Blue Core
Book 2/3 Intermission - Character Q&A

The gods in the Blueniverse are more like eldritch entities than classic mythological gods. They can be thought of as beings with infinite mana density and infinite intent. They cannot possibly interact with the world directly, as the slightest whim would overwrite it entirely. The precise number of them is unimportant, but they are plural.

As noted, there are seven continents. Orn and Einteril primarily have human-kin on them, and occupy relatively the same latitudes. They range from temperate to tropical climates, in general.

Hoarast is far south of both of them, and is mostly frozen – which doesn’t mean lifeless. A high amount of glacial, storm, and water affinity means it’s full of cold-adapted life.

Nicehapoca, home to the Chiuxatli, is to the east of Orn, on the other side of the mage-king archipelago (which may be considered its own pseudo-continent).

Ansae: “Bit early for names yet, yes? Dragons clutch from one to three eggs at a time, with almost all being two. I’d want at least two, possibly more.”

Ansae: I had an amulet that would keep you perpetually clean. I really shouldn’t have traded that one.”

Blue “Annoyed at? I mean, most of the technologies magic can replace, like medicine, are really fiddly. Though I can see genetic engineering not playing well with magic and that would be irritating.”

Shayma: “The Anells have effectively enslaved the Ell family for decades or longer, but I imagine it’s mostly the family heads that I’d hold responsible. They need to actually give up their control.”

Iniri: “I’m actually very partial to fresh berries with cream. I rather like being able to guide Tarnil to a better place than it was, but the tedium that goes along with that I could do without.”

Blue: “Not without really good reason. Logistics aside, I don’t want to be babysitting nations for the rest of my life – especially if they become dependent on me and are worse off after I withdraw.”

Blue: “Depending on what exactly is there I may have to regardless. If I can eat up all their spare cores while I’m at it, that’s just a bonus.”

Cheya: “Events are proceeding as planned…”

Iniri: “We’re not at the point yet where intercontinental relations are important. That said, Blue’s made Anell a priority so I’m sure he’ll handle it sooner rather than later.

Syrinu: “I actually don’t mind at all. The Great Lady is rather overwhelming, but it’s an opportunity I’d never get anywhere else and she’s hardly worse than the Clan heads who sent us here to begin with.”

Blue: “According to maps and globes, it’s about four times the diameter of earth. Its name is effectively “The World,” and gravity seems about normal.”

Iniri: “There were pirates operating out of the closest one back in my grandfather’s day, so there are some people, but the largest one is actually in Leviathan territory and not Tarnil territory.”

Blue: “That just lets me make my mana solid, rather like Iniri’s light-ingots.”

Blue: “I mean, it has magic? Ansae’s moon seems to be fairly close and small considering its angular velocity and relative size. Small is a relative term, though, it’s got to have a mass most easily expressed in scientific notation.”

Blue: “Not until I have nothing better to do. They’re not doing any harm just sitting there and there’s no telling how much of a project that’d be.”

“Power is a very vague concept. But in terms of sheer ability to amplify will, probably not.”

Cheya: “People with Lineage skills or that have specific knowledge that allows them to get an Inheritor Class will try to get particular affinities by exposure to that affinity and behaviors that support it. But Affinity is ultimately determined by the person’s personality and understanding. Choosing an Affinity that doesn’t match you particularly well is nearly impossible, and when it does happen it effectively makes it impossible to tier up. People with more common classes tend to follow the same path from first to third tier, at which point they start to diverge – but almost everyone has some subtle differences in their Skills.”

Tor Kot: “I do wish we had a better solution, and siphoning off the power of most of the population to promote a few is a poor situation, but we don’t have any other options. The power that red cores provide is absolutely necessary for containing the rift. It means that we have slowly growing, transferrable fifth tier or better power.”

Blue: “The northern wastes are no longer part of Tarnil. Tarnil wouldn’t expand unless it was in my interests, and that would be clearly different from me claiming extra land.”

Ansae: “He’s pretty good! Of course, he’s also cheating with that sensory link so he’d better be good. A Power doesn’t pass on anything intrinsic for being a Power, but obviously they’ll be in a very good position to raise their child.”

Pale Mantis Warrior: “WE SERVE THE MASTER!”

Tor Kot: “The amount of intelligence depends on the monster. There are upsides and downsides to having intelligent monsters, which is why you generally have a few but not many. My elites are all quite intelligent, but the lesser castes are mostly only cunning. They all have a built-in preference for serving the dungeon – which is to say, me.

Tor Kot: “They’re cute names!”

Yit Nev: “The only special advantage is that sometimes you just don’t feel like dealing with someone else.”

Ansae: “It’s going to be great! Imagine what I could do with all that knowledge!”

Blue: “Programmed is a bit strong, I just have predilections. Any sort of contact would have to be done carefully because it could go so wrong in so many ways.”

Ansae: “Quite often! But after living a long time you have a broader idea of what happiness is and that chasing it directly often gets you into trouble, as opposed to finding it along the way toward greater goals.”

Blue: “The problem with the lasers is that they’re not magical, which limits their effectiveness. However, now that lasers are in the akasha I’m thinking there might be a way to reinvent it.”

Blue: “So far as I can tell most of the genetic editing that dungeons do is monster-related. Which I can’t do.”

Ansae: “It makes me want it.”

Ansae: “Making new runes might become extremely difficult, but the runes themselves would still work, I’m pretty sure. Obviously I’m not going to test it.”

Tor Kot: “They just don’t believe it exists, and that my reports are self-serving and/or just plain wrong. And yes, it is the answer to our purpose for existing – so obviously people who like things the way they are now aren’t interested in finding something that would end their power.”

Blue: “Yes, I’m rather limited in how father-ish I can be. I discussed this with Taelah; the solution is having strong father figures around. To some extent I’m going to be more of a genetic donor than a dad.”

Taelah: “Yes, I actually have started an orchard now that I can directly deal with Blue’s plants. There’s a reason tayanten juice is so common in the Village.”

Giorn: “Any Great Dungeon you go to will have large interior landscapes, hundreds of square miles, with the mana density generally increasing as you go down. Monsters are common and generally tribal, and seem to emigrate up from the depths of the dungeons. There are areas that are obviously artificial, towns and rooms and such, and the monsters hang around those most often, but the rest is more like a mana spring. Which is why mana springs used to be called dungeons too.”

“I’m not as bad as my mom but Blue and I have lots of fun together. I wouldn’t be averse to more stuff like before, but it would only be with another Companion. I know Taelah wouldn’t want that and I’m pretty sure that’s as far as Iniri is willing to go. Annit and Keri are perfectly fine on their own.”

Wright: “That’s Emperor Wright. There are at least six non-inheriting but still of my direct descent.”

Taelah: “Not so much. Blue isn’t really a person to them, and of course he doesn’t pay attention to them much anyway.”

Dyen: “The announcements have been a little bizarre, but most people are preoccupied with trying to get their lives back on track. That said, it's nice being energetic all the time!

Blue: “Almost anything going that distance needs active guidance, and computers. Not really going to happen.”

Ansae: “The Silver Temple! Leviathans are really stubborn and they hadn’t actually done anything, so eventually I decided to tolerate them.”

Ansae: “Obviously it’s a lot of opportunity. There are multiple reasons why I’m putting my lair right there for a while.”

Blue: “Basically I have an interested-layman’s understanding of a lot of things. Really specialized knowledge was left behind.”

Blue: “Probably, at some point, but there seems little reason to do anything with it right now.”

Blue: “Yeah, I do not want to deal with that crap. Obviously I need to get things sorted before things get significantly worse.”