#the stars are never far from a sorcerer's side

[izar-tarazed]

So in one of my attempts against Messmer I brought along Ensha to get some nice screenshots. And while I did get some, there's also this one and I can't unsee the budgie gif:

[a-vintage-snake]

The Mountains Are Calling And I Must Go

Pairing(s): Romantic Dukeceit

Warnings: Self deprecation, mentions of shitty parenting, Remus being Remus Characters: Deceit Sanders, Remus Sanders, Virgil and Roman are there for like a paragraph, Logan is mentioned exactly once.

Summary: There lives a warlock in the mountains, and Remus is determined to hunt him down.

Word Count: 4861

Edit: This is now officially has a sequel! Read it here

Read on AO3 Author’s Note: I love Deceit and Remus, and I wrote this instead of sleeping

There lived a warlock in the mountains. At least that was what Remus was counting on. So far he hadn’t gotten a glance of the fucker yet, but he was nothing but optimistic.

He spurred his horse on for what felt like the thousandth time that hour. Realistically, Remus knew that the mare was exhausted and they both needed sleep soon. But he didn’t want to waste time resting when he could find his goal (hopefully) any minute now! The sun was nearly setting and he wanted to explore as much ground as he could while he could still travel without risking falling down one of the mountain’s cliffs that twisted alongside the path he was following. What would it be like to fall down from such a height? Would he crunch his head on the spikey rocks below? Splatter his brain in a pretty pattern on the rocks- Or maybe he would fall with his feet first, causing his bones to rip through his flesh and- Remus shook his head to chase away the thoughts like an annoying fly. Usually he would delight in thinking all the options through, but not right now. He had a mission goddammit, and it needed all his attention.

--

He had heard all the stories of this warlock figure. All the vague whispers that people would delight in telling and listening to, despite the fear. The warlock ate children who got lost in the woods; he took young men and women to experiment on them in his hidden castle. Tell him your name, and he would take control over your mind. He hid away in the Desolate Mountains, waiting for the day he could capture the kingdom for himself. He was the kingdom’s greatest threat. The warlock was a monster. At this point of the stories Remus always interrupted saying that he thought “Desolate Mountains” was a really lazy fucking name and honestly where was the name giver’s creativity? This was always followed by the storyteller and listeners screaming at him to get away, we never invite you for a reason, we don’t want you here, how did you even get in here but Remus always prided himself in asking the questions people would rather not ask, hear or experience. That’s how he found himself at one point sitting atop the worktable of the court sorcerer. “So this warlock fellow-” “Your Grace, could you kindly get off my work?” “How would one kill him? Is it like vampires? Stake through the heart? Although really, you can kill anything with a stake through the heart, why do vampires think they’re so special?” Remus sent a wide grin towards the purple-clad figure on the other end of the table, who was glaring at him so hard his pupils were barely visible through the dark marks around his eyes. The court sorcerer looked ready to summon the shadows he controlled so effortlessly, and have them throw Remus out of the nearest window. Ha, jokes on him though! That would be considered treason! “Or is it more like witches? Burn him at the stake? Or drown him? Heh, have you ever wondered what it would feel like to drown?” “Geez, why don’t you go to one of the garden’s fountains and find out?” Virgil bit out through gritted teeth. Remus fell back cackling, rolling in the sorcerer’s precious notes for good measure. “You’re so funny Virge! The funniest little shadow we got around here!” “Look, your Grace,” Virgil bit out the title like it was an insult. “If I knew anything about the warlock in the mountains, I would tell you-” “Oh come ooooooooon!” Remus whined. “You do magic, you gotta know how to end him somehow! Give me something to work with! Chop his head off? Recite some spells? Ooh what’s this??” Virgil quickly snatched the bottle with the bubbling silver liquid away from Remus’ curious hands. “This is an erosion potion.” Virgil grumbled. “One drop and a rock the size of a man will melt away like water.” “How fun! Have you ever used it on people?” “What? No, of course not-!” “Well you should, for science’s sake- Logan would appreciate the experiment!” “You know I highly doubt he would-” “Ooooh, why don’t we ask the scholar himself that? Bet the nerd would love to participate-!” “LOOK,” Virgil took a very deep breath through his nose, and exhaled through his mouth. “No one knows how to defeat the warlock, okay?? If I knew, I would have done it years ago!” “Boooo, you’re no fun.” “Hell, if anyone could kill him,” Virgil continued on, ignoring Remus. “That person would be hailed as a hero! But knights and heroes who go in the mountains disappear without a trace, and we can’t-” Virgil’s sentence was cut off when he was tackled by a green and black blur to the ground. Letting out a litany of curses, he went to push the squirming prince off of him, but he stopped in his tracks when he looked at Remus’ face. The prince’s lips were turned in the most manic grin Virgil had ever seen on him, and his eyes were wide as saucers. “ ‘Hailed like a hero…?’ ” Remus whispered. “Are you sure about that…?” “Uuhm… Yes?” Virgil answered. “AWESOME!!” Remus screamed in his face, before scrambling up and running from the room in a flurry of thrown about papers and slamming doors. Virgil sat up, utterly bewildered at the sudden exit. But eventually he shrugged. At least he had some peace and quiet now… Remus didn’t stop running until he burst into his room, where he changed into his best traveling clothes, put on his warmest cloak and started grabbing his favourite weapons to bring with him, along with his beloved morning star that he grabbed off the wall. After that he ran to the castle’s kitchens, where he under wild protests of the cooks shoved various foods and a water bottle in his bag. Then he proceeded to dash to the stables, where he screamed at the nearest stable boy to prepare his favourite mare for traveling. “Remus?” A voice behind him asked. When Remus whirled around, he was faced with the confused stare of his twin brother. “What the hell are you doing?” “No time to talk bro-bro!” Remus hauled himself up the horse. “I’m off to kill the warlock that lives in the mountains!” “Wait, what?” Roman’s mouth fell open. “Are you nuts? You can’t just-” “Don’t wait up for me!” Remus yelled as he spurred his horse in a gallop, out of the castle’s gate. “BYYYYEE!!”

--

That was three days ago. Three days where he barely slept, ate while riding and only ever stopped to allow himself and his horse the bare minimum of rest. And now here he was, leading the mare on coiling paths through the treacherous cliffs and the dwindling treeline. And he still hadn’t caught a glimpse of this supposed warlock. Or his stupid hidden castle! Although, Remus considered, if he could easily find it he supposed it was a pretty shit hidden castle. The last light of twilight was almost gone. Grumbling to himself, Remus reluctantly halted and stepped off his horse. After tying her to a nearby tree and giving her some water, Remus searched for firewood and made a small fire. He then proceeded to very grumpily stare into the flames. Tomorrow he would search harder. He would find that son of a bitch, chop his head off and bring it gift wrapped back to his mother and father. And then he would get a statue, and a song written for him, and- And had it been this misty the whole time? Remus quickly sat up, his hand flying to his morning star. Tendrils of mist had surrounded him, and moved in closer with a fluidity and grace that reminded Remus of how Virgil would move shadows in his hand. Excitedly Remus got up his feet, hands bringing up his weapon and a frenzied giggle leaving his mouth. Finally finally finally-!! “Show yourself!!” He yelled. “You’re a long way from home, sir knight.” A dark, crooning voice answered him. Remus twisted around. In the light of the fire, Remus could make out the tall, slender figure of a man standing between two trees. The mist seemed to curl itself around the man, like a cat greeting it’s master. The man was dressed in all black, and a large hood was pulled over his head, shielding his face away from Remus’ eyes. Remus squinted at the hooded figure. “Are you the warlock that lives in these mountains?” He asked. No use accidentally shanking the wrong guy. The man made a dismissive hand wave. “I suppose I am. But pray tell, who are-” Remus didn’t let him finish. With a vicious battle cry he lifted his morning star over his head and charged towards the hooded man. He swung his weapon towards the figure… And only met thin air. He stumbled, but quickly regained his balance to look for his target. Where the fuck did that slippery eel go? “My, aren’t you an impolite one.” Came the cool voice from behind him. Remus whipped around, seeing the warlock study him with a tilted head. Once more Remus charged at him full speed, hoping to strike his morning star right into the man’s side. But yet again, the man disappeared the second Remus tried to hit him. “What exactly are you hoping to gain from this?” The warlock’s voice came from his right. He appeared unbothered by the attacks or the furious glare Remus threw him. Remus once again ran to attack the man, and let out a frustrated screech when the warlock disappeared and reappeared behind him before he could land a blow. “Stop moving!” He hollered. “Let me think. Hmmmm, no.” This continued on for a minute, and Remus’ assaults only grew more frenzied with every failed hit. He grit his teeth so hard he was surprised he didn’t break his molars with the sheer force of it. His grip tightened on his morning star. He was going to beat this guy to a bloody pulp. He was going to chop his stupid head off, and break every part of the rest of his body, grind his bones into dust, eat his fucking organs until nothing was left-! “This is getting tiresome…” The warlock sighed. “Then actually come out and FACE ME, YOU-” “Look into my eyes.” The voice suddenly boomed from his right. Remus’ head turned so quickly his neck gave a painful crick, glee already flooding him because his target was right there all he had to was- And beautiful swirling golden eyes met his gaze. Remus stopped his movements abruptly. His mind was startled in unexpected silence, but he didn’t care or bother to question why. All he wanted to do was to keep staring into those golden eyes. “That’s right,” The smooth voice purred, and oh. That was possibly even better. The soft rumble of the warlock’s voice seemed to fill every nook and cranny of Remus’ head. Every crammed little corner emptied of its contents and instead replenished with gold and honeyed words. “Now darling,” The warlock hummed. “How about you throw all the weapons you have on you into that ravine over there, and then we’ll have a civilized conversation? Wouldn’t you like that?” Remus nodded and turned to stiffly walk towards the edge of the cliff. He immediately missed the golden gaze on him, so he swiftly went to work. First he threw his morning star down in the depths, followed by the sword on his side, then the daggers in his boots, the small axe and the blades on his belt, the kitchen knife he had grabbed last minute for good measure- Behind him the warlock chuckled. “Not sure if I should be scared or impressed.” The warm amusement in the man’s tone curled itself up in Remus’ chest and made him feel all kinds of weird and fuzzy. He wanted to make the other laugh and smile more, just to have that feeling all the time. Disposing his last weaponry down the cliff, Remus turned again towards the other. The warlock had sat himself down on a large boulder, and gave him a small nod. “Very good. Now come here.” The man beckoned with one finger. Remus didn’t need to be told twice. Eagerly he marched up towards the other man, and dropped himself on his knees in front of him. And before he could think about it, Remus buried his face into the other man’s lap, his fingers curling into the warlock’s pants’ leg. The warlock stiffened at the sudden contact, but Remus barely noticed. God, he just wanted to be closer, closer- “Well this is new...” The voice murmured above him. Remus froze. Fuck fuck fuck, he did something weird again, he had screwed up, why did he do that, why was he like this-! All panic was immediately silenced when a hand gently started carding through his hair. Sighing, Remus practically melted into the soft contact. A low keen left his throat at the feeling of sharp nails lightly grazing his head, causing the most pleasant shivers to roll down Remus’ spine. “Let’s try this again, shall we? You may call me Deceit. And what’s your name, bold knight?” Somewhere in his head an alarm bell started ringing, but Remus took that bell and beat it to a flat mash before kicking it right into the sun. “My name’s Remus… Remus Alveraz…” He muttered. “Oh my… Am I in the presence of genuine royalty?” Deceit played with the silver lock in Remus’ hair. “I feel honoured. And to what exactly do I owe this privilege?” He should probably lie to him. In fact, lying was absolutely the best option if he wanted the soft touches to continue. However the second the possibility of lying crossed Remus’ mind his head seemed to clog with a dense fog. Above him the warlock gave a soft tut in disappointment. “No use lying to me dear,” Deceit slightly scolded. “Come now, you can tell me…” He didn’t want to, he absolutely did not want to, but the thick fog made even the smallest white lie seem like a herculean task. “I came here to kill you...” Remus relented quietly. Immediately the fog lifted from his mind. And weirdly enough, the hand didn’t stop caressing his hair. “Funnily enough, I figured that out that much.” The amusement was back, and with it the fuzzy feeling in Remus’ chest. “And why were you sent on such a quest, hmm? Didn’t whoever sent you warn you of the stories? Those who enter the mountains shall never return I do believe it was.” “I wasn’t sent by anyone,” Remus muttered. “I wanted to do this myself.” “Ah, that explains some of it,” Deceit said. “So why exactly did you want to do this then?” Remus opened his mouth, ready to answer with for the glory of the kingdom, so his country would be free of fear, so the people could sleep easily again, so he could be their hero. Before even a syllable could leave his mouth the fog clouded his mind once more, even denser than before. His reasons choked on his tongue as he struggled to speak. “You’re lying, little prince. And not even to me, but to yourself. Which I always considered far worse than lying to the world.” The hand in Remus’ hair tightened and his head was turned sideways, so he could glance up at the man above him. The shining golden eyes were the only things visible under the hood and their beauty entranced Remus once more. “Tell the truth.” Deceit whispered. “I… I wanted…” Remus struggled to answer through the fog. “Tell the truth.” The warlock commanded. The power of the order settled heavily in Remus’ bones. “I just wanted people to see me.” The admission left him in a rush, and the mist in his head finally disappeared. Whatever Deceit had seemed to expect, this wasn’t it. The hand released his hair, and Remus immediately turned his head to hide his face back into the other man’s lap. The truth stung on his tongue. “And why exactly do you think people don’t see you…?” Deceit’s voice was thoughtful. “Aren’t you their beloved prince?” A bitter laugh left Remus before he could stop himself. “No no no no… Roman is the beloved one of the two of us. Perfectly charming perfect prince. People fall over their feet to wave at him, would chop their own kid’s fingers off for a chance to kiss his ass and all that shit, and I’m…” For once in his life Remus actually wanted to stop talking. But whatever spell was compelling him forced the truth out he had been ignoring for years. “I’m the spare. They don’t see me; they just see a failed version of Roman. The unwanted child. The family disappointment. Good for nothing, weird, scary, stupid freak of nature. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid-!” “Enough.” The order came out quiet like a hush, but Remus immediately stopped talking. Calmly he waited for Deceit to throw him off, to sneer and mock him for his not so royal behaviour. Perhaps the warlock would use him for ransom to get the kingdom from his mom and dad. Although, seeing as what Remus just admitted, it would probably be more likely he’ll just kill him and be done with it. He found that the thought didn’t really scare him. Just as he considered if Roman would miss him, Remus startled as he felt the warlock’s hand go back to ever so gently caressing his hair. Carefully he peeked back up to the other man. The golden eyes had lessened in their intensity, and Remus knew it was wishful thinking when he thought he saw sympathy in them. “Who made you believe that about yourself, little prince?” Deceit asked softly. The question surprised him. Remus shrugged. “It’s just the truth… I’ve always been the fuck up. I can’t do anything right. I couldn’t learn properly when I was a kid, my interests are weird, I’m too much…” “Too much of what?” “Everything! Too loud, too distractive, too grotesque, too annoying,” Remus rambled up from his head, repeating the words teachers, nannies, tutors, friends and family had told him over the years. When he just couldn’t sit still during lessons, because why would he when there were thousands more interesting things to do. “You’re a bad example for the others!” When he struggled with understanding the lesson material because he just couldn’t focus on it no matter hard he tried. “You’re just being lazy.” When he rambled on about his favourite gruesome stories and fairy-tales almost without being able to stop because they were so interesting! “I think he’s disturbed.” When he played with the other children and made them cry when he played too rough, spoke too loud, told too many scary stories. “You’re a freak!” When he pulled his twin brother along with his mischief and he ended up the only one being punished. “You’re a bad child.” When his parents praised Roman, only to send disappointed glares towards him. “Why can’t you be more like your brother?” Not good enough, no matter what he did. Not good enough. Not good enough. Not good enough. Not good enough. NEVER GOOD ENOU- “Remus.” The soft voice jump startled Remus out of his spiral. His throat had tightened and his eyes were prickling. Without realizing he had tightened his fingers nearly painfully in the fabric of the warlock’s pants. He quickly loosened them. “ ‘m sorry…” Remus mumbled. Sorry I exist. “No need…” Deceit shushed. “There’s no reason to apologize.” Silence settled between the two men for a while. The warlock sat in quiet consideration, while Remus tried to swallow the lump in his throat. He shut his eyes tightly to keep the prickling of tears back. Fuck, he thought he didn’t care… He thought he had hardened his heart enough that it stopped bothering him years ago, how no one could look at him without disgust or annoyance. Turns out he lied more to himself than he was willing to admit. Remus focused with all his might on the soft stroking of his hair that, despite everything, was still happening. He couldn’t quite believe his luck. Most people had shoved him away by now. “Now what I don’t understand yet,” Deceit finally spoke up. “Is why you thought killing me would help you?” Remus gave another half-hearted shrug. “I mean, you’re the country’s biggest enemy…” “Am I? My goodness, I feel flattered.” Deceit said flatly. “Roman always gets praise whenever he slays a monster… And he can’t come after you! Mom and dad made Roman promise them that he would never try to find and defeat you.” That had been when they were both teenagers. “… And they never made you promise not to do that?” Remus didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. His silence said enough. He heard Deceit take a very deep breath. “So you hoped that if you brought back my head, you would get their artificial praise and magically all their neglect would go away?” Deceit’s voice had taken a biting edge. “I guess… I mean, Virgil said that-” “Virgil?” The hand stopped moving, eliciting a small whine from Remus. “As in Virgil Storm?” “Yeah…” Remus was surprised. The warlock knew the court sorcerer? “He told me that the first person to kill you would be hailed as a hero…” “The basssstard…” The warlock hissed out. “I taught him everything he knows, and this is how he repays me? Ungrateful little whelp…” Deceit continued quietly scowling, and Remus was caught between giggling over the warlock calling the scary court sorcerer a whelp and begging him to continue stroking his hair. In the end he kept quiet, despite how difficult that was. Eventually Deceit finished his little rant, and silence fell once more. Remus didn’t mind, since Deceit absent-mindedly started to massage his scalp, which made him want to melt into a little puddle of princely goo. “You’ve been mistreated, little prince…” Deceit said. “Terribly mistreated. The world saw that you were different, and immediately labelled you as defective. But I’ll let you in on a little secret…” Remus stiffened when the warlock leaned down closer to him, and he felt the other man’s breath on his ear. “There is nothing wrong with you.” Deceit whispered. “That they refused to open their minds to the potential you possess, is their loss and their loss alone. You are not broken, you are not useless or anything they tried to make you believe. You are whole, my prince. Complete, just the way you are.” Deceit sat back up, and Remus couldn’t hold back the tears prickling in his eyes anymore. A sob left him, loud and ugly, while his body started to tremble. Deceit rubbed his back, gently shushing him all the while. “It’s alright,” Deceit murmured. “You’re alright… Sleep now, dear.” At the warlock’s words, Remus felt his eyelids and body grow heavy. He struggled to keep his eyes open, but it felt like a thick, warm blanket slowly embraced him. The last thing he heard before he fell into a deep slumber were Deceit’s words; “Sleep now, and you’ll see… The morning will come with a better future.”

--

Waking up was a slow process. Remus felt like he was slowly floating down from a very warm cloud, and he didn’t quite wanted to be back on the ground just yet. He hadn’t slept this long and peacefully in years. So he stayed on that edge between sleeping and waking for as long as he could. When at last he blinked his eyes open, it took a few minutes of staring up at the dark wooden ceiling before he realized he didn’t recognize it. Wait, where was he…? Abruptly the memories of last night came flooding back. The mist, a soft hand in his hair, his impromptu confessions, and the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. Wildly flailing Remus sat up and looked around. He was lying on a cot, and he had been covered with a soft wool blanket that he threw off with his sudden movements. To his right was a tall window, and in the final light of a distant sunset he could just make out the castle, his home on the horizon. Wait, sunset? Just how long had he been asleep? “Ah, so you’ve finally awakened.” Remus head whipped to his left, and he took in the rest of his surroundings. The room he was in had high ceilings, and every wall was covered in shelves filled to the brim with vials, jars and jugs. From the ceiling hung bones, dried herbs and something Remus recognized as massive dragon wings. A bookcase big enough to fit twice in his room was nestled in the far corner, stuffed with so many books that some were stacked in small piles in front of it. And illuminating the whole scene, a large cauldron sat on a simmering fire in the middle of the room, a yellow glow coming from the elixir being brewed in the iron pot. In front of the cauldron stood the warlock, his back to Remus. One of Deceit’s hands stirred the substance, while another grabbed a vial from a table next to him to add it’s contents to the elixir, another hand grabbed a handful of dried herbs to throw in as well, and yet another pair of hands held a book open-! Remus watched in utter fascination, as the warlock used no less than six arms to work tirelessly to make the potion in the cauldron. “You’ve slept for quite some hours,” Deceit said, not stopping or taking his eyes off the cauldron. “I was already beginning to think I used too potent of a spell on you.” Remus’ mouth opened and closed again. Thousands of questions were racing through his mind, ranging from Where the hell are we to What do you want from me and Are you aware you have six arms but what he eventually settled on was; “Why did you bring me here?” Deceit’s actions stilled. Gently, he set down the supplies in his hands and Remus’ eyes widened when the extra four arms seemed to retract back into the warlock until with a shudder they had disappeared. Then Deceit finally turned around. The large hood of his cloak was still hiding his face. Slowly Deceit approached the cot, and Remus, who absolutely was not the type of person to get scared easily, pressed his back into the window behind him while his heart thumped in his throat. There was a vague thought passing through his head that maybe the glass would crack and he would plummet to his death after all, but it was quickly dismissed when the warlock stopped in front of him… And moved to pull back his hood. First Remus noticed dark brown hair, in messy curls. Then he saw how the left half of the warlock’s face was attractively covered in dark green scales, which ran from his forehead over his cheek into his neck and disappeared under his collar. His eyes were not swirling gold this time- Instead Deceit’s right eye was a dark hazel, speckled with golden flecks. And the other… The other was a piercing yellow, with a split serpentine pupil. Those mismatched eyes took him in with a calculated look, and Remus’ heart started thumping louder, but no longer in fear. In fact, it started thumping so loud it felt like his heart wanted to tear bloodily through his ribs and flesh to get out. His stomach started doing all kinds of funny flip-flops as well. Distantly he was aware that his mouth was hanging open, but he couldn’t quite bring it up yet to care. Deceit smiled, revealing fanged teeth, and brought one slender, clawed finger under Remus’ chin to close his gaping mouth. “Careful, you might eat a fly,” Deceit said with a chuckle, and then sat down on the cot across from Remus. Which proved to be a test to his sanity, as Remus’ mind immediately started supplying him with all the creative things he could do to the warlock on that cot. Tracing his lips over the scales, seeing if they’re hot or cold, running his hands through those lovely curls, while fanged teeth bit Remus’ neck- “It’s impolite to stare, you know.” Deceit interrupted his thoughts. Remus shook himself away from the fantasy before it could get too detailed. “As for your question, well... We seem to have… Similar stories and motivations.” Deceit gave him a sly smirk, and if Remus hadn’t been gone yet, he would have fallen for that look hard. “I think we might be able to help each other out, don’t you agree?” Remus nodded so wildly he was surprised he didn’t snap his neck. Anything, he would do absolutely anything, if it meant that those mismatched eyes would remain on him.

[imaginativecrime]

7 reasons The Witcher series is a mess (or damn I need to vent)

Unpopular opinion time! For the record, I’ve read the books, played the games, hell, I’ve binged the Polish movie and series (because my love for Michal Zebrowski and Zbigniew Zamachowski is undying, sue me), and I was super hyped. Then I spent the entire series yelling at the TV, so I made a handy numbered list of the reasons why I personally consider it mediocre at best.

Because I’m fucking disappointed and I’ll never not be bitter about it. Fact.

Be warned, there are all sorts of spoilers below.

Let’s look at some of the issues that affected the show as a whole:

1) Adaptation is hard work - but you have to do it right

Adapting a story from one medium to another is difficult, you inevitably have to change things to make it suitable to the new form of expression and also, everybody wants their adaptation to be unique, to emphasize points they think are important, to reflect on the current times, you name it. But changes in an adaptation should make sense and lend themselves to the storytelling.

Many changes in the series were arbitrary, nonsensical and contributed absolutely nothing. One such example is the Battle of Sodden Hill, a terribly executed “siege” with not enough extras to fill a classroom instead of a battle of 100 000 people. Writing out Redania, Aedirn and the Brotherhood of Sorcerers from the conflict doesn’t seem to have a point to it, while the delayed arrival of the armies of Temeria and Kaedwen is both unexplained, unlikely and underwhelming, not to mention that it completely undermines the Nilfgaardian threat as a whole. This, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg of all the things that are wrong with Sodden Hill in the series. 

Or take Foltest and his affair with Adda. It is perfectly clear in the books that after seven years of wizards, witchers and all manner of frauds coming and going while Foltest is obsessed with breaking the curse instead of killing his daughter, even the very last blind and deaf peasant knows about his shenanigans. It’s only logical, too. The story is relayed to Geralt in no uncertain terms at the very beginning. Now in the show the whole episode is too short to set up a murder mystery that requires Geralt’s incredible detective skills (uhuh) to unravel. What is worse is that you cannot make a big reveal of something that your audience actually has previous knowledge about. So why even bother to have Foltest deny it and have Geralt beat it out of Ostrit? 

Which brings us to point two:

2) We all know which way to Temeria, don’t we?

Even if you have popular source material, you cannot expect everyone to know it. An adaptation has to consider people who are just getting their first introduction to the sandbox. When your lore is as rich as that of the Witcher, you need time and careful effort to set up your world. The show made a total shit job of this one. As in the above example, sometimes the show ignores that we, as an audience, know things. 

Another example is Vilgefortz. We know him, his plans, abilities and allegiances, we have very specific expectations of his character. Besides completely failing these expectations (and doing a very unconvincing early reveal of his true colors), the show goes as far as taking Vilgefortz’s iconic sentence (You mistake stars reflected in a pond for the night sky.) and putting it in Fringilla’s mouth. Like did they actually think we wouldn’t notice? Or not be pissed?

At other times the show expects us to fill in its glaring blanks exactly by knowing our lore and characters. One obvious, overarching example of this is the issue of the separate timelines, that sometimes left even fans a little confused. Also, fun fact: one of my friends (who has no idea about anything in the Witcher’s world) for instance needed some time to realize Pavetta wasn’t, in fact, a grown-up Ciri, and he remains to this day very confused about Blaviken.

Basically, we are on a swing here, which is actually made even worse by another thing: bad pacing.

3) Hold your Roach for a moment

The first season wants to cram too much into its limited time and it has a severe negative impact on worldbuilding and character development. By bringing in all three timelines from the beginning, the show has to juggle time allotted to each. 

To be frank, Ciri’s timeline at this point consists of a lot of running and screaming, which in itself hardly merits all the time we spend with her. It could have been utilized in part to provide us with a view of the war from ‘below’, to show that beyond the high politics and heroic battles there are burned villages, dead peasants, people who lost everything, cripples, deserters, ruined fields, and so on. Instead, we get one refugee camp of neat tents, actual beds, food and complaints about Calanthe (though not of dead husbands, lost homes or winter). Though I guess it should come as no surprise that the shock value of paint being made from a woman’s reproductory organs (that never happened in the books) is more important than actual large scale human suffering.

Now giving Yennefer an extended back story is great. But by that level of extension once again time is being consumed that is taking other opportunities away. Opportunities like giving Geralt himself a bit more background, clarifying points for fresh faces in the audience, giving characters more time for meaningful interaction. Because there is not enough time to let the story breathe and progress naturally, episodes are often rushed, choppy, and shallow. 

4) Reverse worldbuilding, aka welcome to nowhere 

Another serious issue with worldbuilding is what I suspect to be a deliberate departure from the game visuals and aesthetic. One of the things I adore most about the games is that it built heavily on Eastern European history and folk tradition. Nothing compares to the feeling when you ride into a village and you feel right at home because things are inherently familiar, or you go out into the woods and hear the exact bird song you are used to.

Netflix is very careful not to even offer a whiff of this particular identity to its show, but it doesn’t seem to have a clear artistic vision beyond that. Thus while landscapes are nice enough, other settings such as cities, taverns, ballrooms and the like are horribly bland in that “this is how we imagine the middle ages in Hollywood” way and look exactly what they are: sets. While one is not likely to quickly forget the red rooftops of Novigrad or the wild beauty of the Kaer Morhen pass from the games, there is nothing memorable about the locations presented in the series. (Even more bewildering is the depiction of the elite boarding school of Aretuza as a creepy dungeon with elf skulls everywhere. I cannot even begin to address this one unless it is all in caps.) 

Point being that the show lacks an actual visual identity that would distinguish it from any other dime a dozen medieval fantasy.

5) My kingdom for a decent wardrobe

Sadly enough, the bland and flavorless visuals have a terrible effect on something else: clothes and armor. While some costumes are well done, there are way too many examples of the opposite. One very obviously is Nilfgaardian armor, which looks like fossilized trash bags with sad dick helmets. The fact that armor in the show is treated as the equivalent of cardboard is doing no one any favors. Please do your homework next time. Please?

Another inexplicable departure from the books and games is the appearance of the nobility, and most jarringly, sorceresses. That dress Yennefer picks out the first time? It’s literally the drabbest, ugliest thing I’ve ever seen, and the others are not much better. When it comes to period-accurate choices, the range is just so wide: we are talking cambric, velvet, silk, cloth of gold and silver. We are talking luxurious furs, embroidery, colorful feathers, bright dyes, coats of arms and jewelry. Brooches, necklaces, bracelets, rings, hat badges, belt buckles, hairpins, you name it. People wore their wealth. Making them look like sad orphans will not make them look any more medieval.

Peasant clothes also had their decorations, though to a lesser degree than nobles, obviously. But I guess it’s too much to hope that those would get any attention when queens are dressed like they lost a bet.

6) I see your people and I raise you mine

Including people of color in the casting choices caused a lot of heated debate amongst the fans, but at least it means that the show cares about minority representation, right? Right?

The world of the Witcher has its own minorities, and what we have seen of them so far is so incredibly pathetic that I haven’t the words. For one thing, they look so terrible that elves in the Polish series actually look better, and that was so not a high bar to exceed. To make matters worse, they again seem to lack any sort of distinguishing visual identity (except for the Dryads. I’m also willing to make an exception for Chireadan, as he actually looks right and he’s a settled elf.)

Sadly, unlike the games, the series also fails to establish even the beginnings of a compelling narrative for its minorities, which definitely needs to be in place by the time Thanedd happens at the very latest. What is more, we seem to be given something called the Great Cleansing, which is plenty obscure but comes across as a Night of Broken Glass sort of thing (though that could be just me). While still salvageable at this point, this shift in narrative is cause for some concern, and so far doesn’t make much sense.

7) Your villains are not my villains

Unlike the books and games, the Witcher series sadly doesn’t seem to excel at presenting opposing sides without the need to vilify one (which again, makes me worried about what they are going to do to the Scoia’tael later). 

Nilfgaard is now an Empire of Evil (TM) that lives for killing and religious fanaticism, Fringilla is a psychopath, and Cahir... Well, Cahir is a thousand shades of wrong all on his own. Stregobor and Istredd are now assholes of a whole different caliber, and even poor Eyck of Denesle gets to enjoy his five minutes of fame as a madman frothing at the mouth instead of a paragon of knightly virtue.

This is going so well.

[serkonans]

i would legit love to know ur answer to all of those dnd questions tbh

so many gfsljgf thank you antonia i love ask memesputting #13 up here for the anon who requested it and the rest below the cut!13. Introduce your current party.I currently DM a few games! School is hectic and I don’t get to play very often but all the characters are GoodI have one group campaign titled “When the River Bleeds Red” (which is probably news to you, Antonia, and everyone else who plays, idt I ever mentioned that slkfjglfskj) that has a blacksmith (half-elven cleric, @the-idiot-who-stood-still​) named Brigitte Faestrum, a pumpkin farmer (halfling druid, @beesgnees​) named Cathal Headrig, a former stage performer (fire genasi sorcerer, @merrigold​) named Emelia Sparks, and a former mercenary (gnome fighter, @jacqmutiny​) named Nyx!I also DM one-on-one campaigns for @merrigold​ (who plays an aasimar druid named senua tasked with undertaking journeys on behalf of the gods in “The Glacial Erratic”) and @fictitiousbees​ (who plays a kenku wizard named scribbles called to the service of a high dragon in “Luck of the Draw”)Everything else below the cut!

1. A favorite character you have played.

I’ve only played two characters! One was Carran Warset, who is my Son and like the bulk of the reason I know I’m trans, and one was Chim from your one-on-one campaign. I rly like both of them tbh but Carran is my child gkjlsfgjs

2. Your favorite character that someone else has played.

Excluding anything I’ve DMed, Sivarna by @pluviance!

3. Your favorite side quest.

In the group campaign we played in together, there was one session that idr if you were able to be there for but we like,,, went into a forest and bought a really ugly belt from a stoner for zero plot reasons and I count it as a side quest in my heart

4. Your current campaign.

Well, you know everything about all my current campaigns that you’re allowed to know rn, but for anyone who might be reading who isn’t in them:

The group campaign is being used as scapegoats in the brutal murder of an ambassador’s daughter and is fleeing a city through secret tunnels -- we last left off at Cathal becoming a giant badger and burrowing upward

In the solo campaign with Senua, she’s attempting to deliver a large, magical object from the goddess of earth deep inside a mountain, and she’s facing down a basilisk with three NPCs

And in the solo campaign with Scribbles, he’s just played a card game that was really more of an interrogation, where he found out a high dragon has taken interest in him, and he is, in unrelated news, taking a package to the local apothecary

5. Favorite NPC.

Of someone else’s, I love Lucy from the Chim campaign!

Of mine, I will never stop loving Mr. Kretever Tatell. Kret is a goddamn idiot but he’s my goddamn idiot

6. Favorite death (monster, player character, NPC, etc).

Carran once killed an evil poison merchant by seducing her in an enemy king’s bedroom and stabbing her when he went in for the kiss gkfsljgfsj. Then he and Sivarna wound up hiding with her corpse under a bed discussing the concept of threesomes in whispers while the king wandered around his room. Not as like, a possibility. Just because the topic came up

7. Your favorite downtime activity.

S,,,hop,,,,,,, money tiem $

8. Your favorite fight/encounter.

I liked the fight where I balanced the combat correctly lkgsflkjskljg, the one with guards in the tunnels

9. Your favorite thing about D&D.

Storytelling!

10. Your favorite enemy and the enemy you hate the most.

Homebrew enemies are coolest imo but hard to balance; the giant gemstone ant I had you fight would’ve been my favorite if it’d been able to get more than like two attacks in gskjgksj

And insect swarms are very annoying to fight

11. How often do you play and how often would you ideally like to play?

How often I play is whenever every single one of the stars align and ideally I would play like every other day fksjglskfjg

12. Your in game inside jokes/memes/catchphrases and where they came from.

God the current ones haven’t gone long enough for those yet really and I’m blanking on most from the group player campaign

I do remember Carran was 1000% convinced basil was poison at one point and his pet rat killed an evil, powerful sorcerer by chewing his ear

14. Introduce any other parties you have played in or DM-ed.

Just the group player campaign with Carran, which didn’t get to the heavy plot stuff before it ended tbh, and then the solo one you ran with Chim in what was rly a Very cool world concept of like hellish Las Vegas that I’d like to steal at some point

And then you ofc know this but for anyone reading who doesn’t, I’m going DM a maybe-oneshot, maybe-a few more than oneshot post-apocalyptic campaign for you and @fictitiousbees​, set in a world that’s been destroyed by fast growing invasive fungi which is like. only The sexiest apocalypse scenario

15. Do you have snacks during game times?

Yes, religiously. Game time snack time

16. Do you play online or in person? Which do you prefer?

I’ve never played in person other than a single test game for new players! I prefer online tho; you can look things up and type if you’re shy

17. What are some house rules that your group has?

I have a rule about only two players being able to try the same sort of check, but that’s it for us so far that I can think of

18. Does your party keep any pets?

Not yet! Cathal has a way with animals though

19. Do you or your party have any dice superstitions?

I Do

20. How did you get into D&D? How long have you been playing?

I got into it bc Critical Role made it look super super fun, and I’ve been playing off and on for two years now

21. Have you ever regretted something your character has done?

I’ve regretted everything any character I’ve controlled has done I think that’s just dnd

Realistically tho, big yes for a lot of what Carran did, most notably snooping on another player character who had cast Alarm on her room

22. What color was your first dragon?

Haven’t had one yet!

23. Do you use premade modules or original campaigns?

100% original babey

24. How much planning/preparation do you do for a game?

3% planning 97% “oh fuck I need to have an idea Now” babey

For DMs

25. What have your players done that you never could have planned for?

Everything, it’s why I never know what I’m doing

I never expected Cathal to become a large badger and dig out of the underground, how do you prepare for someone to, in all seriousness, tell you they’re going to become a badger and scrabble to the surface

26. What was your favorite scene to write and show your characters.

I really tend to enjoy the one-on-one scenes; I think my favorite was having you roll that insane wild magic surge and detailing What Happened At The Theatre

27. Do you allow homebrew content?

Yes if it can go in DND Beyond

28. How often do you use NPCs in a party?

In group campaigns, not often, although we have two with us right now. In solo campaigns, if you want combat you’re getting an NPC party, at least for a bit

29. Do you prefer RP heavy sessions or combat sessions?

Personally I love RP heavy sessions; combat is fun but I crave Story

30. Are your players diplomatic or murder hobos?

I think mostly diplomatic with a dash of murder hobo

For Players

31. What is your favorite class? Favorite race?

I’m so so so boring but I love humans gksfjgsk

Humans, elves, and half-elves are my favorite

And then I Would Die For Every Rogue, it’s hands down my favorite class

32. What role do you like to play the most? (Tank/healer/etc?)

Rogue role

Lemme stealth and steal and stab

33. How do you write your backstory, or do you even write a backstory?

For Carran it was,, A Whole Process

I came up with a basic idea, then journaled as him several times and wrote and rewrote until I had what felt Right, and then I kept toying with it and adding more details throughout the campaign -- I love playing and would really like to again but the obsession with expanding upon his story made me realize I need the freedom of worldbuilding that goes along with DMing; I don’t think I could be a player without DMing a separate campaign bc I just try to take over

34. Do you tend pick weapons/spells for being useful or for flavor?

Both!

35. How much roleplay do you like to do?

So much, I usually use old acting techniques and get fully into character

thank you again antonia!!! these were fun

[preserving-ferretbrain]

Review and Discussion: The Age of the Five Trilogy

by Dan H

Saturday, 05 April 2008

Dan starts another of his multi-part epic review thingys.~

This is the first installment of a two-part review/article about Trudi Canavan's Age of the Fivetrilogy. The first part is going to be about the books, the second part is going to be me rambling about religion in fantasy in general, using AotF as a starting point.

Before I launch into the review proper, I'll point out that (like most Ferretbrain reviews) this article is going to involve in-depth discussion of specific details of the plot and events of the novel series it concerns. Or, to put it more succinctly, this will contain spoilers. Potentially massive spoilers, from the outset (Rosebud is really a man!).

You may recall that I was

embarrassingly enthusiastic

about Canavan's debut Black Magician Trilogy. I'm somewhat less enthusiastic about Age of the Five. I'd say that is isn't as good, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. It's exactly as good, and that's sort of the problem. The writing is of a similar quality, the characters are similarly well realised, and the world is similarly detailed. It's just that there's a lot more of everything and, in fantasy, more is quite frequently less.

To elaborate: in The Black Magician trilogy we have a spunky heroine with great magical powers who gets drawn into an ancient magical conflict in a vaguely interesting Fantasy world. In The Age of the Five trilogy we have a spunky heroine with great magical powers who gets drawn into an ancient magical conflict in a vaguely interesting Fantasy world. Now I know that's a cheap shot, because you can always characterise Fantasy novels as having broadly the same plot (guy goes on a quest to do a thing) but there's enough similarities between the two trilogies that Age of the Five leaves you with the sneaking feeling that you've read a lot of it before, even before you take into account the fact that it's significantly longer than the earlier series. It's little things, like the fact that both series treat "magic" as this energy source that you move around with your mind, and use primarily to create forcefields and bolts of magical power. It's an aesthetic quibble I know, but I could deal with it in the BMT because they were short and character focused. In AotF we've got a much longer series, with a far bigger world, and a lot more characters, but the magic still doesn't feel magical, it's still forcefields and laser beams.

Anyway, on to the actual books.

Priestess of the White

Priestess of the White introduces Auraya, the eponymous priestess, as she is initiated into the White, the five immortal servants of the Circle - the five Gods whose priests rule the northern half of the continent of Ithania.

Perhaps now would be a good time to say a bit about the Gods, because they're going to be quite important. Basically the Five Gods - Chaia, Huan, Lore, Yranna and Saru - are a bunch of Star Trek aliens, they're glowy energy beings (that is to say "beings of pure magic") who get mortals to do their bidding but don't seem to actually do that much which is particularly divine. When we are first introduced to the Gods (through Auraya) we see them as essentially benevolent beings, although if you're anything like me you'll also be asking yourself why these five creatures who are clearly a bunch of Star Trek Aliens managed to actually build a functioning religion around themselves, and what the heck they get out of it in the first place.

Auraya is immediately plunged into the travails of government, as Northern Ithania is threatened by a group of sinister, black-clad priests from out of the South. These "Pentadrians" also worship five Gods whose names (Sheyr, Hrun, Alor, Ranah, Sraal) sound suspiciously similar to those of the "Circlan" deities. The White, however, know nothing about these people, their beliefs, their powers, or their capabilities.

This brings me to my first niggle with the series. I've discussed in earlier articles the strange absence of immigration in Fantasy - everybody just stays where they're born and never travels, so nobody knows anything about anything happening beyond their borders. This is a particular problem here: the Pendatrians run half the world, you'd think that the White would have made some effort to find out about them. It's like being asked to accept a version of medieval Europe in which the Pope is unaware of the existence of Islam.

Anyway, the Pentadrians are attacking, sending mysterious black-clad sorcerers to tear up the North, and the White have to respond by forging alliances throughout Northern Ithania to stand up to them. Auraya goes off to win the allegiance of the winged Siyee, and develops an affection for them which will stay with her throughout the series.

Oh, she also gets given a cute fluffy talking animal, which is way less annoying than it could have been. Odds on it saving her from imprisonment at some point in the future?

Overlapping the main story (the "dammit, we're being invaded by some guys we inexplicably failed to learn anything about in the past hundred years" story) are a number of other threads. Auraya is aided in her duties by her childhood mentor, later lover, Leiard. Leiard, unfortunately, is a Dreamweaver, a member of a sect which is widely despised by the White and their followers, because their leader, Mirar, was an enemy of the Gods. Their not-actually-that-forbidden-really romance provides a source of tension in the first book, and is complicated by the fact that Leiard appears to be carrying a great many of the memories of the late legendary Mirar around in his head, which he allegedly acquired while dream-linking with other members of his order. Or perhaps he really is Mirar, miraculously alive after all this time (again, would anybody like to lay bets?).

The final plot-strand in the book concerns Emerahl, an immortal "Wild" (a sorceress whose power rivals that of the Gods' chosen) as she tries to evade detection by the Gods, who would destroy her.

Priestess of the White sets the tone for the rest of the series, and some of the things I wound up struggling with are apparent from quite early on. It's a lot more ambitious than the BMT, but that means that it's a lot less focused. The main plotline ("The Pentadrians are coming! The Pentadrians are coming!") is at least resolved but there's an awful lot that's left hanging, or that just winds up being setup for things that happen in book two or three (I'm a bit of a heretic amongst Fantasy readers in that I think this is a bad thing, rather than the mark of a consummate storyteller). Emerahl in particular has very little to actually do in Priestess, spending most of her time hanging out in a brothel which is all very character-establishing, but doesn't actually advance the plot all that much. The Emerahl sections also foreshadow a lot of the "there's something dodgy about the Gods" plotlines which become important in Book 3, but it's all rather distracting in the first volume. It's hard to get invested in Defending Northern Ithania From the Evil Pentadrians when you can be pretty sure that the Gods are going to turn out to be evil anyway rendering all the fighting pointless.

Anyway, the book ends with the Pentadrians defeated, Leiard and Auraya separated, and Emerahl finally in a position to actually do something.

Last of the Wilds

I nearly gave up halfway through Last of the Wilds. I'm sort of glad I didn't, because I do still like Trudi Canavan's writing, and finishing the trilogy was a pleasant enough way to spend the end of my Easter holiday, but Last of the Wilds gave me some real trouble. Middle Volume Syndrome is a well documented problem in Fantasy, and to be fair Wilds is by no means a chronic case. It's just that it's a little bit slow, it doesn't really go that far, and it's very much bridging the gap between the introduction of conflicts in Priestess of the White and their final resolution in Voice of the Gods.

Wilds is basically an extended epilogue to Priestess and an extended prologue to Voice. Auraya dithers around with the Siyee, Leiard finally discovers that he really is Mirar, Emerahl sets out to find the remaining Wilds and ... well that's sort of it really.

There are some big plot events in the book, but they're all towards the end. In the last section of the book, Auraya finally finds out that Leiard really is Mirar, the Gods find out as well and order her to kill him, she refuses, and a chain of events kicks off which finally leads to Auraya coming to the conclusion that hey! The Gods are dodgy! Regrettably, this information comes to her after she starts having sex with one of them.

It's all right as it goes, but it still feels a bit lacklustre. The book starts to get interesting around the point Auraya resigns from the white. Unfortunately this point is also pretty much the end of the book, and the rest of the volume doesn't really do that much except mark time between parts one and three.

The one thing which Wilds does introduce into the series is a Pentadrian viewpoint character. Reivan the Thinker is a member of the academic/scientific/philosophical caste of her society, but soon gets initiated into the Pentadrian priesthood after her quick thinking stops the entire Pentadrian army from being lost in a mine (don't ask). This is on the one hand welcome (it's always nice to see the other side of these kinds of conflicts) but on the other hand a little misguided. There's a reason Tolkein never wrote any scenes from the viewpoint of the Orcs: they didn't make sense, they weren't supposed to make sense, they existed purely for the purpose of attacking the good guys at the behest of their Dark Lord. The problem with suddenly introducing a Pentadrian viewpoint is that they spend quite a lot of time saying "wow, invading Northern Ithania was a really bad idea - it's a shame that the guy whose idea it was got killed so that we can't ask him what the hell he was thinking."

The gap between books one and three duly bridged, this leaves us free to wrap everything up in the final volume.

Voice of the Gods

Voice of the Gods has better pacing than Wilds, but it's still a pale shadow of the fast-moving BMT, and it still involves rather more sitting around than I like in a novel.

Emerahl has embarked on the Quest for the Scroll of the Gods (yes, you did read that right: The Quest for the Scroll of the Gods, check it out). This is an ancient artefact which records the most secretest secrets of the Gods, and which the Gods themselves would naturally like to see destroyed. Before she goes, though, she takes time out to teach Auraya how to shield her mind from the Gods, and be immortal. You see, it turns out that Auraya is a Wild as well, and would be capable of achieving immortality even without the Gods' help.

Auraya, meanwhile, is mostly angsting about (severally) the fact that one of the Gods wants her dead, the fact that she's having sex with another one of them, and the fact that her previous lover turned out to be an immortal sorcerer who her Gods ordered her to kill.

I'm going to take a step back here and say I actually quite like Auraya, but damn if when you step back a bit she doesn't look kinda Mary Sueish. She's an insanely powerful sorcerer with hitherto unknown abilities, granted additional powers by the Gods, one of whom is actually in love with her (and genuinely in love with her, not just using her for sex like he has with vast numbers of mortal women down the ages). She walks out on the Gods who granted her the powers she relies on to do her job, but like Dumbo and the magic feather, it turns out that it was really her own power all along. I get that it's supposed to be "about power, self-realisation and freedom" (according to Trudi's website) but surely an important part of self-realisation is actually realising that you have limitations.

Once she's taught Auraya how to be uber, Emerahl gets back to the Quest for the Scroll of the Gods, which she finds in a well-managed little quest subplot (again, Canavan can do pacing really, really well, and the Scroll of the Gods arc is really nicely done, it's introduced, looked for, found and deciphered without ever becoming boring). Meanwhile Auraya is manipulated by the Evil God Who Wants to Kill Her into getting herself captured by the Pentadrians.

As you should recall (since it was only a few paragraphs ago) book two in the series introduced a Pentadrian viewpoint character by the name of Reivan, and this combined with Mirar's journeys in the south in the final volume served to make the Pentadrians significantly more sympathetic. Fortunately, while most of the Pentadrians are nice, sympathetic, sensible people, the new First Voice of the Gods, Nekaun, is an evil sadistic bastard.

Nekaun was elected in Last of the Wilds to lead the Pentadrians, and spent a large part of that book and this sleeping with Reivan (there's quite a lot of sex in the Age of the Five trilogy). It was, to begin with, somewhat ambiguous whether he actually cared about Reivan, or was just using her for sex, and as it became apparent that he was, in fact, an evil sadistic bastard I increasingly held onto the hope that maybe he would still show genuine affection for Reivan, thus salvaging some degree of moral complexity for the character. No such luck.

Auraya's imprisonment (within a Void, which is basically a D&D dead magic zone, an area with no magical energy which exists almost entirely to explain how it's possible to defeat a powerful sorcerer) results in her being stripped naked and tormented by Nekaun, the evil sadistic bastard, who eventually threatens to rape her and is prevented from doing so only by a personal appearance by his God (who, lest we forget, has a suspiciously similar name to one of the Circlan Gods, who also happens to be in love with Auraya). Were I feeling churlish I'd point out that the God in question is also a serial rapist, which rather undermines his heroism at this point.

All wound up and with nowhere to go, Nekaun then goes to see Reivan and date-rapes her, giving her the good old "you know you're into it really" speech. He then apparently bods off and rapes a couple more people for good measure.

And you were doing so well Trudi Canavan.

Seriously, Fantasy Authors, stop this, stop it right now. If you're going to introduced an unambiguous Villain character, you can communicate the idea that they're Really Really Evil without having them go around raping people. It's cheap. It's cheap and easy. Look, it's like this: by putting a rape scene in a book, you are saying "this is a serious, gritty, realistic world, where really nasty things happen and beating the bad guys doesn't automatically make everything okay again." Putting a rape scene into your light-hearted high fantasy book, in which nasty things happen but get easily reversed by magic, is a bad idea. Making a villain a rapist in order to show how evil he is is a really bad idea, because rape implies realism and unambiguously evil villains imply the opposite.

While Auraya is being tormented by the evil sadistic bastard in the Pentadrian Sanctuary, the Gods decide to start another war by the simple expedient of telling the Circlans to invade the south. The Wilds, having learned that everything the Gods have ever said is a lie (which they knew), that the Gods can't be in two places at once (which they knew), that the Voids are places where Gods were killed (which I for one had already guessed) and that you can kill a god by creating a Void on top of them, by sucking all the magic out the air (I kid you not) but you need six of you in order to "surround" them (one on each side, one above and one below, why the Gods can't move diagonally I'm not sure), decide to ambush the Gods at the battle and finish them off once and for all. Unfortunately for this they need Auraya, and she's currently locked up tighter than a playful euphemism.

Good thing she has that cute cuddly animal really, isn't it.

So Auraya escapes, and teams up with the other White to kill the Gods. Except they don't actually kill them so much as imprison them in a tiny ball of magic so that they can make sure all the Big Revelations are out of the way (the Pentadrian Gods are really the Circland Gods, the Gods don't preserve the souls of dead mortals, the Gods have been manipulating the two churches into open bloody warfare for no clear reason). Then the Good God Who is in Love With Auraya kills himself and the others by draining all the magic out of the Gods' prison, much to the consternation of the Evil God Who Wants To Kill Auraya. Then it's all over bar shouting (and Nehuan gets executed for being a filthy rapist).

In Conclusion

I know this review has been a little bit bitchy, but Age of the Five actually isn't that bad a series. As I said at the start it's not actually worse than the Black Magician trilogy, it's just that I think it would have had to be significantly better than the Black Magician trilogy in order to sustain its greater length and complexity, and it wasn't. I genuinely couldn't put down the BMT, whereas I very nearly stalled in the middle of AotF.

I did have some non-trivial concerns about the series. I've got a whole 'nother article about the religion that I'll be putting up at some point. The series also suffers from what I tend to think of as the Fantasy Absolutist Problem: people are either perfectly sane, reasonable liberals (even if they have Done Horrible Things in the Past), or they're utterly evil. It was why I was so annoyed that Nekaun didn't actually care about Reivan, it seemed that Canavan was unwilling to present her villain as anything but a monster. You get a similar thing with the Gods, Chaia is nice to Auraya and is therefore Good, sacrificing himself nobly at the end. Huan is nasty to Auraya and is therefore Evil, willingly sacrificing her own people just to upset Auraya. Auraya herself is never called upon to do anything unsympathetic - she is spared, for example, having to make the decision to actually kill the Gods herself, somebody else does that for her. It's not a major problem, they're very much High Fantasy books, drawn in broad strokes and bright colours, and there's nothing wrong with that.

In short, the Age of the Five books are good, clean fantasy fun in much the same vein as the Black Magician Trilogy. It's longer and less well paced, but still a nice piece of high fantasy with a suitably epic storyline and some engaging characters.

Even the made-up animals are kind of growing on me.

Finally: I'm terribly sorry to have to do this to you Trudi, but:

Fantasy Rape Watch

Number of Women Raped: 3

Of Whom Viewpoint Characters: 1

Number of times Protagonist Threatened With Rape: 1

Redeeming Features Displayed by Rapist: 0

Characters Shown To Suffer Long-Term Psychological Consequences As A Result of Rape or Threatened Rape: 0

Seriously, guys: stop it.Themes:

Fantasy Rape Watch

,

Books

,

Trudi Canavan

,

Sci-fi / Fantasy

~

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at 02:13 on 2008-04-06Re: Serious dearth of immigration in fantasy worlds

I was going to blather on about most writers not knowing much about the nuts and bolts of immigration and how that might have some effect on things, but then I realized that research and even the tiniest shot of realism in the arm usually gets immigration and changing countries on the map. I.e., if a romance author (Joanna Bourne) can write a totally awesome story including majorly switching countries all over the place and people having strong ties in both lands, I see no reason why fantasy authors do not. The truth is, fairly ordinary people move around all the time, and have moved around since forever. The distances they move and that sort of thing may increase or decrease with policy, societal expectations and technological aids, but the fact remains essentially the same.

Apart from that, though, I'm glad I didn't bother with this trilogy now. BMT was all right, but not all right enough that I felt like reading the last book (I didn't think anything New and Awesome would happen, and the heroine was kind of irritating my by that point, so). I cannot stand ham-handed "I CAN HAZ RELIGION"-based plots in books anymore, and knowing the heroine of ATF was a priestess just kept holding me back.

Lastly, re unimaginative magic, I'm still really chuffed at the way David Abraham handled magic in his books. I'll describe his magic system with one sentence: poets are the equivalent of magicians. I think his growing series (alas. He's doing okay so far, though) is the only one I've checked out solely because of the innovative-sounding magic system. I don't mind unimaginative magic systems so much if they are supported by good worldbuilding and a good story, but when the world is wonky and the story is predictable, I'd rather just not bother.

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Arthur B

at 11:42 on 2008-04-06It's yet another case of the Fantasy Religion Problem: the more a fantasy author explicitly includes gods and religions in their stories, the more likely it is that they don't even slightly understand the whole idea of "religion" in the first place.

It's probably down to two issues:

- People who actually believe in a God or gods, and have actually thought about how deal with religious ideas in fiction, are more inclined to write about them through allegory (see Narnia) than through having gods directly appear in their stories because, amongst other things, if you believe that God is real you are going to be mildly reluctant to put words in his mouth.

- People who don't believe in God, and don't have much sympathy for those that do, tend to write about the worst aspects of religion when they choose to address religious topics - hence, corrupt priests and scheming, not-really-divine gods.

Of course, there's exceptions. The

Left Behind

guys clearly believe in God and pretty much rewrote Revelation for money (I'm pretty sure there's a line in Revelation about horrible curses for people who do that sort of thing). I'm pretty sure there's a few agnostic and atheist SF/fantasy authors who don't treat the subject of the divine with contempt, though I can't name any off the top of my head. But ultimately, authors almost always use gods in their books as an opportunity to hold forth on their ideas about religion, and if your view is that religions are fundamentally human institutions and that there's no such thing as God your ability to depict convincingly non-shitty gods in your stories is going to be hampered, unless you're willing to undertake the difficult task of writing from a point of view you don't share and lack sympathy with.

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Dan H

at 09:38 on 2008-04-07

Apart from that, though, I'm glad I didn't bother with this trilogy now. BMT was all right, but not all right enough that I felt like reading the last book (I didn't think anything New and Awesome would happen, and the heroine was kind of irritating my by that point, so).

As you may have gathered, I'm still guiltily fond of Trudi Canavan, and despite her heroines being - well - kinda Mary Suish, I still kinda like them. On the other hand if you didn't get on with the BMT I don't think you'd get on with AotF because it's more similar than it is different.

I cannot stand ham-handed "I CAN HAZ RELIGION"-based plots in books anymore, and knowing the heroine of ATF was a priestess just kept holding me back.

As Arthur points out, Fantasy authors are abysmal at religion, because as he points out they tend to be either religious, and therefore not willing to write about God or Gods directly (Lewis, Tolkein) or they're atheists, and therefore just don't get this whole religion thing in the first place.

Which is basically going to be the subject of the follow-up article.

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Orion

at 20:35 on 2011-04-13You should write that followup. I'm an atheist trying to rewrite Paradise Lost as a YA novel, I'm curious.

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Ash

at 10:12 on 2011-04-14Orion,

he did.

[hermanwatts]

Science Fiction and Fantasy New Releases: 11 July, 2020

In this week in Science Fiction and Fantasy, humans are under the microscope as an invasive species, a special forces unit strives to prevent the spread of an interstellar empire, and a collection of fantasy stories by David C. Smith appears for the first time in 40 years.

Final Days: Colony (Final Days #2) – Jasper T. Scott and Nathan Hystad

Kendra, Andrew, and the other survivors arrive with Lewis Hound’s chosen people at an unfamiliar planet with more questions than answers: how did they get there? Where did all of the advanced technology come from? And is this really Proxima B Centauri?

The colony ship breaks into sections and makes an emergency landing amidst a meteor shower, and Lewis Hound, Eden’s enigmatic leader, goes missing.

Despite their misgivings and the initial chaos, people soon settle into a routine in the fledgling colony. But a growing number of suspicious circumstances lead Andrew and Kendra to doubt what they’re being told, and they begin to think that there might be more dangerous predators about than the ones on four legs.

With new friends and old adversaries, they struggle to find the truth behind a growing web of deceit.

What is beyond the forbidden mountain ranges that surround the valley where they landed? And where is Lewis Hound?

Incursion (The Necromancer’s Key #1) – Mitchell Hogan

Seventeen years have passed since the Necromancer Queen Talia was overthrown and slain, and her capital city destroyed by the Knights of the Order of Eternal Vigilance.

Anskar DeVantte, raised in the sacred disciplines of the Order, is now ready to face the brutal initiation trials to become a consecrated knight-sorcerer.

But the further Anskar rises in the ranks the more his faith wavers, and he is beset by harrowing dreams and uncertainty. As troubling powers awaken within him, a schism grows between Anskar and his hallowed Order, and he draws the hungry gaze of the vanquished queen’s fanatical followers.

As Anskar pieces together the mysteries of his early life, and begins to understand the malevolent forces gathering in his path, he finds himself with a crucial choice to make:

Remain loyal to the Order’s righteous mission, or control the dark powers growing within him.

Either way, his destiny is steeped in war. The only question is, which side will he be on?

Invasive Species – Chad Olson

Seventeen-year-old Josiah has three goals: break out of prison, find his sister, and get back home. But when that prison is a giant orb-terrarium on an alien planet, his sister has been abducted to parts unknown, and his home planet of Earth is light years away, Josiah’s goals can seem as unreachable as the stars.

On top of all that, the band of humans he’s stuck with is controlled by an iron-fisted ex-soldier who recently killed the only friend Josiah had. Josiah knows full well he might be next on the maniac’s hit list.

Things are not much better outside the prison. The alien captors had seemed content to watch the humans like disinterested scientists observing animals in a zoo, but now their behavior is changing. Conflict has erupted between them, and even though they recently introduced a new human to the terrarium, a frightened girl Josiah’s age, the aliens have begun to ignore their prisoners and turn against each other, all of which may be tied to the seismic quakes that are beginning to rock the planet.

 As Josiah and the other humans struggle for freedom, they discover that their forced immigration to this new world carries an even greater cost than they imagined. Can Josiah and the others bear this cost, keep their humanity, and make it to freedom before time runs out?

The Last Archon (Heroes Unleashed: Atlantean Knights #1) – Richard Watts and Thomas Plutarch

For three thousand years, Deckard Riss has been alone. Ever since his home sunk into the sea with Atlantis, he has been the last of his people. The final Atlantean knight, the last Archon.

Then fate forced an apprentice on him, and now the pair of them police the streets of Atlanta, magicians in hiding as superheroes.

Now there are whispers of Atlantis on the wind, another sorcerer at work. This unknown dark wizard sacrifices superpowered teenagers in grisly ritual suicides. And Deckard’s magic, once so easily accessed, starts slipping beyond his grasp.

If he doesn’t have his powers, he can’t stop the rending of reality to allow monsters into our world. If he doesn’t have his powers, he is nothing.

Deckard only has to hold on for another year. Just one more year, to train his apprentice to take his place, and stop the end of the world. And he’s not sure he can do it.

Will his apprentice step up to save the world, or will he drive the boy away with his secrets?

Redemption (The Last Enclave #2) – Morgan Cole

Hordes of alien monsters are breeding on Pluto. The shield protecting Sol is failing. Can Jake save Earth from infestation and annihilation?

After his triumph on Pax, Jake returns home to Earth. In far northern Canada his grandfather hid an outpost that may have the solution.

The town sheriff thinks he’s an imposter, unnamed government agencies would love to vivisect him, and powerful forces lurk in the shadows.

Even with his grandfather’s powerful legacy, will Jake have what it takes to stop the threat to Earth?

Rise of a Wizard Queen (Fate of Wizardoms #5) – Jeffery L. Kohanek

A woman claims a crystal throne, granting her the power of a god – an act long forbidden. With her rise, the world trembles.

As thrones of power fall vacant, one insatiable wizard seeks to increase his might. He never suspected a wizardess might foil his plans.

A queen rises from the south and forms an unprecedented alliance – an army from multiple wizardoms, backed by the magic of a wizard lord. This dominant force sweeps across the land, consuming all in its wake.

A squad of misfits, thrust into the roles of reluctant heroes, seek to alter fate and save their world from the Dark Lord. Even they are blind to the elaborate schemes of gods.

Rise of the Gladias (Ruins of the Galaxy #9) – J. N. Chaney and Christopher Hopper

While light may burn for a moment, the darkness will be there when it dies.

In the aftermath of Moldark’s death and Soldark’s creation, Magnus, Awen, and the rest of the Gladio Umbra must follow the sinister warlord back through the quantum tunnel into metaspace. Questions swirl around the enemy’s ultimate intentions, as do the fates of those bound to serve the malevolent leader.

What awaits the gladias, however, may prove to be more than they can handle.

An otherworldly amalgamation of the Paragon’s goals and the Luma’s powers, Soldark gathers his forces for a final showdown against those who would thwart his plans. He summons both the living and the dead, assured that nothing will be able to stop him from having his day of vengeance.

Will the gladias be able to put a stop to Soldark’s relentless rise to power? Or will the galaxy finally fall victim to the greatest destruction ever unleashed on sentient species?

Tales of Attluma – David C. Smith

A resurrected sorcerer grants the wishes of the desperate men who have returned him to life—but in ways none of them anticipates.

A prince makes a bargain with a barbarian criminal to travel into a lost world of violence and sorcery to save the life of a woman who may already be dead.

Marauders who attack a city devoted to a great goddess suffer her strange curse when she answers the pleas of her dying priestess.

The last survivors of an ancient continent confront evil at every step as they march beneath skies of endless darkness to reach the haven they hope will lead them to safety.

These tales and a dozen more by fantasy and adventure author David C. Smith appear in this unique collection. Out of print for more than 40 years, these stories were first published in the days of limited-circulation fanzines—the only avenue for new work created by the generation of writers who grew up in the shadow of the pulp magazines. The paperback reprints of those pulp stories in the late 1960s and early 1970s encouraged an entire generation of young writers to enlarge on that tradition of popular American storytelling. Now they are in print once more for a new generation of fantasy fiction enthusiasts.

Science Fiction and Fantasy New Releases: 11 July, 2020 published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[izar-tarazed]

In hindsight, Izar found that walking in on Messmer wearing the armor of his slain girlfriend had probably been a bit tactless.

[izar-tarazed]

They're going through fire and water more fire together

(possibly my favorite screenshot of Izar and Ensha against Messmer)

[izar-tarazed]

Ensha doesn't know it yet, but...

... he is about to do something very stupid.

[izar-tarazed]

One day, probably because she insisted, Izar and Ensha returned to the Albinauric village.

He remembered it all.

She was silent, for the most part, as they walked between cold ashes and bones, clinging to memories of her own. The bodies, of course, were still there.

"Did you really not mind?" she muttered at some point, when her lungs were aching with the mere memory of burned wood and flesh, the sweetness of decay lingering in the air. "Having them all killed... Did it really not bother you?"

Averting his gaze, Ensha had no answer. None that would suffice, anyway.

[izar-tarazed]

In the beginning, long before Izar learned to understand his sign language, this is how they communicated: Ensha signing his messages into her palm.

A painfully slow form of communicating, but at least he didn’t have to waste her treasured ink, and there was another aspect to it: With those brief, invisible messages, fleeting words traced against her palm, Ensha didn’t have to worry about anyone—not even his master—ever finding out what he was sharing with the stargazer.

Then again, it required enough trust on Izar’s end to let him touch her hand. You might not want someone within arm’s reach who previously attacked you in a supposedly safe space.

She was rather tense when she first held out her hand. But she still did.

[izar-tarazed]

They got separated in the Abyssal Woods.

He's not happy.

[izar-tarazed]

So few people know this, but whenever Ensha has to report to Gideon ...

... he will discreetly stand on some books to appear just a little bit taller.

[izar-tarazed]

Oh hey there, waiting for someone?

[izar-tarazed]

Something about the Shadow Realm has made Izar way too fond of playing with fire. I'm a little bit worried.

[izar-tarazed]

I sent them to Siofra for research and instead caught them holding hands while stargazing?? what are you two doing