Goddamn it, Rogers

Because even if the dice gods had been on their side and the Magpies kicked ass, they still attacked two Halovars and a member of the Revolutionary Council. The rebellion would be officially kicked off, and they still don’t have the supplies they’re waiting on from Timmony. Azune and Hal would have to go into hiding. There would be no chance of getting backing from the Council, because one of their members had been caught in the crossfire.

And in terms of public sentiment, none of the witnesses would have any context for what happened. All they saw was the Halovar forces walk up to a tavern and get met with a hail of crossbow bolts. The Photarch could spin that any way she wanted, and the Magpies would have a hard time countering that narrative.

But instead, what everyone saw was two Halovars, forty soldiers, and a Council member get sent scrambling by a stern word and a bit of lightning from Thaisha. There’s no way for the crowd to interpret that beyond “The Halovars don’t have as much control of the city as they want us to think. The Lloys, and the Druids, still hold more sway here.” It’s an incredibly humiliating setback for the Halovars, and it’s caused friction between them and the Council that the Schemers can exploit. And for the Magpies, it’s bought them crucial time to wait for reinforcements and continue laying the groundwork for the rebellion.

Then Wick went after them, to make sure they were okay, and (maybe naively) went to talk to a probably level 15+ Sorcerer who was pissed off cause a druid just tried to sanctify his unholy lands and someone killed another one of his sons.

But he still did it. And somehow fucking lived.

And killed an innocent woman to do so.

Tansul may have given all humans sorcery the way Sylandri gave all elves immortality, both "gifts" coming with a condition of control. The same way Sylandri got to determine which elves were allowed to reproduce, Tansul got to allocate the most potent magic to his favorite humans. The only sorcery to survive Tansul's death did not come exclusively from him.

Royce's magic came from fey, Einfasen's from giants, Cormoray's from djinn. Their sorcery, and thus their social mobility, was never fully under Tansul's boot—which probably factored into their decision to rebel.

As for the other non-rebel and non-Sundered bloodlines: Tansul turned House Tachonis into psychopomps, connecting them to the Tenebral Reaches on a fundamental level. Humans were shaped from existing life on Aramán, and House Tachonis essentially got double shaped. House Halovar had to get creative, taking from Tansul's construct what he was no longer around to offer and turning its scions into aasimar. Meanwhile, Azune's ancestors obviously had some draconic connection, and House Seremai seems connected to Aramán's version of Yuan Ti. I can't wait to learn about the role of the Navika'an in the Obridimian Empire, especially the meaning of Azune's "Have mercy on those I send you" ink (is it perhaps related to the Hall of Mercy?)

isnt it nice to know a lot? and a little bit not !!

or i could just caption this as ‘no one is alone’ and start crying about her again

cloudward ho! ep. 13

city council of darkness, ep. 12