bring this up because since Spire is supposed to represent Independents on the Senior Council, do you think the reason for this is because the Light Council was too controlling over other mages in the past and this is a way of pacifying them to prevent future revolts?
4. Did Alex ever talk about what kind of issues that Dark Mages came to discuss with him when he was on the Light Council? Did Alex ever try to help them, or do you think they were just needling him for being on the Light Council?
Too many questions! Seriously, I went back and counted and you asked me eight freaking things!
1. Do you have any idea how much work it takes to become a Light mage?
2. I am not doing a survey of every country in the whole bloody world. Why do you even need to know this stuff?
3. No.
4. Not much, no.