Blurb for Sword of the South

dan92677 wrote:Don't forget the 11-year old girl (and what she knows). She wasn't in Sword Brothers! And...Why doesn't she dare to even share the answers with Wenct?

She might have been in Sword Brothers - there were a number of children rescued by them. Howsomever, we don't know how long it has been since Sword Brothers, or if in fact Sword Brothers was in this universe, or in one that is merely very close - we don't actually know much of anything so far, except there is the tall red-headed dude who doesn't remember who he is, and that Wencit has an interest in. Also that Goddess or sorceress has made one attempt to off Wencit.

fallsfromtrees wrote: ... we don't actually know much of anything so far, except there is the tall red-headed dude who doesn't remember who he is, and that Wencit has an interest in. Also that Goddess or sorceress has made one attempt to off Wencit.

The Goddess in question should be Carnadosa - if it was, in fact, a goddess. Could be, but my 2 cents go to Wulfra of Torfro - as written in the blurb:

Blurb wrote:Wulfra of Torfo doesn't know those answers, either, but she does know Wencit of Rūm is her implacable foe and that somehow Kenhodan is one of the weapons he intends to use against her . . . assuming she can't kill both of them first.

And that makes Wulfra a female wild wizard - because (at least as far as we know) only a wild wizard has a real chance in a fight against another wild wizard, especially one as experienced as Wencit. Aside of Carnadosa or one of the other dark gods, of course - but if she/they could fight personally against Wencit she/they would have done it a long time ago, imo.

Eagleeye wrote:

fallsfromtrees wrote: ... we don't actually know much of anything so far, except there is the tall red-headed dude who doesn't remember who he is, and that Wencit has an interest in. Also that Goddess or sorceress has made one attempt to off Wencit.

The Goddess in question should be Carnadosa - if it was, in fact, a goddess. Could be, but my 2 cents go to Wulfra of Torfro - as written in the blurb:

Blurb wrote:Wulfra of Torfo doesn't know those answers, either, but she does know Wencit of Rūm is her implacable foe and that somehow Kenhodan is one of the weapons he intends to use against her . . . assuming she can't kill both of them first.

And that makes Wulfra a female wild wizard - because (at least as far as we know) only a wild wizard has a real chance in a fight against another wild wizard, especially one as experienced as Wencit. Aside of Carnadosa or one of the other dark gods, of course - but if she/they could fight personally against Wencit she/they would have done it a long time ago, imo.

Good possibility, but why not go after Kenhoden when he was out in the open? Interesting that Wencit would refer to her as "My Lady".

fallsfromtrees wrote:

dan92677 wrote:Don't forget the 11-year old girl (and what she knows). She wasn't in Sword Brothers! And...Why doesn't she dare to even share the answers with Wenct?

She might have been in Sword Brothers - there were a number of children rescued by them. Howsomever, we don't know how long it has been since Sword Brothers, or if in fact Sword Brothers was in this universe, or in one that is merely very close - we don't actually know much of anything so far, except there is the tall red-headed dude who doesn't remember who he is, and that Wencit has an interest in. Also that Goddess or sorceress has made one attempt to off Wencit.

I would be utterly shocked if the 11 YO girl in question wasn't Gwynna, the daughter of Bahzell and Leanna.

I'm not sure why everyone seems to be speculating that this is some parallel universe offshoot. Everything we've seen in the few snippets we have so far was set up in WMC: Tomanak indicating his Champion might get some time off for a family, Divine countenance and outright glee at the Marriage of the two, Wencit's strange proclamation that he'd nuke Kontovar to the bedrock if the art was used against Leanna, and his musings that the child of a Hradani and human might be powerful beyond belief.

This should be a wonderful book, but I don't really see any surprises here. We already skipped forward once between WRO and WMC (7 years), so there's nothing unusual about a dozen years now.

NervousEnergy wrote:

dan92677 wrote:Don't forget the 11-year old girl (and what she knows). She wasn't in Sword Brothers! And...Why doesn't she dare to even share the answers with Wenct?

fallsfromtrees wrote:She might have been in Sword Brothers - there were a number of children rescued by them. Howsomever, we don't know how long it has been since Sword Brothers, or if in fact Sword Brothers was in this universe, or in one that is merely very close - we don't actually know much of anything so far, except there is the tall red-headed dude who doesn't remember who he is, and that Wencit has an interest in. Also that Goddess or sorceress has made one attempt to off Wencit.

I would be utterly shocked if the 11 YO girl in question wasn't Gwynna, the daughter of Bahzell and Leanna.

I'm not sure why everyone seems to be speculating that this is some parallel universe offshoot. Everything we've seen in the few snippets we have so far was set up in WMC: Tomanak indicating his Champion might get some time off for a family, Divine countenance and outright glee at the Marriage of the two, Wencit's strange proclamation that he'd nuke Kontovar to the bedrock if the art was used against Leanna, and his musings that the child of a Hradani and human might be powerful beyond belief.

This should be a wonderful book, but I don't really see any surprises here. We already skipped forward once between WRO and WMC (7 years), so there's nothing unusual about a dozen years now.

I think most of the speculation is that Sword Brother was set in a parallel universe. And a dozen years seems like a very short time for the millennial long attitudes about the hradani to have mellowed as much as the first snippets would indicate, at least in Belhaden, which is a considerable distance from the events in WMC. Vaijon's attitude when we first meet him in Belhaden was fairly typical of the general attitude towards hradani at the time.

What makes you think Vaijon's attitude was typical of Belhaden? Or of anyone outside the aristocracy, for that matter?

You will, or should, recall that he was planning to make it his business to alert the city guard to the arrival of 2 hradani - which suggests that he didn't think they'd otherwise be paying much attention to such a momentous event. You'll also recall that Brandark found a welcome in the taverns of Belhaden, and especially among the entertainers active therein, whom he undertook to instruct in the proper reverence to be shown towards Champions of Tomanak. and very successful he seems to have been in that endeavour - which suggests that whatever anti-hradani prejudice was rampant in the city singularly ignored song-writers, at any rate.

mind you, I'd lay odds that they were a great deal more welcome in the taverns than in the halls of the rich and mighty, which goes a long way towards explaining Bahzell's current avocation.

fallsfromtrees wrote:

NervousEnergy wrote:I would be utterly shocked if the 11 YO girl in question wasn't Gwynna, the daughter of Bahzell and Leanna.

I'm not sure why everyone seems to be speculating that this is some parallel universe offshoot. Everything we've seen in the few snippets we have so far was set up in WMC: Tomanak indicating his Champion might get some time off for a family, Divine countenance and outright glee at the Marriage of the two, Wencit's strange proclamation that he'd nuke Kontovar to the bedrock if the art was used against Leanna, and his musings that the child of a Hradani and human might be powerful beyond belief.

This should be a wonderful book, but I don't really see any surprises here. We already skipped forward once between WRO and WMC (7 years), so there's nothing unusual about a dozen years now.

I think most of the speculation is that Sword Brother was set in a parallel universe. And a dozen years seems like a very short time for the millennial long attitudes about the hradani to have mellowed as much as the first snippets would indicate, at least in Belhaden, which is a considerable distance from the events in WMC. Vaijon's attitude when we first meet him in Belhaden was fairly typical of the general attitude towards hradani at the time.

Others have commented about the "general attitude toward hradani" but Belhaden isn't a "small town in the middle of nowhere".

It's the major seaport of the Empire of the Axe and is likely one of the largest Axemen cities.

Very likely the events in WMC are common knowledge even among the "common folk" of the city.

IMO the reaction when Bahzell opened the Iron Axe tavern was more curiosity than hostility.

While we don't know exactly when he opened his tavern, I suspect that by now most of the possible hostility in Belhaden has died off.

Oh, remember that Bahzell is known to the "Powers That Be" in Belhaden so it's not likely that he faced official hostility in Belhaden.

fallsfromtrees wrote:
I think most of the speculation is that Sword Brother was set in a parallel universe. And a dozen years seems like a very short time for the millennial long attitudes about the hradani to have mellowed as much as the first snippets would indicate, at least in Belhaden, which is a considerable distance from the events in WMC. Vaijon's attitude when we first meet him in Belhaden was fairly typical of the general attitude towards hradani at the time.

Yes, Bahzell and Brandark weren't exactly met with hostile, pitchfork waving crowds on their first visit, so I'm not sure why he'd have much of an issue now. Even if he hadn't been instrumental in the largest re-arrangement of wealth and trade that Norfressa has likely ever seen with the canal project, largely very beneficial to the Empire, I simply can't imagine ANY city that hosted a full Chapter of the Order of Tomanak being hostile to one of His champions. Especially Belhaden, where the God himself put in an appearance. Members of that chapter would be even more... enthusiastic about their newest Champion than you'd likely expect, and that attitude would be apparent to the rest of the city. It's not like they're a cloistered order.

If there's going to be anti-hradani issues, I'd imagine they'd only be still festering in border towns that had a history of real losses against them. Major cities like Belhaden would be beneficiaries of the new canal and trade alignment between the Hradani, Sothoii, Dwarves, and Empire, and money has a way of soothing all sorts of attitudes.

Plus I'm sure we'll see that the Iron Axe gets a pretty steady stream of august visitors. We already know Wencit is a regular patron.

If there's any 'parallel universe' plot device used, I'd guess it'll be the opposite of Sword Brother: Kenhodan is the Norfressan universe version of Ken from Sword Brother, not the same guy from the US Army that was inadvertently drawn by Wencit's spell. It may not even be referenced at all. I'm not sure if Himself considered Sword Brother canon - I'd assumed it was just the Mad Wizard indulging his desire to write about modern armor taking on a Demon.

Also the Empire of the Axe didn't have the historical conflict with the Hradani tribes like the Sothoii did. The Sothoii kindgom and the East Wall mountains sit between Hradani lands and the Axeman Empire. So the average citizen of the Empire wouldn't have the historical hate the average Sothoii has because the evil Hradani killed great grandpa and ate his steed.

DrakBibliophile wrote:Others have commented about the "general attitude toward hradani" but Belhaden isn't a "small town in the middle of nowhere".

It's the major seaport of the Empire of the Axe and is likely one of the largest Axemen cities.

Very likely the events in WMC are common knowledge even among the "common folk" of the city.

IMO the reaction when Bahzell opened the Iron Axe tavern was more curiosity than hostility.

While we don't know exactly when he opened his tavern, I suspect that by now most of the possible hostility in Belhaden has died off.

Oh, remember that Bahzell is known to the "Powers That Be" in Belhaden so it's not likely that he faced official hostility in Belhaden.

fallsfromtrees wrote:
I think most of the speculation is that Sword Brother was set in a parallel universe. And a dozen years seems like a very short time for the millennial long attitudes about the hradani to have mellowed as much as the first snippets would indicate, at least in Belhaden, which is a considerable distance from the events in WMC. Vaijon's attitude when we first meet him in Belhaden was fairly typical of the general attitude towards hradani at the time.