i have a question regarding crown Ferzan. was there some knowledge that he'd be the next crown even before the crown's visions? cuz he was a grown man with no magic signature in the army. were like, the high ranking/knowledgeable people who were aware of him, somewhat aware he could be the crown?
Great question! I think among skilled magi who pay close attention to things like this there might have been some speculation, while the average person who encountered him, even high-ranking officers in the army, probably would not have been aware of it at all. The vast majority of people don't have education in magic after all, let alone the sensory skills necessary to be able to tell something was "off" with Ferzan's magic.
X in particular is an outlier in this sense where even among those who have sensory magic, they are extremely skilled at it, likely the most skilled out of anyone on the continent. So even magi who were sensors would not have easily spotted that discrepancy with Ferzan unless they studied him closely.
Ferzan himself also was not a practitioner of magic for that reason. He knew that his lack of a magic affinity was either going to mark him as an abnormality or someone who could potentially be considered the next Crown in waiting. Either way he would have been a target, so he avoided doing any kind of magic publicly until then, save for things like warding and alchemy that wouldn't betray his lack of affinity.
