Here’s a few random musings to start:
1. What will happen to the wild monsters that eat crystals to survive? Will they invade human settlements to consume their crystals as supplies diminish? Could the ones resistant to alchemy be used as weapons against Loreguard troops?
2. Who are these prisoners? Might there be some useful information to be gained from any political prisoners?chapter 1
“Avannar had the Black Keep, a prison on an island in the middle of the city where the city housed prisoners from several outlying towns and villages in addition to their own, providing the towns a means to punish lawbreakers without straining their own resources.”
3. The Loreguard are sure to step up their efforts to find the Shaman in part by locking down Avannar. With patrols on the walls and river and guards at the gates and bridges, sneaking in and out of Old Avannar is going to get more and more difficult for everyone except Kyven.chapter 4
“He waited outside the walls of Old Avannar, wishing he’d have crossed the river and come from the north, for there were no walls around New Avannar. --snip-- Though guards no longer stood at the gates and challenged every visitor like they used to, the walls throttled travel into the old city down to two gates and sometimes backed things up.”
4. Why weren’t the Loremaster reports Kyven read written in this (presumably) private language for protection?chapter 5
“He stood up and waited for her to look down at her paper and write on it, in some language he’d never seen before, and then he pulled his trinket out of his pocket.”
5. The name Kyven could appear in reports about
- (a) freed Arcan slaves from the Flauren ship (Department for Arcan Affairs),
(b) the escaped Atan-raised rare mutated Fox Arcan from Alamar (Department for Arcan Affairs),
(c) potential unique alchemy devices from Riyan owned by a crystalcutter from Atan (Department of Alchemy),
(d) investigated specialist Atan-trained crystalcutter in Avannar (Loreguard).
6. Will we see Whisper the gray cat Shaman again? She was the freed shaman led to Haven (ch6).
7. Will Kyven find out about the Prostitute’s child whilst he is in Avannar?
8. Will Mistress Ledwell get her comeuppance?
9. Could the Loremasters scout out Haven with one of these?chapter 10
“Only something like an ultra-rare and highly expensive crystal-driven flying device could go so far, so fast.”
10. Kyven’s shadow powers include:
- (a) Merge with shadows.
(b) Manipulate shadows.
(c) Create shadow.
(d) Become shadow and move within them.
- (a) Attack with shadow? Solid shadow perhaps?
(b) Control shades/shadow forms? Temporary shadow creatures that can perform simple tasks/distractions?
(c) Hide in any shape or intensity of shadow?
12. The Shadow Fox Spirit still has to teach Kyven two more spells.chapter 15
“This is one of only three spells you will ever need learn.”
13. Could Kyven break into the Loremasters tower during the day? The chaos that would ensue trying to control movement whilst performing day-to-day business would damage the Loremasters reputation deeply.
14. Could Kyven break into the Loremasters (or the Banks) crystal supplies and drain them, especially the black crystals.
The banks hold a large amount of peoples crystals, and are controlled by the Loremasters. They were started about 4-5 years ago (ch2), was that to control private crystals?
chapter 19
“I have no doubt,” the man [Councillor Jamus Abberdon] said grimly. “I’ve been arguing the point with the Circle for years, Evira. The Arcans have structure beyond the Shaman. The Shaman are not stupid, and they have had years to bring some kind of order to the wild Arcans out in the frontier lands. I have no doubt they were capable of taming them to use them.”
15. This seems to indicate, to me, that the Loremasters are expecting some resistance from the Shaman as they could rely on black crystal weapons if they were facing human soldiers.chapter 21
“Eusicans are much more advanced than we in gunsmithing, because they have much fewer crystals and rely on guns for their primary weapon, where Noraam uses both guns and alchemical weapons. Anyway, the Eusican nation of Briton has taken the Loremasters’ deal, and are shipping rifles to Stinger Bay.”
16. When using the medallion Danna has Kyven’s arcan fur but he retains his powers. Presumably she doesn’t have any shadow fox powers during its use.
Does the Shadow Fox Spirit intend to convert Toby and Danna both, allowing two more shadow foxes to be converted to Arcans. Umbra probably would not object to mating with a Shadow Fox Arcan Toby for her next litter.
17. Surely the Shaman will recover the mining arcans before the Loremasters arrive in Atan. Will they also save the human Masked? Will Virren, Timble etc. escape to Haven before the Loremasters take over?
18. Will the Loremasters kill or take command of all the arcans in Avannar to help with their “Project” and prevent the Shaman invader from hiding from them?
19. Is there any further significance to the color/type of crystals than those mentioned already? Do the Great Ancient Civilization devices follow these rules?
chapter 3
“Some spirits represent a type of energy. Some do not. Some shaman, like you, have a totem, a spirit that has claimed you as its own. Some Shaman do not. I have no totem. That gives me certain advantages, such as the ability to use any Shaman magic I please. But when a Shaman has a totem, the Shaman is restricted by the totem’s own preferences. Your totem is the shadow fox, and her energy is blue. She is a deceiver, a trickster, a being of stealth and guile. You will excel at spells of deception, confusion, and illusion, for that is what your totem excels at. The shadow fox is also a spirit attuned to healing, which will allow you to heal. And as any spirit of healing, she rejects the black, the energy of death, and she will deny you any access to that magic. If you call on that power, she will block you. When you have a totem spirit, you gain power in one area, but lose power in another. Or, in your case, completely lose access to some parts of Shaman magic. A Shaman like me, who has no totem, can use any spell, but the spells in which your totem specializes will be stronger than my own.”
20. Kyven is told that he doesn’t have the power to heal yet his totem is attuned to healing. The Shadow Fox Spirit has changed Kyven and Umbra into Shadow Fox Arcan. Could Kyven use healing magic to transform living things in some sustained low power way? Such as causing roots and foliage to bind, block or trip people?chapter 19
Upstairs, he put her down in his bed and dabbed away the blood, waiting for her to snap out of it. Kyven couldn’t heal, had been told he didn’t even have the power to try, so all he could do was wait for her to come back to her senses. Whoever hit her must have hit her really hard. Clover was a very tough young lady, and to be struck so hard that her eyes were unfocused and her mind was addled must have taken some serious power. It might have killed Patches.
