news and a question

[tagmeth]

This  past week I turned in the ms for Deathless Gods + the maps, close to the first anniversary of the murder/suicide of  my old friends, George and Judy.  The novel is dedicated to them, "Deathless in Memory."   Baen thinks that it will be due out around next fall, which is about what I expected.  Now I'm thinking about the next and probably last

Comments

[anonymous]

Even if the need to be bound to a Highborn goes away, will the Kendar still feel bound to fight PD? If PD is defeated but not destroyed, will they still have the innate desire/compulsion to fight PD to the end? For all eternity? If the Kencyr still have a common enemy, one less moribund than previously believed, they might not be so quick to abandon even terrible overlords. People usually choose the familiar, even when the familiar is terrible, particularly in times of stress and uncertainty. It's part of the hold that abusers hold over the abused--"where will you go? how will you live? etc." In American history, American voters are traditionally reluctant to change presidents/parties during war.

I'm not so sure that all Kendar would be so quick to break with the traditional social structure either. Even if the Kendar no longer feel the need to be bound, the Highborn still have their Shanir powers, in varying degrees of strength and scope of talents. Maybe crossing Kirien wouldn't cause you to worry overmuch about retaliation, but how quick would you be to tell Brenwyr to go to hell? Or Rawneth? Or even Damson?

Not all Kendar are pure Kendar either. How many Kendar are secretly (or not so secretly) proud of their Highborn heritage, or Shanir talents or who feel that their Highborn blood entitles them to better than pure Kendar with no Shanir talents? (Looking at you, Vant.) Some Kendar with Highborn blood might have greater talents than some highborn as well. Shade and Bane, for example, certainly seem to have more Shanir traits than Kallystine, unless you consider spoiled brattiness a formidable trait.

Not all Shanir traits have to be offensive or destructive to keep hold of followers. Timmon and Randiroc seem to have the Shanir charming powers. Shade had enough Shanir/Highborn blood to keep her from feeling the need to be bound to a lord and to be immune/resistant to Timmon's charm--what if she could share or extend that power or immunity to others? Corrudin notably ignored Shade--is it possible that he knew if he tried to exert influence/will over her, she would have laughed at him and shrugged it off?

I don't see the matriarchs being all that quick to concede control over the younger Highborn and all the Kendar either. Realistically, can you see Adiraina or Karidia giving up their social standing? Sure, Adiraina has Shanir gifts but Karidia, Lyra, Pentilla, the sewing mistress, etc. would certainly have nowhere to go. They have no artistic or craft skills and little use except as breeding stock. You can bet that they will fight tooth and nail to hold onto the old order. (I suspect Brenwyr would show up at Tentir, with or without permission, the very next day.)

-Audrey