#carpetaunin

[lawyernovelist]

I've saved the best for last! For me, at least ;) Why did Derdhel choose to become a Swordmaster? (Perhaps it was just a calling like the three before him and it's a moot question). However, although I know he is caring in his own way, it is also true that he seems "resigned", as Eleri puts it, and becoming a Swordmaster is a big decision that requires a lot of initiative and consistence.

Thank you so, so much for engaging with my questions. It has been very exciting to delve deeper into the Swordmasters' world, and a nice respite while waiting for the next book!

It’s a good question! The main reason is simply that Derdhel actually does care deeply about people and want to do what he can to help them, it’s just that he can have a very different viewpoint on what can be done.

He does believe that sometimes bad things happen and you just have to deal with that, but in many ways that’s the thing: you have to deal with the bad things that happen. Sometimes that does mean accepting that things are going to suck for a while and being upset won’t change that, but while there’s a large dose of fatalism in his worldview it doesn’t entirely mean just letting the world roll by. That’s part of why he’s willing to make tough and sometimes cruel-seeming decisions: he believes those are the best things to do and the fact that they’re hard and cruel doesn’t change that fact any more than wanting sun will make it stop raining. The same goes for his attitude to death - one day it’ll come, being worried about that won’t change anything, being upset when it comes for someone else won’t change anything, so you should just accept it. However, he doesn’t want people hurt and is generally trying to minimise suffering where he can (even if the way he does it doesn’t necessarily make sense from the outside). That was a major thing that drove him to join the Swordmasters: it was a way to do what he believes to be right and spend the time he has well, and that’s what he tries to do.

He doesn’t really fit in with them because he’s a purposefully dispassionate person among passionate people (not helped by the fact that he struggles socially anyway, which means he struggles to express these difficult issues clearly and to see other people’s perspectives), but he’s settled into the role of someone who can suggest the ugly possibility nobody else wants to contemplate because he’s coming from the perspective that sometimes the option you want simply isn’t there and/or flinching away from the ugly choice will make things worse in the long run.

I enjoy him. I hope he comes across well :P

Thank you for all your questions! It’s kept me on my toes and made me actually drill into some stuff I’d not really worked through before :P. I’m working slowly on the next book, still hoping for a rough draft by the end of the year, and in the meantime feel free to ask me anything else!

[lawyernovelist]

Is Derdhel's belief in souls and an idyllic afterlife common among the Mixed-bloods? If so, how does it relate to the Spirits? And if not, where does this belief come from? I understand that the ease with which Derdhel talks about death is partly due to his character, but it's not clear if the others also have those beliefs and just don't express them as much.

I know this response has taken a while, sorry! The more I talked about it, the more complicated my answer got. I hope this did end up being interesting and answered your questions!

Mixed-bloods do generally believe in souls, but for the most part they have similar beliefs to the ones Maelli expresses in Bladedancer's Heirs, where they believe that a dead elf's soul becomes part of nature. Maelli believes in something like an afterlife, but it's not a separate place but something far closer to the living world, hence references to hearing the voices of the dead on the wind. He believes his dead friends are still present but there's no way of reliably interacting with them. A lot of Duamelti Mixed-bloods believe things along these lines with personal variations.

More widely across the world, there are many different Mixed-blood groups and there are variations in their beliefs in the afterlife and souls, especially since their beliefs are influenced by different environments and interactions with each other and other groups of elves. Close to home, this is part of what's going on with Derdhel; his strong belief in a specific separate afterlife is unusual among Duamelti Mixed-bloods, but there are several other groups in other parts of the world who have the same or substantially similar beliefs and it actually comes from Mountain-elven influence; a lot about Derdhel's particular community is heavily influenced by early Mountain-elven immigration to the area (as remembered in the Bladedancer story Seregei tells in Border Crossing!).

So among other groups there are variations in beliefs about souls. Some take it further than Maelli and say that the dead elf's soul ceases to exist entirely and is just subsumed back into the natural world at the moment of their death. This is sometimes expressed as a belief that they merge with one or more of the Spirits, since the Spirits are often identified with their respective elements. Similarly, some elves believe in a form of afterlife where the souls of dead elves remain separate from the Spirits, but serve them in various ways such as tending particular places (often those dear to the elf in life like a garden or a particular beauty spot, and this also incorporates things like the belief that Bladedancer still guards the borders of Duamelti) or observing the world and carrying messages. On average, Duamelti Mixed-bloods tend towards something along the lines of that last thing so the souls of the dead continue to have some presence and purpose.

There is (believed to be - I'm not committing to whether any of the deities are real within the world!) a Spirit of Death - Valfir - and belief in his role also varies. Some believe he's a psychopomp who guides the souls of the dead to an afterlife, some that he's a Grim Reaper figure who is the one who separates the soul from the body (regardless of where the soul then goes), some that he's just a comforting presence at the moment of death who eases the dying elf's passing, and some that his domain is actually decay rather than death itself, so he's concerned with the body rather than the soul.

Derdhel and Maelli are most vocal about their beliefs about death and an afterlife because they're generally most vocal about their philosophical and religious beliefs, and Derdhel is unusual (Maelli being more conventional) but he's not unique. Certainly, his belief that there is a soul separate from the body that goes elsewhere after death is pretty conventional; the main difference is the idea of a separate and ideal afterlife that he gets from the culture he grew up in.

(Also, to anyone curious, here's a link to the books we're discussing!)

[lawyernovelist]

How did Seri and Maelli meet and become friends? I just love their dynamic so much. They look out for each other, they don't let disagreements sour their relationship, and stay absolutely loyal.

Maelli showed up at the Guardhouse looking to become a Swordmaster because he felt called to go and serve his people more widely, which was actually quite similar to how Seri joined except that Seri had come from Duamelti while Maelli was from a nomadic clan. However, the fact that they had both completely redirected what had been pretty stable lives to join the Swordmasters gave them something in common to begin with, even though they were coming from such different backgrounds. Most of their fellow Swordmasters had already been somehow at odds with society before deciding to come to the Swordmasters, so these two were unusual. Then, since Seri was the most junior Swordmaster at the time he was the one who took Maelli on as a trainee, so they spent a lot of time working together and found that they make a good pair.

Deep inside, Seri does know Maelli's a good influence and takes off some of his rough edges, as well as being good at talking him down when he's upset. Maelli, meanwhile, respects him because he knows his worse behaviour does come from a good place and also knows that he will generally listen if told that he needs to change something, which is also something to be respected in a superior. It's part of how he knew something was really wrong in Border Crossing. They have a lot of history, so they know they can deeply trust one another, and that also means that when there is a massive disagreement (and they have had plenty of fights) they know it doesn't need to affect how they see each other and 

It's pretty common for the trainee/mentor relationship to end up very close - Weyrn and Neithan are another example - but these two really clicked, partly because of the dynamic of Seri being passionate and Maelli being calm and them understanding where each other are coming from.

(And the link for anyone playing the home game!)

[lawyernovelist]

Change of pace! It's time for the backstory questions. Because they are backstory, they are technically not spoilers, I guess? But feel free to be vague or not answer if these topics will be discussed in future books.

The first one is about Hurion. He is one of my favourites in the series, by the way, because he is a charismatic antagonist who is also reasonable and generally does not hurt others (imagine that!). When Duamelti was split due to the actions of a certain Valley-elven regent, was he the one she was regenting for? The timeline lines up, I believe, and some of his parts in Border Crossing made me think that it makes sense that he experienced that turmoil and it shaped his character and actions. Additionally, how did Reinal become regent, and how did she end? Just to understand a bit more of that situation.

Wow, you really did read deeply! I appreciate it :)

I really like Hurion as well; he's a reasonable guy whose interests just happen to rub badly against Seri's prejudices…

Reinal was actually a he and he wasn't regent for very long. He was the regent for Hurion's father right at the end of his reign. Hurion himself was absent on a diplomatic visit (alongside his mother, who had been an active queen when he was young but had rather faded out of that role) when some stuff unexpectedly happened that I'm going to keep secret for now because I might go into it later. However, it ended in the previous king not being able to take on any of the duties of ruling for a while. Reinal was his brother and took over for him in the meantime. He tried to pass a whole load of laws which chimed with what some people wanted and confused or frightened enough others to cause absolute chaos and a direct threat to the Swordmasters that split the Mixed-bloods from the Valley-elves. I'm planning to go into exactly what happened during that time (which included some tragedy) and especially how it fell out and was resolved in a later book (specifically, as planned right now, Book 4 :P)!

Reinal wasn't in power for very long, but Hurion returned into the middle of all the fallout. That fallout lasted for years, dominating the end of his father's reign and the beginning of his own. As you suggest, it did affect his view of the safest way to implement change. For Seri, this was actually something that happened when he was quite young and he didn't get the full context, but it informed his worldview and how much he trusted the Valley-elves.

There was also family fallout, which is why Reinal is discussed in the family just as a historical regent, not as Hurion's uncle.

(A link to the books for anyone playing the home game!)

[lawyernovelist]

Alright, I'm done with the political organization of the Mixed-bloods, now it's the Valley-elves' turn. What is the role of the noble houses? Especially since they are mostly confined to the city. I have some assumptions, but I will wait for your answer before going off on a tangent :)

Apologies for the long delay - this time it was just that I did the thing where I opened the message and then the notification disappeared! I hope this is interesting anyway :)

Originally the noble houses were the classic wealthy landholding families, but after the move to Duamelti they had to adapt, since the Valley-elves only had a small area in which to settle and it was inevitably going to end up relatively urban. They're now mostly mercantile interests, with some who specialise in things like particular technologies or resources (the mills have a couple of houses in charge of them, for example). These families have a fair amount of relative wealth and power and they hold onto the idea of being nobility as a reflection of what they would have been and the kind of position in society they still hold.

Theoretically, it's possible for someone with an entrepreneurial bent to rise to the nobility and it's only hereditary in that children tend to join the family business and take over when their parents move on (whatever form that takes) - one of the ways in which Valley-elves do remain set in their ways over time rather than being as adaptable as Hurion would maybe like to think is that they culturally tend very strongly towards that sort of hereditary transfer! However, the system isn't actually particularly flexible in practice; absent some completely new opportunity, things are pretty well monopolised by the existing nobility and openings don't appear very often, especially since generational turnover is so slow.

The king of Duamelti has a council selected from among the noble houses depending on some collection of interest, skill, and personal relationship and they jockey among themselves for what favour, power, and opportunity is available, but mostly they're more like business leaders (business leaders who know they have to live alongside their rivals and in the same city as both the king and the people lower down the social ladder than them) than feudal lords.

(A link to the books for anyone playing the home game!)

[lawyernovelist]

Since you described a difference in roles depending on the distance to Duamelti in the previous question, I have another that might have something to do with that too. What are clans? Are they similar to villages, nomadic groups, or something else? They are mentioned mostly in Bladedancer's Heirs, as a type of group that happens outside the valley and that can be somewhat dangerous :)

They're generally nomadic groups, or at least groups that do transhumance, travelling seasonally from one set place to another. Mostly they survive by hunting and foraging or herding, and they can be territorial, which is where the danger comes from. Generally, the issue only arises if they think someone's muscling in on one of their normal settlement sites or interfering with their herds, and some of them are quite hostile to the Swordmasters because they see them as too inclined to interfere and as trying to restrict them.

There are a couple of clans within Duamelti who take sheep from lowland pastures up into the hilltops and back again over the course of the year. They're pretty settled if only because Duamelti isn't that big, but they hold onto that lifestyle and identity.

There aren't many such groups by the time of the books - it's more of a historical thing - but they are still around! However, the fact that the lifestyle is kind of fading, or at least fading off people's radar, means that sometimes the word is used to just mean groups of elves who primarily rely on livestock, especially sheep. Sometimes groups that used to be nomadic still hold onto the term from tradition, which is what's happening on the Naith - those two clans are settled, but they used to be nomadic.

(A link to the books for anyone playing the home game!)

[lawyernovelist]

To clarify the difference between the roles of a thane and an elder in a village. It seems to me that the thane makes the strategic decisions, like the executive branch of a government (and the legislative, maybe? Not sure who makes the laws here), while the elder keeps the peace and imposes punishments, like the judicial power. Is this correct? And how independent are these two figures from each other?

It's actually more of a geographical split based on proximity to Duamelti. Both are types of village or tribal leader, but villages in Duamelti tend to be led by elders who rely on the Swordmasters to exercise some of the power and authority they would otherwise have. Communities outside Duamelti tend to be led by thanes, who have to be a lot more independent, especially as they move further away. With that caveat, they have the same sort of leadership role with no solid executive/legislature/judiciary split and you wouldn't usually find a thane and an elder in the same village.

Much earlier in history most communities were led by thanes and elders led smaller offshoot communities such as colonies or temporary settlements like seasonal grazing sites and the "elder" title was adopted for those who had closer relationships with the Swordmasters, who took on the role of a thane in Duamelti.

It's not a universal rule - there are some thanes in and near Duamelti and those smaller offshoot settlements led by elders still exist (and settlements that were once offshoots and kept the title) - but that's the general pattern!

(A link to the books for anyone playing the home game!)

[lawyernovelist]

In the Swordmasters books, how long do the elves live? It seems to be implied that they don't live forever, they just live very very long. However, mentions are vague and older elves are not described any differently, so I wonder if they do indeed live forever unless killed, or if their process of aging and natural death works differently than for humans.

Thanks for asking!

Their aging and death works differently to humans. They can essentially live indefinitely if they want to and feel that their lives have purpose. Without that sense of purpose, they start to fade in a similar way to Tolkien's elves, where they become disconnected from the world. This means their bodies start to break down in a similar way to aging and ultimately they die.

Usually that driving purpose is something very simple, such as love for their family or home or an interest in perfecting a craft or learning and discovery for its own sake. As a result, they can appear to live forever, especially on a human scale. However, burnout can progress to the point where it becomes fatal: if an elf is, for example, in a very high-stress and unrewarding role and loses the sense of purpose but has nothing else to drive them (since, naturally, nobody goes their whole life with only one driving purpose) they can end up fading away. Similarly, if an elf is forced to give up the thing that they felt gave them purpose that can also lead to the same process of fading and dying.