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Alaundo
Head Moderator
United Kingdom
5695 Posts |
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SiriusBlack
Great Reader
USA
5517 Posts |
 Posted - 04 Feb 2006 : 20:22:09
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| I enjoyed seeing this story tie in to "The Year of Rogue Dragons" trilogy as the rage's origins were fleshed out. A wonderful start to the anthology and some really memorable characters. |
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Crennen FaerieBane
Master of Realmslore
USA
1378 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2006 : 06:43:57
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I thought the story was on par from this author's offerings in the past. I have read his fiction from both FR and other settings. Always good.
C-Fb |
Still rockin' the Fey'ri style. |
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Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2006 : 07:23:06
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| Thanks, guys. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. |
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Cam Beul
Acolyte
USA
27 Posts |
Posted - 10 Feb 2006 : 01:27:29
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Excellent story so far, though I've not yet finished it.
I noticed on page 65, that the Black Archer was mentioned. However, the story takes place 15,090 years before the Ilythiri were banished to become the drow, whom Shevarash hates with a passion. |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4689 Posts |
Posted - 10 Feb 2006 : 01:37:30
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| Well the time interaction of dieties is not the same as for mortals, so it clearly is posible the Black Archer was about before he became a deity as far as mortals are concerned. *wink* |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36805 Posts |
Posted - 10 Feb 2006 : 01:44:29
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quote:
Originally posted by Cam Beul
Excellent story so far, though I've not yet finished it.
I noticed on page 65, that the Black Archer was mentioned. However, the story takes place 15,090 years before the Ilythiri were banished to become the drow, whom Shevarash hates with a passion.
I caught that, too, and it did kinda throw me... |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
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Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 10 Feb 2006 : 02:42:08
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Thanks for the attempted save, Kentinal. If I were Stan Lee, I'd give you a No Prize.
And for anyone who doesn't buy Kentinal's valiant attempt to bail me out, sorry if I goofed. Glad it was on a point that is no way central to the story. |
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darkcrow
Learned Scribe
USA
269 Posts |
Posted - 10 Feb 2006 : 03:11:46
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I really loved the story. I havn't read any of the Year of the Rogue Dragons Trilogy yet so it left me a little confused, but I figured it had to tie in with that series somewhere. I'm trying to figure out the significance of the comet at the end. Was it a strange phenomenon, a Godly curse or a VERY powerful spell casted by Winterflower after 89 years of studying the spells in those tomes? I'm assuming that all of my questions will be answered by reading the Year of the Rogue Dragons Trilogy. A very good story and it has me wanting to stop everything and start reading the trilogy, but luckly my saving throw was high enough to resist your enchantment.  |
May Tymora smile upon ye |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36805 Posts |
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darkcrow
Learned Scribe
USA
269 Posts |
Posted - 10 Feb 2006 : 04:03:02
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| I understood the effects of this comet and why it was named " The King Killer". My question is to why it has this effect over Dragons and does it give me a full explanation in The Year of the Rogue Dragons Trilogy? |
May Tymora smile upon ye |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36805 Posts |
Posted - 10 Feb 2006 : 06:25:54
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| I'd imagine that dragons have some sort of mystical connection to stars. The King-Killer would be like a celestial aberration -- it messes up their normal connection. It would be almost like a virus or something that made a periodic outbreak. By itself, it's not enough to do much other than make dragons a bit more susceptible to other things. Add in the magic edge, link it to the star, and suddenly the dragons have got real problems. |
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6666 Posts |
Posted - 10 Feb 2006 : 06:42:12
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"Dragons of Faerūn" will likely go a long way to answering your queries re the King Killer Star and the Rage effect created by the elves. As for the Black Archer reference, as I haven't read the short story in question, I can't comment. Just out of curiousity, did the name Shevarash accompany the Black Archer reference, or not? If not, then there's a whole field of realmslore possibilities that I could throw up to explain this.
-- George Krashos
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"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36805 Posts |
Posted - 10 Feb 2006 : 11:24:21
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quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos
"Dragons of Faerūn" will likely go a long way to answering your queries re the King Killer Star and the Rage effect created by the elves. As for the Black Archer reference, as I haven't read the short story in question, I can't comment. Just out of curiousity, did the name Shevarash accompany the Black Archer reference, or not? If not, then there's a whole field of realmslore possibilities that I could throw up to explain this.
-- George Krashos
Nope, it just said Black Archer. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 10 Feb 2006 : 17:55:38
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| Glad you enjoyed the story, darkcrow. I think that if you read the trilogy and my story in Realms of the Dragons, you'll understand what's obscure if you only read the novella. I hope so, anyway. |
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darkcrow
Learned Scribe
USA
269 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2006 : 01:16:53
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| Thanks Richard. I can't wait to dig into them stories. I hope you do the REALMS OF WAR also. Your work are always an exciting read. |
May Tymora smile upon ye |
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Beezy
Learned Scribe
USA
280 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2006 : 22:27:32
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This is an excellent story! And it ties into YotRD trilogy which I have recent read the first two parts of. I liked Winterflower's deception, it was wonderful how she tricked both of them and used them against each other.
My only question is did Winterflower summon the king killer or did the tome she had only hint at the coming of the king killer? |
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Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2006 : 23:32:55
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Glad you liked it. Beezy. The answer to your question is
WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS
WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS
Winterflower did not create or summon the King Killer. Like a comet in the real world, the King Killer appears in the sky when its orbit is right. What Winterflower (and a whole cabal of elven mages) did was to create a curse that draws power from the particular combination of heavenly forces that exists when the comet draws near enough to Toril to be visible. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36805 Posts |
Posted - 12 Feb 2006 : 05:52:29
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quote:
Originally posted by Richard Lee Byers
Glad you liked it. Beezy. The answer to your question is
WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS
WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS
Winterflower did not create or summon the King Killer. Like a comet in the real world, the King Killer appears in the sky when its orbit is right. What Winterflower (and a whole cabal of elven mages) did was to create a curse that draws power from the particular combination of heavenly forces that exists when the comet draws near enough to Toril to be visible.
Why did they pick that one, and not a celestial body that appears more frequently or even continuously? Had they done either option, I imagine that dragons would be incredibly rare in the Realms by now... |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 12 Feb 2006 : 06:05:08
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| Wooly: They actually were only interested in doing it once, so the frequency with which the comet appears didn't concern them. What did concern them was that the comet created the necessary conditions for what they wanted to do. Nobody knew how to create them without the comet until Sammaster, crazy genius that he is, got involved. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36805 Posts |
Posted - 12 Feb 2006 : 07:14:34
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| How did the comet create these conditions? Is it like I theorized above (the 6:25 post on 10 February)? |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Beezy
Learned Scribe
USA
280 Posts |
Posted - 12 Feb 2006 : 08:03:37
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quote:
Originally posted by Richard Lee Byers
Glad you liked it. Beezy. The answer to your question is
WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS
WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS
Winterflower did not create or summon the King Killer. Like a comet in the real world, the King Killer appears in the sky when its orbit is right. What Winterflower (and a whole cabal of elven mages) did was to create a curse that draws power from the particular combination of heavenly forces that exists when the comet draws near enough to Toril to be visible.
Excellent. Thanks for the reply and the clarification. I am eagerly awaiting book III to see how it all ends. |
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Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 12 Feb 2006 : 14:08:02
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| Yes, Wooly, that's basically it. The concept is that dragons are inherently magical creatures, hence tied to the primal forces and processes of the cosmos, including what happens in the heavens. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36805 Posts |
Posted - 12 Feb 2006 : 17:01:39
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quote:
Originally posted by Richard Lee Byers
Yes, Wooly, that's basically it. The concept is that dragons are inherently magical creatures, hence tied to the primal forces and processes of the cosmos, including what happens in the heavens.
Coo! I'm glad to know I was on the right track. Will this be explored more fully in The Ruin?
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 12 Feb 2006 : 22:15:31
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| Yes, to a degree. Although I'm not going to make it make sense in scientific terms, because, you know, this is fantasy. |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4689 Posts |
Posted - 12 Feb 2006 : 22:21:53
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As far as it goes the comet could be a one time visitor never to return again, this of course depends on the source if it. However one time visitors can exist under science, the sling shot effect just changing its path though the cosmos. *Grin*
With magic of course the comet could be stored until it is decided to be used again. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 19 Feb 2006 : 05:51:29
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I just finished this one. I was very happy with it, and the Black Archer comment did jump out at me, but there wasn't enough really tied to the comment to cause any problem with the story itself. Just a bit of a speed bump. I like it when the greater good is done, and things actually do work out, but the hero ends up sacrificing himself. Especially when he knows he will. Why? Because it doesn't then always feel like the heroes are "badly wounded, but then got better." Not that I want my heroes dropping dead every other chapter, but once in a while, yeah sure. (BTW, the Marvel reference has prompted the part of my mind that ponders such things to point this out . . . there is actually a mechanic built into the Realms that allows characters to come back from the dead, and yet fewer Realmsian characters come back from the dead than say your average X-Man . . . even when said death was originally very moving . . . yeah, I'm not happy that Colossus is back . . . but I digress)
One of the things I like about RLB is that he isn't easily pigeon holed. Some writers seem to think that every character needs to have a dark side, and that no one is truly noble, and that somewhere in the story you have to see their dark side, and if they profess to be good, their dark side has to be even more heinous. Other writers write good characters that never seem to have any moral delimas, and just march toward their glorious heroic destinies. RLB doesn't seem too tied down to one type of protagonist. He can write the good guys that are pretty much good, he can write the roguish with a dark streak but a good heart, he can write the nasty but interesting (honestly, Pharaun was at his best in your book), and the sympathetic but evil characters. Of course, in this particular story, you had characters that seemed to be a little more in the gray, although I do think that Winterflower was essentially a good person in a bad place, and that Rhespen was basically a good soldier that had convinced himself that he had fewer options than he really did.
I have noticed that Winterflower espouses a sort of "code of the spy" in the story, that reminded me of your Turmish spy from Queen of the Depths. Given the chance, Richard, would you write about more Realmsian spies, or have these two played out that vein for you? |
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Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 19 Feb 2006 : 14:28:26
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Thanks for the kind words, Knight. I'm glad you enjoyed the story.
So far I have enjoyed writing about FR spies and can certainly imagine myself doing more with such characters. But of course it all depends on the requirements of the plot. If, for example, WotC asks me for a book about barbarians running around in the wilderness, spies may not fit in very well.
To me, the thing that was interesting about Colossus's resurrection is that there was virtually no attempt made to justify or explain it. Comic book characters have always had a habit of coming back from the dead, but the writers used to try to make it somewhat plausible. Now, I guess, they feel that this convention of the superhero genre is so firmly established and universally accepted by the readers that they don't even have to bother.
I think this hurts the quality of the stories, but of course that's just my opinion. |
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Ethriel
Learned Scribe
USA
272 Posts |
Posted - 21 Feb 2006 : 23:22:25
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| Wow, Richard, I loved it! the whole story, the characters...I actually saw the gold king as a cruel tyrant at the end. My questions: What happened to Winterflower after the Rage began and was overthrowing the overlords worth it? |
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Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 22 Feb 2006 : 02:33:50
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Glad you enjoyed it, Ethriel.
I assume that Winterflower continued to work against the dragons. Beyond that, I don't know, Maybe the details will come to me someday, and then I'll have the material for another story.
Was overthrowing the overlords worth it? I guess that's a judgment call you can make for yourself. Consider the world that you get a glimpse of in "Traitors," compare it to what came after (in other words, the Realms as they currently are), and see which one you prefer. |
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Ethriel
Learned Scribe
USA
272 Posts |
Posted - 22 Feb 2006 : 03:33:44
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I also gotta ask...did Rhespen and Winterflower really love one another in the end? Call me a romantic...
My one criticism was the end was a bit rushed, we didn't find out what happened to our other villains, after all....(I assume the dragon prince died same as dad, but as for the human mage...well, mages live a long time)
And is it just me or is hitting on a massive gold serpent just creepy? |
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Realms of the Elves: "Traitors"
