Chapter 1 of THE STRENGTH OF THE FEW now available to read online!
Hey everyone,
The first chapter of The Strength of the Few is now available to read online! Just follow this link:
The Strength of the Few - Chapter I
Hope you enjoy it!
- James
The first chapter of The Strength of the Few is now available to read online! Just follow this link:
The Strength of the Few - Chapter I
Hope you enjoy it!
- James
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Rebecca
(new)
Jun 04, 2025 08:47PM
Thank you for dropping the link here. I really enjoyed reading chapter 1 and cannot stop myself from imagining how you will develop the story.
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I posted this on Reddit, but there is SO much meat on the bone, theorycrafting-wise. Here's a summary of conclusions that I came up with (full analysis is on Reddit, too long to post here): *** WARNING, SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 1 BELOW ***
Res is the world where the non-Concurrence "won" (or lost the least hard), as there's no Labyrinth or Remnants there - only in the other world
Belli may not have copied herself to all three worlds since there's no labyrinth in Obiteum and it's inaccessible in Luceum
Caeror and Vis need to touch the platform and railing at the same time for some unknown reason...
Vis is likely the first to successfully make it through the labyrinth since Caeror himself
Caeror needs Vis (or someone) specifically - he can't accomplish the task alone despite presumably having Will
Either Vis has something unique Caeror doesn't, or they need at least two people for the plan - And, given what we know about Caeror from the chapter, there were others who taught him - so it's likely that there's something unique about Vis specifically
Vitaerium devices force-feed Will into bodies/substances to prevent damage from other worlds bleeding through - This implies that Damage from both Res and Luceum bleeds through temporarily after copying, which is why Vis lost his arm in Res - Not because of the bites
Obiteum has an Egyptian theme (scarabs, pyramids) vs Res's Roman theme. Some other theme for Luceum? Greek? Norse?
The eyeless corpses with obsidian blades were placed AFTER Caeror ran the maze - this is an "adaptation"
Obsidian interacts uniquely with synchronized people or those who attempted synchronization
Caeror likely realizes Vis is synchronized after a strange look at his arm
Ka is the leader of the Concurrence who tried to destroy something in Obiteum
The etymology of Ka is Egyptian, and is related to soul/body/mind concepts, which thematically connects to the Rending of Res/Obiteum/Luceum
The inscribed triangular devices use Nyripkian-like glyphs like what we see on the Pyramid on the Cover of book 2
The danger Caeror references are Gleaners. Flying enemies - also likely on the cover of Book 2
There's no wildlife (birds) left on Obiteum
Caeror had help before but those people are now dead or lost. This raises the question of why Caeror specifically needs Vis if he had others before
The war started thousands of years ago against the Concurrence who wanted to enslave everyone
The world was split into three near-identical copies to limit Will capabilities. Given this, the Concurrence were more natural Will users, so splitting worlds neutered their powers. It's also likely that different worlds have different Will capabilities that may cross between worlds
The Republic's expansionism via Aurora Columnae might be more sinister - possibly enslaving people, which lines up with the goals of the Concurrence
Theory: Leaders of each Pyramid might be Concurrent given their expansionist goals + Enslavement of everyone
The ruins near the Academy were built to stop the 11th Cataclysm but failed
Cataclysms are culls by the Concurrence - 11 in 3000 years
The Concurrence may have won everywhere, not just Obiteum
Res is overdue for a Cataclysm (300 years vs expected ~245 year intervals)
There's no way back from the other worlds to Res
Their plan to stop the Cataclysm: Kill a god
The ruins mention "In trying to become God, they created Him" - suggesting the god is key to Cataclysms. This implies a nefarious "Him" exists somewhere on Res
I think the biggest thing here is the implication that the Concurrence may be in control of the Hierarchy, given that their goals (enslaving everyone) align with what the Hierarchy are doing, and the fact that the Cataclysm is now overdue on Res.
... Anyways, would love to hear other thoughts on Chapter 1. Did I miss anything? Let me know what you think!
Link to full analysis post is on my profile - eagle2120
