Csestriim's Vaniate

Updates and other Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne content   

[vaniate]

Rotting Csestriim

In the "Ask Me Anything" Part II video Brian Staveley answered a question regarding Cestriim’s emotion. We asked about it since Ran il Tornja seemed to act sometimes motivated by emotion (especially in the last mortal bond).

The Csestrim don’t have natural emotion since they were born before the young gods (of emotion). However, they have been alive during thousands of years while the new gods have been in the world so emotion is starting to seep into them.

Long story short

As years go by the Csestriim get bit by bit rotten.

That’s canon.

[vaniate]

Kettarl

The birds are indigenous to a part of the world that is very, very hard to reach. The Annurians managed to get their hands on some eggs hundreds of years back (thanks to il Tornja), and the rookery on the Islands is the only one in this part of the world. As far as the Annurians using them for more than war--no emperors have wanted to risk the birds falling into hostile hands. As long as they remain on the islands, no one else can get at them. There's also a problem with the birds crossing the equator--they can't fly above a certain temperature...

I will allow myself to repeat it.

Ran il Tornja is the one who found and domesticated Kettarls

(as far as those birds can be domesticaded. I’m pretty sure there’s some better word to decribe it but I’m not  a native speaker)

Ran il Tornja and Kettarls is the content we need. 

source

[vaniate]

Another great piece of art by Giselle Almeida (gisalmeidagpa on IG).

The Flea being badass as always.

Permission granted by the artist. Do not repost or edit without personal permission. Support the artist on their page for more brilliant art.

[vaniate]

Variety within the Csestriim’s opinions

I have found a great question on goodsreads. The author explained different approaches to the same dilemma between the Csestriim, as well as, people in vaniate.

The crucial variables, at least as far as I see it, are intellectual capacity, factual knowledge, and the nature of the dilemma. For instance, a simple, soluble dilemma (say, a math problem) would find the same answer from anyone inside the vaniate. Most dilemmas aren't so simple, however--hence the fact that the Csestriim can play stones. The game hasn't been solved--if it had, there would be no game, just a memorized series of optimal moves--and so the Csestriim take different approaches. Even a Csestriim with superior intellectual ability won't always win because there's not a single optimal play at any given move. Of course, real-life dilemmas (warfare, for instance, or politics) are even more complex, and so Csestriim can disagree. No two Csestriim have lived the same life, so no two will be bringing the same set of facts and experience to bear on the dilemma itself. While their lack of emotion obviates one potential form of disagreement, there are other reasons to disagree

It brings me to think about how Kiel’s and Ran’s approach to humankind differs. How much diverse experience they must have with the issue of feelings, the rot and humans in general.

[vaniate]

Beware of spoilers for:

The Emperor's Blades

The Providence of Fire

The Last Mortal Bond

Includes:

Csestriim’s station

Laith being Laith

Pyrre spilling the tea

Valyn losing his temper

Annurians just wanting a break

[vaniate]

The doran’se

The doran’se are only mentioned once in the Prologue of The Emperor’s Blades. With a little information we get about the Csestriim it seems to be a noteworthy element.

“Father,” Faith pleaded, unable to proceed past that single word. “Daughter,” Tan’is replied. “You don’t…,” she gasped, glancing over her shoulder toward the ditch, toward where the doran’se went about their work, steel flashing in the sunlight. “You can’t…”

Being curious creatures we are - we asked the author Brian Staveley, and here’s what he answered with:

They're a group of Csestriim specifically charged with hunting down and killing humans...

It seems especially nteresting that for some reason Tan’is decided to kill his daughter himself even though there were precise people responsible for this task.

[fuckyeahtheemperorsblades]

I’m proud to say that the TV Tropes page for the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne is finally up! It took me a while and it still needs a bit of work, but it’s there! Go frolic through it, or contribute, and remember - TV Tropes will eat up half your day and spit you out, blinking and dazed.

[vaniate]

This TV Tropes  page for the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne is definetly worth checking out.

[vaniate]

Brian Staveley on gods, the Csestriim and balance

We found an old answer to questions about gods and their links to the Csestriim.

One of the principles governing the theology of the world is balance. As a result, the old gods came into being (no one in the word knows or understands how--the theology varies from religion to religion and region to region) in pairs: the Blank God, then Ae (nothing and something), Pta and Astar'ren (chaos and order), Hull and Intarra (Darkness and Light), etc. When the universe swings too far toward on pole, a countervailing force arises to balance things out. The Csestriim and the Nevariim, were both created by Bedisa (goddess of Birth), and created to balance each other out. The Csestriim--rational, cerebral; the Nevariim, instinctive. When the Csestriim destroyed the Nevariim, there was a major imbalance, and some speculate that the young gods (and hence the humans) emerged in response to that imbalance...

source

I believe this is extremely interesting since in the books the Csestriim are said to have been almost entirely destroyed by humankind. Does it mean there are way more Csestriim alive than we think? or did it cause another imbalance that will cause further changes in the world and its creatures?

[vaniate]

An ink sketch of Ashk’lan by John Norton posted on Brian’s website

It is said to be very close to what the author had in his own mind.

[vaniate]

Do the Csestriim dream?

The author hasn’t fully considered it before.

The provisional answer is yes.

source

[vaniate]

Brian Staveley on Csestriim’s purpose

“What’s the point?” Is a question that often haunts people. Some struggle to find the purpose of life and find their source of motivation. Csestriim is an emotionless creature ruled by mind and logic. We asked the author about what keeps them going. Here is what he said:

I'd say that the Csestriim, while devoid of human emotion, have something I think of as a curiosity instinct.  

Whatever impulse it is in *humans* that makes us want to look over the horizon, to take things apart, etc, is hypertrophied in the Csestriim and untethered from emotion.  So while a human explorer might want to cross an ocean for several reasons, 1) curiosity 2) fame 3) wealth 4)etc, the Csestriim just have that curiosity on steroids... 

There is no "point" for them, no end goal (and this is where the Shin teaching overlaps with the Csestriim way of life). The process is the point.

curiosity on steroids

That’s it. Thats the tweet.

[vaniate]

Wondeful art by Giselle Almeida (gisalmeidagpa on IG)

I’m in love with this portrayal of Chronicle of the Uphewn Throne’s characters. Hopefully official animated series will live up to this level.

Permission granted by the artist. Do not repost or edit without personal permission. Support the artist on their page for more brilliant art.

[vaniate]

Emperor’s Blades TV Series Update

A summary from the Legion M webinar. We asked about the production stage of the Chronicle of th Uphewn Throne TV series. Here is what Paul Scanlan - the co-founder of the Legion M said.

“We’ve been working with Brian Staveley for over the year now to develop this epic fantasy series”

It was originally supposed to be a pretty epic live-action production. To the Game of Thrones level.

Since pandemic made it difficult to sell the idea of busy on set production the project was repositioned as an Adult Animated Series.

An animation partner is the Powerhouse Animation Studio that produced Castelvania, Seis Manos and Starchild.

Legion M is currently at the stage of negotiation with the first streamer they brought the series to.

Hopefuly we’ll get to know more in the future once it passes the stage of the negotiations.