BDH has all the questions. Some were paraphrased slightly for clarity and conciseness.
I’m wondering how much this massive redecorating is draining the Inn’s resources. Hopefully the magic of the 300 guests will more than make up for it? Or will the Dominion pay for the upgrades in addition to giving access to Karron?
Emily
The inn had many powerful visitors since Dina started, and Dina and Sean have been feeding it raw materials on regular basis. The Dominion will, of course, generously compensate the innkeepers, simply because it would be below their dignity to cheap out, but Gertrude Hunt is more than capable of supporting the remodel.
Is Miralitt related to Lord Soren? Will they develop a connection? (Robin) Will she get along with Karat?
Robin
Miralitt’s mother wasn’t from House Krahr. Keep reading to find out more. ::winky face::
Is it easier to decorate older Inns, since they accumulate stuff as guests come and they have a wider inventory?
Yes. The older the inn is, the more rooted it is, the faster and easier it is for it to adjust its environment. And as you have seen through the series, Dina is a pack rat. Most innkeepers are the same way. They squirrel stuff away for later use.
Can the inn feed on garbage from a landfill?
Garbage in, garbage out. The inn occasionally requires raw materials like wood, for example, or fabrics. Usually this happens when the innkeeper wants to conserve the inn’s resources or during the times when time is of the essence. It’s faster to feed a load of marble to the inn then for the inn to synthesize it out of something else. The items that an inn could find at a landfill are likely to be tainted by chemicals. The wood would rot quickly. “Cleaning” and absorbing the core materials from a landfill would take a lot of energy and defeat the purpose of trying to save resources in the first place. Now, if an inn somehow got access to a construction site, it would have a field day gobbling stuff up.
If DIna brings a part of the Inn with her, like her broom, would some of her Innkeeper power travel outside of the Inn’s bounds?
Jenna
Your answer is in Clean Sweep.
Why wouldn’t the inn try to form a portal to Dayson?
Jenna
We don’t know where the new door goes. We’ll have to wait and see.
Does an Inn resist a separation from the Innkeeper, like the one the Assembly threatened Dina with? Does it automatically go dormant after it? What is the process to awaken it and link it with another?
Jenna
The inn that loses its innkeeper would go dormant and hibernate like Gertrude Hunt has done before. It’s not a step the Assembly would take lightly, but they cannot permit a public figure of Sovereign’s renown to die at an inn. That event would threaten the safety of an entire planet. They really didn’t want her to do this, but the autonomy of individual inns is very important.
As an aside, you know when Dina’s name comes up during these Assembly sessions, the innkeepers’ eyes start twitching.
“So, Gertrude Hunt…”
Everyone braces themselves.
The process of awakening the inn is described in the series over the course of several books.
How old is the oldest inn? During the previous book about Treaty stay it sounded like the oldest inn was at least hundreds of years old, maybe thousands? I’d have to check back for the specifics……what I’m asking is, if the outside of the inn never changes then how does a structure that was build hundreds or thousands of years ago and hasn’t crumbled or decayed like the rest of the surrounding structures not stand out (assuming that it hasn’t gone dormant and is still a functioning inn)? Also…if one of the older inns was in North America….then what does that structure look like? Especially if most North American human societies were either nomadic or didn’t engage in large scale building projects when it was built? Can you explain a little bit about the oldest inns, what they look like, and how they don’t stand out if their outer “shell” has remained the same for many many years?
Jenna
Jenna, I’m guessing you’re probably from US.
Oldest building still in use in US and territories after the “discovery” of North America.
Oldest building in US that has been continuously occupied.
One of the oldest buildings in Europe still in use.
Inns did not begin with colonial US. There are inns all over the world. They did not originate in North America.
Why do you assume that the inn can’t alter its façade? If the inn can build new rooms to exact specifications, why can’t the inn change the outer walls?
Especially if most North American human societies were either nomadic or didn’t engage in large scale building projects when it was built?
To summarize: the idea that Native American populations lived in tent-like structures and never engaged in agriculture, or never built cities, or never created cultural monuments is very outdated. We know they farmed and built cities. We know that many of their structures were made of timber and therefore didn’t survive the passage of time, but we also know that they cut dwellings into the living rock. Native American history is a story of vibrant diverse populations. They were not homogenous.
I mean, Cherokees right there in Blue Ridge Mountains had gardens and fields and practiced advanced agriculture. The Three Sisters, corn, beans, and squash, all of those are native to North America. Tomatoes. Potatoes. Peppers. Why do we have those things? Because Native American people grew these crops. Farming necessitates staying in a single spot and the creation of an infrastructure. It requires irrigation, storage facilities, and markets, and leads to formation of gathering places and designated places of worship. Even the Plains Tribes did not become significantly nomadic until the horses became widely available, which occurred in 17th century.
To give us a different perspective, we know with 100% certainty that China had an abundance of large architectural structures well before the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC) but almost none of it survived. Why? The ancient monuments that did survive like the pyramids, Egyptian and South American, were made of stone, while the marvels of ancient Chinese architecture were “made with wood, soil, and brick.” Fires, rodents, rot, natural disasters, all of that tends to destroy non-stone architecture.
If you would like to know more about Native American agriculture and societies, this article is a good jumping off point, Eastern Woodland Cultures. Here is the list of oldest buildings in what is currently US.
It is absolutely possible for an inn to exist in pre-Columbian North America.
How come it has 9 star systems if it’s called the Seven Star Dominion?
Winnie
Patience.
How do you name the aliens? Not the names of the races but the given names? Since they aren’t Earth names you can exactly research?
I shall reveal the secret. Are you ready?
That’s it. We roll it until we hit on a combination of letters that we can alter enough to make a decent name. That doesn’t mean that there is not a pattern for naming members of a particular species. There is and we keep it in mind. And then we check it against google, just in case.
Did you plan that George&co would make it in other series when you were writing the Edge?
Amanda
No. The Innkeeper Chronicles were conceived and written after the Edge. We didn’t plan the Innkeeper series while working on the Edge series. We were still writing KD and the Edge parallel to each other and our small brains were very full. ::smiley face::
Thanks for the answers! (And the history lesson – ours is very uk-centric at school so it’s always great to have a jumping off point to learn something new – educational escapism – the best sort of fiction!
Thank you.
Regretting not asking regarding the Sovereign’s life are the Assembly more worried about the spouses or Caldenia getting to them? Oh I know fine well I’d get a wait and see answer.
All these questions and wonderings about a made up living building and its’ history and function which is also made up. I sit and giggle while I read everything.
It says wonderful things about your writing and world building that so many readers get caught up in the worlds that your imaginations create. Thank you for the effort you put into your work that brings all of us so much pleasure and provides us the break from reality that we need to maintain sanity in the current reality. Our mini vacation every time we reread your stories!
“Ancient Civilizations of North America by Edwin Barnhart” is a fascinating audiobook by the Great Courses for anyone who wants to learn more about the civilizations that were here first. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot.
I agree there probably was an inn at Cahokia Mounds–the whole area was a city with thousands of people. Nowadays I imagine the inn is disguised as a big old house somewhere east of the Mississippi river in southern Illinois, perhaps with rumors of it having been a spot on the underground railroad or a place where bootleggers stored their whiskey during Prohibition.
Thank you so much for the interesting information! You are so patient with us! Lots of love to you and yours!
I’m still hopeful that one day Lark will find happiness. With or without George 🙂
Regarding the question about the new portal, I be been searching for a reference to “Dayson” and coming up blank. Can I get some help?
House Krahr’s planet where Sweep of the Blade takes place ????♂️
Thank you Mod R.
I did check on that, but I have it spelled Daesyn. Phonetically very similar, but the spelling threw me off.
Some of the readers who ask questions only listen to the audio books and don’t know the spelling for names, or have learning difficulties etc. We are not sticklers for typos in the comments ☺️.
Love the answers. Thanks for the look into your brain’s
Completely offtopic:
I’m trying to find a scene from the Hidden Legacy universe.
Catalina (IIRC! may misremember the scene completely so readers beware) was going to client House to either give a report or have a first conversation about a potential case.
Instead of meeting the business minded grown-ups, she (and maybe Arabella?) was waylaid by a youngish daughter(?) of the House with some friends to impress around. The House was some kind of mind mage house IIRC and one of the younguns tried to read(?) influence(?) Catalina’s mind because the Baylors are newcomers to the scene and couldn’t possibly be powerful enough to notice and/or do anything about it.
Catalina slaps her down and afterwards an older brother arrives. Just too late to prevent the embarrassment but right on time to send the mob packing with some sharp words.
Does anyone remember the scene and where I can find it?
It’s a deleted scene called Pay Me and you can find it here ???? https://ilona-andrews.com/2019/deleted-scene-appearances-and-signed-books/
Hope this helps ????
Oh damn, below all the address notifications.
Thanks a lot, I had already looked at that post when I went through all the Hidden Legacy tags but didn’t scroll down far enough.
Would never have found it without your help.
As a Native American, thank you for the mentions, and sticking up for us. This is just one of the many reasons as to why you’re my favorite authors.
Oh, thank you for that. Y’all never fail to entertain and make my day brighter. ????
The questions are interesting, stuff I never gave any thought to. Your answers are even more interesting as you evidently do give thought to this stuff. Thanks so much. Always enjoy reading your blog and love any and all of your stories!
Along a similar line to ancient peoples having culture and civilization is a book
called The Light Ages by Seb Falk, researching “[t]he surprising story of medieval science.” Many ideas and inventions flourished during the “middle ages”.
Has anyone else been wondering about how cleaning the inn works? Like, bedsheets? Would Dina and Sean have to run a load of laundry? Or can they just click their fingers? And how about the cake form Dina puts in the sink? And dust, I guess the inn can just absorb dust?…. As someone who does a lot of cleaning, this has been on my mind. 🙂
FAKE WORD GENERATOR? Thank you. Y’all are the best ever.
Fascinating info! Thank you for feeding our curiosity. 🙂
I can see how that’s a plus to creativity… I rolled a few words and got:
ceonophone
vit
baquilin
pairredmons
comforists
Which lead me to “The Baquilin comforists were doomed once they began using their vitality to power spells via the cenophone to contact the paireddemons”
A cenophone is obviously a device that contacts other planes via cenotaph…
Thank you, Ilona Andrews for the post. Very educational for non historically educated people. It’s not that public schools in USA don’t make an effort to educate but that there is a heck of lot of history to human race so they have a pick and choose what is most pertinent to today.
My Dad thought that went hand in hand with the ability to think/ reason. He would ask us “why?” X, y, Z happened. He enjoyed reading your books.
| How come it has 9 star systems if it’s called the Seven Star Dominion?
I like this one. If I recall correctly, the number of systems under the Holy Anocracy increased between Clean Sweep and Sweep in Peace. (Or maybe I read unedited versions, I haven’t checked back.)
^ That wasn’t a critique, it was a celebration…
🙂 Probably depends if you want to count Nexus or not.
I ???? it when you guys write serials & everyone shared has been a winner. That said I swear the week feels longer when I’m anxiously awaiting the next installment. It’s not all in my head bc I’m not alone noticing this anomaly. (See comments) ????
There are a few really excellent podcasts/YouTube channels about ancient American and other ancient/historical civilizations that I’ve recently been glomming on…just because I like learning things.
I’d be happy to share if anyone here is interested.
As an aside, you know when Dina’s name comes up during these Assembly sessions, the innkeepers’ eyes start twitching.
“So, Gertrude Hunt…”
Everyone braces themselves.
You guys, the spouses and support staff are the bomb. Thank you for putting up with our fascination with the worlds you are creating. Thank you fellow BDH for allowing your imaginations to fly. The writing is so good that just the thought of Gertrude Hunt is so fun to think about. Thanks for the questions cuz I just can’t let Gertrude Hunt go. Thank you for the history lessons. Building, farming, producing goods and societies is so fun. Can’t wait to hear about an inn on another planet or in another galaxy. Thanks Ilona!
Not about dog. Been reading and saw u are #8 today. HeHe, with I think it was 5,000 people posting **** reviews. Congratulations ????.
P.S. already pre purchased next book. Love the cover. Can’t wait!
????
Thank you Sandy.
Which House Andrews book is #8?
I am 5 hours ahead of Texas and keep clicking refresh isitup?isitup?isitup?isitup?isitup?isitup?isitup?isitup? Noooo, it’s still 2am,-10am and a bit early
Thank you for going off about Native American societies and their ways of life. Just….thank you.
I haven’t gone back and read all of the comments made regarding the important crops that all originated in North, Central, South America – I did notice that one of the most important might not have been listed….Chocolate.
Used as currency by the Aztec. Cultivated by the indigenous populations of Central America!
I think it is one of the most important anyway. Not sure how everyone else feels 🙂
We have mostly been talking about North America ????
re: 9 star systems name 7 star dominion … I had to laugh, because my thought train immdiately (as a UofI alum) went to ‘Big 10 Conference’ has 14 members & 2 affiliates … and boy was it an uproar when they started adding teams. They also rehabbed the logo to try to reflect the ’16’ 🙂 Can’t wait to learn what’s going on in the galaxy!
I’m hoping Miralitt is related to House Ervan. (Wouldn’t it be just too funny if she turned out to be Melizard’s half-sister?)