The Missing Chapters / Books

I feel like there are so many chapters (or really whole books) missing from the time between WMC and SotS. It’s almost reminiscent of the jump from Dune to Dune: Messiah. Just massive swathes of development that is ignored.

The Rage: There were several things left outright unfinished/unmentioned that Bahzell was supposed to do. Most importantly, how did he tell the Broken Bone and the Wild Wash hradani about the truth of the Rage? Have any of them joined the Hurgrum (or is it the Northern Confederation?) chapter of the Order, did he establish chapters in their areas? Does this open up a front against the Purple Lords during the obviously upcoming war? They aren’t contiguous like the Bloody Swords/Horse Stealers, so this is two separate adventures in themselves that could probably be contained in a single book.

The War Maids: Leeana went from being a Commander of Seventy-Five in War Maid’s Choice to reaching the rank of One Thousand by Sword of the South. It’s established that a Twenty is a junior Lieutenant or very senior Sergeant, and a Three Hundred is about a Major, and the Kalatha guard commander was a Five Hundred; Leeana would have to have worked her way up to about a Colonel, if not a General, in a society that just doesn’t hand those ranks out to non-nobility (which she isn’t anymore). While she may have been meritoriously promoted or it had something to do with her Wind Rider status, it is more implied that she was still an active member of the War Maids. Going from Captain to General seems like a lot to skip over, not to mention any societal evolution regarding War Mard marriages/”free mating” after two gods show up and say “that Charter? %&* that Charter! The representative to the Kraithalyr is another story, and not to start on the potential of an Arm of Lillinara marrying a Lord Warden (the heavily implied Trisu/Shahana connection, not to mention the impacts of a War Maid Wind Sister!).

The Northern Confederation: It's clear it still exists, but now Navakh would possibly have a half-Horse Stealer/half-Bloody Sword in line for succession (between Arsham and Sharkah, which would make him Bahnak’s grandson and Barodahn’s nephew, relevant for who is the ruling Prince of Hurgrum today; Bahnak would be pushing at least 180 years old, more likely 200+, at least based on Bahzell being “a few years older” than Brandark who was 125 in SotS, and Barodahn being 25 years older than Bahzell, and hradani not starting families into their thirties at the earliest (and Sharkah had time “to let [Arsham] be wearing her down” as she is only in her “early fifties”); BS/HS children are obviously possible based on Hurthang’s and Farmah’s son, Garnal. And theoretically the Confederation would be a lot closer to both the Empire of the Axe and the Sothoii (meaning that any future army would likely have Axeman archers (from Vonderland) and the King-Emperor’s infantry, hradani infantry and skirmishers, Dwarven artillery, Sothoii cavalry, and war maid skirmishers, along with whatever troops the border kingdoms contributed, although they would more likely be split between a D-Day style invasion in the north from Kontovar and an attack from Purple Lord lands in the south, with the Empire of the Spear split between helping the Purple Lords and fighting them). Just so much development that hasn’t been addressed.

I wouldn’t go too into the various politics of the continent (Derm Canal impacts on the Border Kingdoms or Spearman, what having a Baroness-Mage results in, etc.).

But the news of the Rage seems to be a major, critical aspect that would take up a whole book itself, plus Leeana’s adventures, interspersed with notes about the politics and societal developments of the Sothoii, Hradani, and even the Empire.

I get that fanfiction isn't allowed here, but dang, we need the "intermediate" periods. Even if an anthology is on the way, there's no way it can cover it all.

RFC mentioned a while back on facebook that he was planning a worlds of honor style anthology for Bahzell and Co and I expect/hope a lot of these stories will be covered there but yes A LOT happened off screen after War Maids Choice and Sword the South.

I think what threw me off the most is the largely continuous story from Oath, few week gap until War God's Own, few week / month gap to Wind Rider's Choice, six year gap (excluding Sword Brother, but there's no way to identify where in the six years this falls exactly) to War Maid's Own, then a 72 year gap until Sword of the South. I forget where in the continuity that

Did RFC say he is writing the anthology, or is this collaborative with other writers?

andrewtater wrote:I think what threw me off the most is the largely continuous story from Oath, few week gap until War God's Own, few week / month gap to Wind Rider's Choice, six year gap (excluding Sword Brother, but there's no way to identify where in the six years this falls exactly) to War Maid's Own, then a 72 year gap until Sword of the South. I forget where in the continuity that

Did RFC say he is writing the anthology, or is this collaborative with other writers?

I am pretty certain that "Sword Brother" takes place AFTER _War Maid's Choice_ (Note that Varnaythus refers to Tremala as an active wizard in Chapter 3 of _War Maid's Choice_ and I doubt that he would do so she had been destroyed by Wencit even a month before).

andrewtater wrote:
Did RFC say he is writing the anthology, or is this collaborative with other writers?

well normally RFC writes one or two stories of an anthology and lets others write the remainder.

Sword Brother is definitely after WMC: there's a discussion of Varnaythus' unpleasant end, with the implication that he was hung out to dry by the Dark Gods because, ultimately, he failed in his mission.

There's also the fact that Bahzell was operating in and to the south of the South Riding without any concern about the reaction of the Lord Warden thereof. Implying that, even if the current occupant of that office was a member of Cassian's family he took Bahzell's status seriously - something that most Sothoii probably did after seeing, or hearing accounts of, the outcome of that little disagreement down on Ghoul Moor.

Mind you, that still leaves a little inconsistency, since Tremala and her friends refer to _4_ Champions on the Wind Plain, and after WMC saying Vaijon is on the Plain is a bit of a stretch even if he still counts as a Champion. Although it's always possible that wizards see these things a bit differently.

Robert_A_Woodward wrote:

andrewtater wrote:I think what threw me off the most is the largely continuous story from Oath, few week gap until War God's Own, few week / month gap to Wind Rider's Choice, six year gap (excluding Sword Brother, but there's no way to identify where in the six years this falls exactly) to War Maid's Own, then a 72 year gap until Sword of the South. I forget where in the continuity that

Did RFC say he is writing the anthology, or is this collaborative with other writers?

I am pretty certain that "Sword Brother" takes place AFTER _War Maid's Choice_ (Note that Varnaythus refers to Tremala as an active wizard in Chapter 3 of _War Maid's Choice_ and I doubt that he would do so she had been destroyed by Wencit even a month before).