All About TortallBy a crazy fan girl!Sheroes Tidbits
(Compiled by members of the Dancing Dove)
*(Does Contain Spoilers)*
SOTL
Rider Groups and their Nicknames
1. First Riders Group -- The First
2. Second Riders Group -- Ghostwind 3. Third -- Webspinners 4. Fourth -- Queen's Rabbits 5. Fifth -- Clouds 6. Sixth -- Thayet's Dogs 7. Seventh -- Nightbreath 8. Eighth -- Soft Lightning 9. Ninth -- Ogre Bane 10. Tenth -- Royal Arrows 11. Eleventh -- Trollwatch 12. Twelfth -- Spiderdeath 13. Thirteenth -- Razors 14. Fourteenth -- Gret's Shadows 15. Fifteenth -- Stickers 16. Sixteenth 17. Seventeenth -- Group Askew
The commander in chief was Queen Thayet, who once wrecked an expensive pink tissue dress to rescue a group in trouble. Then the commander was Buri, but with her marriage to Raoul of Goldenlanke it will pass to her second in command, Evin Larse. The Riders have two ponies each, with Onua of the K'mir in charge of that aspect. You have to be 15 to join and literate.
George’s Conception
It was common practice in pagan religions for priestesses to offer their bodies on holy days as a means of celebrating fertility in all its forms. George's mother was a Priestess when she became pregnant with him. It was Beltane and it was her duty to participate in the rites and George was born nine months after Beltane!
Thayet 6 children
Roald, Kally, Lianne, Liam, Jasson, Vania, the youngest of the royals. Roald, Kally, Lianne, Liam, Jasson were all named for ancestors and important people. Vania is named for one of Thayet's ancestresses.
Was 'Song of the Lioness' always a quartet?
No. Originally Song of the Lioness was one novel. You can't get a copy of the original manuscript, as there is no copy of the original book in existence. Tammy literally cut up the old manuscript and used passages from it to make up the existing SotL quartet.
In the original Song of the Lioness manuscript, Thom and Roger are a gay couple. This was cut out of the existing Song of the Lioness quartet, but at one point it was a fact.
Age of Alanna and Thayet’s children
Aly and Alan are 16 (in TC) and 17 (in TQ). Thom will be 19 (in TQ) Roald is 23 (in TQ), Kally 22 (they were 9 and 8 respectively in WM, which is in 449, and TQ is 463, so adding on 14 years gives them those ages.)
The Royal family: Roald, Kalasin, Liam, Lianne, Jasson. Roald is 6 years older than the Alanna's twins and Kalasin is 5 years older than them, and that's really all we know about the ages of the royal family. No idea how old Vania is!
Kalasin the First:
1) Born into a K'miri clan
2) Married Adigun jin Wilima before he became the leader of Sarain, and gave birth to Thayet in 419 H.E. 3) In the summer of 438, Kalasin commits suicide after sending Thayet to the convent. Kalasin committed suicide by jumping from a tower while Buri's mother and brother guarded the door, so Kalasin could make a speech about her husband's oppression of her people. 4) At some point in her married life, Kalasin pled with her husband on behalf of the K'miri 5) Buri's family was in the service of Kalasin and her family for a long time
In a country where they have things like the Books of Gold and Silver to track bloodlines, there’s no way a commoner can fake nobility–everyone knows everyone’s bloodlines. Alan takes a lot of sneerage in his training as a page and squire, because his father is newly ennobled, even if his mother is bluer blooded than the King. Money, of course, is a big issue for equipping a knight, and for that matter, joining the King’s Own. Those rich merchant’s sons have to be able to afford two riding horses, plus pack horses, the equipment, outfits, etc. If their families can’t do it, then they need a rich patron (as Myles was Alanna’s; as Alanna as mystery friend and Raoul were Kel’s).
Jon and Thayet aren’t just liberal for creating the Own (which anyone can join, not just women, meaning Bazhir and immigrants), but for creating schools and liberalizing a lot of laws, as well as opening the ranks of the knights to noblewomen once more. And they’re instituting other reforms as carefully as they can. But they aren’t going to turn into anything we would recognize as liberal in the next few hundred years. They can’t. Their nobility and their merchants are already strained as far as they can go without popping, and they can’t satisfy their own wishes and ignore those of a majority of their people, not without civil war.
-Tammy
One thing: I think some of you are confusing rape with sex (one person did mention it’s about power and control). If it were truly about sex, people wouldn’t rape tiny children and old people. It’s about power, violence, humiliation, and rage. No power can protect people from that, or Jon would have employed it to shelter his entire realm by now.
Kel’s mom urged her to get the charm because she was facing facts: Kel was living in an unsafe, unsheltered world where Sex Happens, and Kel might choose to have it. Better to ensure that she has her choices afterward.
Most nobles and upper class merchants guard their daughters to ensure bloodlines in their marriages, but Kel has already turned her back on that world. Alanna announced she was so not interested, in case anyone believed she might be, by having multiple partners. (And people being what they are, they assumed the worst of a girl who lived among boys, as many assumed of Kel. Talk to a large number of people about female cops and women in the military, and you’ll run into more than a few who believe they’re promiscuous.)
There are ways for these people to deal with it if a girl is pregnant and doesn’t want to be. From magical solutions to herbal ones to adoption.
I also think everyone’s forgetting that there is a very strong Goddess religion here, with its own courts, and its own soldiery. Women who choose to go to the servants of the Goddess have help, and this society has a lot more protections for its women simply because Goddess worship is so strong in the Eastern Lands. They can’t interfere if a woman tells them her choice is to go with what society wants for her, but if a woman goes to her temple, unless that temple is corrupt, its servants will help her. She does have rights. Alanna didn’t know it, but she could have fought Lord Alan’s choice for her in the Goddess’s court. Of course, she couldn’t have become a knight that way.
And you really don’t want to defy the Goddess. You really don’t.
-Tammy
Where do Alanna´s eyes come from?
It is her mother’s family that has the violet eyes. And no, it doesn’t dictate eye color or vice versa; that was just coincidental. Numair’s eyes were brown, and Buri isn’t Gifted, at least, not where magic is concerned.
-Tammy
Peerage and Titles
Okay, here are the ones I use, and they’re all dependent upon the inheritance of a title, which is usually bound to the inheritance of property:
Duke
Count (Raoul is a count’s heir)
Lord (I didn’t want to use Viscount because it’s French-based)
Baron
Lord and Count are actually pretty much equal–you see Lords in the southern half of Tortall where the title would be Count in the north, which is why there’s a Lord in charge of Port Legann. As you’ll see in Provost’s Dog, the southern half of what we know as Tortall was originally a separate country with its own way of doing things.
Sir and Lady Knight are titles granted to individuals by the crown and aren’t passed on. Alanna prefers “Sir” because she was making a point. Kel prefers “Lady Knight” because she’s making a different point. Jon just throws up his hands and tells the Master of Ceremonies to ask the ladies for their preference.
-Tammy
Why did Liam hate Roger when no one else did? He said he’d tell Alanna someday, but he never did. It can’t be just because he was a sorcerer - did he know something, or just suspect it?
Because Liam met Roger in Carthak and had seen how he acted there, like a prince dispensing favors among the healers, rather than somebody who just wanted to help people. He’d even seen Roger hit slaves. He never bought Roger’s “I’m reformed and humble” act because he didn’t think Roger had it in him.
At what point did Roger turn evil? Was it something like Jon's birth and him being bumped down as heir, or dabbling in too much powerful sorcery - or was there even a turning point (i.e. was it a gradual thing)?
At first he wasn't evil, or no more so than any heir who's been shoved aside. He had 15 years to get used to the idea of being king, so he didn't take kindly to his cousin coming along. As time passed and he saw the likelihood of another child being born to the king and queen shrinking, he realized that if he made his move, he could get his chance at a throne again. The smart moves were to get Jonathan and the queen out of the way first. He knew Roald well enough to believe Roald wouldn't remarry, so he could pick him off, if he had to, at his leisure. As for later, I don't think of him as evil so much as I think of him as apocalyptically crazy. 8 months buried alive would do that to a person, I think. He had no guarantee that he'd be resurrected, and even when he was, he felt his people could have made it happen sooner. He decided to punish everyone involved in his trial and death, and if the world was destroyed with them, he really didn't care. Like I said, nuts. He was always self-centered. This just took it to the extreme. He'd have to acknowledge his wants and desires were evil, and he never did. Also, what is the age difference between Roger and Jon? I've always been curious :D 15 years.
What happened to the Black City after Alanna and Jon vanquished the Yslander? Did the Bazhir just stay away from it like a legend? Did they stop guarding it? Was there much rejoicing (OK, that’s Monty Python, but whatever)? Were the Yslander really demons, or something like the kraken? After all, we never heard about demons again.
The Black City’s still there. While the Ysandir are gone, the Bazhir are never going to feel it’s a safe place to be. Demons are somewhere between immortals and elementals, I suppose. They never got banished to the divine realms, and there aren’t that many of them, so I haven’t had to deal with them again. ::cough::ignoring that I created them::cough:: It’s a big old world, after all, and I haven’t really done that much exploring in it. Though I know Rebba will be doing some traveling. Maybe she’ll run into some.
But I don’t see the Bazhir ever treating the Black City casually. They have very long memories. And who knows what kinds of bad spirits still inhabit that glossy stone and can come out now that the Ysandir no longer hold the spell chains that keep them captive? Bwaaahaaahaaa . . . Djinn, anyone?
-Tammy
In Squire, Raoul says that there was a famine after King Jonathon used the Dominion Jewel against Roger. But when he used it in the Immortals War, there wasn’t, or at least we don’t hear about it. Was that just because during the Coronation Revolt he was holding the land together, rather than fighting with it? I mean, the whole “all things have a price” cliché feels like it should either be relevant both times or not at all. And will Roald inherit it?
On Coronation Day Jonathan had to use the Jewel to hold the entire country together. Since then he’s been very careful to use it only in small areas, and to try to have stored-up power in other crystals on hand in the royal treasury or at the university to replace what the Jewel uses, so the Jewel doesn’t take it from the land later. The Jewel replenishes itself with what’s handy. Jonathan can deal with small shortages if he must, but the famine was pretty grim. These days he tries to be prepared for anything. As Armitage says in this thread, just because I don’t get a chance to include it in the books, that doesn’t mean it isn’t covered–the kingdom has to run even in the places I’m not writing about it.
After the death of Jonathon, what would happen to the Dominion Jewel? Would it just be passed to Roald/heirs of Tortall - and if it was, could he use it? Second, what about being Voice of the Tribes? Isn’t passing that one going to kill him? Therefore, isn’t getting killed in battle (Squire, “Roald is of an age…”) not exactly the smartest thing to do? Who will become Voice after him?
The Jewel may or may not pass to Roald. It has been known to pass to a line’s heirs, and I imagine it will probably go through a couple of generations of Contes. Eventually, though, there will be an heir who isn’t really fit to rule, and the Jewel will move on. It’s done it before, it will do it again. But not, I think, with Roald, even if he is a bit stiff, poor boy.
The Voice isn’t hereditary. It’s never hereditary. And I don’t think it’s necessary to die in passing it on, it’s just that Ali Mukhtab was sick, and the passing killed him. Even if Jonathan were killed in battle, or there was some accident, I can’t believe it’s never happened in all Bazhir history. There would be some immense magical working to bring the Voice back, but they would create a new one if they had to. And since it isn’t near time to pass the Voice to the next person, I have no clue as to who the new Voice will be. I only know at most into a couple of years into the future, and for the time being I don’t even know that. For the next few years, all the books I have to write take place well before the events in TRICKSTER’S QUEEN, so I haven’t really begun to think about the books that take place after that. It’s only then that I’ll be able to see what’s going on for the next couple of years.
-Tammy
Will Thom one day inherit both Pirate's Swoop and Olau, or will Alan be left one of the two?
Thom inherits both.Alan will be allowed to live there, though as a knight he'll be working for and housed by the Crown unless he's needed at home. Do Coram and Rispah have any children? I was afraid someone would ask me this someday! There's Jonthair, Alinna, Thomsen, Mylec, Daran, Liam, Thayine, Rose, Elenna, and Buran--6 boys and 4 girls. Jonthair and Thomsen are knights in service to the Crown (Thomsen in the King's Own); Alinna and Mylec are in the Queen's Riders, and I think the rest are too young to serve away from home yet (by their parents' lights), but my math sucks, so Daran may already be in the King's Own and Liam in the army. Why did the Old King (Jonathan's grandfather) invade/take over Barzun? Because he wanted it, and he wanted the coastline entry to the inland sea as well as the border with Tyra. Trade, you know. ;-) In regards to a recent thread in the Dove where we were pondering what exactly the King saw in the Chmaber of the Ordeal (both as a knight and as a king)? There was something in ITHOTG that he kept on waking up screaming from his dreams of it. Tammy: What was disturbing enough to trouble the young royal so? Fear of failure? fear of being helpless, of being a terrible king despite his efforts, of being hated by his people and scorned by history? Fear of dying before he could realise his dream to become one of the greatest kings in Tortallan history? His parents or friends’ deaths? Fear of losing his power?Failure, of course–seeing himself striving, only to come up short, watching the kingdom fall into chaos, his friends turn on him, poverty come on the people and the blame falling squarely on him, his name becoming a joke, not knowing what to do and everything he tried turning out wrong. Seeing those he loved murdered by his enemies while he watched, powerless and useless. Everything Jon’s become as a king has been to redeem his father’s mistakes and to ensure that what the Chamber showed him will never, ever happen.
Tammy: As for Thom, there’s no reason whatever to think he’d be like his uncle. Thom Cooper is bookish through love of books; Thom of Trebond was searching for secrets and power. Thom Cooper loves his younger sibs and kept an eye on them as long as he could, His greatest wish is to serve the crown, like his parents. He’s really a sweet kid, once you get his attention. He loves animals, and if you want a babysitter, he’s your guy. Even the crankiest babies quiet down for him. (Some of the other mage students at the university are married and have kids.) His biggest flaw, and the one that stands between him and royal service, is that he’s not quick on his feet as a mage. He can cast perfect spells, given time and materials, but if he has to think something up in a hurry, based on only things at hand, he tends to freeze.
Tortall World Building The realm is a monarchy, but the king is obligated by law to listen to the councils, and if all of them agree that he has shown a pattern of ignoring their counsel, restrictions can be placed on his power. (Honestly, it's easier and cheaper to rebel than to get all of these people to agree.) The Carthaki emperor can have more absolute power if he can terrify enough of his nobles into agreeing with him. In Tortall, the de facto rule is that if the nobles agree with the monarch, that's that, unless the mages and commons band against them. It keeps everyone in line. Tusaine and Galla are more monarchies like Carthak, Maren like Tortall, and Saraine and Scanra can be messes. Tyra is a parliamentary monarchy. The Yamanis are an empire. University life, without the religious element, is the same as it was in the medieval universities in our world. You'll find out more about that in the companion book when it comes out in 2013. And the blue hair thing lasted as long as most fads--a semester, if that. Are there any pacifists in Tortall? Your books tend to lean towards the warrior maidens, but are there those that think war is wrong?
If there are pacifists, they live far out of the way of most people. The medieval world was a rough, nasty place and pacifists didn't tend to survive.Tammy: Mila is definitely Demeter/Ceres (I tend to go Greek first–it’s kind of my default setting)
Mithros started as Mithras of Persia with a spelling re-set, but in looks he resembles James Earl Jones I’ve studied all kinds of mythology over the years, so my gods are drawn from world myth and legend. Even in recent years, when I start to create more independent gods, I base them on some idea drawn from world mythologies. Tammy: Kidunka is a Banjiku god, the great snake who made the world and all things in it (you don’t want to know from what he made them, trust me), and made the ultimate sacrifice to hold it all together by biting his tail as he wrapped himself around the world. The End of Grazing Time will come, the Banjiku say, when Kidunka’s great enemy, the Fire Ant Queen, will send her soldiers to cover him and climb into his nose and mouth. The great snake will gasp and snap as they bite him, releasing his tail, and the world will fly apart.
TI
Daine was 26 when she had her first child. She might have had a hard time anyway, even without the shapeshifter.
I was recently re-reading the Daine series and I have a concern to ask you about. After you decided to pair up Daine and Numair, did you ever get anyone expressing doubt about it. I mean, about the fact that a 30 year old man was in love with his 16 year old student?
Tammy: Occasionally I do, and my answer hasn’t changed. In some ways, Numair is emotionally far younger than his age (he’s 27, actually), and Daine is much older than her years emotionally. It didn’t feel wrong to me. If their relationship had begun this way, it would have been beyond creepy, but it happened when Daine was no longer his student, but his traveling companion and co-worker. He regards her as his magical equal, and in her field, she is. Also, and this is something I end up saying time after time, this is a medieval period, when it was far more common for young women to marry much older men (who had established themselves in life and could afford to support a wife). I mention as often as I can in the books that 16 is the age to marry among the lower classes, and some marry even younger. I really cheat in some ways by having noblewomen marry at 18, when in our world they might marry at 9 or 10! Very rarely was a woman able to marry someone her own age.
Who did Kalasin marry?
Kalasin is married to Kaddar (remember him from "The Emperor Mage"?), which makes Kally Empress of Carthak. Since Jon forbade her from becoming a knight, he let her look at all her potential suitors and pick the one she liked best. She chose Kaddar, which effectively was the one Jon had in mind anyway. It's not directly mentioned in any of the books, although it does say in Trickster's Choice that Thayet's daughter is now Empress of Carthak.
Numair isn’t black, but his skin is a dark brown–I based him on actor Jeff Goldblum, who I think is Sephardic (Mediterranean Spanish) Jewish.
The hawk is a spell shape, the only one he can do. It requires incredible amounts of power and the ability both to control and hang onto it. It’s not a true shapeshift. I think Daine suggested a mountain lion or wolf might be easier, but he just groaned, said he needed something that would fly for the speed and the fact that people never notice birds, and he was curst if he’d try another spell shape when the first one gives him migraines.
-Tammy
Can you have both Wild Magic and the Gift?
No. Tammy has said that having both is impossible in the Tortall world. It was a mistake for Onua to both have the Gift and be 'horse-hearted,' which is a version of wild magic.
Whoa. WHOA. None of his previous grandchildren? So implying he’s had grandchildren before? Implying that he’s has other children? Implying that Daine has half-siblings?
Tammy: On occasion. Depending. The births are kinda hard on the mothers.
So was it not uncommon for Weiryn to crossover the realms on Beltane to meet woman and perhaps bed them? Does he have other children from previous lovers?
Tammy: Not living. The last one was about 130 years ago.
Did other gods participate in this? Are their more god-sired people walking around?
Tammy: Well, yes, but they aren’t thick on the ground! The few there are alive now are far apart!
When Daine gave birth to Sarralyn, I can gather it was far from a normal birth… but who was on hand? Where was the baby born?
Tammy: The queen insisted on her own healers and midwives, since nobody could be certain that Daine could give birth on one of the great holidays so Sarra would help. Daine actually gave birth in the palace, where she’d spent the last two months in the queen’s quarters, on bed rest.
Do Weiryn and Sarra approve of being grandparents?
Tammy: Are you kidding?! They love being grandparents! None of Weiryn’s previous grandchildren were such a part of his life, so he likes the novelty. They spoil those kids rotten!
OK, the question again- Sunbirds- are they gods? Tammy: They’re divine creatures, made only to live in the Divine Realms. There are a bunch of them–I only mentioned those. Of course, it might be interesting if somehow someone brought one to the Mortal Realms. Of course, it depends on the circumstances. The race of sunbirds is sacred to Mithros. If you kidnapped one, well, as soon as he found out, you’d only be a wee greasy scorched mark, and the sunbird would be home. So I guess the sunbird, and/or Mithros, would have to be willing . . .
POTS
Did she get a commendation or purse from the Crown after the end of Lady Knight? And how has her opinion on Jonathan changed from when she was a page? Also, does Conal ever apologize to her?
Kel certainly gets a commendation and she's still in command at New Haven. Her opinion of Jon is somewhat more balanced. Conal will never apologize. She doesn't expect him to.
News from Fief Cavall:
Lord Wyldon and his wife Lady Vivenne today announced the betrothal of their youngest daughter, Margarry, to Lord Wyldon's former squire, Sir Owen of Jesslaw. Court gossip has it that young Lady Margarry informed her father of her choice of husband, upon which his lordship was then heard to mutter, "At least the boy's half-broken to bridle." Other court gossip reports that Sir Owen's reply to requests about his reaction to his betrothal were that he finds Lady Margarry "quite jolly," and that she likes horses and dogs as much as he does.
Lalasa and Tiane are a couple.
Neal's daughter: I hadn't even thought about the half-Yamani aspect, though that would actually be quite amusing. What I plan to do when I get to her is show her going for her knighthood with more girls in the mix--Kel and Alanna were the only ones; I want to do a book with Kel and a girl squire, but she also would be dealing with very few other girls. The advantage to Neal's daughter is that by the time she's old enough, there will be more girls (and a different training master).
-Tammy
Concerning Children
Thayet finally said enough: she'd secured any alliances Jon might want, and Ilane(Kel’s Mother) just said she was tired. (She liked having babies, and she was in really good shape for it--shape she kept up with a lot of exercises she learned from an old local midwife who was also a mage.)
I’m still interested in Gary of Naxen’s offspring.
Tammy: They have two boys and two girls. Sir Gilmyn is married to Dolsa of Rosemark. Zenoby, the next oldest, is married to Beltair haMinch. Jaquetta, the youngest girl, is a Daughter of the Goddess in Port Legann. And Geoffrey, in the King’s Own, likes his single state!
*****Youngest Naxen son- I think Cythera presented him with a surprise boy around the time Kel started her page year, but he's too young for the pages yet. Probably he'll start in the fall of TRICKSTER'S QUEEN.
Mindelan Family Tree
Anders (knight) married to Vorinna of Richcaffery = 3 offspring
Patricine married to Toshuro noh Akaneru (Yamani noble) = offspring Inness (knight) married to Tilaine of Teresian = 2 offspring Conal (knight) (I like to think it's his own personality that keeps him unmarried) Demadina married to Gelvan of haMinch (knight) = offspring, dunno how many Adelia married to Merovec of Nond (must have kids by now) Oranie married to Ortien of Hannalof Keladry, lady knight Avinar (studying at City of the Gods during Kel's page/squire term, now studying in Carthak)
* Tamora Pierce Pronunciation Glossary names her Patricia. It is not yet confirmed which is her true name.
** Tamora Pierce Pronunciation Glossary names her Demadry. It is not yet confirmed which is her true name. *** Originally mistyped as Adelia
Roald and Shinkokami have a daughter, Lianokami.
It was after Kel’s page term was finished that Alanna returned to Corus. She forgave Jon mildly in Kel’s second year, but they met outside Corus. By Kel’s third year Alanna and Jon were on pretty good terms again. She thought she was pulling the wool over his eyes with her secret gifts to Kel, and he thought it was sweet and naive of her to think he didn’t know precisely that Kel had an anonymous friend and who it was. Since they were both really pleased with themselves for being so smart, it helped to patch things up.
-Tammy
Did Trebond participate much in the Scanran War? In Afta Alanna mentions that Trebond deals with Scanran bandits most years – were Coram and Rispah heavily involved in the war too?
Tammy: They served as a supply depot and hospital, for one. Jonthair fought as a knight; Alinna rode with the Queen’s Ladies,* helping Thayet keep the rest of the realm in order; Thomsen was squire to Emeric of Legann,** serving near the City of the Gods, and Mylec was with the Queen’s Riders, near Frasrlund. Daran, Liam, and Thayine worked as scouts. Coram is too old for combat or scouting, so he coordinated supplies and housed troops coming through while Rispah worked in the hospital. Is that heavily involved enough for you?
How did the Scanran war end? After Kel got rid of the Killing Devices, was it just a series of battles when the Tortallans bit-by-bit kept on winning and killing the Scanrans, or was there one huge battle where they smashed them?
Tammy: It’s nearly impossible to stage a huge, set-piece battle in mountain country–there are too many places to hide, and no clear lines of sight that extend far enough to do any good. No, the fighting piddled out over the next two years, a skirmish here, a clash there. Killing Blaise just got rid of the killing devices. It ended finally in the spring of 464.
What happened to New Hope once the war was over? Was it disbanded and the people went back to their own villages, or did people stay there and make a new community?
Tammy: New Hope is still there three-odd years later, and so is its unhappy lady knight. The people had no homes to return to, and they felt much safer inside the town’s walls. There is still plenty of border trouble, you see. The lady knight and her healer knight friend are still running things, though the lady would like an assignment somewhere else. That’s the point at which I’ll pick up her story next.
Daughter of Lioness
News from Rajmuat in the Copper Isles
Alianne Crow, Spymistress to the Crown, was delivered of triplets in April, to the rejoicing of her mate, Nawat. In accordance with raka custom, which decrees that children should not have the same name of those who have gone before, the two girls are named Ochobai and Ulasu, and the boy is named Junim. Her royal majesty Queen Dovasary, and the captain of her guard, Taybur Sibigat, will stand as godsparents to the triplets. According to Chenaol, head cook at the palace, Aly's first remark when shown her children was, "Thank the Goddess they didn't come out as eggs. That's what I was afraid of."
I really have to wonder what Alanna and George thinks of Aly's kids, though?
Frustrated they can't see them so far. I imagine there's going to be some sneakage over the next month or so. Triplets is just not something you can wait for your son-in-law to bring when he visits.
Tammy
Just to set the timeline straight, WILD MAGIC begins ten years after LIONESS RAMPANT. Thom is 6 and the twins, Alan and Alianne (since I never got back to Alanna and her family in that quartet, I never gave their names) are 4. Aly is 13 in TRICKSTER’S CHOICE, the book I’m writing now; Thom’s at uni, and Alan just decided what the hey, he’ll go for his knighthood. Alan does things in his own time.
-Tammy
Actually, now, the one I miss writing about most is Kel, because she’s so relaxing. The one I miss least is Aly, who is a pain in the butt. I’ve found I’m more like Alanna than I ever suspected, and in some ways Daine seems more like one of her friends than a human being…
The truth is that I have to love them all, or I’d never spend so much time with them, but the relationships have their ups and downs.
-Tammy
Better yet, George and Alanna meeting Nawat. I wonder what they think of their new son in law?
I can answer that. They feel a little sorry for him. If they knew him better they wouldn’t, but they’ll have to wait to see how the relationship plays out over the years to understand that Nawat will do fine with Aly. As it is, they’ll see more of him than Aly, because Nawat will have more time to bring the kids over to visit Grandma and Grandda. They’ll also figure it out watching him with the kids.
-Tammy
I’m sure Dove will ennoble the family at some point, for service to the crown, just as Jon ennboled George and Coram (and Rispah was ennboled by then marrying Coram). But even if Aly ahd been living in Rajmuat under her own name, she would have become a commoner’s wife when she married Nawat.
And it wasn’t Alanna who gave Trebond to Coram, it was Jon. The title reverted to the control of the crown when there was no male heir of the bloodline to inherit it. Some Tortallan fiefdoms are inherited that way; some it doesn’t matter if the heir is male or female. It all depends on how the royal grant was made in the first place. With Trebond, inheritance was secured only to the male line. Now it will be Coram’s heirs, and (with Rispah’s and Alanna’s eyes on him when he negotiated and received the grant and signed it) the fiefdom will now pass to his heirs, whatever their sex, male or female.
Not that he would have assigned inheritance only to the boys on his own!
I hope.
Really, it’s just as well, don’t you think?
-Tammy
Has Alan of Pirate's Swoop ever worn a dress?
Alan never wore a dress, but he got into his mother's makeup once--as did Thom and Aly--when they were small. George caught them, cleaned them up, and replaced Alanna's makeup. A good time was had by all.
~*~*~*~*~Spoilers~*~*~*~*~
Beka Cooper
In Regards to Mastiff:
I wanted to wind up the legend of a young cop in a medieval world, a girl who was born in the poorest part of the capital and has the strange idea (for her time) that the poor deserve justice equally with the rich. She's served her apprenticeship with two of the toughest cops in the district and broken two horrifying cases; she and her partner ventured out of town on the trail of counterfeiters, working a case on her own for the first time; and now she is on a team that is charged with solving the highest-profile crime in centuries, with no way of telling who is a friend and who is an enemy, with some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the realm turned against them, and dangers small and large in their way. The tests for Beka in this book are on every level, and the cost for even a little failure is not just her own life, but that of her friends, that of her hound, and that of innocents.
What can you tell us about Rosto's background beyond all the rumors in the books?
Rosto was a merchant's illegitimate son whose mother married a man who hated him. Rosto finally ditched home when he was ten and took to theft and brawling in the streets, where he turned out to be good at both!
Was Goodwin always religious or did this occur after she turned from being a loose dog?
Goodwin has always been religious. These people don't tend to link religious belief and behavior on the job unless it involves murder.
Did the Black God show up to Beka's wedding?
It's not like people would have seen him--it would have cast a damper on things. But of course he'd have watched!
Beka offended a noble and is sent out of Corus for a year or so
Finds out something about her ability and Dragonflies (Tammy said, "this is when she finds out about the dragonflies" and I think it must have to do with her magic) Goodwin is with her They are chasing counterfeiters Tunstall got hurt, and won't have much of a role (broken leg or something) This is probably out already, but it won't come out till spring
Bloodhound Cover
-She's on a wharf
-Faithful/Pounce is with her -She has a dog with her -There's a bag of what appears to be spilled coins at her feet -Lots of birds in the background Still lurking about . . .
Bloodhound Progress Report
You thought I'd never get to this, right? I'd just tease and tease . . . Well, I will, but the idea of a good tease is to offer something first. But only a little something because I have to keep writing, yes? Yes.
It's over a year since we last saw Beka--it's autumn, after a not-so-great harvest. She's an official Dog, but it's not all skittles and beer as she had hoped. She's just been given the gate by her fourth partner.
You heard me. The fourth.
Okay, the first one died in a summer plague. That could have happened to anybody. But she arrested the second herself. The third, well, she offered him violence for personal reasons. And the fourth--she was just too eager for him. So now she's back with Goodwin and Tunstall, as she always is between partners. Not that they're complaining. She isn't even complaining, not really. But she lost money on this partner. She'd bet she would last a month, when the smart money said it wouldn't go even two weeks.
And Tansy just got caught by her baker passing fake silver coins. She isn't the only one, so he let her go (after charging a fee and humiliating her), but the very fact that a baker is testing silver coins points Beka, and the Evening Watch Dogs, to a growing problem. Someone--several someones--is passing false silver coins into the capital's economy. If word gets out to the majority of the population, prices will go up, just in time for winter. With food already tight, it could mean disaster for the city's poor, and the country's poor.
The Evening Watch Dogs form a team to hunt down the source of the false silver coins. They seem to originate in the Lower City's gambling dens. They're hunting quietly, picking up gamblers and questioning them, when the riot breaks out . . .
Oops. Gotta go!
-Tammy
From Tamora's Livejournal.
Bloodhound Progress Report #2
Still lurking about . . .
So I have a confession to make--this book isn't coming as easily as some of the others. I suspect that counterfeiting just doesn't appeal to me as much as murder, epidemic disease, war, forest fires, and earthquakes do as plots. There's so much explaining to do with counterfeiting to do. I have to come up with a ring of counterfeiters (colemongers, in the book), and hide them where you won't spot them so easily. (Coles are fake coins.) I have to figure out who's making the coles (colesmiths), and hide them even deeper. How do you know a coin is fake? And how do you set out a major hunt for the counterfeiters without tipping off the whole country? Because you see, that's the last thing Lord Gershom wants, and it's the last thing the Dogs who know there are false coins making their way into Tortall's moneystream want. There are always a few coles about, but this is a lot of them, which could turn the whole national economy on its ear. A search for the colemongers and the colesmiths has to be done quietly, by Dogs who can be trusted to keep it close. And how many Dogs would that be? The hard Dogs of the Lower City have assembled some information, and all of it's bad. They know gamblers from Port Caynn are losing a lot of false silver coins in games in Corus and on the riverboats. Lord Gershom decides to start a quiet search within Corus for the fakes, and to send word to the Deputy Provosts of the cities, to warn them and to get them started on their own searches for colemongers. He sends Dogs out on the riverboats. And to Port Caynn he sends two Dogs who just happen to be free. Remember that riot? Tunstall got both his legs broken. Yep. Both. And the problem with all those healings in the past is that he's built up an immunity. Healing now only takes him so far. The rest he has to do the hard way. That means Beka and Goodwin have each other. Goodwin is familiar with Port Caynn, as it happens, and she worked on the report about the colemongers for Lord Gershom. So did Beka. She also has the powerful Duke of Queenscove screaming for her hide because she talked back to his drunken son. Lord Gershom thinks Goodwin and Cooper are just the pair to send to Port Caynn to snoop around off the leash. On the surface, they are there under the guidance of Sergeant Nestor Haryse, Gershom's cousin, posted to the Day Watch in Deep Harbor District in the port city to learn the way Dog work is done Port Caynn. They wander the city during the day, talking to people and looking around. At night, they're supposed to party in the gambling dens, losing money, winning coles, being sociable, making friends, and keeping their eyes open for the colemongers. Because all threads lead so far to Port Caynn. Beka has already made friends in Port Caynn, too, it seems. It happened while she was still in Corus. One is a limber, laughing gambler named Dale, another is a hulking, hard-handed caravan guard named Hanse, and the third is his fellow guard, the slab-like Steen. (They all met during the riot.) The problem is that Beka's and Goodwin's hunt may be over before it begins. Port Caynn's Rogue, Pearl Skinner, just had them kidnapped and brought to her. Pearl is a very nasty piece of work, and she doesn't like having strange Dogs in her city. She really doesn't like them interfering with her pickpockets, as Beka has already done. And she suspects that Beka may be a spy for Rosto, and that Rosto may be planning a move against her. Pearl's not as cool-headed as Rosto. She's thinking that now that she has these two Dogs, she might just send them back to Rosto in a box. Now where did I put those counterfeiters? - From Tamora's LiveJournal
Future Books
Maura of Dunlath may not seem as much fun as the girl knights, but don't write her off as a warrior yet--things get kinda rugged in Dunlath, remember. And besides, it's going to be interesting for Maura to be a proper noblewoman when her main attendants include an ogre and a wolf. Somehow I just can't see her being what people expect.
I'll only continue to write girl knights if I can find a way to do it so I'm not repeating what I've done before. Where's the fun in writing the same thing over and over? I like to be surprised as much as the next person.
- Tammy
Actually, it’s one book about Numair and one about Maura, both already contracted for, not possibilities.
And considering how I’ve got requests beyond these books for Eda Bell as a girl, Neal’s daughter, Kel and a girl squire, Qiom the tree man and Fadal (from the “Elder Brother” story in HALF HUMAN), something with Owen, something with Irnai the seer girl, Daine and Numair in Tyra (though that might be just a short story), books about Dom . . .
I’ll probably think of something once this contract (which runs through 2009) is done. Or several somethings.
And this doesn’t even include what people will want to see once I have the current books written!
- Tammy
Tammy: I certainly plan for other Aly/Dove books, now that I’ve recovered from my first go-round with Aly, and certainly the Darkings and Nawat will appear. There are still the outer islands to be pacified, and Dove’s choice of a consort to be considered. Nawat also makes a discovery about one of his children that makes a change in his life. And I’m not sure of the ability of the triplets to shape-shift yet. But those books won’t come until after the new Kel stories, which won’t come until after Maura of Dunlath! Poor Maura. Her place was always at the last of my current contract, so as other stories kept getting extended, like Kel’s, and now Numair’s, her story keeps getting shoved back. But it’s one I dearly want to write, because it shows a very different part of Tortallan life than I’ve done before, so I’m looking forward to it.
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