#tlt thoughts

"For some reason."

Why... wouldn't Harrow know this? Babies are new life; they're more Thalergy than Thanergy because they're actively growing and they're growing quickly; they're not decaying, not as biologically mature adults are. It would make sense then that the void would be larger if babies/infants in particular are killed; there's more Thalergy there to convert to Thanergy.

Increased cellular reproduction and multiplication = a higher Thanergy output when converted. They are directly related.

Here are the definitions as stated in the Glossary:

It's... a hole. Not in the magic system itself, but in Harrow's character, though I actually do believe this is very, very intentional and that it's probably not *just* Harrow who lacks this connective tissue.

The one topic we don't hear much about is the relationship between Thalergy and Thanergy. We know what they are individually and how they relate to one another, but we never see Thalergy in practice (Animancy); only Thanergy (Necromancy). It's to be expected though; all characters (aside from John, that we know of) hail from Thanergetic planets in a Thanergetic system, meaning everything is in active decay. The reason necromancers exist is directly due to Thanergy; it's the basis of the entire universe for these characters.

I can't blame them for not being able to fully grasp the concept of life energy when it's so scarce, and especially for a character like Harrow, who was the last born and the youngest of her house. She's never seen a baby. She's never witnessed a natural pregnancy either; of course she doesn't know what raw life energy looks like. Human reproduction is possibly the greatest source of Thalergy out there and even that is decaying. Between medical intervention and the increasingly clinical methods used to uphold the population, Thalergy in this form is dwindling.

We hear mention of 'Foetal Care Boxes' from Harrow's warped memories and Pyrrha's question to Camilla about Gravid Carry in the Sixth House. It's almost as if this source of Thalergy is being pushed to go so unnoticed that it's been nearly entirely disconnected from the population:

And y'know, if you think about it, John is a Thanergetic being who took the Thalergetic soul of a planet and preserved it rather than destroying it. Here, let him represent Death while Alecto would represent Life. There's no life without and death and no death without life, though if you kill one, the other dies as well. This balance is how Lyctorhood should have been, but he lied because it wasn't just a failsafe– it was insurance and collateral all wrapped into one.

It would make absolute sense why Thalergy; Animantic practice would be frowned upon, as seen here:

The fact that Thalergenic study has been made to be so foreign and so taboo is incredibly telling because if this was realized and accepted by all, it would bring the whole of Dominicus a huge step closer to learning of John's intentions to withhold power, knowledge, and understanding from them simply to protect himself and the truth of his actions.

It would bring his Lyctors a huge step closer to learning that the relationship between themselves and their Cavaliers ought to have been Thalergetic/Thanergetic, not Thanergetic/Thanergetic; that in having killed and eaten their Cavaliers' souls is a bastardization of the true Lyctor process and that they all could've lived in powerful, balanced harmony different than what John had them believe even when they did make the latter part of this connection.

The answer to Lyctorhood is right under everyone and yet they cannot see it because of how little exposure they get to the other half of the power they draw from and what they can see is written off so quickly as less important.

Life; Thalergy was locked away in a place designed to celebrate and embrace Death; Thanergy. It was hidden on purpose in a place so obvious nobody would think to look there.

It's all smoke and mirrors. Thanks, John.

"The corpse fails to rot" oh. That's. That's Gideon's body and it won't rejoin the earth.

AND I'M SITTING HERE LIKE... HUH.... Oh holy shit what a fucking FASCINATING lens to consider that through. Not rotting because even on another planet the ground won't accept it...