18 thoughts on “Chapter Eight has been posted

  1. I just bought and re-read The Unwilling Warlord — I first read it in a library copy about 12 or 15 years ago. It was a good thing I got around to doing so before reading chapter 8, because my vague recollection of its plot did not include the humming sound and the second source …

    I really liked the way you deal with language barriers and the processes of language learning in that novel, a factor too many sf and fantasy writers gloss over or ignore entirely.

  2. Thanks.

    By the way, I apologize for the delay in your comment appearing; I’ve been having some minor hassles with attempts at spam, so I have the moderation rules set pretty restrictively. I’m not actually sure which rule your comment ran into; I may need to loosen them up a little.

    But having caught forty-six spam comments in the moderation queue this week, I’m not about to loosen them too much.

  3. Maybe.

    The Lumeth Source hums, but the Aldagmor Source mutters. They could be related, or they could be completely different things that produce similar effects.

    And there’s no guarantee the wizard’s divination will work. Lawrence has established before that the different schools of magic interfere with each other. Aren’t warlocks invisible to the Gods?

    Back on the Night of Madness I’m sure some wizards tried divinations on the Aldagmar Source, with little success.

  4. Warlocks are indeed invisible to the gods.

    Incidentally, Chapter Nine is now paid for, and will be posted on Wednesday, November 8th.

  5. … and then you die a few years later from ‘Source addiction’.

    Btw, what happens if a God is looking at a person undergoing ‘warlockification’? Does the person seem to disappear?

  6. and then you die a few years later from ‘Source addiction’

    Only if you use the power.

    I’ll bet it is possible to start at such a low level of power, and to not use it (maybe with help from a witch in building mental compulsions or walls), that you don’t ever feel the call.

    Of course if a hostile god is looking for you, consider your alternatives.

    Wonder if it makes you invisible to demons as well and if warlockery can effect both demons and gods.

  7. It’s fairly difficult to get a god hostile enough that taking up warlockry would be worth it just for that.

    Of course, people do become warlocks of their own free will, thinking they’ll be able to resist temptation and keep their power level low enough. Some of them do last for decades.

  8. I tstrikes me that if being a warlock makes you invisible to a demon as well as a god, as implied in “Night of Madness”, then a demonologist might choose to become a warlock as a way to retire. Could he avoid losing his soul in this situation. I could imagine alot of PO-ed demons if that was the case.

  9. Hey, that’s an interesting notion!

    I’m not sayin’ whether it would work, though. This needs further thought.

  10. Wasn’t the main character from The Unwilling Warlord turned into a warlock by Vond? Didn’t he choose not to use the power? I think he’s still alive in this book.

    BTW, he could learn to use the second source, and then move to Ethshar and be a super warlock there.

  11. But in Ethshar, he’d be closer to Aldagmor and farther from the second source.

    Anyway, yes, Sterren is a warlock — he was actually one before he met Vond, but so weak nobody, including himself, was sure of it, and his only magic ability was absurdly good luck with dice. Vond then attuned him to the second source, but he’s been trying not to use either of them.

    He’s definitely still alive; he’s Regent of the Empire.

  12. I was thinking that if you were tuned into one source, it would take a while to get completely noticed by the second source (Aldagmor being the second source). But I guess that you’ve stated that Aldagmor is more active than Lumeth, so it doesn’t work that way. You would probably hear the calling right away if you were good at tuning into Lumeth, and got near Aldagmor.

  13. Oh, absolutely, you’d hear the Calling. You can’t tune into Lumeth without hearing Aldagmor; they aren’t that different, and Aldagmor’s the easier one to hear.

  14. As you said, people become Warlocks of
    their own free will, despite knowing something of the shortcomings. Lets say a family of the Vondish Empire, knowing of Vond (but not of the seriousness
    of his probable ultimate fate) decided to send their
    young son to Ethshar, in order to become an warlock.
    Lets say he applies for apprenticeship at the same
    warlock that Lar interviewed, a few days after the interview, and the warlock accepts him… Later, she is asked who is her apprentice, and she says he is Lar’s grandson! Of course, she jumped to conclusions, but that results in the envoys of the
    small kingdoms deciding on a new assassination
    target…

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