Chapter 164: Intermission, Character Q&A

As a reminder, chapters will resume next week.

The Gods

The gods in the Blueniverse are more like eldritch entities than classic mythological gods. They can be thought of as beings with infinite mana density and infinite intent. They cannot possibly interact with the world directly, as the slightest whim would overwrite it entirely. The precise number of them is unimportant, but they are plural.

The Rest of The World

As noted, there are seven continents. Orn and Einteril primarily have human-kin on them, and occupy relatively the same latitudes. They range from temperate to tropical climates, in general.

Hoarast is far south of both of them, and is mostly frozen – which doesn’t mean lifeless. A high amount of glacial, storm, and water affinity means it’s full of cold-adapted life.

Nicehapoca, home to the Chiuxatli, is to the east of Orn, on the other side of the mage-king archipelago (which may be considered its own pseudo-continent).

Q&A

Ansae, you've mentioned how you were always interested in having kids, and since Blue is going to give you some relatively soon have you thought of any names for them? On a related note, how big is the average clutch of dragon eggs? And how many kids do you plan on having exactly?

Ansae: “Bit early for names yet, yes? Dragons clutch from one to three eggs at a time, with almost all being two. I’d want at least two, possibly more.”

Ansae, what item/artifact do you most regret giving away?

Ansae: I had an amulet that would keep you perpetually clean. I really shouldn’t have traded that one.”

Blue, what technology are you most annoyed at for being made obsolete, by magic?

Blue “Annoyed at? I mean, most of the technologies magic can replace, like medicine, are really fiddly. Though I can see genetic engineering not playing well with magic and that would be irritating.”

Shayma, what would qualify a member of the Anell (the family that controls the void users) for forgiveness? How deep does this grudge go, or do you see the embargo as the bigger problem?

Shayma: “The Anells have effectively enslaved the Ell family for decades or longer, but I imagine it’s mostly the family heads that I’d hold responsible. They need to actually give up their control.”

Iniri, what is your favorite food. Favorite part of being queen? Least favorite part?

Iniri: “I’m actually very partial to fresh berries with cream. I rather like being able to guide Tarnil to a better place than it was, but the tedium that goes along with that I could do without.”

Blue: Would you absorb other nations as protectorates temporarily, say a year and a day? Having seen what you can do to a mana ruined nation many would offer you and yours much for even a token effort.

Blue: “Not without really good reason. Logistics aside, I don’t want to be babysitting nations for the rest of my life – especially if they become dependent on me and are worse off after I withdraw.”

On that same note, what would it take for you to be bribed into mending the mage lands? They could trade you more cores for the privilege...

Blue: “Depending on what exactly is there I may have to regardless. If I can eat up all their spare cores while I’m at it, that’s just a bonus.”

Cheya: How long are you going to give Iniri before you knock her upside the head and tell her to just get an heir and spare from Blue? A few years would normally be fine but as the world breaks down stability fallows and not having an heir makes attempts on Iniri more likely and more crippling if she even gets mildly wounded.

Cheya: “Events are proceeding as planned…”

Iniri: Are you waiting on Blue to crush The Anell embargo before trying to get a noble/royal stud from overseas or are you willing to accept the weakened position of being at odds with a major trading power you can't touch in such negotiations?

Iniri: “We’re not at the point yet where intercontinental relations are important. That said, Blue’s made Anell a priority so I’m sure he’ll handle it sooner rather than later.

The other dragons in general: How are you liking your new life under Ansae and Blue?

Syrinu: “I actually don’t mind at all. The Great Lady is rather overwhelming, but it’s an opportunity I’d never get anywhere else and she’s hardly worse than the Clan heads who sent us here to begin with.”

What is the diameter of the planet? What is the planet's name? Does local gravity accelerate at 9.8 m/s^2?

Blue: “According to maps and globes, it’s about four times the diameter of earth. Its name is effectively “The World,” and gravity seems about normal.”

Anyone: There are three islands off the coast of Tarnel. Are any of these habitable, or of any use? Is there anything in the works for these land masses or the wastes that could easily be reclaimed?

Iniri: “There were pirates operating out of the closest one back in my grandfather’s day, so there are some people, but the largest one is actually in Leviathan territory and not Tarnil territory.”

Does Blue ever plan on picking up the trait that allows him to manifest an avatar. (Even if it was incorporeal it would be interesting to see him interact with more people).

Blue: “That just lets me make my mana solid, rather like Iniri’s light-ingots.”

Are there any differences in physics between our world and this one? How much mass does Ansae's moon have? How close is it?

Blue: “I mean, it has magic? Ansae’s moon seems to be fairly close and small considering its angular velocity and relative size. Small is a relative term, though, it’s got to have a mass most easily expressed in scientific notation.”

Any plans to reclaim the wastes?

Blue: “Not until I have nothing better to do. They’re not doing any harm just sitting there and there’s no telling how much of a project that’d be.”

Ansae, is there any Artifact that comes close in power to your moon?

“Power is a very vague concept. But in terms of sheer ability to amplify will, probably not.”

How do people go about getting classes, do they go through a certain training regime to get certain skills that qualify them for certain classes or what. Are people born with their affinities or do they develop them after they are born. Can you change your affinity before you get a class. Can you naturally have more than one affinity. Can 2 people with the same class have their classes diverge into different ones when going for the next tier or is it like a set evolution you follow.

Cheya: “People with Lineage skills or that have specific knowledge that allows them to get an Inheritor Class will try to get particular affinities by exposure to that affinity and behaviors that support it. But Affinity is ultimately determined by the person’s personality and understanding. Choosing an Affinity that doesn’t match you particularly well is nearly impossible, and when it does happen it effectively makes it impossible to tier up. People with more common classes tend to follow the same path from first to third tier, at which point they start to diverge – but almost everyone has some subtle differences in their Skills.”

For Tor Kot, or any mage king interested in answering, I am deeply curious about the politics of this council of yours, and why exactly you use depletion to solve depletion. It seems counterproductive.

Tor Kot: “I do wish we had a better solution, and siphoning off the power of most of the population to promote a few is a poor situation, but we don’t have any other options. The power that red cores provide is absolutely necessary for containing the rift. It means that we have slowly growing, transferrable fifth tier or better power.”

Is the Tarnil Wastelands part of the Bargain with Blue?/Does Tarnil expanding into new land affect the Bargain?

Blue: “The northern wastes are no longer part of Tarnil. Tarnil wouldn’t expand unless it was in my interests, and that would be clearly different from me claiming extra land.”

Question for Ansae. How does Blue "treatment" compare to your previous experiences? This might be plot relevant but I'll ask anyway: Also should you and Blue conceive a child, what is the expected outcome of the child of 2 Powers?

Ansae: “He’s pretty good! Of course, he’s also cheating with that sensory link so he’d better be good. A Power doesn’t pass on anything intrinsic for being a Power, but obviously they’ll be in a very good position to raise their child.”

Pale Mantis #73215 in service to Tor Kot: So do you have a personal identity and free will or what? Why do you serve the Mage Kings and fight to the death in often suicidal battles?

Pale Mantis Warrior: “WE SERVE THE MASTER!”
Tor Kot: “The amount of intelligence depends on the monster. There are upsides and downsides to having intelligent monsters, which is why you generally have a few but not many. My elites are all quite intelligent, but the lesser castes are mostly only cunning. They all have a built-in preference for serving the dungeon – which is to say, me.

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Tor Kot: What is the name of your homeland and home culture? Miriam and Charlotte's names don't seem to come from its language; how did you come up with their names?

Tor Kot: “They’re cute names!”

Yit Nev: Do you/can you take advantage of your presumed Depletion immunity/resistance to breed with your own dungeons? Is there any special advantage to doing so?

Yit Nev: “The only special advantage is that sometimes you just don’t feel like dealing with someone else.”

Ansae: Blue has recently revealed that he comes from a distant place without magic, where people may live multiple lives and where there are not only many similar things with his mysterious and dangerous knowledge of topics like nuclear fusion, but these things are servants to other, presumably even greater, beings. As an immortal who is used to being basically the strongest thing in the world, what are your thoughts on the implications of this?

Ansae: “It’s going to be great! Imagine what I could do with all that knowledge!”

Blue: Do you feel any loyalty towards or connection with the people who made you or the purpose you were programmed for? If you could open up a path back home, would you want to?

Blue: “Programmed is a bit strong, I just have predilections. Any sort of contact would have to be done carefully because it could go so wrong in so many ways.”

Ansae: In your plans for the future, did you ever put your actual happiness in consideration?

Ansae: “Quite often! But after living a long time you have a broader idea of what happiness is and that chasing it directly often gets you into trouble, as opposed to finding it along the way toward greater goals.”

Question for Blue: Are you going to upgrade the laser armaments? They were made and used, but haven't been touched upon since. Maybe something to do with Stellar affinity?

Blue: “The problem with the lasers is that they’re not magical, which limits their effectiveness. However, now that lasers are in the akasha I’m thinking there might be a way to reinvent it.”

Blue, have you thought about purposefully creating new life forms beyond just crysthiums? And in conjunction with that, what about figuring out the DNA of the biological parts of your own body? You might be able to clone or alter it to do more, or create an organic brain that can add mental functions you are currently lacking compared to a sapient being such as a human.

Blue: “So far as I can tell most of the genetic editing that dungeons do is monster-related. Which I can’t do.”

Ansae, what do you think about the fact that there is another version of the akasha out there, with no apparent ties to magic?

Ansae: “It makes me want it.”

Ansae, in the event you somehow died, since all runes are based on your intent, does that mean runes would stop working? Or would the akasha replace them with something else wince they seem fairly important.

Ansae: “Making new runes might become extremely difficult, but the runes themselves would still work, I’m pretty sure. Obviously I’m not going to test it.”

Any of the mage king council, how have you come to the conclusion that ignoring depletion immunity is a good idea? Isn't that the answer to practically all of your problems and reasons for existing? And for those who have noticed this, why haven't you removed the corrupted people who are getting the entire council to ignore this?

Tor Kot: “They just don’t believe it exists, and that my reports are self-serving and/or just plain wrong. And yes, it is the answer to our purpose for existing – so obviously people who like things the way they are now aren’t interested in finding something that would end their power.”

Blue: I'm uncertain it's been discussed but how are your feelings concerning you being a dad now? Like has it actually hit 'holy shit I'mma gonna have kids! I'm gonna be a dad!' Or with everything going on did that not actually hit you yet? And what do you plan on teaching your kids? It'd be kind of hard to teach em catch in your uhhh... Condition... But what are your plans on such things and how do you plan to bond with them in a meaningful fatherly way?

Blue: “Yes, I’m rather limited in how father-ish I can be. I discussed this with Taelah; the solution is having strong father figures around. To some extent I’m going to be more of a genetic donor than a dad.”

Taelah, have any of Tayanten wine experiments born fruit? Alcohol may be off the table for a while, but do you still have plans for a winery or orcherd?

Taelah: “Yes, I actually have started an orchard now that I can directly deal with Blue’s plants. There’s a reason tayanten juice is so common in the Village.”

It does not seem like it would be irrelevant to the plot, but have surprisingly never been brought up a lot before now: How is an ordinary dungeon behaviour like? The only ones we've seen are Blue and the reds charging at him with their flying island. We don't actually now much about dungeons exept they've got monsters, a core and possibly depletion.

Giorn: “Any Great Dungeon you go to will have large interior landscapes, hundreds of square miles, with the mana density generally increasing as you go down. Monsters are common and generally tribal, and seem to emigrate up from the depths of the dungeons. There are areas that are obviously artificial, towns and rooms and such, and the monsters hang around those most often, but the rest is more like a mana spring. Which is why mana springs used to be called dungeons too.”

Hi Shayma, do you still have sex with Blue every night and day? Would you like to do another threesome like last time? Perhaps even an more direct one with physical contact? What about foursomes? And what do you think about a sexual relationsship with Annit and Keri?

“I’m not as bad as my mom but Blue and I have lots of fun together. I wouldn’t be averse to more stuff like before, but it would only be with another Companion. I know Taelah wouldn’t want that and I’m pretty sure that’s as far as Iniri is willing to go. Annit and Keri are perfectly fine on their own.”

Hey King Wright, how many grandchildren do you think might be elligable for Inri's proposal? I'm sure a quite a few are in line for the throne, but maybe more that aren't? Also how will you start to narrow down the candidates?

Wright: “That’s Emperor Wright. There are at least six non-inheriting but still of my direct descent.”

With children in the village are there any silly attempts to make a bargain with Blue? For example making a bargain so that Blue would do their chores.

Taelah: “Not so much. Blue isn’t really a person to them, and of course he doesn’t pay attention to them much anyway.”

To some random peasant living in Tarnil: "What do you think of Blue? Do you know of Inri's Bargain? Do you feel Blue's habitation bonus? How is life compared to before the mage king attacked?"

Dyen: “The announcements have been a little bizarre, but most people are preoccupied with trying to get their lives back on track. That said, it's nice being energetic all the time!

Have you considered using mass-drivers a way of striking back at anell?

Blue: “Almost anything going that distance needs active guidance, and computers. Not really going to happen.”

Ansae, what is the individual or organization that was the hardest to terminate/pacify

Ansae: “The Silver Temple! Leviathans are really stubborn and they hadn’t actually done anything, so eventually I decided to tolerate them.”

Question for Ansae, what does Blue's caldera mean for dragon-kind? That is to say, in regards to the previously unobtainable affinities of offspring such as metal.

Ansae: “Obviously it’s a lot of opportunity. There are multiple reasons why I’m putting my lair right there for a while.”

So blue what kind of knowledge do you have of earth or science in general because as of now it seems that you have expert level knowledge of just atomic science and few others

Blue: “Basically I have an interested-layman’s understanding of a lot of things. Really specialized knowledge was left behind.”

Blue: Do you think space colonization is in the cards for you eventually? (and a lot more along these lines).

Blue: “Probably, at some point, but there seems little reason to do anything with it right now.”

Blue: So, the blightbeast situation looks like it could end up being pretty bad for the world. Bad enough that other nations' leaders might start coming to you for bargains of protection, once they learn of your depletion immunity. This could potentially drastically increase your dungeon size, but would also put more obligations on your shoulders. How would you feel about this?

Blue: “Yeah, I do not want to deal with that crap. Obviously I need to get things sorted before things get significantly worse.”

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