Monday, March 14, 2016

March Update

Is it that time already? Ugh. Note to other writers out there - getting divorced is not conducive to writing. Avoid it if at all possible.

I have, however, continued to make progress. I'm now working on chapter 10 of Perilous Waif, and I think I've finally got the majority of the worldbuilding I need to support the story finished. This setting is definitely too big to explore in a single series, so I may end up using it for other SF stories in the future.

The first two chapters of Revenant have undergone a major rewrite, as I got a much better idea for how to handle some critical plot points. I'm now working on chapter 3, and I expect I'll start putting out chapters a little faster from this point on.

In other news, the audiobook version of Fimbulwinter is now on sale. The Black Coven audiobook is currently in production, with Extermination to follow. I'll post an announcement here when they become available.

304 comments:

  1. Really sorry to hear about the personal front - and sometimes a disruption like that makes it really hard to get back into a head space that enjoys writing in your world.

    Best thoughts going your way.

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  2. Just so you know we your fans appreciate all that you do and we hope you find happiness in your future.

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    1. Sorry about that damn computer crapping out. Anyway be happy mate and everything else will follows , at least i hope so :)

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  4. Let’s start some wild speculations about book 4 / Revenant:
    What additional powers/skills/magic items will Daniel and his retainers have?
    Will he add new exotic misfits/fugitives to his fortress-village?
    How will he develop his cool roleplay-cheating-minmax-fortress further?
    ------
    Please excuse my wording…I’m a not a native speaker.

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  5. I will throw the first nerd-conjectures in the ring:
    Daniel will get a “LevelUp” from the divine banana and some rituals of his fairy-retainers.
    That is he is now stronger, more resilient, has better senses, can channel his unlimited magic-mana longer, has a higher intuitive awareness of the supernatural…..one step nearer to the demigod/superhero weight class.
    Daniel will devise a way to mass produce his special wolf soldiers.
    We will see several new gadgets for his retainers (i.e. magical communication/radio).
    The dimensional space magic (see bag of holding) will make the fortress a much bigger place so he can take in thousands of refugees/soldiers.
    The tree-fairies will use their new unlimited mana tap to evolve/strengthen themselves and transform their indoor groves into a magical fairyland plane.
    Benefits? Even better food produktion? Alice in Wonderland style magic/space/time distortions creating a different inner fortress world? Lush vegetation instead of granite?

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    1. Possible power boost by apply elven and wolfen traits to himself. Also some boosts hinted at in book 1.

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  6. How can he pimp his signature magic items (amulet, sword, earth talisman, gun) even more?

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    1. Well the amulet is nice but its way too vulnerable. He almost lost it more than a couple of times already. He would have died any one of those times with it gone. I think he should integrate it inside of himself like Brand.

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    2. the only safe place i can think of putting it inside him would be below the coller bone on the spine (somehow) because untill he can survive a beheading, he will need his spince and most of his torso, not any of his ribs though as i'm sure the magic can force him to keep breathing with no ribs, and pucntured lungs too
      ... well, he could still keep the amulet for his main stuff and have another one inside him as a backup

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    3. Why cant he have multiple amulets? Why do they have to be amuletts at all? Why couldnt DB have such things worked into say parts of some form of lightweight body armour since mass is the requirement for the energy production level? I would say 2 arms 2 legs 2 chest front back and even a lightweigth helm in really fubard situations.
      I Have only read/listend to book one since I prefer audio so for me the whole amulett and skimpy clothes nearly drove me nuts, I kept coming up with loads of ways he could fix it all and from Reading a few comments here I have come to the conclusion that it never gets solved.. Likes: Heroes who actually go out and solve their problems instead of sitting around whining about them.
      So here is a second solution: DB could graft multiple amulett mass equivalents onto his bone structure by way of a meshform wrap causing each body part to have its own freaking amulett equivalent.
      Loose a part!? Part fallen into nefarious hands? That is, non friendly nefarious hands ;) Big bada booom. Perfect thing to let the enemy take to their home base "for study" and trigger it to go crititcal, wonder if they are capable of shielding the eq of a nuclear blast..
      BTW Loved the part where they infiltrated the temple and DB invents this really nifty force blade blender grenade FBBG DUDE, but then he only made one which was really daft he should have made atleast 4 ;P
      Future DB "vehicles" aught to mount "force infused" FBBGrenade launching tubes multiple grenade types... man loved how the grenades hoverd in the temple.. what alot of fun ways one could apply.. grenades with enemy range detection etc etc..
      Oh yeah and the barge could be turned into a variant of the Grinder projecting plasma bursts out of say 5 inch holes placed all around along its sides.
      mmm future DB troopers/soldiers/warriors whatever, should get force blade armour damn nasty if they all of a sudden start sprouting porcupineish force blades while in CQC.
      Hmm I guess there probably is some form of limit on comments so I will give it a rest now..
      PS, Waiting for the release of book 2 and 3 in audioformat is not fun.

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    4. If Daniel combined his earth talisman with his gun he could make flying gun drones. With a few of those flying around shooting force grenades and blasts of pressurized lava he could ruin just about anyone's day. Also if he figured out basic golem construction and added guns he cold build automatic gun turrets which would be a huge boost to the Citadel/Cities defenses.
      I think the reason he hasn't worked the m/e enchantment into any of his armor is because if the object gets damaged the enchantment is damaged. with the m/e that means ether exploding or pumping out deadly radiation.

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    5. Daniel will start
      1. Working in gold and create amulets that insert into his body
      2. Solidify his relationship with groves by..
      2.1 Attending ceremony / orgy. Hectate hinted this would provide power up.
      2.2 Take Allana as his familiar with will increase her power and his. Maybe both of these will expand his Earth magic into area of growing.
      3. Start pimping out his troops as Wolfen, Catgirls (priestess for Bast), leather force armor for all.
      4. Increase size of Coven ... Mara or Elf Girl
      5. Boosting powers of coven by teaching them power enchanting while learning how they do magic (he learned water magic in book 3)
      6. Do something cool with translation ring and bags of holding.
      7. Maybe have paratroopers
      8. Finally spend time in alter his body as mentioned in book 1. He still to soft and too slow.

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  7. I keep thinking he could set up the "link" he uses to transfer power from a power stone to amulets in a different way.

    Instead of transferring magic he can set up a stone with an intent control matrix and have it linked to a Golem that way the Golem pilots can control their Golems from the safety of a fortress. If he does it right and just builds Golems that fit a human body then her could train human soldiers to "pilot" them that way he won't lose men in battle and would just have to replace the golem.

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  8. Really sorry to hear about that Brown sensei, hope everything works out for you because your books really let one's imagination runs.

    I've always been a huge defend-your-base sucker. I was never good at real-time-strategy games, so I'd often cheat. I used to play the starcraft game on the N64, cheated for resources and build an impenetrable fortress and literally wait for the enemies to atk me, who I've set to max difficulty and are a team. I would do this for hours, I don't know why but it's a small addiction I had. So, your book really hits that spot in me.

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    1. I was exactly the same way in Starcraft! It's all about the strong home base defense in any strategy as far as I'm concerned. Let's you really commit to an attack when you make it since you know you're covered on the home front. Really like how focused Daniel is on that, although I do wish he would step up on bringing more people under his protection. He's strong enough now he shouldn't care about what the other rulers/wizards think and start pulling everything and everyone he can defend under his control.

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    2. that's what the dark elves are going to be doing after most of them get there and seteled in

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    3. It's all about that strong home base :)

      Only problem with saving everyone is that he might invite someone who works for the enemies like mara (at least in the beginning) or aren't trustworthy like the lord in book1. It even took Daniel awhile to finally warm up to handing out mana amulets to his officers and giving the dryads a mana stone. Though Avilla did say she had magic to sway enemies off from infiltrating.

      But I agree he needs to start pulling more people in which like pixel said, the dark elves are going around saving many people with the airship. What I'd like though is that he pulls in more magical/powered-up groups of people like the dryads. There's also many possibilities with Daniel's flesh and transmutation magic. Cat women squad? Heck yes! He's also experimenting with producing more wolfens. And the physical enhancement he done to his body in book1, if he'd expand on that we'll be seeing super human soldiers soon. Of course save the best for himself :)

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    4. Daniel has practically unlimited money.
      In addition to the efforts of his airship he could hire some normal ships in order to help/evacuate the costal settlements in the immediate vicinity.

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    5. no, no he cant, not if he wants to keep and crew and the cargo (if they were able to get there safely) alive
      1.
      most if not all the rivers exept the largest (and not for long) are frozen and probaly most of the docks too and even if that wasn't the case the ships your suggesting to use are powered by the wind, so overall slow which increases the danger of being attacked among other things
      2.
      there are romaming bands of monsters everywhere (and more powerfull creatures lke the sea serpent in book 2) so a decient lvl of force needs to be sent out that not only can protect themselfs but also protect the people they are rescuing, your not going to get that by highering a bunch of random guards with questionable skills, loyalty and morality
      3.
      most people are dead alrealdy from the cold and/or monster attacks, most people that could get to a well defended city like where daniel is have done so by now and not all of those citys have survived since it seems alot of those citys are under some kind of seige
      4.
      right now the people who follow daniel (for the most part those who are not magicly bound by vows) are loyal to him, if he just starts bringing a huge influx of people more than likely a spy will slip in, since those with power are starting to pay more attension to him, so until those loyalty wards are up it's best not to bring in so many people when even the city he's in can't handle the current reffugees well
      5.
      daniel had delgetageted responsibleity for tasks now to people who are generaly more qualifed than him to do, which now leaves him more time to (re)invent magic-tech (and solve the biger issues) around so those people can do their jobs better, easier, less people and more firepower

      and screw my spelling, i dont want to fix it

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    6. I had a fleeting memory of Daniel mentioning the not yet frozen sea while melting the canal for the merchant ships at the behest of the prince…and then during the first air rescue/evacuation there was some interior monologue about Daniel preferring the prince to use the ships for helping the coastal settlements instead of trading. (???)

      But you are right!

      It’s way too dangerous.
      Even more important (IMO) is your point 5.!
      Daniel delegated this responsibility so for the story the topic is closed.
      Perhaps we’ll get some lines like “the airship already saved hundreds of people from besieged villages…swelling the population of the citadel….blahblahblah…”.

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    7. Talking about ships Daniel could build some seriously bad-ass water going ships if he had the time and inclination. He can conjure all the metal he needs to make a completely metal hull and framing which would make it tougher than anything else on the ocean. The engines he uses for the airship would probably work even better in the water so the ship could be very fast. A few sets of machine guns and a few more heavy weapons to deal with sea serpents and other over-sized monsters would keep the ship as safe as anything is in the middle of an apocalypse. Force magic could be used to stabilize the ship to keep it from tipping during storms and a combination of force blade and fire magic could turn it into the best ice breaker ever made. He could use the ship for rescue operations, fishing, or trading with parts of the world not frozen over.

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    8. that's the thing, it's what he "can/could" do which is of less pirorty then what he "should" do, and even less of what he "needs" to do

      for right now the airship has alot more utilty than a water based ship as his current and near future problems are on land that's nearby his base
      now if he needs to go across an ocean then yes the pirority of a water based ship go's up alot, and i would not be surprised if it has some anfibious capibly for beach landings, cause why not? probaly need to make field repairs at some point
      as an added bonous his first ship would be huge, more like a iron castle with sea and carrier capabiltys for the smaller airships

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  9. You know with the whole link between power stones and devices. Couldn't Black use that link as a way to communicate long distances? Worse comes to worse there always stringing copper telegraph phone lines.

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    1. Just needs to see how grove does it or iron tower does it. Copy not invent. Mentioned it in almost every book.

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  10. I agree that comms will show up . It is simple but Db should make a few telescopes . It will be interesting to see what happens with the grove .

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    1. Also my condolences or congratulations on the divorce , whichever is more appropriate .

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    2. ditto on condolences or congratulations

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  11. I think that Daniel could Grow clone bodies then apply the Catgirl template to them and install captured death witch spirits. Then he could send his new Brute Squad of Death Witches in catgirl starter bodies to level up slaying nearby monsters.
    It would be important that he not use himself or his friends for the base body. You don't want to give Death witches sympathetic links to you.

    Then the question becomes: "How many Death Witches does it take to eat one of Mara's brothers so he cant come back?"

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  12. Hey I'm a recent addition to your fan club after the first book. I listened to it on Audible while working at the factory; I can't wait till the next one comes out. I just wish it lasted longer.

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  13. Hi, first of all sorry to here about what has happened in your private life. Now on a purely selfish note I love the Daniel Black series and can't weight of more book to be released. Just reading the ideas for possible upgrades DB could do, has anyone else come up with maybe he could use his flesh manic and inbed his healing, shielding amulet inside his chest? Or maybe use his other talents to implant small scales of metal or maybe carbon (diamond or other carbon form) to produce a simular effect that dragon skin body armour produces? As I read some of the ideas for the other witch souls, I was thinking why go to all the trouble of building bodys (both real/clone or golden) why not just capture some type of monster and replace its soul with the witch's? He could the play with the bodys to make a more humanoid form without any kind of upsetting to his little islands populace.

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    1. I like that.
      Implant an enchanted diamond or little (dragon?)scale. And get armored skin.
      Think of X-Men / Emma Frost (but please without the ridiculous crystal chandelier effect).

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    2. Sorry for those who have read this post who don't know what dragon scale armour is. It's a form of modern body armour based on medieval scale armour, in that it is a lot of scale shaped metal plates (modern ore Kevlar, ceramics or a composite) that them selves are very thin and light weight. But upon impact stiffness to spread the energy a cross a large area, this enables the armour to be both more manageable in the body's range of movement and having a greater degree of protection.

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  14. I'm sorry to hear about "___", yeah I'm not about to say that word...
    But, THANK YOU FOR CONTINUING TO WRITE... and Please accept my Heart Felt Thanks for writing in the first place. ^_^ Since you are one of the few writers out there that makes me glad that I Exist, I dont want to lose your stories in my life ^_^. Books that can and Will make me want to laugh cry exclaim and shake my head all within a moments notice are worth keeping around. As such You are one of those writers that I don't want to lose that anytime soon. You know that feeling you get all of those emotions of wonder collide within you fill you with a Hunger for MORE?!?!? Yeah, you got that going for you. And YES, if you must ask, I AM Very much Hungry and awaiting the continuation of your next story. ... I cant deny that I WAS getting a little bit antsy awaiting another installment of your series, constantly checking on my Kindle for another expansion lol, only to sigh in frustration as I nursed my hunger pangs by continuing to sip the dregs of what I've already reread a multitude of times lol But upon understanding the circumstances, I Suppose I can starve myself a little bit longer ^-^ Yeah I'm wordy lol its a sickness that I'm probably not going to lose anytime soon so, yet again... Please continue writing so that I may enjoy your works more into the future.
    THANKS, your dedicated Fan ^~^

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  15. I really like the strong homebase concept, too.

    To see wave after wave of relentless attackers break against the fortifications and get wasted by overlapping fields of fire from defence emplacements……pure joy!

    Now fill the Black Citadel with lots of people!
    - more wolfen (maybe Gronir gets a little extra boost to set off his status as pack leader)
    - more people in general to flesh out the Black Citadel community
    - more (human) soldiers, perhaps some elite units (i.e. knights with superior abilities and magical equipment)
    - more exotic, magical individuals/heros or races

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  17. Daniel could boost his magical T-Rex-Magnum-giant-handgun with new ammunition types.

    He already has normal bullet, explosive bullet and a shredder round.

    What about a mage-killer?
    A bullet with recurring dispel effects to penetrate magical defences and scramble magical abilities of mage / magical creatures after hitting.

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  18. I don’t think Daniel will get rid of his amulet.

    Like his giant revolver, “light saber chainsaw” sword, flying earth talisman, forbidding wolfskin cloak, his amulet is a character building tool. Every reader has a picture of Daniel Black and his signature-items in his mind and I don’t think the author will deprive himself of this tool.

    …but could you please buff up the stupid necklace?

    In “Extermination” Daniel copied all the functions of the amulet (only stronger) in a small ring/piercing as a gift for Mara. So it doesn’t need to be this clunky brass gangster rapper medallion.

    Hence increase the power output. Why has it to last for centuries? Let’s use a high-power version that lasts for a couple of years. He can make a new one in a short time.

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  19. Just when I think of his sword and revolver……his next item could be a girdle with a big belt buckle with his black lightning crest on it.

    Put some protection, empowerment, toughness enchantment on it and some small belt pouch with a really grand bag-of-holding effect (for random magical knick-knacks and space for plunder).

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  20. It would be cool to see how the military gets reorganized under Demetrios. Is he just going to have human rifle/skimmer units, dark elf infiltration units and dryad strike units or is he going to mix and match to shore up weaknesses. I was thinking along the lines of a skimmer with some human riflemen and grenadiers, a couple of dryads for close combat protection, a couple of elf mages and some wooden scouts to round it off. Also interesting on how the garrison uses the defensive structures of the island. Hoping to see some 20mm cannons on the walls as well maybe with some explosive rounds. Say goodbye to any approaching Giants

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    1. I agree. That would be interesting.
      Especially for the military part of Black Isle.

      But I’d also like to get more general background info / world building.

      What is the next expansion stage of the citadel?
      What/how many people inhabit the Black Citadel? How do they live/work/trade/eat? How does the growing population influence/effect the city Kozalin and rest of the region?
      How will the dryads and dark elfs pan out (numbers, dwelling places, powers, impact on rest of population…)
      -------
      And yes the frost giants and their drakes will come sooner or later…so get ready! ;-)

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    2. What about the multiple wives per man? Seems multiple characters mentioned this?

      What if he rescues Marigold...lots of trained soldiers and humans?

      Do you think Loki will offer a deal or turn out to be worse then Odin?

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    3. dealing with god issues will probably start happening in book 5, book 4 (IMO) will be more of consoladateing and stregthing what he has currently so he's not streched so thin in so many places

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    4. For book 4 I'm hoping they revisit some of the ideas mentioned in prior books
      1. Physical upgrade through flesh magic
      2. Recruit some of the survivors Daniel observed in the refugees
      3. Research translation ring
      4. High level coven spells other than warding
      5. Elin's shape changing issues
      6. Red Conclaves library

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  21. Daniel not only should not get rid of his amulet, he should make a second out of Platinum and implant it in his sternum.

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    1. He should also implant one in each of the girls to go along with the rings he's making for them.

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    2. Yeah he seriously need to give his girls some new upgrades. Cerise had to borrow his grinder a few times to slaughter the tougher enemies. Elin almost died in the dwarf atk when they were kidnapping the dark elves, not to mention the wolfen girls almost dieing too.

      Not much happened to tina and avilla since they got to the black citadel, but they need upgrades as well in case of a sucessful infiltrated atk on their home base. Tina could use some beefing up in weapon and armor since she's the one that stays and protects avilla. And avilla could use more defending counter measures for the home, since her kitchen is needed for all her magics like an auto defend barrier and golems in the house when they're atked.

      And all his other harem girls/others deserve a power-up, which is already proceeded with adding a mana stone for the dryads. Now he needs to power-up the wolfens. Then go create the cat women squad, I'm pretty sure many of the girls his grp rescued would like to step up and be able to fight. And I'm sure the dark elves could use some beefing up as well.

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    3. Oh and I forgot the most important girl of all, Hecate! She's the whole reason he's there in the world, the one giving daniel guidance in quite a few choices he had to make, the one bringing in strong allies for his citadel, and the one helping power-up cerise and her new mates as witches. But she don't have much equipment to go surviving a war, besides the clothes she has on her. She did said she could really use some upgrades in fighting against the other gods/goddesses. She was wondering if Daniel could do something about that, when he was creating that nuclear poison. I hope he finds a way in dealing with energy 1000times the normal amount he usually deals with. Not to mention they could explode destroying all of Black isle.

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    4. IMO isn't he allrealdy doing that? upgradeing his own power, his girls and his forces? seems to me that the only time he isn't upgrading his magic-tech is when a there is an attack on the city, politics, or something stratigic that will either help or harm him in the long run that needs his personal attension

      tina is dumb, if she was blond there is a perfict term for her and she is also pregnet, with the birth in 2 months puting armour on her is impractial (and weapons is just a big no) unless it's an enchanted cloth dress. so the only way i can see makeing her stronger is to increase the mana feed to her

      avilla is a support char, while she can fight a bit if she needs too that not what she does best, but giveing her a pistol like daniel has would be a good idea

      cerise prety much has to make her own better weapons, and is doing just that but with a piece of her soul in her daggers it will take time, but yes she should have a few backup weapons like grinder and a few pistols

      elin is a healer and will fight only if there is no choice for her, so giveing her weapons is a bit wasted, giveing her some enchanted defencive acceseries so that if she needs to transform dont fall off would be a good idea though

      as for Hecate, for right now i can see her shrine on the island being a first aid station for her and any allys she brings there which could be a very big help on it's own, and until/if he makes a high capicity +discharge capaciter or invents something new that's pretty much all he can do for her

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    5. Yeah I'm probably just pointing out the things that he obviously is doing or getting around to doing. But you got to admit he never really had the time to fully commit to upgrading himself and his girls because of having too many other plans to work on. Hoping he finally gives them more attention, now that he was able to delegate some power in the Black Isle away to the others.

      For example, I haven't seen him enhance himself up physically anymore since after book1, and there were definitely some situations he could have really put it to good use like against the undead dragon and a couple of times he mentioned needing night vision. He did talk about seeing how to apply the dark elves enhancement to himself at the end of book3, so I'm pretty sure we'll see some of that in book4.

      Your right about Tina being like a dumb blonde haha. Just went back and reread how Bast gave her enhancement in her cat transformation, so she has claws for weapon and fur for defense(?). So she probably don't need anything else, except more power in them and maybe a range weapon.

      I like your idea about giving Avilla a gun like Daniel's, would provide good self-defense especially for someone who can't really fight. But I also consider avilla and the house as one unit since her whole magic is based off her kitchen. Having automated sentries like golems (since he has earth magic) would be nice and are seen to be possible like when he gave the red conclave a mana stone, they put it in a room with a stone dragon. Might be beating on a dead horse though since they got dark elves patrolling around, so the golem idea can be scratched out.

      About cerise, I understood that she needs to create her own powerful weapons with those demonic souls but never understood why she limits herself to just that and then goes around borrowing Daniel's weapons. Might as well have Daniel create her those weapons, not to mention she very well needed them like against the undead dragon.

      You got nice idea about Elin since she has very tough skin when she's in her grindelkin form, as seen when mercury was invading her body, so having something to keep her sanity when she does would really help. I think she may have to pay her mother a visit to get it under control, that might be in book5 or something though. I wasn't looking for better weapons for her, just better defensive gears because she tends to put herself in danger when she goes out to heal like during the dwarves atk or when she went to krozalin during the undead atk and then the barbarians' atk (if I remember right).

      About Hecate, your right that he can't do much now except bringing people in as they switch faith to her's which brings her more power and even more if they become witches under cerise who all sacrifice demonic souls to her. But I'm just hoping daniel could do more...you know give her an even more better impression of him...then she enters the harem! That's all, haha.

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    6. What about establishing a new pantheon? Better define the roles or the goddess will end of fighting.

      Ceris will be pimped out with weapons cause Daniel just showed her how to power enchant.

      Avilla and Elin could both be offensive power houses if Daniel teaches them power enchanying...picture
      1. 8ft gingerbread golem
      2. furniture is super tough fighters.
      3. Clothing is armor like Daniel wears but self repairs and is made with enchantment sewn in. Remeber she already made cat suit that auto resizes
      4. Super healing snacks or drinks for troops
      5. Elin branching into ice magic
      6. Learning to unheal. Remember blood is appealing to her
      7. She gets her own Dryad armor for powered up grove.
      8. Learns to partial shift on purpose so is Grendelkin with fairy magic and intelligence



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    7. Forming a pantheon is definitely a good idea going forward as Daniel gets more and more gods/goddesses joining. They are only in a temporary alliance against Fimbulwinter and the coming of Ragnorok.

      About avilla, gotdamn she's already a waifu goddess to me (cough)(cough), but a fighting waifu goddess? (Drops dead)

      I like the sound of this 8ft gingerbread golem and furniture fighters! The possibilities are there and not out of bounds with what she could do, considering how in the beginning of book1 Daniel came into the that world in a house that was alive defending and protecting them from the goblins.

      Speaking of that house, I remember when they left, avilla couldn't bring all her stuff, so Daniel buried them away for safekeeping and promising to come back for them whenever they found a safe haven. Might have some useful stuff, they should come back for them now.

      What you said about avilla's sewing skills making clothes have self regeneration/transformation possible made me realize how op she can really be. Making the toughness of the clothes ever-lasting is a pretty awesome idea, not to mention that they could transform if needed. Diamond armors with self regeneration, would be so brokenly op.

      Elin branching into ice would be pretty awesome. I can't imagine what she could do with it but seeing how she now has unlimited mana supply the possibilities are limitless. Hoping it could be applied not just in fights but in helping/complimenting Daniel in building and upgrading his Black Isle. A frozen palace, ice skating ring for entertainment, create artificial snow...for snowmman(?) I guess, haha. There's lots she can maybe do with ice.

      Unhealing sounds like a nice idea for ellin since she could heal, so why not be able to the exact opposite, right. But I don't understand how that connects to her liking blood?

      Ellin getting a powered up dryad's armor would be pretty cool. Makes for good defense when she's not in grindelkin form. Only bad thing is that it's weak against fire but seeing how ellin uses water magic, it shouldn't be a problem.

      And I'm all for ellin being able to control her grindelkin form

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    8. Un-healing for Elin - in most standard "fantasy" healers are adverse to blood / harming others. For Elin, healing other is actually against her nature (she mentions to Daniel that she finds the blood appealing). So causing someone's blood vessels to rupture would not impact her like the standard white healer.

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  22. He should just enchant himself.

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  23. @cuttermasterson (March 16)
    “You know with the whole link between power stones and devices. Couldn't Black use that link as a way to communicate long distances?...”

    Yes!
    Why not built some small mana battery gadgets (radio device) that transmit spoken words on top of the “mana carrier wave”?
    Tatata…the magical walkie-talkie is born.
    If that is to powerful ….perhaps fixed radio stations in the black fortress to connect the different emplacements?

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  24. At the end of “Extermination” Daniel examined the translation ring given to him by the dark elves for the undercover mission.

    He mentioned that the ring had the whole language encoded in its magic. Later he speculated if it would be possible to encode arbitrary skills in an enchantment.

    That is a really powerfull idea!

    Instant skills with magic?
    The Conclave’s magic library in a magic item with direct mind-link? Like Magic Internet?
    Instant expert combat skills per magical ring (i.e. with a “skill-copy” of dark elf martial arts)?

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  25. What new magic could Daniel learn in the new book?

    Illusion?

    The Illusion department seems to be covered by his murder-succubus-pet. At least the shadow stealth part.

    So perhaps only some little colour blurring camouflage/concealment enchantments for his vehicles?
    The wolfen are stealthy recon/raider types…some low level colour blurring camo fatigues would augment their abilities.

    I’m not sure if invisibility is the thing for Daniel. Diverting light waves as basis for this effect seems to be his typical hard science approach to magic…but isn’t he more the massive firepower overkill guy?

    (maxim 37: There is no 'overkill.' There is only 'open fire' and 'I need to reload’)

    Divination?

    Not the mumbo jumbo future telling thingy. That’s for his fairy-nymphs.

    But magical scrying? Binoculars? Telescopes? Remote sensors with alarm function? Super magical senses? Mage sight? See through magical camouflage/shapeshange/illusion? Mindreading?

    Or as a major effect “foreboding”. Fraction of a second premonition (spiderman-dangersense) so his reaction speed is better?

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  26. Abjuration (protective spells)?

    Unspectacular background magic. Of course he will protect himself against anything. Armor effects, curse barrier, protection against heat, cold, electricity, acid, poison…), anti scrying, anti everything.

    Necromancy?

    The undead theme has a strong evil aftertaste….but perhaps communication with the dead/spirits?

    Enchantment (charm, compulsion)?

    Where are the explosions? Boooooring! Has also immoral flavor.

    Summoning/Calling?

    Summoning demons or other magical outsiders?
    Instant army? Powerful force multiplier, but won’t that cheapen his own cool troops?

    Evocation?

    He already has earth and fire and force.
    What about lightning/electricity?
    Every wizard needs lightning bolts! It is the prerequisite for being called a wizard/sorcerer! What the heck…even his crest is a lightning bolt.

    Other ideas?

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  27. So.. Flying Fortress Daniel has the lift enchantment from Cerise, he has the mass of the fortress to produce power to a lift spell voila flying fortress.

    Where will he go next??

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  28. DB has that hyperkinesis that comes with his force magic, I wonder if he could enchant rings to give those skills to others to improve their aim? And previously he stated a limitation with his mortars is that he needed to see his target and tactical fire would need a forward observation scout, communications and a coordinate/topographical info to use long range fire on enemies. But what if he made drone/golem that would fly to the enemies and made them broadcast a homing beacon for fire to direct itself to. If he reinvents the magi tech equivalent of a modern drone, he could monitor the enemy movements around the surrounding countryside allowing the base's military defenders to be more effective. It means they would need less of Daniel's input and allow him to focus more on Close Quarter Combat effectiveness for his marine units and his own anti-demigod weapons.

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    1. that's not part of his set of skills right now, maybe he will know how to do that a little by the end of the next book

      for the mortars and such his forces allrealdy outrange and for the most part overpower any enemies they come across, introuduceing something even longer range is an unneeded complication for his forces when the red conclave has their own way of reaching out that far
      the weekness his forces have right now is that it's too small, which require more bodies that have minamil training in his weapons, which taks time and since he's only been there for what? a month? his forces will grow but it needs time, and the casulitys on his forces only make it worse

      as for an anti-divine weapon, he pretty much discovered the magic powered nuke, though it does have bad secondary effects and it'a an AOE weapon but it's a start on say a megawatt lazer, and once he's able to make one of those you know he's going to arm his island with alot of them, and those will take most demi-gods out

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    2. A high power laser weapon would be awesome and it would fit in with his trend of overkill weaponry. He could create a light conjuring/manipulation enchantment with Cerise's illusion magic which would result in lasers but also camouflage for his troops and airships. He also now has a better military force in the dark elves and the groves and plans to improve his numbers, training and I'm assuming weaponry (like lasers).
      What do you think he would get from participating in the grove rituals? I know in extermination Hecate said he would benefit from them.

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    3. I just realise I stole the camouflage idea from Plattmaker. Sorry

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    4. dont worry about it, other people have taken my floting fortress idea that i posted months ago here, some ideas just get recyled

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  29. Running with the book title; giant cloning vat, with something to match soul to genetic material to be cloned, and something to attract the souls of selected deceased. Boom, Lazarus pit / Spawn point.
    With that he could start stealing all manner of personnel.

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  30. I'm looking forward to Bast being born and growing up, but the problem with a protagonist like Daniel is that you can't leave them alone too long; skip forward just a month and they'll have invented something ludicrous that turns the battlefield upside down. So I'm guessing we won't see Bast until book 5...

    The hearth witches we heard about might arrive on their holy kitchen-viewing pilgrimage as early as book 4, though :)

    Daniel ought to just buy the docks part of town outright from the Prince, so he can improve it at will and relocate the inhabitants to his fortress without objections. A ton of gold should be more than enough...

    A magical xerox machine seems like a good next peaceful project. Let's copy the library!
    Also, a room with a permanent low-power regeneration effect might be a good way to offload some healers' work such as the "scarred lungs" problem, saving time in the long run.

    Something Daniel could ask Tova for is a fae-style magically-binding vow for wizards, for when he takes in a bunch of them. (I'm thinking a straight-out Binding would be unpalatable.)
    Otherwise, they'll probably scheme and plot and ruin things.

    Finally, Daniel ought to replace a piece of his skull with a healing amulet (you're not REALLY badass until you can survive being decapitated), and switch a few of his bones for bone-shaped mana reactors, so they can't easily be taken from him. And if he keeps losing limbs, it's a bad idea to use magical rings when he could use magical *ribs* instead.

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    1. All of this sounds amazing! I hope some of these ideas make it into the books at some point.

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    2. Yeah, I too thought that Daniel should enchant his bones to attempt to attach with each other when separated and to contain matter converters and healing spells. It is a bit of a cheat as the amount of magic gained from converting mass to energy is greater than healing the converted mass loss.

      As to killing a god, well it's simple isn't it? Gods are magical beings. The way to destroy them is the opposite of Daniel's matter converter: turn the god's magic into solid matter.

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    3. > Daniel ought to just buy the docks part of town
      > outright from the Prince, so he can improve it at
      > will and relocate the inhabitants to his fortress
      > without objections. A ton of gold should be more
      > than enough...

      Buying the docks from the prince for cash may not
      be possible. For one the prince fucking hates and
      distrusts him and all things Coven Black right now.

      Also medieval land rights can be _very_complicated,
      with multiple types of claims, duties and
      privileges all tangled up and wrestling with one
      another for legal primacy over the same piece of
      dirt. Note how the real estate Daniel got in book 2
      was _granted_ to him (in exchange for his service)
      not sold. IOW it's a feudal arrangement.

      He acquired hereditary _usage_ rights, but the
      actual de jure owner of the land still remains the
      crown (same as with every other non-sovereign
      noble; in theory).

      Then there are the economic repercussions of
      unloading a large amount of specie in a not fully
      monetized, low surplus society. If Daniel throws a
      literal ton of gold at the prince he's liable to
      cause massive inflation in the empire, with the
      knock-on effects potentially crashing what has to
      be an economy already strained to its limits by war
      and a perma-winter climate change on steroids.

      Last but not least, flashing too much portable
      wealth is never a good idea, especially in front
      the poor, the criminally inclined, and government
      officials.

      Best case scenario it's an invitation for a legal
      shakedown (special tax levy to support the war
      effort), worst case you could provoke a full on
      at-sword-point expropriation under the fig leaf of
      some trumped up capital charges (treason is a
      popular one, though in Daniel's case a heresy
      there'll also be charge for good measure). At which
      point your options narrow to: run, revolt or
      swing/burn.

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  31. Not sure why he didn't make 20 mana generators for Hecate. She plants 20 at her place and when she get thumped, she blips back to her pad and recharges in under 20 seconds.... head back glowing like a neon light and curb stomp the original offender while he/she is licking his/her wounds from the first fight.

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  32. Or a choker with 12 Krugerrand size disks (platinum) each putting out juice like Daniels medalion.

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    1. Of course, he should "key" it to Hecate so if stolen by another god it goes inert. He should probably do that with the whole coven as a matter of fact..

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  33. Hell, I can see this world metamorphosing into a techno magic world. Humans in their frailty switch to magical technology that puts them on par with the supernatural beasts and even gives the gods pause as the sheep of the land develop fangs. Vehicular mounted .75 slug throwing machine guns, infantry armor with force shields and wards against multiple other attacks (curses, caustic agents, etc.), floating weapon platforms. Hecate, Prometheus, and other gods in support of these advances could rise into ascendance from obscurity and chains.

    Even the magically adept species/monsters can flourish as the increasing number of mana generators leak surplus mana into the world itself… a worldwide evolution with fascinating repercussions!


    And finally, Daniel, holder of the off key, steering the world so it avoids the errors and calamities of his home world. If I was him, I would never reveal the means of creating the mana generators, even after Ragnarok ends. Perhaps when there comes a balance between man, beast, monster, and gods... he finally relinquishes the creation of mana to the masses.

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  34. Since the second book where Daniel encountered golems i have been waiting for him to create something like a moving suit of armor. He could easily make something reminiscent of a 40k space marine suit with inches of enchanted armor, heavy machine guns, grenade lauchners, shields and flying modules that increase/decrease gravity. This could be operated by one his fighters and even a squad of these would be devastating.

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  35. Titanium or ceramic plating, even built as a Middle Ages suit of armor could be devistating with force strength and speed amplification and heavy warding. He could also solve the power desires in Hecate with multiple medallions focusing there generation through a medallion or gem (He hasn't even played with that media that I know of). Once he gets some breathing room, thing should become amazing with his blooming skills in artificing... However, I can understand power creep killing the series, but given the experience with Hecate, he has a loooong way to go! Honestly, I see his ultimate power being his empowerment of the people.

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  37. Course Daniel has a forge team... Not really sure what they are doing considering Daniel is doing all the metal/stone work himself. Can they make steel?

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    1. Daniel isn't making armor (armored vehicles, but not personal) for his troops. Also there is mundane uses like pots, pans, hooks, nails, farm tools, etc.

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  38. Black Citadel will need to get larger. Now, this is kind of a back of the napkin analysis, but what I did was some basic urban population density analysis. First I took the highest density area in our world (Tokyo) as a base, and then I calculated 10 floors based on current height descriptions. I came up with the following.

    Tokyo Population 37,126,000
    Tokyo Square Miles 3,300
    Tokyo: People / Square Mile 11,250
    Square Miles/ Acre 0.0015625
    Black Citadel Acres 10*10 100
    Total Sqr Mls in the Black Citadel 0.1562500
    Total Population in the Black Citadel 1,758


    I think this is pretty generous as you have agricultural areas and also his personal residence (both of which I think he should keep as is... the king needs his perks after all). To truly have a decent “seed population” should things fall apart, I would probably say he needs ten times the footprint or 100 acres. The reason I say footprint is I would be worried about the weight, and thus I would think the weight needs to be distributed rather than have an increase in height.

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    1. I like you chain of though with this!! He dose need a bigger space but with his frosty (frozen to .000001c of absolute zero) he has got to be careful. But A+ for researching and maths on this one!!!!

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    2. lol... well, unfortunately, the square mile conversion of an acre is really that small:)

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    3. I meant highest populated city in our world, not highest density

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    4. 1 acre = 43560 square feet so 10 acres = 435600 square feet

      If Daniel creates 400 square foot apartments he would get 1000 apartments per floor (kept 35000 square feet per floor for mechanicals)

      So he could handle 2000 residents per floor ... so 3 floors would give you 6000 residents

      Living conditions would not be horrible and this is more than enough for stable gene pool

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    5. Ok, it can’t be just a bunch of boxes stuck side by side. You have account for a forge, vehicle storage, half acre on each floor for food production (at the moment, may need more, who knows), and then the dryad areas, stores on the first level, Daniels household, training area, staging area, and storage. All these "incidentals" (not just mechanicals) needed for self-sufficiency take lots of space. That is why I used current population densities in the top city (tokyo) to account for this. Just putting boxes up against each other is not a way to measure the population capacity of citadel. Maybe he could do 3-4K people, but you have DE’s, Humans, Wolfen, just to start and from what I have read on the web, healthy sustainable populations for re-population take around 4k each…. Perhaps this is not an issue with the flesh magic (which I am eager to see him use to leverage his military).

      In the end, I think keeping it as is, is fine, but he will just have to save the City (or a portion of it). And he may already have done so with the neutron weapon he used.

      Ideas could include him creating another basement level with a ramp up to ground floor and use it for storage and vehicles. Close off the whole top and put hangars on top for air vehicles training grounds (on top), & forge (on top – Covered –like the hangar(s)). Use the lighting magic he used in the dryad habitat for inside to create day and night cycles.

      He can also focus on an elite combat force (quality instead of quantity). He has superior artificing technology, superior flesh & mana technology/magic and he can make smaller units of troops so devastating that massively larger enemy formations would shit themselves.

      Say 3 companies (100 troops each of Wolfen/Dryads for expedition forces armed with latest armor/weapons/enchants and mobile power sources (make them super mobile with his troop carrier vehicles say 20 per, so 5 per company). In addition, 200 ramped up whatever (DE, Dryad, Witch, Human, or Wolfen) for citadel defense, 50 Air Force, 50 Secret Service for a total of 600 total. The rest would be space for families, and select refugees, should he need to take those in.

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    6. The math seems off as it math does not include several factors already in play like the size of the walls (60ft per side!) or the space occupied by non-residential needs. I'd post the math, but I went over the character limit!

      Anyone interested in the breakdown by building and numbers given see https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ce9gzK4VB5KatTbgD8sdJrM6Jx2Q93xShFDSJ96JH7o/edit?usp=sharing

      Basically, my calculations give me a total capacity of 2376 residents in the palace not counting Daniel's family (current and future), not counting the Secret Service, and not counting the guard's barracks in the towers / gatehouse. Of course, not counting the groves either because it a production area rather than residence excepting the farmers.

      I'd say that the citadel could support 4000-6000 (3k civvies, 1k-3k guards) people given it's current height, but I'd need a floorplan from the author to make a better estimate. But, 6k would be crowded.

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    7. You also need traveling areas.

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    8. @ PatrickSJ

      As I said initially, it was back of the napkin using population density. However, I can see 4-6K in the citadel.

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    9. Actually, I was referring to Stacy's numbers.

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    10. The "palace", the way I read it, had a very large open area in the middle going up 2-3 floors and predominantly filled with a garden. Also, multiple areas are filled with workshop(s), ritual center, temple, large kitchen, dinning, conference area, waiting area, massive shower/bath/dressing area and I don't recall what else. Basically, a lot of area is used for quality of living... so I think your numbers are a bit off. But I think 4-6k for the whole citadel is fair enough, it's all speculation anyway. And I do agree that 6k would be crowded.

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    11. Hm, I used the wrong word then when saying palace. Basically I meant the second mega building that contains the palace. Floors 1-2 = shops, floor 3 = official functions, floor 5-7 = palace and does not count for numbers since it's for Daniel's family only (basically a keep within a castle). Floor 4 and Floors 8 upward are unused. Given the height of 200-ish feet not counting the roof and at 11 feet per floor (counting their ceilings) that gives a total of 18 floor from which we subtract the 2+1+3 = 12 remaining floors already used for non-residential purposes. I wasn't 100% sure if floor 4 was in use or not. The description made it seem like it was used for non-residential so I didn't count it giving me 11 floors in the end.

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    12. Let’s render this barbaric gibberish into civilized units…. ;-)))

      10 acres are about 40.468,56 square meters, that is a square with an edge length of 201,2 meters.

      Somewhere in book 3 Daniel mentioned that his citadel was already slightly larger…..so make it a 210 meter square fortress.

      That is a really, really imposing structure (and it’s nearly 61 meters [200 feet] tall, as well)!!

      With the prevailing ideal magical infrastructure (regulated temperature and light, clear water, wastewater simply dispelled…) I can imagine thousands of military personal or population in general living there without problems.

      Add the potentially upgraded groves/dryads and maybe a little bit of dimensional space magic (see bag of holding) in book 4…and all space/food problems are solved.

      But what is the aspiration?
      A well manned, autonomous citadel or the last refuge of humankind?
      A magical stronghold next to a metropolis or will the city be absorbed into the black citadel?

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    13. Patrick (awesome break down), I did some further research and will add the following;
      1. My calculations did not account for the 30ft step in (fighting deck) which started at 80ft up.
      2. Based on this line from book, I think towers stick out from walls a bit"big square projections at the corners"
      3. The author states that each tower will support several hundred soldiers (4 towers = 800 to 1000 soldier depending on what the author means by several)
      4. My calculation did not include a kitchen in apartments. I assumed each floor would have shared kitchen and baths (similar to original keep)

      Finally I applaud Patrick on the research and the provide white paper.

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    14. Kyriakos Stefanakos, thanks for the comment. I think Patrick and I both found it an interest idea to explore.

      Delete
  39. BTW, I know there are more highly dense areas in the world like Bangladesh, Dhaka at ten times the density of Tokyo. but that includes some pretty hideous living conditions.

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  40. After reading some ok all of the comments above, I still can't believe only one person has mentioned using titanium for anything!!! Why hasn't Daniel used it to make his are ship? It's as light as aluminium but a lot stronger. Same for his APC's for his troop transport. He is thinking of what his troops will do when facing large heavily armoured monsters, simple have a magazine fed rifle with a heavy-duty round. This could be a duel purposes armour piecing explosive simular to what the military uses for .50cals. I have said magazine fed for easy of enchantment and control of what could be captured and used against him. As his current troop rifle works similar to a railgun the weapon mentioned above could fire a rarefied metal like tungsten or depleted uranium. Also as it would be magazine feed you wouldn't have to spend time waiting for the bullet to be summoned. As for over things he should try, what about carbo? It's one of the most common element and it ranges from supper soft graphite to super hard diamond surely he could workout how to get this! Just think grinder with diamond and force edge Buzz saws running up and down its length, anytime he finds the force blades struggling with being dispelled plasma and diamond cutting blades to ruin there day. Also diamond would make a great armour that would be virtually unbreakable.

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    2. The motive force when utilizing the diamond blades would probably be disabled with the dwarven anti magic field.

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    3. that the point of having diamonds in the mix, as the dispelling effect kills the force field holding grinder together you will get small projectile moving above the speed of sound firing out with the plasma jet. Think ultra thin, ultra hard mini ninja stars backed up bye a plasma touch. That would ruin anybody's day!

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    4. I think the titanium idea was shut down previously as it is a hard to conjure material. Remember, the difficulty in conjuring a material through sorcery increases with the materials' rarity in nature.

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  41. Titanium is awesome. It is as strong as steel (twice as strong as aluminum) resists heat up to 1800 C, only 60% heavier than aluminum (but lighter than steel), corrosion resistant, and looks shiny black in its raw form (at least the stuff I have seen). Imagine a elite company (say 100 men) outfitted with shiny black armor (enchanted to the 9's) wielding 6 barrel miniguns...that ought to make the enemies sphincter pucker...

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    1. Did a little research and while the element isn't rarely naturally in deposits by itself, it is typically bonded with something, which I am not sure Daniels mining technique would be able to extract the element. However, in it's pure form it is still exhibits the qualities above. Also, the color in it's purest form is like a silvery (slightly gray) color... sort of like a lustrous aluminum.

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    2. Yeah, Titanium in metallic form simply doesn't exist within the earth's crust, only as oxides. Which means summoning it would be impossible according to the rules described in the books.

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    3. Uhh... Titanium by and of itself is worthless. It's super bendy, more than a metal paper clip. And the residue... ick. Acid from the human body is enough to dissolve small amounts of the stuff, tastes like a dull metallic plastic. He would have to invest heavily in metallurgic research to make decent alloys out of it. I would pay to see a pure titanium mini-gun fire, it would look like 6 small wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men shooting death and destruction everywhere before jamming and exploding. Epic.

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    4. My understanding of how his earth summoning magic works, is that its the amount writhing the deaths crust/magma/core that's the limiting factor. Aluminium is a highly reactive metal so I don't think it's found in its pure/metalic form naturally, that's why it's used as an oxidizer in thermight (powdered aluminium with iron oxide). As for for using it in its pure form (thanks Robert Gibbs, I didn't know that about its pure form.) What about a carbon titanium alloy? As we know Daniel can summon element in there pure forms or in an alloy form (I'm taking this from the fact that when Daniel was summoning pure iron, then nickel iron alloy) yes it was harder to summon pure iron than its natural nickel/iron alloy, but that's where his factories come into there own. Set it up to summon the perfect alloy then leave t to it, even if it's only a few grams a minute left running 24/7 that soon adds up. Just look at the good factorie.

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    5. Re.: naturally occurring elemental aluminum

      It does exist, it's just _very_ rare. There are about two dozen known sites where it occurs, mostly in trans-ural Russia and China.

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    6. Re.: carbon titanium alloy

      Not a naturally occurring substance. In fact if you look at the production process it's very hard and complex to make artificially even with the full power and knowledge of modern science and industry at our disposal.

      Daniel has an Earth magic cheat, not a Alchemy(Metallurgy) or Matter one.

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    7. He does mess with matter, he is converting it to energy... quite hard actually. But, I understand what you are saying, alloys are going to require more than just magic, though magic could do quite a lot. I still think high quality steel is well within his means though, he has the heat, and ability to summon the components.

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  42. BTW, Mr Brown, if anything I post you like, please feel free to use it:) I just like hypothesizing, and am in no way criticizing your work, I love your work and the way things are developing.

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  44. What happens if you put a god or goddess in the same kind of container that Daniel used to suck the magic out of the mercury golem?

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    1. Well there is the small problem of getting a god/goddess into the container in the first place.

      Also from the descriptions in the books i strongly suspect that while entities like Hecate & Co can create a physical manifestation on a plane (a metaphysical 'toehold' in form of local believers provided) they are not themselves physical beings.

      They are higher dimensional lifeforms, and a physical prison would no more be able to constrain them than drawing a chalk line around their shadow on the floor would a human like you or me.

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  45. Interesting... long term prison until the god fades away?

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    1. I think a small blackhole would be the perfect long term prison for a god ;)

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  46. It's stupid Daniel hasn't created some kind of healing stone(s), linked it to one of the Power Source stones, and put it in some kind of hospital area in the keep. It would save a lot of time for himself and Elin if there was something that could indiscriminately dump healing energy into humans that touched it like his amulet does. It wouldn't be super quick, wouldn't work for non-humans unless separate ones were designed, and it wouldn't do more than stabilize the severely injured, but it would free up a lot of time and potentially save a lot of lives.

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    1. thats a good idea you came up with, but why not go one step further? have each of his troops have a minor healing amulet (kinda like what the elfs got) that way when they get injured in battle they have a nuch greater chance of surviveing

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    2. Was thinking that myself. I have to say, I am really looking forward to improvements he will bring (hopefully in the next book). Hopefully, the last attack on the ape-men will buy him some room for some substantial defense force building/enhancement. Not so happy with the split attention of another series... I can see the wait becoming arduous.

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    3. One of the problems with a lot of the suggested mass-produced magic gadgets i see - beyond whether they're feasible and/or practical by themselves - is the danger of proliferation.

      Daniel may, for the time being, have a quasi-monopoly on a lot of knowledge, but he doesn't have a monopoly on intelligence or ability. Every piece of novel magic tech he creates represents a potential vector through which his ideas and the principles behind them can spread to his rivals if not out and out enemies.

      Anything issued to the rank and file _will_ be captured on the battlefield, and find their way into unfriendly hands with the interest and ability to analyze and retro engineer them; that's unavoidable.

      His opponents may be comparatively hidebound and complacent for the most part, but not all of them, and certainly not forever. They're not stupid and quite a few have much more practical experience than Daniel, on top of an ridiculous amount of raw personal power.

      All of which means whenever giving the cool toys to his grunts one very important question he has to ask himself is this: "Can I afford to be on the receiving end of that six months from now? Because i will be."

      Just my $0.2 on the matter, YMMV.

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    4. right now the people who are most likely to reverse enginer his magi-tech are the red conclave wizards, and they allready have a (week) power stone and mana transmition amulets, and if daniel is going to be that worried about these amulets being stolen (which doesn't seem like it since all the dark elfs will be getting a mana amulet) he could put a one time use spell that wraps the amulet around the brestbone, that way pretty much the only way it can be lost/stolen is if the previous owner has died/betrayed them, and if the owner of said amulet dies you can have a contingency spell that wrecks any and all spells on it upon death, so it then just becomes a useless chunk of metal

      and if someone is able to reverse enginer the tech he has made? more than likely it's just going to be only a very few people (something like 1-5 people) and not an army like the one he is building up, if they want to match his technical progress (never exceed since they dont have his moddren knowlage) they would need to crack the secret to the power stone, and the only places i can think of with items that have that mana-power enchantment outside of his immediet control, is the power stone in the red conclave (which daniel did take certain precautions in, so i'm sure there is some kind of alarm spell on it incase tampering happens) the hot-rocks on the riverbed, and posisbly the hot-rock enchantment factory that is also on the riverbed

      as for sending spys to get the info on how to make that enchantment, he's only been in the city for what? a month? and the 'enemy' (likely gods) that can decide to send said spy may not have the info on him yet, or made the wrong conclusions about him at this time, or just has other higher prioritys than just a single (albeit powerfull) earth mage that's not currently doing anything to harm their overall plans, though depending on after he kills gaia the other gods find out he killed her that could change drasticly

      and i didn't think i would be typing such a long response :/

      Delete
    5. I think we have to keep in mind that Daniel is messing with atoms and sub atomic particles at this time. Not even a ancient goddess new about radiation. I don't see election microscopes, or colliders in this world. In addition, Daniel has a COMPLETE knowledge of mana magic, that is pretty huge and short of Prometheus himself, I doubt many have this (as a matter of fact, I think Prometheus has a pretty big hand in Daniels magical knowledge as hinted at in the third book). As a result, I think Daniels mana generation ability is quite safe for hundreds if not thousands of years. The other items, maybe not so much.

      Delete
    6. electron, not election. fucking spell check. wish this thing had an edit.

      Delete
    7. Not mass producing the healing stones. Making a couple, and keeping them in a guarded hospital area in the keep, with the power source it's linked to under heavy guard with the other power sources. The only reason this hasn't happened is because the author didn't think of it. In story, Elin—the woman who's spent a good portion of her life healing— at least would have been smart enough to have already suggested the idea.

      Of course, this issue is just a symptom of the larger problem. Brown really needs to slow down his publication pace. There are still glaring errors in all three of his books despite abundant corrections from readers (e.g., book 2 'Hecate' is accidentally used when Daniel's analyzing Hel's abilities) and then there are issues like this, where something that should logically have happened doesn't. And of course the pacing issues in book 3.

      Delete
    8. We have to remember that the entire events of the book have taken place in a very small amount of real time. And also bear in mind that Elin is probably still stuck in a paradigm where enchantments are expensive time consuming things and the concept of using machines (magic machines in this case) to do a particular task is not very well developed. A paradigm shift of this sort will take time. Especially when you are in an environment where you are facing one existential crisis after another. The conversation between Daniel and Cerise about the way spells are delivered is another example. They never even considered that the other person would be doing something different, or that the method of fast enchanting can be taught. If they were in a calmer situation those sort of discussions would have come up.

      So you may be right in saying that it is just the case of the author did not think of it. But I think that not implementing ideas that seem obvious to us readers just lends more humanity to the characters. Fallible characters are fun to read about.

      Just my 2 cents. Did not intend for it to be such a long post.

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    9. I'm pretty sure this was covered already when he made the amulets for the coven the healing ability had to be individually made for each person. Daniel can't make one stone that heals everyone

      Delete
  47. Medical medallions that can be placed on the patient that only do generalized healing/pain suppression for stabilizing a patient until more detailed healing can be done. Neat idea.

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  48. Im going to toss in my quarter here and say that in the progress of the 4th book it would be an awesome thing to tone sexual activity (mainly the harem activity) into more a background thing and if possible make an addition like a coven bro. Last thing such a great story needs is to turn into some heaping pile of harem garbage. A male member would do much to create a more original feel to this already original story with science references. That or more equilibrium in genders of the main cast.
    Another weapon that the main character could make would be a dust bomb or very simple death water beam. With enough pressure and a small enough hole it's a rather silent but absurdly lethal weapon.
    PS water beam wouldn't consume oxygen in closed spaces

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    1. I thought the same thing about another coven member. Maybe a gender-shifting shape shifter

      Delete
  49. While the sex was funny at first, I can agree with you, having it fade into the background would be nice. I don't know what male would be a good fit in the coven though... some of the wizards seem cool, but would you give them access to that sort of power? Honestly, not sure what anyone besides Mara would bring to the table...

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    1. I completely disagree. The sex scenes have been part of the story from the beginning, and the author shouldn't have to censor himself because of prudish readers.
      I for one am looking forward to the foursome with Tova and her daughters, the seduction of Sefwin, and the Nymph/Dryad orgy.

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    2. I don't think there will be a coven bro. When the plans for the coven were made two things popped out to me. First that there has to be a sexual attraction between the members as this allows for the magic to mix. DB wouldn't even have a go with Cerise's tail so no luck there. Also it seemed like the wording of the bond excludes partakeing any other men for all members. The other question is whether the membership of the coven has to be increased two at a time.

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    3. The obvious line up for new coven members right now is Mara, Sefwin, and Tova.

      Delete
  50. I do not agree with the toning down of the sexual content. Its fine the way it is: 3-4 explicit scenes are part of the story and the interrelationship of the coven and are not overdoint it considering thats about 10-20 pages total in the book.
    Taking that away would imho take away part of the awesome writing style and the identity of the books.

    Cheers

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    1. My take:

      I don't mind the pron; so long as it doesn't get in the way of, or crowd out the actual story. Which is not just a purely quantitative issue, but one of timing/placement as well.

      I mean after three books do we really need to read about lesbian/bisexual gangbang nr.253, especially if it means putting a screeching halt to the action (outside the bedroom)?

      We know player(s). We know they're all preternatural- and perpetually hot and horny for one another 24/7/365. We've already seen/read all the meaningful possible variations and combinations (or close enough to make no difference).

      If there were _no_ explicit sex scenes anymore from hereon out it's not really like we readers would be missing out on anything (not that i'm advocating, mind, not at all).

      So a somewhat relaxed approach can and should be taken that first and foremost asks: Is this (sex) scene _really_ essential? Does it contribute anything to the story, beyond a rote ticking off some fetish/pairing check box? Does the placement at this particular point stall the overall narrative momentum?

      The first volume got the mix almost perfectly right for my personal tastes. The second and third by comparison were trying a little too hard (and too much). YMM as always V.

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    2. you had me start thinking about those scenes in book 2 and 3, book 2 major sex scene was the transformation of tina and the conception of bast which to me seem pretty integral to the story in a future book

      for book 3 it was more of showing elin becomeing more comfortable with the coven and showing/solveing mara's issues with a possible invite into the coven in the future which again is kinda integral for the future story, for the rest it was more of 'fade to black' kind of feeling, so your complaints are somewhat,,, hmm, i dont know what words to use, since most other people who have read the books dont mind at all

      as for this "YMM as always V." i got no idea what that means

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    3. You guys realize the debate of the sex in the books is pointless right? He already said that he would publish two books one with the fade to black and the other much like the first.

      Delete
    4. YMM as always V = Your Mileage May, as always, Vary.

      Which is to say others may very well have a different take on the whole subject, or find the balance in books 2 or 3 more in line with their preferences.

      Delete
    5. > book 2 major sex scene was the transformation of
      > tina and the conception of bast which to me seem > pretty integral to the story in a future book

      Making my point (sort of). _That_ scene had a purpose beyond simple fan service. It's the ones that don't i'm dubious about (and yes there are quite a few) when they notably cut into the amount of story being told and/or placed in away that ends up disrupting the narrative flow.

      Simply put in volumes 2 and 3 there were often times when the sexcapades of Daniel & Co felt like 'filler', something thrown in because the author had a quota to meet not as a needful, organic part of the story.

      Now others may have had a different reading experience, but that was mine.

      *shrug* 'de gustibus' and all that.

      ___________________

      p.s.: Speaking of the Bast resurrection project. Am i the only one who thought it a bit odd that Daniel wanted Bast's consciousness in the drivers seat during the conception instead of Tina's despite her explicitly offering to leave the (mental) room so to speak?

      Oh sure he said it was to throw the old girl a bone after her long dry spell, and then there's bragging rights to consider, but he _does_ realize that once she gets her divine memory upgrade for her first birthday his literal, daughter - who he raised and presumable saw grow up from infancy - will have a first person recollection of a wild monkey sex marathon with her daddy, doesn't he?

      Yeah, the familial relations of antique deities don't bear close examination as a rule, so Bast 2.0 probably will take this as business as usual, but i'd have expected Daniel as a 20th ct Westerner to be at least a little bit disturbed by the implications, and take the out when offered.

      Delete
  51. Is there a reason titanium hasn't been used for more of the building stuff? It's obviously not as common as nickel iron, but it's pretty damn common and inherently superior even to steel in many cases.

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    1. His ability to summon the stuff is debatable. It's pluses as opposed to aluminum, tin, and brass usage in a magical medieval setting is also debatable. At what point does he start worrying about sturdy light weight pivot points and avoidance of situations where aluminum oxides and iron oxides would meet? Right now he's still using magic to jump the technical gaps where the usage might normally be considered. Like when the floor starting buckling on his blimp, he didn't think about uses of alloys in structural reinforcement, he went straight to the magical solution.

      Delete
    2. yes he's not really considering "will it be more efficent if i do it this way" he's thinking more like "can it work this way?" spending time to figgure out stronger/lighter alloys is not a good thing at this point for daniel, as he needs more items quickly, not less items that are incremental more powerfull

      though if he can remember a recipe for a stronger steel that might be different, what could happen is an exiled tribe of dwarfs may join up, then he could set up some material factories and mana powered forges then those dwarfs can make some stronger alloys, or just tell them to experiement with making different alloys, then all he has to do is setup the factories and forges and wait for the results to come in

      Delete
    3. In nordic mythology dwarves tend to be not at all like Tolkien dwarves, but rather nasty, and inherently traitorous figures.

      The books appear to follow that pattern so i'm not sure how desirable having a bunch of dwarves shady enough to be kicked out even by their own kind running around in your center of production would be.

      You'd have to constantly worry about them finding some legal loophole, or engineering one, to rationalize switching sides and/or running off with all your stuff.

      Admittedly the svart alfar he picked up share a lot of those traits as well and they seem to have worked out so far, but there's only so much serendipity an author can throw at his protagonist to shade the odds in his favour before that suspension bridge called disbelief finally snaps.

      Delete
    4. well i did say it was an 'if' situation, so who knows who the next group of people could be (mole people or an incectoid for all we know, though probaly too alien for them) but i would like to see a race of lizard people since we have a breif mention of a naga in book 2, perhaps rescued from a different realm? eh, i just want to read the next book so thes questions can be put to rest and new questions can be brought up

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    5. Dwarves are not the only species that would have extensive knowledge about working with metals. Daniel may be joined by kobolds or goblins, or even the wizards of the Red Conclave, which may not be as experienced as dwarves but are still sources of information about mystical metallurgy. He may also come across a blacksmith deity's follower, for example a student of Hephaestus. The Olympians pantheon did make some fairly impressive weapons.

      Delete
  52. The minmax-cheater in me is gleefully clapping at all those ideas.
    In a computer game I would instantly activate those features.

    But in a book…especially in a series I have my doubts.
    Where is the suspense with all this ultimate magic solutions?

    Last minute rescue?

    Not required, just put them in the magical healing room. Daniel/Elin can heal them when they are finished with dinner.

    Overhelming invading army?

    Send the first group of hundred golems to support the division of earth-, air-, water elementals and then the hover tank force to mop up the rest of the opposition.

    Okay, that’s overblown…but you get the drift.

    I really like to see Daniel increase his (magical) might and crank out myriad cool gadgets, but it needs to be balanced.

    So far the lack of time is the storytelling instrument to limit Daniel…hopefully Mr. Brown is able to continue to ride the edge in book 4 (and beyond).

    PS: Since Daniels moat can’t have proper cocodiles (too cold)…some water elementals would be great ;-)

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  53. New, better materials?

    Until now Daniel/the author used his universal structural-reinforcement-spell to toughen every material (stone, iron, aluminum….).

    So no new materials are really necessary.

    In the end a wooden sword with a major reinforcement spell and a big mana-reserve may be as strong as the one of the kind sword made of meteoric adamatium…

    …but it lacks flavor.


    Hence I would like to see some VISIBLE progress.
    Some steel instead of nickel-iron, perhaps some titanium or silver, gold, platinum instead of anything at hand to enchant…make the items VISIBLY stronger…so we can enjoy them even more.

    At the end of book 3 Daniel fought against a neanderthal demigod.
    He won but the powers of his earth talisman were stretched to its limit (and beyond).
    Can Daniel put up with some random pimped mutant savage being stronger than his priced magical items? Noooooo…ergo a power-up is needed.
    Instead of only stengthening the reinforcement and levitation enchantments he could magically insert a diamond (to hold the even stronger enchantment). From now on the talisman (mark 2) will shimmer a little in bright light or when operating at full power and can cut even bone of demigods. ;-)

    Or now the (mark 2) talisman conjures (stainless?)steel instead of plain nickel-iron…
    Or it is now made of basalt and has additional heat-/fire powers…


    Perhaps there is a natural (magical?) rule saying that materials can only be reinforced so far with magic (even unlimited magic), so high quality / exotic materials become more important?
    ------
    Please excuse my spelling…I’m a not a native speaker.

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    1. I think Brown was hinting at this kind of thing when in the third book Black made those magic talismans for the elves and made them of silver instead of bronze. They still have the same output but are smaller so if it requires more magic it needs to be of higher quality material. So it stands to reason that the better materials can hold more enchantments and since he's gonna want to get stronger and better, he needs to upgrade! And when he upgrades its gonna attract more powerful enemies so the books will keep that edge.

      Delete
  54. I got the same vibe....

    And later on the dark elf rescue mission Daniel realized that gold takes the magic even better.


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  55. The black wolfskin cloak with armor and fire-resistance enchantment.

    What does it look like in your imagination?

    More a cape or more a Harry-Dresden-style trenchcoat?

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  56. Got a what if for you ... Hecate makes you the same offer as Daniel. What 5 traits do you try for is cross over.

    I think I would go with
    1. Power (controlling, granting, stealing, etc)
    2. Travel (fast movement, teleport, portals, flying)
    3. Transmute (healing, shape changing, convert poor item to quality item)
    4. Knowledge (stealing, storing, learning, instant understanding) ... image going in to conclaves library and copying all the knowledge to a crystal or learning spells by holding scroll
    5. Mana (self explanatory)

    I thought all of these worked well in synergy with each other

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    Replies
    1. Well, we'd also have to assume we're working the same knowledge as Daniel prior to arriving, i.e., he needs to rescue and protect Cerise, it's winter - Fimbulwinter and Ragnarok, and she's currently under attack.


      That means that you need a quick to use magic for combat. No time to make gear, need a direct damage ability. You need to be able to survive the coldest of cold. Do you have time to tech up or go for the quick & dirty?

      You don't know that the Conclave exists and if you surmised their existence you don't know where they are or how soon you can get to them.

      ---

      I would have gone for:
      #1 - Healing all injuries, sickness, and bodily afflictions (frostbite, wounds, hunger)
      #2 - Temperature control (warmth and cold)
      #3 - Force constructs / solid illusions (add fire for a portable shelter)
      #4 - Conjury (phantom guards, golems, summons, etc. Instant fighting force)
      #5 - Mana (basically a god power)

      Delete
    2. Conjury (summoning) is a good one. Provide fighters, transportation and lots of other various goodies.
      Illusion (deception) is also another nice one.

      Transmute and Travel where my instant combat / healing options.
      - Transmute would allow
      -- blood to acid, transmute bones to flesh, eyes to stone
      -- transmute caster's body into fighting form (some kind of previous form memory is needed ... Daniel does not have this ability with his shape changing but Elin does)
      -- Micro portal around organs, hands, head
      -- Teleport foe 100 ft in air, teleport behind them
      Knowledge would be based on the assumption of the existence of magical knowledge (scrolls & books). You would not have to know about conclave just assume someone documented knowledge of spells

      My list was based on think it through and knowledge of the book. If dropped into it like Daniel would I think my list may look for like the following
      1. Martial Arts / Physical Adept (Attack)
      2. Fire or Electricity (Attack & Warmth)
      3. Medicine (Healing)
      4. Shielding / Warding (Protections
      5. Teleport / Flying (maybe)

      Sadly I don't think I would have had the presence of mind to have thought of mana or power or knowledge

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    3. -Mana (op)
      -Flesh (healing and transformation and possible creating of creatures)
      -atoms (massdestruction, conversion of materials etc.)
      -space (teleportation, pocketdimensions; possibly even gravitation and blackholes)
      -fire
      -

      Delete
    4. Really like atoms ... lends itself to combat, building via nano-techno magic and potentially covers the healing slot.

      Delete
    5. Yeah but not very good and I need Flesh for creating a living Mana feed Fortress (atoms is more for creating food, supermaterials and eatly weapons of massdestruction) ^^

      Furthermore I could create with Flesh any amount of super workers, soldiesr etc.

      Delete
  57. Since we're writing munchkin lists:

    1.) Energy = transfer, control, and conversion of...
    well... pretty much _everything_. Heck even matter is a
    form of energy. (c:

    2.) Dimensions = manipulating space, time and paratime
    for fun and profit. Bonus: since transitioning between
    timelines apparently gives you sorcerous talent(s)
    going joyriding in interdimensional space equals
    convenient (unlimited?) powerups. Sure you might piss
    off Zeus, but dude's been dead/kicked out with the rest
    of the olympians by the Aesir millenia ago so who gives
    a goddamn (pun intended)?

    3.) Probability = as the man said its better to be lucky
    than skilled, and once the greeneyed lady is your bitch
    the universe is your oyster, period.

    4.) Life = why artficially limit yourself to just flesh
    alone.

    5.) Meta-Magic (aka Mana) = we all know it.

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    1. In first book they kind of referenced mega-gods (powers) ... I think they are a magnitude higher in power level than world bound godlings

      Delete
  58. You have to also remember that you have a limited amount of time in transit between worlds to accumulate this knowledge. Say u have 100 ability points which is the total amount of time.
    Say Daniel has:
    - Mana (30)
    - Earth (25)
    - Flesh (25)
    - Force (15)
    - Fire (5)
    These numbers might be wrong, they're just guesses from what I understand of how strong Daniel is in these fields. I thought of reading the first book and seeing if I get a better idea of how long he spent on each field but I'm typing this on my iPad and I will lose what I've already typed. And it would be embarrassing to not have the numbers all add up. Let me check them again...

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    1. No asking for a way to temporarily re-enter this extradimensional repository of knowledge. I think it's similar to what is called the Akashic record (look it up, it's an interesting topic).

      Delete
    2. Using your scale - % and minimum goals
      1. Power - 25% (boosting & siphoning)
      2. Travel - 10% (flying & teleport)
      3. Transmute - 15% (healing & shape shifting)
      4. Knowledge - 20% (transfer (stealing) & instant learning)
      5. Mana - 30%

      If I needed to drop one it would be Knowledge sadly

      I considered Physical Adept / Martial Arts as skill to munch

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    3. You need to be able to conceptualize as an Element. That's why Daniel had to get Flesh instead of just Healing.
      Travel and Transmute are actions and I don't think would work.
      Knowledge would work (it's something to be acted upon). It could also be generalized further to Information.

      Delete
    4. Travel could be made to work as "SpaceTime". Teleportation, portals, local space manipulations, timetravel, distortion effects such as superspeed, possibly even gavity effects.

      Delete
    5. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    6. How would you use these powers in Daniel's situation though?
      His main strategy is to hole up in a fortress where he keeps increasing its offensive and defensive capabilities with his earth and mana sorcery and which will eventually be self sustaining?

      Delete
    7. Dominic, I think the powers you try to aquire differ based on the amount of knowledge you possess at the time.

      My premise was day 0 and would select the powers they felt the most connection too.

      How they apply to the world Daniel exists in depends on rules of the universe he is in.

      Since we come from a modern world ..
      1. Power - the concepts for power would have revolved around storing, draining, using, increasing, etc (we are a power user society)
      2. Travel - the concepts for travel would have revolved around flight, fast ground transport, under water, space, and teleportation
      3. Transmute - the concepts for transmute would have built on knowledge of atoms, nanotechnology, alloys and shape shifting (which often is used for healing)
      4. Knowledge - the concepts for knowledge would have built on the concepts of databases, data transfer, hacking, learning programs, artificial intelligence
      5. Mana (books define what this power does)

      So of these may have been useless on day 0 becasue of rules of universe and my inability to apply it to combat but I would not have know that when I entered the rabbit hole. I will state that I've read many books and played many games where 1 - 3 were very effective combat powers

      Delete
    8. As noted earlier if I really started on day 0 my lists would probable differ greatly since I lacked all the knowledge I gained form reading books LOL

      The following set is more realistic for how I think in a hurry
      1. Martial Arts / Physical Adept (Attack)
      2. Fire or Electricity (Attack & Warmth)
      3. Medicine (Healing)
      4. Shielding / Warding (Protections
      5. Teleport / Flying (maybe)

      Delete
    9. If you only hear fimbulwinter I guess most people would actually choose fire instead of earth.
      Healing is also a capability you cannot do without going into combat alone under unknown conditions. The interesting part is how you embody it in an element. You might have chosen life instead of flesh, which might give you the ability to create life or perhaps biochemistry. It may make you able to make flow milk and honey literally.

      Mana is a joker. Whether you take it depends on your prior assumption about magic needing it.

      If you look at it from a certain angle you need to cover attack, defence, supplies, healing, travel, communication and shelter.

      The glaring hole DB left is in travel and communication and to a lesser extent in supplies but he overdid shelter. Hecate was nice enough to provide basic communication for him.

      The rather interesting question is what he could have done without. Actually the most obvious thing to leave out is earth. Maybe it could be exchanged for spacetime (teleportation) or air (flying?) to cover transportation.

      And I personally would have tried to cover more of supplies and I admit the master stroke of thinking of force as an element would likely have been beyond me under pressure.

      Delete
  59. Sorry if I don’t refer to everyone’s individual post, but I read through several months of posts before posting.
    As one poster said, the whole thing comes down to time and learning what he can do with his magic. It’s been around one month from book 1 to 3 and in that time he has done crazy cool stuff, but Daniel hasn’t even had a week to catch up. He had a couple days before the big battle to make an airship, teach fast enchanting, finish some of the important magic protections on the castle, build the castle up to its massive size (except for the front gate) and go on a few rescue missions, before he was pulled on a rescue mission for the Elves. Once he came back he had to fix the ship, come up with anti-air guns and put them together, meet to plan the attack on the army trying to take the city, come up with those special penetrator rounds and create the power stones for the wizards and his own people in basically two days. Once they destroy the army outside of the gates, he spends the rest of the day finishing off the black citadel’s main gate and starts the radiation experiments and in four days after the destruction of the army he is in Gia’s realm.
    Daniel’s had no time at all to really catch his breath or even have a solid base to operate from until now and he hasn’t even made it back to the black citadel. I’m hoping/kind of thinking we will see several new enemies pop up that will require some major upgrades from Daniel.
    First off as it was pointed out, Daniel ran into his first demi-god battle and the demi-god was still recovering from his death from the mortars. Daniel almost lost and the guy wasn’t even at full strength, so he’s going to have to do something there. A couple thoughts: An upgrade of the Earth talisman will somehow be in the works, which will probably assist in the creation of magical suits of armor/driving gnomes. The banana he ate will give him an upgrade and might be something his magic could copy, or the dryads empowerment will give him additional strength somehow to put him more on-par with fighting demi-gods. I really think the dryads and their ceremonies are going to somehow really help his strength and power.
    Second, he needs to kill Gia, so that means some mass destructive weapons to kill her followers. I’m curious if he is really going to get away with his attack on Gia’s hidden realm without everyone knowing he was the reason Gia lost millions and millions of her soldiers and people. We’ll probably see and angry Gia following Mara to Daniel’s fortress since Mara won’t be suffering radiation sickness like everyone else in the secret realm, and that will be how Daniel’s hand in destroying Gia’s people is found out.
    Third, the black citadel has massive room for a major portion of the city. The towers on each corner of the island alone is as big as his first defensive keep that he built on the island and those are going to available for his army. Those four massive keeps alone will house a humongous army. You’ll see those being filled by rescue missions, new groups coming to join him and survivors of the garrison. The rest of the island has a bunch of land available for more huge buildings like the dryad structure, Daniel just hadn’t built it yet. If he makes them like the shelters in the city, Daniel could save 20 to 40 thousand people easily. The question is getting those wards in place to keep people on the black citadel that isn’t fighting against him.
    -continued next post...

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  60. Pelgra (spelling) is going to start making headway in meeting the many other races in the city. At some time a faire representative will come visit and see Ella (spelling) and that she’s no long a monster and something big is going to happen there. Daniel will probably have to fight the fairies in some way before he will earn their respect. Then Ella is going to something like a returning princess that gets help from the fairies to battle something attacking the black citadel.
    Fourth, there is a huge demon devourer army headed his way that is eating everyone in the world. Daniel is going to have to upgrade all of his defenses and troops to deal with the attack: First, I could see massive gun batteries along the top of the wall of the black citadel that are protected by force screens that individual soldiers sit inside what was made for the Intrepid’s defense. Second, as a poster talked about earlier, suits of armor that are driven like golems or space marine suits of armor. Maybe Daniel would use the magic ring concept to give his soldiers increased skills to use these weapon upgrades. Third, Daniel is going to have to figure out how to deliver massive overkill distant weapons to kill the mouth of the devourer in Naples, Italy. Strategic curses will probably not work, so we are talking about additional flying ships to deliver a special magical nuke. I’m not sure this will all happen in book 3 or will start at the end of book three and go to book four.
    Fifth, assassination attacks and strategic curse attacks against Daniel and his black citadel. I’m not sure how this will all work. I think we’ll see Tina fight someone at some point in time in full cat form. Probably after she’s had the baby. Some goblin assassin or some other race will sneak in and she goes full cat form to rip them to shreds.
    Sixth, we still haven’t seen the frost giant/drake army. That will probably be the next massive army to attack before the demon horde. Although I have no idea what they will do against Daniel’s mortars to make them a true threat. But, they could have Loki’s help, which could cause some conflict between Daniel and Mara’s other side of the family.
    Seventh, we will probably see the Dwarves attacking the black citadel too or trying to assassinate Daniel. Also, I would love to see a group of good Dwarves willing to work with Daniel, but I agree with the one poster who said these Dwarves are not nice.
    Eighth, once Bast is borne there has to be some interaction with Egypt and then the fight against Ra will have to occur. Maybe Daniel is asked to help Egypt somehow and he almost dies by an attack from Ra’s forces.
    Ninth, I really liked the idea of healing rooms and I was somewhat surprised that Daniel hadn’t thought of that on one level, but not surprised since he hadn’t had a second. Maybe when Ella (spelling) gets pregnant he will need to set something like that up, because she won’t be able to heal for a while.
    Tenth, Mara gets closer to the coven and so does the dark elf heir. I think the dark elf will join the coven too, but something will need to happen that makes that possible. Maybe the heir gets hurt protecting the girls and they all get closer due to the near death experience.
    Eleventh, I really like the idea of better armor that is like armored mesh that fits inside or under clothing that will be strong enough to stand against Dwarven weapons. Including being hit in the head.
    That’s all my thoughts for now. Can’t wait for book four. I have to say currently the Adventures of Daniel Black is my favorite series so far.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1.
      you contradict yourself in a few places

      2.
      it's kinda hard to see each point that your trying to make, it looks like it just keeps going on with that wall of text (take this post as an "easier to read" example for each point)

      3.
      alot of the points you have made (disragarding the contradictions) i disagree with, but i'm too lazy to do that much typing explaning why i disagree and i also dont want to make a big wall of text for people to read

      4.
      try to stick with 1 or 2 topics for each starting post, it's easier for others to reply with their own thoughts and ideas without missing anything

      these are just my suggestions to help you, feel free to take'em or leave'em

      Delete
    2. oh forgot to put this in

      4. (continued)
      most people dont want to make long replys so 1-2 topics will have more discussion about them

      5.
      if the last post is over a week old here, that topic is generaly done and over until a new update by the author happens (which should be soon, but he has left us hanging for months before)

      Delete

    3. > 5.
      > if the last post is over a week old here, that
      > topic is generally done and over until a new
      > update by the author happens

      I'd disagree with that statement. For one thread necromancy is a well respected and -practiced art on this forum from what i can tell.

      Moreover while there are some frequent commentators who might visit the page more than once a week it also gets its fair share of new and casual visitors.

      So while it might be true that a weeks dormancy is indicative of the usual suspects having said all they are going to on a particular subject that is by no means the same as it being formally 'done', nor should it be used as an argument to discourage anyone from picking it up again if they feel like adding their two-cents.

      > (which should be soon, but he has left us hanging
      > for months before)

      Actually since he started this blog more than a year ago there have only been two months in which Brown didn't posted at least one update (and often multiple ones), July and December 2015.

      Delete
    4. Just being my boring pedant self.

      Delete
    5. i did say "generaly" not "allways" 2 very different meanings

      since he started this blog yes, but this isn't his first site and while he "generaly" does post each month he hasn't "allways" done so (i dont remember what the name for the site was anymore)

      so while you do make you own point you dont really refute my own point and you do somewhat agree with my point number 5.

      and as for discourageing people form commenting? i also said "these are just my suggestions to help you, feel free to take'em or leave'em" which means you can take what i say as just shit that i spew or as something to improve yourself, it's a choice that YOU the reader have to make for YOURSELF, as no1 else can do that for you, also i would not even make that point if this was a normal fourm where you can choose which topic you are insterested in, which i kinda want but i know i'm not going to get :/

      Delete
    6. > since he started this blog yes, but this isn't
      > his first site

      There were a couple fanfic/writers sites Brown used to post on under the handle ShaperV back in the days when he was still an amateur mostly writing Naruto fic.

      Since he went semi-pro this has been his official, and to the best of my knowledge sole, active blog.

      It was started for the express purpose of giving him a web presence to interface with his readership, because people were complaining in the amazon review section there was no way to contact him or find out when his next book would come out that didn't require an advanced degree in internet stalking.

      > and while he "generaly" does post
      > each month he hasn't "allways" done so (i dont
      > remember what the name for the site was anymore.

      My point was Brown missed _a_ month, two times, not months, plural, at a time as you wrote.

      And this blog is really the only one relevant for the purpose of measuring Brown's timeliness as it's the only one he ever created to give his readership regular updates on his writing progress.

      Delete
    7. >if this was a normal forum where you can choose
      > which topic you are interested in, which i kinda
      > want but i know i'm not going to get :/

      Pretty sure you can filter whatever thread/topic
      that interest you from those that don't by simple
      post skimming. It's not really that high volume a
      blog.

      Beyond that there certainly seem to be enough
      people reading and willing to talk about the
      author's books so you could always start a E W
      Brown fan site/forum with more advanced formatting
      features on your own.

      Delete
    8. nah, i'm too lazy to do that much work

      Delete
  61. The case for Tova. As advertised Tova is a good long term investment for the coven. Although her Mental influence and Demon summoning specialties are not immediately useful she brings a much higher level of wizard magic education to the table compared to Elin. If Elin is a highschool graduate then Tova is a Phd. And wizard magic is teachable.
    The clincher however is Tova's daughters. Not for their value as sex toys, but because Tova specifically mentions successfully training them, and helping them come to terms with their half succubus nature. That is experience that is about to become priceless in a home about to be over run with werecat/sorcerer, Demon/Dragon/sorcerer, Golem/Sex Godess/sorcerer, and Undine/Grndelkin/sorcerer hybrids.
    Not to mention she brings some much needed MILF to the harem.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not to mention they would make great murder witches

      Delete
    2. yes having tova can bring in a new mit in with the demon knowlage, but there is a political aspect to it as well, because if he does successfully recruit tova what stops him from recruiting the other adepts? IMO unless some event happens (which very well may happen) it's a bad idea for him to have any of the spell casters that are in the red conclave service leave and be in daniel's service (might not be the case for her daughters though)

      as for the combo kids, that faarrr off in the future and if the kids do have those kind of problems i'm sure he can ask one of the gods for a better solution than what tova can bring

      as for the daugthers makeing good witches? who really knows as they have only been mention in the 3rd person, and they may very well stay that way (shrug)

      Delete
    3. mit? mit!? damnit i wanted "mix" haaa...

      Delete
    4. I meant that Tova herself has a proven track record for raising and educating magic heritage children. But, yes, the daughter would make fantastic Murder Witches.

      Delete
    5. We know that Bast reassured Elin that she got the "good" fertility blessing. Which from context I interpret to mean that any babies from Daniel or the Coven girls will have beneficial optimizations of both parents traits. So, the good parts of the mother's magical natures and some mix of Daniels sorceries. Including potential synergies such as shape shifting nature plus flesh magic.

      Also, has it occurred to anyone that Bast gave all the blessings to everyone, including Daniel? Which means he's sporting a high end fertility blessing. Wouldn't it be funny if Mara shows up on their doorstep pregnant after that little romp in Skoghiem?

      Delete
    6. i dont think the blessing of motherhood (or w/e it is, but i could be wrong) would really work for daniel, as for the war blessing it might be on everyone but it might not either, we just know for sure that's it's on daniel and cerise

      as for mara turning up pregnant, not going to happen since he pretty much has his sperm turned off with his flesh magic at all times

      Delete
    7. Mark
      I'd thought the same with Tova, but for some reason there is some huge issue with her not staying with the red conclave and that it would cause serious issues. I like the hot MILF action idea out. Daniel really needs help with understanding his magic and Tova could give him this upgrade nicely.
      HAHAHAHA I love the idea of Mara being pregnant with Daniel’s baby. Talking about wicked step-mothers, Gia needs to die!
      Michael
      I get the impression there can be no more murder witches, but they can become murder sluts ;)
      Pixel
      There is something strange with the red conclave and Tova’s daughters. I almost get the feeling that the wizard that created the portal was Daniel in another life/time or if not that, then somehow the ancient evil wizards come back and causes trouble. The name Revenant for book two makes me wonder if something like this comes up.
      Having more adapts transfer over could be a major issue with how they treated Elin.
      I also find it odd that we’ve never seen Tova’s daughters and I thought having them combined with a demon goes against the main religion. Maybe Tova is aligned with some other god and later Daniel and Tova realize that he’s not part of Odin’s fan club and they combine their forces and make a new god alignment.
      In regards to Mara and pregnancy, I never got the impression that his sperm is turned off during his flesh magic. They’ve always talked about how he cums a lot. At the same time it is confusing that they girls are planning when to have their babies. Do magic creations and fairies have the ability to control when they get pregnant or is it Daniel who is controlling that?

      Delete
    8. If he has to convince the Conclave that this will be a singular recruitment, he'll have to formally marry her, providing the Warmlanders are monogamous.

      Delete
    9. Pixel Chaos,

      Bast started off with only giving specific blessings to specific coven member but changed her mind and gave everyone all the blessings.

      Delete
    10. Pixel Chaos,

      I think the event that allows Daniel to include other adepts in his house hold will be the Red Conclave declaring him a full member and top level adept.

      Remember the comment about him becoming top level and that top level make the rules from Steelbringer

      Delete
  62. > as for mara turning up pregnant, not going to happen since
    > he pretty much has his sperm turned off with his flesh
    > magic at all times

    Really? I must have missed that one. In which book was that mentioned?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i dont think there was any straight out declaration, but (IMO) it was kinda implied when tina was made pregnant and there may have been something about it in book 1 but i would need to re-read it to find out

      Delete
    2. besides it makes sense that with his flesh magic he can make any girl he wants too pregnant at any time by not only controling his own body but the girl's too, no eggs no kid right?

      Delete
    3. Nope, I think I would have caught that too. There' no reason Daniel can't have a blessing of fertility.
      It's in Bast's best interest for him to have lots of children because they will all be her siblings and give her more Anchors.

      He did mention that he won't get Avilla pregnant by accident, but I took that to mean because she is a gingerbread golem it would take some deliberate doing.

      Delete
    4. Of course Daniel can use Flesh magic for birth control, but never once does it mention him doing so.

      Delete
    5. Yea, I've read the books a few times and there was nothing stated about his sperm being disabled while using his magic and there was plenty of times he wasn't using his magic while having sexual relations. Like Mark, I just thought Avilla could control her gingerbread body.
      I agree with Mark, with Bast's fertility blessing, all the girls could find out they're pregnant when he gets back from his mission to Gia's realm.

      Delete
  63. When will Black Coven be available on Audio?

    ReplyDelete
  64. What is title of book 4? In Daniel black series? And how will you address Avila special ingredient needs - with a new snow age in progress

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When is release date for the 4rth book

      Delete
    2. It was mentioned on the February update that the book is titled Revenant and aiming for a summer release. No exact date yet I believe

      Delete
  65. > And how will you address Avila special ingredient needs -
    > with a new snow age in progress

    Avila needs sugar along with various spices as part of her
    diet all of which are native to and being cultivated as
    cash crops on a grand scale in India as well as SE Asia.

    According to the books not the whole world is going to
    freeze, only the parts of Eurasia where the Scandinavian
    pantheon is dominant.

    China for example has been mentioned explicitly as pro-
    tected from Ragnarok and its climatic side-effects due
    to the immense power of its native gods(*).

    Similarly just heading south far enough is supposed to
    let you avoid frostbite and brawling divinities, at
    least in the short to mid term.

    Combine that with Daniel just having picked up a tribe
    of dark elves running a not just global but multi-world
    merchant/smuggling syndicate, and producing more gold
    than there is in the royal treasury i think they're
    good on the feed-the-gingerbread-golem front.

    ____________________________________

    * = most of the world's human population lives in Asia
    so the Celestial Court's believer base, and corresponding
    metaphysical strength, is greater than that of any other
    pantheon.

    ReplyDelete