#milo winter

I want to go backwards and start with the religion part, then Archpowers, then sign powers.

The religion in Gardian feels non-concrete. What I mean is that there isn't a clear notion on whether the inhabitants are religious or not. They know there ARE gods, who else gave them their powers? But there's also very little trust in them for no reason. I want to give Milo grace and say that this was what he was trying to do with the story: have a Mormonism-esque conflict where there are gods/religion but one man (Blaine) turns his listeners away from them and to his twisted word (the Scorpio Code being a stand-in for the Book of Mormon). Okay, seems valid enough. But I have issues with how Rieka (and Silas, technically) decide to prove that this is what happened.

Silas wants Rieka to look for and bring back the Callexus to the Stellarium since the logic behind this is that if the myth of the Callexus turned out to be true (with the sword itself being evidence), then it will prove that the gods are real since they asked Matthias Merek to seal immortality into the sword. This causes a myriad of questions, like:

How come Rayka knows the true story of everything that went down, and even have a library of untouched documents, yet NO ONE ever tried to take it to anyone outside the town??? Like did they legit withhold very important information that could, you know, GIVE SCORPIOS BACK THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS AFTER 300 YEARS??? What the hell?! It's true there are protective barriers, so it's not like the Stellarium can come see it for themselves, but it's not like they, the ones already in Rayka, can't come in or out. Like, I get it's probably to prevent immortality from spreading if they tried to take the Callexus back to the Stellarium, but sending 18-20 year olds who have never been outside of their respective living areas, are inexperienced with fighting, and inexperienced with Archpower in general is the dumbest idea to initiate. You let a "race"(? Are zodiac signs races?) of people be dehumanized for 3 centuries over the fear that the Callexus would be in more wrong hands than it already has been

If the gods disapproved of imbalance, why did they let Blaine run amok? Why did it take so long for anyone to care? Why would they turn a blind eye to the world they literally, as the Sun, Moon, and Stars, overlook? Such cruelty at the hands of one man should be more than enough to deem the Scorpio Code as an imbalance of justice and power

Why does it have to be Rieka specifically to be the one to reveal this? It's not like she's the only Zodiac Turner. Gods know there are 4 other options to choose. Wouldn't want to risk the 300+ year old Turners from fighting a threat their size, age, and relatively equal in power, let's send in the 18-year-old amnesic girl who's memory loss causes her to be inexperienced as a Turner

Why does the Callexus *have* to be the proof? Are there legit no other ways to prove the gods are real? Did they only make human contact to give tell Gardian not to use advanced technology, give them powers, tell Matthias to seal immortality away, then dip? Not to mention, the idea that the omnipresent gods asked some guy to take IMMORTALITY and just, seal it in a sword and hide it away in some mountain cave is so baffling to me. AND then they punished him for not doing it right. Granted, he did screw up if there are so many immortal people in Rayka, but still

Which is why I feel like in my own rewritten version of TAOS, the reason why the gods don't do anything is because they're gone. They figured with most, if not all, of Gardian following Blaine, they serve no purpose to the continent, and thus disappeared with no one to believe in them. In addition, they feel a sense of guilt for letting this all happen, and rather than make amends, they chose to be cowards and hide away. The gods themselves don't know what "balance" means to Gardian.

I feel like this would be a good way to show why the story of the Mereks, the Callexus, and the War of Rebalancing is so fantasized. When you have a madman in total control and no gods to support their own actions, anything can be warped to fit one specific narrative.

Tying this all back to the Archpowers, I feel like they way they're used in the narrative is poor. For one, all of the 3 Archpowers cause imbalance in some way. So why did the gods make them if they hated imbalance? Unless it was like, they had rules in place for each one, those with the powers ignored said rules, THEN the gods got mad, I would understand that. Or maybe they didn't realize how quickly things could go out of hand, way after the powers were given. Fine.

Also, the way they are treated as a genetic transfer feels really off putting for a fantasy setting. Don't get me wrong, it is totally plausible for magic to be passed down. BUT, the issue is that the gods gave the people of Gardian (side tangent, how would you call someone from Gardian? Gardian-ian? Gardianese? How did Milo not think about this holy shit) these powers, meaning it's not based in natural science, it's entirely just fate or a supernatural entity at play. So having all these family trees showing how powers descend is ridiculous. It also shows how closely related the main cast is, not by blood, but just by the fact that Rieka, Avia, Chase, Narah, AND Kaia's parents have just, known each other for like 300 years. And most of them gave their children an Archpower, except Avia because Milo hates her. Poor girl. It's just a weird mess and would be better if they all had these powers by chance and wanted to do good, rather than it be driven by nepotism.

Secondly, the Archpowers themselves. This goes for all of them, but I don't really care for the fact that they are said to be the powers that evolved into the 12 powers we see in the other zodiac signs, and they just don't. Evolution is funky because sometimes you don't understand why an organism evolved into the way it did until you see hypotheses that can show this process. I don't really see this with the Archpowers. Anyway, here's how I feel about each of them:

Libran Healing: this is the one Archpower I have the least qualms with. It makes sense why it was eradicated, since it is a way to infinitely become immune and even immortal in a way. It has a reasonable drawback (losing blood), and its association to the body also makes sense too (small note: Milo keeps claiming that LH is based in emotions/activated emotionally. Which doesn't work since Zodiac Turning is based on that, too. I don't understand how you can mix up all of these...). My only issue with it lies with its relation to Cancer Spirit Walking, and speaking of...

Cancer Spirit Walking: I had to double check on what exactly this was to answer my original question (how far we have come...), and it's basically astral communication + teleportation, as well as the manipulation of memories. Not only does the use of the power feel pretty case specific (Rieka not remembering Narah or their past together since Narah erased her memories, Kaia awakening her powers but also just can't really use them because Sora states, "Spirit Walkers begin with limited skill... Kaia has many years of practice in her future" which I think it's the biggest copout Milo could do in terms of "writing" a very intriguing and strong power), I find the dependency to Libran Healing weird, considering that Libran Healers don't need that connection to trigger their powers. I also don't like that their connection is out of place with Zodiac Turning's independency. The imbalance makes sense; however, it feels weird that the gods would grant almost-god-like powers to people. I also think it being linked with the mind while Zodiac Turning being associated with emotions (so mentality... like the mind...) is pretty lame. I think it would be much cooler if it was connected to the spirit, which would make its overall the astral part of it make sense, as well as the association with the Sun, Moon, and Star gods more impactful. As for a drawback, I'm not too sure

Scorpio Zodiac Turning: There are so many problems with ZT that I cannot professionally write down, so. Word vomit incoming:

IT'S WAY TOO OVERPOWERED. Like, I don't even know WHERE to begin with how CLEARLY imbalanced this is compared to the other powers, including the Archpowers. Like, were the gods on pure cocaine to think "the power that can make you have many powers if you change your sign" was a GOOD IDEA??? I'm more shocked Blaine didn't try to get the masses angry at the gods for going against their own principle with that oversight! For its connection, it's emotion. Not mind, EMOTION. Whatever, Milo. I just hate how it's used, how it looks visually, I hate that there's just, like, 6 people who just HAVE it, for whatever reason. Also like, why do half of these people, who aren't Scorpios, have it??? Take Atlas, he's an Aires, he shouldn't have it. Unless it's a thing where majority of Turners just so happen to be Scorpio, which raises MORE QUESTIONS as to why it's only sought after in Scorpios only??? Then why are every other Archpower only zodiac-sign specific??? Ideally then, ANYONE could just be a Healer or Walker and not just a Turner. Wtf???

And lastly, I am so disappointed there are no drawbacks to ZT. In my own version of TAOS, the drawback for the affected would be a sense of dysmorphia/dysphoria, since the concept of changing your sign, or rather disconnecting yourself from who you are, is a pretty harmful thing for the mind. See how easy that was to come up with? It would be a reasonable catch to make one not want to turn themselves/others. I would even like to add the potential of Blaine being insane after turning his sign so many times in the 300 years he's been alive to avoid being caught. So much wasted potential...

Okay! That's the religion and Archpowers out of the way. Let's look at the zodiac signs, their roles in Gardian, and the 12 powers... yay.

One thing I want to add: *most* of these powers are pretty career specific (with weird exceptions), which I don't care for. Unless Milo could write a way into making all of these powers practical outside of their niches, it's not a good look:

Aries: Blacksmithing, fire mages. This is fine. I think there could be more jobs that are based in fire manipulation (cooking, wildfire control). I don't see why Avia isn't any of these, however

Taurus: Agriculture/herbalism, earth mages. Fine too. Would like to see more of this and how Taurus and Leo could live together on farms to strengthen food production

Gemini: Light enchantment/construction, light mages. This one is confusing. 1, enchantment is already reserved for another sign. 2, I don't see how manipulating light correlates with construction. Unless the light powers are like, holographic blueprints that manifest into buildings, I don't see the connection (a me thing is that if that holographic blueprint was the power, I think buildings made with light magic should be a little bit shimmery. Just for world flair)

Cancer: Water management, water mages. Fine, but by "water management", what does that mean? Like plumbing? Sewage treatment? Firefighting? Also, spoiler for the Pisces rant at the end, but I think Cancers should also be healers since they directly deal with water, the source for magical healing

Leo: Ranching, animal mages. So they control animals? This is teetering on wasted potential but whatever. Fine I guess. Like I said with Taurus, would be interesting to see them paired together

Virgo: Education/history/literature, ink mages: I think the idea of manipulating ink is cool, but in the book it's pretty impractical (another me thing is, what if Virgos were used to erase the history of Gardian by peeling off the ink that's on paper? And all that's left are illegible ink stains? Wasted potential...). Also would be better if Rieka was a Virgo since Scorpio aren't expected to be historians, but it seems like Gardian don't really enforce the people to stay with these careers, so whatever

Libra: lawmaking/mediation, dreamseeking. Dreamseeking as a concept confuses me. The idea is communication via dream, yet I feel like it doesn't fit the occupation. Not saying all of the powers do, but so far they have, and it should fit the niche. Plus, I feel like it's so underutilized since the only "dreamseeking" we see isn't actually the power itself, it's Spirit Walking from Rowan and Narah. So the guy who should actually be using it, Chase, you know, the Libra, just doesn't since Milo rather him be a Libran Healer. Ugh...

Scorpio: Government/economy, shapeshifters. Taking in the fact that they're affected by the Scorpio Code, I have mixed feelings about their role in Gardian. On one hand, having a lack of relationships would allow you to take on time-consuming careers. But on the other hand, I don't see how they can have power in the government if they're "oppressed" (see my last essay on why I word it like this). Plus, shapeshifting doesn't exactly fit their role, but I can't think of any alternative power, to be honest

Sagittarius: Transportation/fishing, materialistic shapeshifters. These pairings make NO SENSE WHATSOEVER. WHAT HAPPENED MILO? You already have shapeshifters (Scorpio), so why have ANOTHER set of shapeshifters?! And how is "materialistic" any different than just "normal" shapeshifting?? If I were to fix their powers, I'd have them be wind mages. 1, Milo has all the other elements + ink and light mages, but no wind mages?? What is this, Shadow and Bone where there's fire, wind, and water summoning but no earth summoning? 2, it would fit transport because sailboats. You can also make any mode of transportation wind-powered if you put your mind to it since you have an infinite source of wind (plus, with no technology, you can do stuff like carriages with wind sails, planes akin to da Vinci's planes, etc. WASTED POTENTIALLLLLL). As for fishing, give it to Leo instead since they are animal mages and work with raising animals anyway. Let them have fisheries

Capricorn: World protection, draconic shapeshifters. This is the coolest power in the book that is NEVER used. At all. There is only one (1) Capricorn who is only referred to as "the Capricorn man" except one time when Sora actually says his name in passing (Dion). We know they and Sagittarius doesn't fuck with the rest of the Stellarium Council (but no explained reason, I think Milo wanted Rieka and her party to find out why Sag/Cap are disconnected from the Stellarium in a sequel book since this fact was stated at the very end of the book, but we can see how that's never going to happen... I have my own beliefs but that could be another post), they drive dragons up to the north, and that's it. Bruh. Side tangent: THE WORST THING OF ALL is that the lore on how that weird monster thing towards the end of the book was conceived is dragons and wolves breeding with each other. I'm not kidding. Not sure how far the "draconic shapeshifting" goes (some dragon attributes like horns/tails vs full on dragons/dragon-like creatures) but it still feels gross. As that one It's Always Sunny clip goes... because of the implication

Aquarius: magical advancement/alchemy, enchanters. I don't get what this means. Magic already exists as a thing in Gardian, so why make Aquarius specialize in it? If it was just alchemy, fine, that's a *type* of magic. But "magical advancement"? That's really broad. They aren't special for having magic powers based on magic. Milo... What do they do in a world that's full of magic already? Is it like, spells? Potions? Are they wizards/witches? Why so underutilized if they are essentially a backbone for a FANTASY world? WHAT IS THEIR PURPOSE IN SOCIETY??

Pisces: healing/textiles, healers. I feel like it should just be healing, since textiles could be given to any other sign (specifically signs that have manipulation/shapeshifting as their power. Speaking of, why didn't Sagittarius get textiles if their power would be materialistic shapeshifting? Why, why, why...). Also, Chase mentions that Libran Healing uses blood as its source rather than water, which are what other healers use. Could this mean that Cancer can heal, since they actually use water? Why not have them be healers as well as water managers, then I guess have Pisces work in textiles? (Again, I don't see what other power they could have other than shapeshifting, which is already assigned to Scorpio?? Just make Scorpio have a new power)

I don't really have much of a conclusion for this essay compared to my last one. While my last critique was how he was inexperienced in writing discrimination into his world and aptly critiquing it within the narrative, this time it's just Milo having bad worldbuilding. He never really played out his ideas for Gardian in a real scenario, he just thought of cool stuff, added/planned to add it in his books, yet never expanding on it. He went wide with his ideas, but never deep with them. It feels like he also never thought ahead with some things, so when new ideas based on old ones appear (like the fact that Sagittarius and Capricorn aren't present in the main part of society/the government, and him wanting that idea to be explored in a sequel), it comes out of nowhere when they could have been better hinted at. He said he wanted to have many books in the series (not sure the exact number), but so many of these ideas should have been planned out since the first book is so bloated with ideas that could have been hinted at in early books and explored more in later ones. Instead, he puts all his eggs in his basket and has so many compounding ideas that they all get jumbled up and are hard to distinguish from each other. The ideas are good in a vacuum, but they can only be applicable if Milo actually tried to make them make sense within the logic of Gardian, and he doesn't.