Benedict Jacka

From: Sierra

Hey Luna thanks for getting back to me with the question about Chance magic and kissing and I also wanted to say sorry about bringing up bad memories. When I said have you used kissing for bad luck I meant, for things like “Oh Natasha you are just adorable.” And then a waiter drops a tray on her and ruin her outfit and makeup. More mischief and less malice if that makes sense.

But not to waste your time I have a question about Sagash and his current apprentices at least when we last saw them. Sagash is a cliched evil/terrifying mage, his three apprentices well… they seem to be people you would meet on the subway or school. Why on earth would either side want anything to do with each other!? I could someone like Onyx, Tobruk, or Crystal being an apprentice under Sagash but those guys? Is there something I am missing here or is there more going on?

So the thing about being a Dark mage instead of a Light one – and the reason they get a lot more apprentices than you’d think – is that you don’t have to follow the rules. If you want to join the Light apprentice programme, you have to sit though tests and network and get high scores and spend a lot of time with adults who don’t treat you very well and who you don’t like very much. Basically, it’s like going to school. If you want to be a Dark apprentice, you have to find a Dark mage who’ll say yes, and that’s it. Sure, it’s dangerous, but for a lot of teenagers that’s a plus if anything.

It also gets around all the regular status ladders. With Dark mages, no-one cares if you’re the wrong class, or the wrong race, or were born to the wrong parents, or whatever. You could be a nobody for your whole life, but if you’re strong enough as a Dark mage, you can give orders to anyone and they have to deal with it. For some people, that’s a big deal.

From: Zen

Hey Luna!

Today, if you’re willing to humor me, I have 2 Theory/Questions, 1 political question, and 1 personal question.

So after spending the last week and a half reading rest of the “Ask Luna” entries, I’m pretty confident these two theories have not been addressed(but one was closely touched upon).

Regarding the Dreamstone: When Arachne first told Alex about them and what they can do, she segued into the topic by pointing out to Alex how adept he is at using Elsewhere compared to other mages. Part of her explanation is to point out that the way Imbued items influence their bearers is through Elsewhere.

In the most recent…incident…at Tiger’s Palace Alex demonstrated that with enough determination he can send thoughts/emotions directly at people via the Dreamstone even if he hasn’t practiced at linking with them previously(Landis, random Council security dude).

So my thought is this: do you think Alex would be able to disrupt/shut down (or maybe even subvert) the powers of Imbued items or foci being used by his enemies?

On a similar note, Shadow Realms are fairly closed tied to Elsewhere right? (I’d imagine so at least considering a Deep Shadow Realm is where Dreamstones are found). That being the case do you think the Dreamstone would grant Alex any additional power/control while in a Shadow Realm?

For the political question: I may have simply missed it when it happened(in which case I apologize) but how do Senior Councilors get their position? I know the Junior Council is appointed by the Senior, but how do those top seven get there? (I’m thinking of an interesting discussion Spire had with Alex…)

Finally;What’s your favorite anime? I’ve enjoyed your references to various shows throughout this column.

I appreciate your time!
–Zen.

Shutting down imbued or focus items sounds . . . I’m not sure. Imbued, maybe, but it’d take the form of talking them into it, I think. I’m not sure it’d work on focus items, they’re too simple.

As far as the dreamstone working in a shadow realm, you’re close, but off by a bit. It’s not shadow realms that it’s useful with.

Senior Council are appointed by other Senior Council, as far as I know.

As for favourite anime, hard to pick just one. I really liked the early seasons of Bleach (especially Rukia), though it went downhill once the Bounts showed up. Fruits Basket, too (the original, haven’t seen the remake). Full Metal Alchemist.

From: Aaron

1. Do you what part of India Chalice is from? Is her mage name a translation from English from her native language or do mages choose different names depending on what country they are in?

2. What did you think of Chalice saying you were not on the level of dark apprentices when you took your journeyman tests? I don’t believe she was belittling you or anything but at the time you could hold your own with Vari and he is a Keeper in the Order of the Shield I don’t think that younger dark mages could do that. In any event I think you would mope the floor with any Dark Apprentice especially if you didn’t fight fair.

3. On a different subject I have heard there are Independent Mages that can lean Light or Dark but do not fully commit to them. Is there any reason why they remain Independent when they could just join up with either of them?

1. She’s from Goa, though from a few things she’s said I think she might have lived in Delhi when she was young. She has an Indian mage name as well, but she chose Chalice when she graduated – it wasn’t a later translation or anything like that.

2. Oh, Chalice has a thing about Dark mages being superior. I used to think she knew something I didn’t, but now I just roll my eyes and don’t say anything – she’s a really good teacher, so it’s worth putting up with that sort of minor stuff. I think she’s got some past history on the whole subject (she seems to really have an issue with Light mages in particular), but I don’t know exactly what it is.

3. Same reason people don’t join any other group. They like the ideas, but they don’t want to pay the membership.

From: Anthony

1. So regarding Divination blocking/shrouding some diviners seem to have, do you know if this is skill that can be developed over time, or more of a just an innate talent sort of like how singing is for regular people if that makes sense? This seems like the only type of direct magic that a diviner can use even if it is on others divinations so I wonder if there are other obscure or lost to time divination skills like this? Perhaps that is how Alaundo can be good at predicting long term futures what do you think?

2. A change of subject but do you know of any common cross magical family hybrids? It seems obvious for the living and elemental families, life/death mind/charm, every combination you can imagine with the elementals, but are there some cross family combinations that are not obscure or a matter of opinion on how individual mages view their magic?

1. Good question, but I don’t know enough about divination to tell you. This is the sort of thing that only specialists know.

2. You get some kinds of life/elemental hybrids that focus on personal power and enhancement, and force hybrids are pretty common as well. Charm and mind and illusion and radiation/light/darkness magic show up in various blends.

From: Ted

Hello Luna, i was re-reading the series and i noticed no one mentioned Vari’s mage name. I was curious if he picked ne out yet. Also i noticed that the description of the third being in Deleo’s head is really similar to the quick peek Alex had of the Jinn in Anne’s Elsewhere. I was wondering if you guys considered that she might have a lesser Jinn running around in her head. Thank you for answering my questions.

Vari’s got a mage name, yup. We just never use it.

And yes. Good spot.

From: Kurt Von Bosse

Hello Luna, I have another question (or two) for you.

You’ve stated that the Light Council have been a greater immediate threat to Alex and your group than Richard Drakh. Do you still believe that’s true?

Let me clarify that a bit. After the latest series of events it appears that for the first time in Alex’s life, and the first time for all of you, you’ve not only survived Richard Drakh’s machinations, you’ve defeated them. Congratulations by the way.

Have you, Varium, Anne or Alex mentioned the possibility that by thwarting Richard, you’ve now gone to the top of his “to do” list? I hate to be a dower by asking that question, but I think it’s one all of you should consider.

On an unrelated topic, it appears to me that Alex is becoming quite skilled in political maneuvering against older and more experienced opponents on the Junior Council. Aside from allowing Alex to dodge attempts on his life by Levistus, has Alex said if he enjoys being a politician?

Yes, the Council’s a bigger problem for us than Richard, and not just by a little, by a lot. I mean, count up the number of times one of us has been attacked on Council orders against the number of times one of us has been attacked on Richard’s orders. The biggest threat to us from Richard’s side of the fence is Deleo, and that’s because she specifically keeps DISOBEYING Richard’s orders to leave us alone. Yes, that might change, and yes, Richard is a problem for Alex especially, but that’s a future problem and the Council is a now problem.

Re: Alex being a politician, he’s got mixed feelings. He’s gotten pretty good at the maneuvering part, and he likes being able to see those kinds of threats coming and defend himself. But I think all the lies and double meanings have been wearing him down. He can never really relax at the War Rooms, the only times he can do that is with us.

From: Liam

The way I’ve heard scrying described, a space mage opens a small portal and looks through it, which also allows the person they’re spying on to see them. Would it be possible to attack someone through one of these small portals by firing a gun into it?

Probably. I think normal scrying portals are meant to be only permeable to light, or something, but I’m sure you could make a mini-gate that would work the same way as a larger one. It’d be more obvious, though.

From: Dakota

Does Alex have mantis golems of his own? Or did Morden already “appropriate” them? Although Belthas wasn’t on the Council, he had enough influence to get some. On the other hand, it’s likely the Council doesn’t exactly want the Dark representative to have them.

There’s some kind of requisition system. And no, Morden never had any. The Council were unhappy enough with letting him on board, they absolutely weren’t signing over any golems to him.

From: Deborah

Do you think Alex’s hestitation with Anne is subconsciously based on richard’s warning about a dark mage having compassion

Hope not. I think it’s more to do with Alex being Alex.

From: Brenden

Hey Luna just have a few questions about the Light Council and the various factions.

1. This may be a moot question now, but how did the Unity Faction see/justify Dark Mages/True Path as two sides of the same coin for the Light Mages? I know that the world is not black or white, but in theory the Light Council is supposed to guide and protect humanity, while Dark Mages seem to think power is what power does. Even though quite a few Light Mages are power driven, they do it in a relatively organized fashion, while Dark Mages can barely get five people to work together at least usually. How there been arguments that can explain this or is this just a case of ignoring the obvious for the sake of believing in something on blind faith because you think the results are worth it?

2. I remember Talsid talking about how the Guardians and Directors historically do not get along and I suspect that has to with manipulating the normal population. Has there been any for lack of a better word moral reason that does not have to do with power that Directors would want to do this that would make sense from a Guardian perspective. With the Crusaders being one end of extremism it would make sense that the Directors would have at the other end of the spectrum some moral reason to do so, one would hope at least.

3. How do the Isolationist and Guardian factions get along? I have not heard them interacting much, unless Druss the Red is one, I thought he was a Guardian at first with his more hands on approach to things but apparently only Bahamus and Sal Sarque are the only ones on the Senior Council. Is this just a unique character trait of Druss the Red, or are Isolationists much more active then their titles would suggest?

This stuff is REALLY not my speciality, you know . . .

1. I don’t know for sure, but it’s probably something to do with how the higher you go in the Light Council, the more they drift towards Dark behaviour, while the more successful Dark mages seem to pick up bits of non-Dark behaviour when it comes to working together.

2. No clue. Sorry.

3. Druss and Bahamus are more Guardians, Sal Sarque’s more of a Crusader-type. I’m not sure there are any serious Isolationists on the Council, unless you count Spire. But I might be getting this wrong, I have trouble following it to be honest. Council politics are really damn complicated and everyone on the Senior Council has some sort of tie to pretty much every faction.

From: Kurt Von Bosse

Hi Luna!

This may be an odd question, but have you or Alex; as far as you know, thought about how Richard Drakh originally found Alex and his other apprentices?

Even when Alex got in Rachel/Deleo’s head, her memory had Shireen telling Rachel that Richard found her first and starting asking Shireen what she wanted. (By the way, that seems to be a question both Richard Drakh and Mage Mordan like to ask, but perhaps it’s a topic best left for another time.)

You have stated in an answer to someone else’s question that diviners can’t really be spotted using Mage Sight. I’m trying to think of other ways Richard might have used and I can only come up with two and both are questionable.

I suppose Richard may have built a database of every known mage; whether Light, Dark or Independent, who lived within the UK in the past few hundred years and then tracked down all their descendants and then narrowed down that list to those descendants within the UK who were teenagers and had them watched for signs of magical ability. Morden once told Alex that Richard had expended a considerable effort to recruit him and doing what I described would take a considerable effort, but it doesn’t feel right to me. It is too mundane a solution. I suppose Richard could have also used a chance mage or several chance mages to help him search for the kind of budding young mages who would serve his purposes, or perhaps Richard Drakh is a chance mage. That feels to me like a better solution, but still a questionable one. What do you think, or has Alex had any ideas on this question?

If I had to guess, I’d put my money on it being less about magic and more about psychology. Alex has told me about what his magic was like for him in the early days, and from the sounds of it, divination’s the most traumatic magic to learn on your own by a LONG way. You’re constantly getting flashes of future sight at the worst times and with no control at all. It takes years to learn how to manage it properly, and quite a few diviners just go raving mad and never manage it at all.

So if you want to find a diviner, you just need to look for the kid who’s switching between being creepily prescient and totally insane. Still a tall order, but if you’re willing to comb through enough schools . . .

From: Kevin

1. Do you know if summoning magic was an advanced form of space magic sort of like how Fate magic is a specific form of divination?

2. Do you think Wish magic and Fate magic overlap in some way? They both seem to grant it’s bearer whatever they want, or am I just overthinking it?

3. Do you think chance magic is a lesser form of wish magic? Or do you think it has more in common with Fate magic?

1. I know there’s an overlap, though I don’t know much more than that. Summoning’s its own thing and it tends to be done via ritual magic instead of with on-the-fly spells.

2. Kinda. From what I understand, fate magic is still limited by possibility – it’s more like divination or chance in that it works with what’s already there, while wish magic can just make stuff out of nowhere. Wish magic seems a lot more powerful in theory, though I’m not sure how it works out in practice.

3. Chance is a lot closer to fate, though from what I understand the mindsets are really different. Chance is all about riding luck and steering it, fate is about directing and making orders. Or something like that. It doesn’t translate very well into words.

From: Warren

Has Arachne ever met Richard? She seems to know a lot about how he operates, what his worldview is, and possibly what makes him tick so to speak. Have they ever worked together or does she have a really good intelligence network?

Good spot. Yeah, they’ve met. Arachne didn’t seem keen on talking about the specifics. Richard would probably be willing to say more, but for obvious reasons I’m not going to ask.

From: Eric

1. Is there a reason the Light Council has not attacked Richard at his mansion? Or even Onyx at Morden’s mansion, seems like it is too tempting to pass up or am I missing something?

2. How has Onyx been handling Morden’s escape? I don’t think it is going to be good considering how bad his has been as a Chosen.

3. How has the rest of the magical world been reacting to this conflict? Do you think the British Light Council might call on the other Light Councils for help if things get worse?

1. You’re assuming they haven’t.

2. Stayed put in his mansion, basically daring Morden to come take it back. He hasn’t yet.

3. I don’t know how the rest of the world’s been reacting, though a few individuals have gotten involved. The British Council might call on the other Councils, but they’d have to be REALLY desperate. They’d be massively humiliated, and whichever Council they asked would want major concessions. They’d basically have to be facing total annihilation before they’d do it.

From: Izzy

Have you guys ever thought about Richard invading your shadow realm? I know it is supposed to be really difficult but he had no problem getting into Sagash’s realm or out of the Vault. Are there any precautions Alex could take like alarms, constructs or mines? Kinda of awful I have to think that but whatever helps right?

Oh, trust me, we’ve thought about it. We’ve got some pretty thorough defence plans, but for security reasons I don’t really want to talk about the details. Basically, you can assume that if it’s something that’s happened before, or something we’ve got good reason to think is likely to happen soon, we’ve probably planned for it.

From: Phillip Taylor

When I read and think about the dramatic differences between mages like Rachel and Onyx and Richard and Morden, and even some of the other, older dark mages, I see a big difference. I wonder how that influences this concept of “chosen”.

It seems like there are two different kinds of dark mages: “True” dark mages and “tag-along” dark mages. The “True” dark mages seem to be highly independent, have their own moral conceptions and are driven by a sense of purpose, Richard, Morden, Chalise and – sorry, but I think it fits the model – Alex. Then you have the “tag-along” dark mages: Rachel, Onyx, Cinder.

The concept of “chosen” doesn’t seem to fit for these “true” dark mages… they just don’t strike me as the type to be someone else’s tool for very long like Onyx and Rachel. I have difficulty believing that Richard and Morden were willing to put up with being part of someone else’s designs for very long. So, I wonder is the concept of “chosen” is more a psychological manipulation to get a powerful mage under the master’s power than a real method to convey “authority”?

I wonder if, in practice, what the “chosen” concept is REALLY about in a world where “might makes right”? I mean, if you kill your master and take his stuff, that’s pretty definitive…?

I mean, I’m pretty sure the ‘chosen’ concept comes down to ‘we have to come up with some way to teach the next generation of apprentices without everyone killing each other’. Dunno how good a solution it is.

But yeah, it’s hard to imagine someone like Morden or Richard as an apprentice. Everyone has to start somewhere, I suppose. Maybe they weren’t like that when they were younger?

From: Fade

Hi Luna, or would you prefer Vesta now? I remember reading at one point that spell components are unique to the mage using them, and that generally there is a word and accompanying hand motion at their most basic level. I read that with practice a mage can eliminate the vocal or physical requirements, and that it was often a mark of power or respect to be able to do so. Meanwhile, it seems like even most of the more combat capable mages (who are elementalists, at least) such as Landis and Vihaela (is Landis considered a Master Mage?) seem to still use hand gestures. My questions are:

1)Do magic types like Mind, Time, and Divination still start out with the same components? Did Alex, Sonder, and just about every mind mage you’ve seen simply move past the need to use these components?
2) Is it for some reason easier to remove components from spells that don’t effect the physical world than it is to remove components from spells that do, like elemental spells?
3) Have you ever encountered a mage who can use combat spells without speaking or gesturing? Someone who can just stand there with their arms crossed and mouth shut in the middle of a duel? Thanks!

1) For whatever reason, the more non-physical magic types (like all the universalists) don’t use components anywhere near as much. I think it’s a psychological thing. If you’re doing something that you can see right there in front of you, you feel like you ‘need’ to move your hand or something. If you’re just seeing into the future, well, it’s not like there’s some muscle that corresponds with that.

2) No, I think it’s more to do with mindset. It’s not that they remove them, they just never learned them that way in the first place. It might be tradition at this point too – all the fire mages teach their apprentices with components, all the time mages don’t, so it’s just become a habit.

3) Weirdly enough, no. You’d think it would be an advantage, but no-one seems to do it. Maybe the extra concentration isn’t worth the effort?

Oh, and I still go by Luna in the shop. I just use Vesta with mages.

From: Faragorn

So, if the fire gauntlett Cinder now has was in with the dont-use collection, what is the drawback to wearing/using it?

I asked Alex a while back. Apparently when you put the gauntlet on for the first time there’s some sort of test of strength. If you lose it eats your hand. Possibly the rest of you as well.

Oh, and it’s not a fire gauntlet. Cinder does the fire part.

From: Bill

Having read the series, I am now convinced that the films should be choreographed by the team from John Wick. How do I make this happen?

Yeah, I wasn’t expecting to like those films when I went in, but they were actually really cool.

From: Laz

Hi Luna, 2 questions you might know the answer to.

How is the English version of pizza express pizza?

Richards fighting “style” at the end of Bound seems very similar to Alex’s “style” against the gun wielding thralls of the splinter crown. So light/(most) diviners are “twitchy”, are dark diviners less twitchy? And more like Alex and Richard?

I know you where not around for either incident mentioned but I assume you may have been at other similar incidents and gone out for pizza with Vari.

Thanks -laz

Pizza Express when I was growing up was this sort of not-fancy semi-fancy place that was just expensive enough to be special. The other girls would go there for birthdays and stuff. The pizza’s decent by English standards I guess, but it’s pretty bad compared to what you’d get in Italy or Sicily.

Light diviners are ‘twitchy’ in that they generally don’t want to get anywhere near combat at all. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Council diviner fight.

From: John

Okay so I am not looking for an in depth analysis on the Light Council bureaucracy no one should be that cruel, but I am curious if you know the basics of how they are structured? Specifically….

1. Are the Keepers/Order of the Star structured like the British police? Are there any specific ranks systems? I remember that Caldera was a Journeyman Keeper and Rain was a Captain of a section, and Nimbus is the Director of Operations but do you know of any other ranks?

2. Do you the basics of how the Light Council is structured, as far as I can tell are they do is plot against each other and mess with Alex. Do you know what the main branches are and what they do?

1. The main ranks go Journeyman, Lieutenant, Captain. Then there are a handful of posts above that (like Director) but I don’t know exactly how they work.

2. That’s WAY more complicated. There’s the Senior Council, and the Junior Council, and their aides, and that’s all fairly straightforward, but once you get past that there’s this huge bureaucracy with different departments with mages in the top slots and adepts/sensitives filling up the rest. I think that the only branches which are mostly staffed with mages are the Keepers and the judiciary – there are just too many posts to be filled for all the others.

From: Brian

1. Do you know how many mages Richard has in his cabal? I believe that there are around 1000 Dark Mages in Great Britain, does he control a sizable percentage of them?

2. Do you think those magical items Richard use as Archon in the Vault are different/advanced versions of Alex’s own force walls and disrupters? They seemed almost like they were multi purpose focuses items but is that even possible? And on a side note do you know what type of magic that disrupters are created from?

3. Okay so this might be a bit of a stretch but do you think Richard’s strange universal magic may be blocking Alex’s divination like the wards in Fountain Reach? There were several times when Alex could not sense Richard when he Archon but only when he was not fully focusing on him and that seemed to be similar to the dampening wards did to Alex’s divination when he was there.

Thanks again and I hope the shop is running well!

1. Actually not that many. I don’t think it was more than 100 at the very most, and that was using a REALLY generous definition. If we’re only counting ones that were seriously committed, it was more like 50, and if we’re only counting ones that wouldn’t desert as soon as things went south, it was more like 20. Honestly, if it weren’t for certain things that will remain nameless, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t need to worry about Richard at all – he’s nearly always way too busy keeping his own troops in line to go after people like us.

2. They sounded pretty similar, yeah. I didn’t get a look at them, so no idea if they were multi-purpose or single-use, but multi-purpose focuses are generally a pain in the ass to craft and use so I doubt it.

3. No, I’ve got my own theory as to that.

From: Sarah

Hi Luna!

I had a question about Alex’s visit to Vihaela’s shadow realm in Bound and I was wondering if you had any insight. When Alex arrived at Vihaela’s place, a voice called out to him saying “Mage Verus.” Was that someone who we’ve already met/who we’ve already heard of? I only ask because Vihaela helped make people into sex-slave doppelgangers when she was a part of White Rose and now I’m felling paranoid.

Thanks!

I wasn’t there, but wasn’t it that kid that Alex met there? Which is already creepy enough.

From: Phillip Taylor

I don’t understand this concept of a “chosen” among dark mages. I mean, the whole practice sounds more like some weird co-dependent long-term servitude which is opposed to this Neitzchean ideal of forming one’s own reality through power. It seems like more dark mages would complete their apprenticeship the way Alex did to remain true to the dark mage ideal – or kill their masters. “Winning” a long-term, co-dependent extended servitude to some, admittedly powerful master who basically controls you for the rest of your life sound like a really sucky deal to me, and I’m not even a dark mage?! True, “chosen” dark mages seem like they’d be the ones who said, at some point, “Thanks for the help, but I’m leaving…” “No, you’re not!” Says the master. “Really?! Ha! Can’t stop me, I’m too powerful!” Apprenticeship over.

Well, there’s a really obvious reason why Dark mages wouldn’t be too keen on the ‘kill your master’ approach to graduating if they’re the master.

But generally, this is one of the big issues Dark mages have. They suck at working together and their retention rate for new recruits is horrible. For all the things I hate about it, the Light apprenticeship programme does at least work. There’s a reason there are more than twice as many Light mages as Dark ones.

From: Kevin

1. Do you think Morden and Richard had a hand in the death order on Alex? I know it seems like it was all Levistus doing, but making him an enemy of the Light Council would fit right into Richard’s plans. Plus they are always trying to convince Alex that the True path is the only way forward for him for whatever reason. I know they most definitely got Anne on the list so why wouldn’t they try with Alex?

2. Do you know anything about how the game Spheres are played? It was the game during the mage event when your adventure with the Fateweaver happened.

1. There’s no way to know for sure, but my bet is that they didn’t bother to get the death order passed because they knew Levistus would do it for them. All they had to do was wait.

2. I’ve never played, but I think it’s basically a more complicated version of Go.

From: Ivyene

Have you ever read a weird fanfiction and thought, “Is THAT what people think about us?” Like when they’re super out of character or acting weird? What do you think of the fanfiction in general?

Not yet. I’ve been tempted, but I’m always afraid the writer’s going to ship me with Alex. Or worse.

From: Dakota

Richard was pretty upset with Onyx for showing up at the raid on the Vault, and the given reason is that it implicated Morden. Why, then, was Alex allowed (and forced) to go? From the Light Council’s perspective, this would also implicate Morden, perhaps even more than Onyx would.

Because of Anne. If Alex hadn’t been there, Anne could have made a break for it once things started going wrong. Having Alex there tied her down.