Joseph
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Regarding Barrayar's Time Of Isolation, if I've got the timeline about right: 0-90 years, still had a dwindling tech base; 100-400, Bloody Centuries, regression to Agricultural Age; 400-450, Unification under the Emperor and canonization of the Vor caste; 450-600, Golden Age of the Vor; ~600 years, End of the ToI; ~625, Cetagandan Invasion; ~645, Aral born, ~650, Barrayar freed. Roughly on target?
Lois McMaster Bujold
I've never worked out the timeline in detail (and if I ever had, the paper I'd have written it on would be long gone by now anyway.) But, sure, roughly right. I put the Ceta invasion ~15 years after the end of the ToI, and it lasted ~ 20 years. I'd put Dorca's unification later, since he survived right up to and through most of the Occupation; although he might have been merely the emperor to finish, rather than start and finish, that political process. I've never established when Aral was born in relation to the end of the Cetas, but, if not before, soon after. Have no idea what you mean by "canonization of the Vor caste", although equipping them with and/or shooting them from cannons would occur toward the middle-to-end of the ToI.
Ta, L.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Richard
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
You have in the past mentioned that you often decide the theme of a book by asking yourself, what is the worst possible thing I can do to my main character and how will they react. I can see that in your writing but it also seems to me that an underlying theme of most of your books is that damaged people are drawn to damaged people. Or might it be rather that damage people might be more interesting to write?
Judy R.
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Not a question, but a comment? In Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, the engineer stated that the expressed water from the ImpSec sponge was shooting 25' straight out from the cliff before falling into the water. I see the book was published in 2012, as I checked just now. In 2014, a Red Cross briefing after the Oso Mudslide Disaster north of Seattle said that's what happened there, too -- a horizontal jet of water.
Kate Davenport
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
The question about the demon's different personalities disagreeing made me wonder. Does a well developed demon like Desdemona have any thoughts that are separate than the previous hosts? Besides the urge to chaos. Penric refers to Desdemona as all of them collectively, but there also seems to be some sort of unity of thought when he isn't calling on a specific personality.
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