Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 308

Reader Congratulations Day!

Congratulations to reader Joseph N and his wife on the arrival of their son Lucan!

-JM

memento mori

I don’t follow professional sports too closely, but I wound up watching this documentary on Netflix about millionaire athletes who go bankrupt, and it was pretty interesting.

The ancient Romans used to have this ritual called a triumph, where a victorious general would essentially get a parade through Rome, riding in a chariot followed by prisoners from his wars and tokens of his victory. But in the chariot also rode a slave who whispered into the general’s ear “remember that you are mortal and you shall die.”

Perhaps the NFL should do something similar.

-JM

The rough draft of GHOST IN THE MASK is done

106,000 words long. That will get cut down a bit in editing, but I think GHOST IN THE MASK will turn out to be the longest (so far) in THE GHOSTS series.

-JM

Reader Question Day #72 – Maglarion vs. Lucan Mandragon

(Note that this has lots of spoilers for both CHILD OF THE GHOSTS and the entire DEMONSOULED series.)

MAM asks, keeping with the theme of some of our recent posts:

Who would win in a fight, Maglarion or Lucan Mandragon?

That is a good question, and it essentially comes down to where in the series you are, because both Maglarion and Lucan Mandragon evolve quite a bit. Over the course of CHILD OF THE GHOSTS, Maglarion acquires a great bloodcrystal, which grants him superhuman healing abilities and fuels his sorcery. Lucan, at the start of DEMONSOULED, is the most powerful wizard in the Grim Marches, but he is otherwise a normal human male. By SOUL OF SWORDS, he can draw on a well of stolen Demonsouled power, has the memories and powers of his ancestor Randur Maendrag (a powerful necromancer), has become an undead revenant, and also carries the Glamdaigyr and the Banurdem, two artifacts of immense magical power.

So, if Maglarion from the end of CHILD OF THE GHOSTS faced Lucan from the beginning of DEMONSOULED, Maglarion would clean Lucan’s clock. But if Lucan from SOUL OF SWORDS faced Maglarion, he would utterly crush Maglarion.

That said, Lucan has an edge that Maglarion simply does not – Lucan believes in things. Maglarion just wants to live forever. Lucan starts out wanting to defend the Grim Marches from dark magic, and by the end of the series, he’s on a crusade to rid the world of the Demonsouled forever. That makes Lucan much, much more dangerous than Maglarion, because Maglarion is simply looking out for himself, albeit in a particularly evil manner. Lucan is willing to go much farther and take greater risks in pursuit of his goals. Maglarion almost destroyed Malarae, but he never attempted anything on the scale of the Great Rising at the end of SOUL OF SORCERY.

So while Maglarion from the end of the CHILD OF GHOSTS might defeat Lucan from the beginning of DEMONSOULED, Lucan’s convictions, and willingness to risk himself, would give Lucan an edge that might let him prevail over Maglarion. But SOUL OF SWORDS Lucan would crush Maglarion, hands-down.

-JM

subversive

John C. Wright has a good post on what subversiveness really means in speculative fiction. Key quote:

My comment: when the so called freethinking rebels win, they impose a politically correct uniformity of thought far less free and far less interesting to read and far more preposterously hypocritical than the old established pieties, which at least had experience, common sense, and authentic human emotion on their side, not to mention divine revelation. At such at time the only manly response to the bold nonconformists (all strangely in perfect lockstep with each other!) is to become superversive, and write books upholding not just Motherhood and Apple Pie, but the Virgin Mary and Eucharist.

That’s one of the reasons I decided not to make a religion for the secondary world in FROSTBORN, but rather have the main characters be, essentially, 6th century Catholic Romans transplanted to a secondary world. It made the book much more interesting to write.

-JM

GHOST IN THE MASK – 22 chapters down, 7 to go

Finished chapters 21 and 22 of GHOST IN THE MASK today, putting the rough draft at 84,000 words. 22 chapters down, 7 to go! Chapter 21 was a beast – nearly 7,500 words long. But that is what happens when you have three different point-of-view characters in a battle scene.

Let’s have another excerpt! (Note that I might change the wording and rearrange some sentences before the final draft.)

“Identify yourself,” Caina said.

The bandit offered an ingratiating smile. “Mistress, if you…”

“Identify yourself,” said Caina, glaring at him without blinking.

“Ah…Murrain, my lady,” said the bandit leader. “We…”

“I trust,” said Caina, folding her arms over her chest, the fingers of her right hand tight against the vial, “that you have a good reason for disturbing my progress?”

“These…these lands belong to the prophet, my lady, the prophet of great Anubankh,” said Murrain, sweat beading on his forehead. He was twice her weight, but her presence unnerved him…which meant he knew the reputation of the Magisterium. “And all travelers must offer a tithe to the god.”

“No,” said Caina.

Murrain blinked. “But…”

“Clear the road, now,” said Caina, “or I will unleash my sorcery and destroy you.”

“But…but…” said Murrain.

“You had your chance,” said Caina.

She drew herself up and began babbling nonsense in a stentorian voice, making grand, sweeping gestures. Murrain and a few of his men backed away in alarm, and Caina flung out her arms.

And as she did, she threw the small glass vial in her right hand.

-JM

GHOST IN THE MASK progress update – 20 chapters down, 9 to go

Two-thirds of the way through! (Well, 68%, to be precise.)

Let’s have an excerpt:

Caina frowned, remembering the history she had read. “The most powerful members of the Magisterium gathered in Caer Magia, their stronghold. They wanted to cast some sort of spell, something that would destroy their enemies at a stroke. But the spell went amiss, and killed them all…along with the hundred thousand people living in Caer Magia. The Magisterium was decimated. Its most powerful and skilled members had been killed, and the remaining magi made peace with Emperor, and the Emperor resumed governance of the Empire.” Caina shook her head. “But to this day…Caer Magia is desolate. Whatever the high magi of old did is still active. Anyone who enters the walls of Caer Magia dies within a few moments.”

“After exactly seven hundred and seventy-seven heartbeats, to be precise,” said Halfdan.

“That is remarkably specific,” said Corvalis.

“The magi have done quiet experiments,” said Halfdan. “The magi of the Fourth Empire left a great deal of valuable things in Caer Magia. Weapons of sorcerous power, books holding their arcane secrets. The contemporary Magisterium would dearly love to get its hands upon those treasures. But they can’t. Anyone who sets foot within Caer Magia dies within seven hundred and seventy-seven heartbeats. Which for a calm man, comes to less than a quarter of an hour. For a man who is panicked, much less time, and since various undead creatures lurk within the ruins of Caer Magia, a man entering the city will become quickly panicked, might not even live out his remaining seven hundred and seventy-seven heartbeats. No one can live long enough to enter Caer Magia and retrieve anything from within the ruins.”

They sat in silence for a moment.

“Until,” said Caina, “today.”

-JM

The Old Demon vs. the Moroaica – who would win in a fight?

(Note that this post contains SPOILERS for the entire DEMONSOULED and THE GHOSTS series!)

You might recall that a while back I did a post on who would win in a fight, Mazael Cravenlock from DEMONSOULED or Caina Amalas from THE GHOSTS. Some recent discussion there has suggested an additional question about the villains of the respective series.

Who would win in a fight – the Old Demon from DEMONSOULED or the Moroaica from THE GHOSTS?

The Old Demon is the father of the Demonsouled, and over three thousand years old. He possesses all the powers of the Demonsouled – superior strength and speed, rapid healing, battle fury, shapechanging, and the ability to travel instantly through the shadows. Additionally, he knows more about magic than anyone else in his world, and can use his Demonsouled nature to augment his spells tremendously. However, he does have on serious weakness. Because he is fully half-demon, (the rest of the Demonsouled are some smaller fraction) he is partially bound by the laws of the spirit world, and therefore cannot harm or kill someone unless he is first attacked. He also has a love of cruelty that a clever opponent could exploit.

The Moroaica, unlike the Old Demon, is fully human. She is somewhere over two thousand years old (no one knows for sure, since she destroyed the civilization that produced her, along with most of their records), and has mastered necromancy and sorcery to a degree unmatched by anyone living in her world. Additionally, she is almost impossible to kill, since if her body is slain, her spirit can possess another one very quickly.

Both the Moroaica and the Old Demon prefer to avoid confrontation whenever possible, and usually work through emissaries, whether willing or unwitting. Any conflict between them would likely start that way, with both sending students and disciples after the other.

If it came to a direct fight, the Moroaica would likely start it. She would know that the Old Demon cannot attack her until she attacks him, so she would wait until she could strike with overwhelming advantage and kill him. The Old Demon is half-demon, but he is also half-human, which means he can be killed. Not easily, but he can be killed. Additionally, unlike the Moroaica, if he is killed he cannot claim a new body.

However, the Old Demon is completely aware of his weaknesses, and used to working around them. If he knew about the Moroaica’s plan to kill him, he would have a countermeasure prepared. And once the Moroaica attacked him, he would be free to strike back. Though he cannot permanently kill the Moroaica, he can trap her spirit within a particular body, as Ranarius tried to do in GHOST IN THE STONE, and proceed with his plans.

However, if the Moroaica was able to anticipate his countermeasures, she would find a way around them.

So I think the most likely outcome of a fight between the two would be long-term stalemate, fought through proxies and servants. But if they did come down to a direct confrontation, it would be a 50/50 chance either way.

-JM

Who is Nicholas in DEMONSOULED?

My website keeps getting Google searches for “who is nicholas in demonsouled”, so I thought I’d answer that particular question here.

(Note that this post has SPOILERS for several secondary characters in the DEMONSOULED series.)

There are two characters named Nicholas in the DEMONSOULED books. The first is Nicholas Tormaud, one of the sons of the Lord of Ironcastle and the lover of Molly Cravenlock. At the Old Demon’s urging, Molly’s brother Corvad murdered Nicholas Tormaud and cast the blame upon Mazael Cravenlock. This was so Corvad could lure Molly to Arylkrad and transform her into a Malrag Queen, which the Old Demon would use to create a vast army of Malrags that would slaughter every Demonsouled in the realm.

But then the Old Demon met Lucan Mandragon…and a more efficient idea occurred to him.

The second Nicholas is Nicholas Randerly, the Lord of Knightport. Previously, he was the youngest son of the Lord of Knightport, but during the Great Rising, his father and brothers all fell at the hands of the runedead. Nicholas fought alongside Gerald and Tobias against Caraster’s runedead, and remained loyal to Gerald after Ataranur corrupted Lord Malden. Nicholas survived the events of SOUL OF SWORDS, and returned home after the battle to rebuild his lands.

-JM

FROSTBORN in the UK

FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT got up to #10 on the Historical Fantasy list on Amazon UK. Thanks, UK readers!

-JM