Gordon and I spent 4 days at South Padre. We needed a break. This was our first South Padre and it was great. The water was clear, we had a calm day, a wave day, and a choppy day, and we both really enjoyed it.
Huge thanks to Mod R for holding down the fort. 🙂
From Mod R: So much confusion over this. “Why is one Magister and one Magus, but what does it mean? What is Magus Sagittarius?”
This is a fun question, because we put a lot of work into the naming system that largely went unnoticed.
Let’s look at some cars. Here are the names of 10 best midsize SUVs of 2021, according to Consumer Reports.
GMC Acadia
Ford Edge
Lexus RX 350
Kia Sorento
Nissan Pathfinder
Dodge Journey
Toyota Highlander
Ford Explorer
Jeep Grand Cherokee
Chevrolet Equinox
Pathfinder, Highlander, and Explorer make sense, if you consider an SUV to be a vehicle one takes off the road and into the wilderness to go on adventures. Except that overwhelming majority of us don’t do that. We take it to the grocery store. Journey seems a bit more accurate. We journey back and forth to work. Woo, what an exciting journey that is.
Acadia is a French-settled region in Canada or a US National Park, depending on your frame of reference. Sorento is a small village in Italy which was heavily influenced by Greeks and a cult of the sirens.
Edge is neither here nor there, but it sounds cool. I can imagine a marketing session: this is the car that gives you an edge.
Equinox… Eh? When you ride in this car, your nights will be equal to your days. You are welcome.
Cherokee is named after a group of oppressed people. Were they asked if it was okay for a car to be named after them? I don’t know.
Lexus just stuck to numbers.
Why don’t we have a unified system for naming the car models? Why aren’t they all names for animals or synonyms for traveler? Even within the same car line the types of names vary. Kia Cadenza is named for a musical solo, while Kia Sportage features a made up word.
An even better illustration of this is the etymology of the periodic table. According to Wikipedia, hydrogen is Greek via Latin and French: From French hydrogène[2] and Latin hydro- and -genes, derived from the Greek ὕδωρ γείνομαι (hydor geinomai), meaning “Ι beget water”.
Boron is Arabic: From the Arabic بورق (buraq), which refers to borax. Possibly derived from Persian بوره (burah). The Arabic was adapted as Medieval Latin baurach, Anglo-Norman boreis, and Middle English boras, which became the source of the English “boron”.
Sodium is clearly English, but its other name, Natrium, is derived from Greek nitron which might trace its roots to Egyptian netjeri. Cobalt is named after a German goblin. Samarium, which sounds so very Latin, is named after a mineral samarskite, which in turn is named after Vassili Samarsky-Bykhovets, a Russian mining official of 19th century.
What is going on here?
When a bunch of people from different backgrounds work in the same field, you are going to have a variety of terminology. Even if there are established rules. If your system is perfectly uniform, if all of your spells or naming practices follow neat and precise guidelines, it’s a clear sign of an artificial construct. Let’s say you are naming demons. This guy is named Asmodeus, clearly Greek. This other one is named Samael (Hebrew.) Sooner or later someone dramatically summons a demon and demands its name. The demon snarls that puny mortals have no name for his awesomeness. The summoner studied him for a minute and says, “I declare thy name is Bob.”
When we were naming different magical specialties, we wanted to give the whole thing an organic feel. Whoever got that magic first named it. The need for some uniformity was understood at the time the magic talents emerged, because it coincided with a period of scientific advancement. You can clearly see Latin and Greek roots of most names and they do make sense. For example, mettalofactor is the maker of metal things. Aquakinetic is the mover of water. Magus Sagittarius means archer mage. Magister Exemplaria means scholar of patterns and so on.
In modern times, the naming of emerging talents is mostly handled by Offices of Records. In hopes of avoiding Magus Bob.
While we are on the subject, Alessandro’s magic is in danger of becoming the Hidden Legacy version of the First. Some people decide that every new shapeshifter in KD is a First. He is a First, and he is a First and so on, until I had to write a post shutting that down, since only Curran and his son are Firsts. That’s it. No other firsts as of right now.
So let’s fix this speculation before it takes us so deep into the woods, we will need a Nissan Pathfinder to get out.
Alessandro’s passive field is survival based. If Alessandro falls off a roof, his magic will try to compensate by creating a shield. If he is being drowned, his magic will attempt to push him to the surface. If a mental mage attacks him, his magic will shield his mind. He doesn’t need to strain for this to occur. It’s instinctive. The passive field also accelerates his healing. He is very hard to kill.
Alessandro’s active field produces weapons on demand and reinforces his mind. In active state, Alessandro is practically impenetrable to a direct mental attack from a mental combat mage such as truthseeker, mind cutter, psionic, etc. The passive field gives him some protection, but when he concentrates, that protection becomes even stronger. That does not mean that he cancels out illusions by strolling by. Illusions are not direct attacks on the mind. They are just altered sensory input. There is no magic-cancelling field surrounding Alessandro. He does not have that power.
Alessandro’s House Spell is the magic equivalent of an EMP. It cancels magic talents within the affected area for a limited time. It requires an arcane circle. I know you read the part where he drew a massive circle on the roof. If he could just cancel magic left and right, why would he have bothered with it?
“Why did Marcello’s magic not protect him from being frozen and killed?”
Because Arkan’s magic is very strong and Marcello was arrogant. He was putting on a show, and Arkan dropped a metaphorical hammer on his head, catching him unaware. Marcello was not a god just as Alessandro is not a god. They are not invulnerable. Just well protected.
Thank you for the detail! My magic knowledge increases!! Plus the posts by Mod R were very useful to my brain in trying to organize the multiple connections that are trying to occur!
I’m on a data project managing hierarchies, and boy does this post activate my brain. The passive > active > amplified nature of Hidden Legacy is amazing. I will patiently wait to see what Arabella can do with a circle, because damn, that will be epic. Smaller, largely rhetorical questions persist, though: what is active vs passive for a Magister Exemplaria? Could a Prime pick up new languages actively in a short time? Bern’s programming codes and scripts are probably beautifully modular. I bet *Bern* comments his codes and documents his variables in a properly.
Have fun with managing those hierarchies. Especially when someone says to you “oh, did you think of this to put in such and such category or in this hierarchy?” Then the hierarchy gets too much, and you want to run far, far away. 🙂
Data projects…not for the feint of heart.
I’m a data junkie, so I’m like a bee in a clover patch. I can’t believe someone’s paying me to the do this, but here I am! Cross-referencing hierarchies across data systems… it’s a rush!
I work in data analysis and trying to make sense of data that somebody just dumped in a database without any real thought as to how it would be used is a challenge, but I really enjoy it. Especially when I get the end results to a user and they appreciate how organized and pretty the presentation is, never knowing what a mess it was because they couldn’t see it.
Data nerds unite! ????
I’ve had that happen to me too. After I cleaned up the mess and did whatever analysis was requested, I would explain what I did in an e-mail so they know what to do the next time. It’s crazy what requests may come to me from people who have no idea what they want. 🙂
Hello fellow data nerd! What are you using to manage your ontologies?
I, too, would like to read Bern’s code. I bet every function has docstrings, and he has the most glorious readme – just in case Bug needs to inherit/build off of his work. And I bet their warehouse house getting destroyed didn’t destroy Bern’s work, because he follows the 3-2-1 rule of backups, and his backups have backups.
No….Bern’s SHOES have back-ups.
His data and research materials have ANCESTORS.
I would expect Bern’s code to be self-documenting. Variables names describe what they hold. Methods describe what they do. Parameters state what is needed to complete an action. A script should read almost like a cookbook. Code should be readable and self-descriptive.
If the code and the comments disagree, only the code can be right. Bern knows this.
His comments will be very high-level, because the purpose of the code is „obvious“. 😉
There’s obvious, and then there’s “obvious.”
I enjoyed this thread, thank you.
Thanks for the clarification.
So glad you got a bit of a break!
+1 ????
+2!
I hope there is no test for this.
Thes blog posts are such a treat. We are vaccinated but in a high delta covid area. Over 70. Health stuff.
The blogs supplement the novels, lift me away and I can ride your imaginations to Magic. I am thankful I found your worlds.
Although I was Shocked that Grandfather in snippet was Siren and not Linus Duncan who I still keep thinking is related to Baylor family. And think Evil Grandmother will save the family and the world from Cesar and die in a heroic gesture.
Because I am that old!!
Both Nevada and Catalina have two very different styles (?) of magic. Who’s to say Grandfather doesn’t as well?
The books. We’ve already been told that Grandfather was a Siren from House Molpe.
Also, the sisters might have very different magic, but each one of them has magic that they can trace to a close ancestor (or the surrogate Victoria used to have James). So it stands to reason that Catalina’s magic had to come from a close ancestor.
Yes I thought it was Linus too. Still do????
+1
I agree completely that the blog posts are a treat – hoping you stay safe and healthy.
I think it’s quite possible that Grandfather IS Linus Duncan (also possibly Caesar). He could be a dual prime. We have no history (unless of course, I missed it at a Q&A or something, which I have done before) on his house. He doesn’t seem to have married or have kids – which you’d expect from a powerful prime like him.
I keep wondering about this. I assume Grandfather=Linus=Caesar. But… how could Linus have been the leader of the assembly without everyone knowing about his House history? They wouldn’t elect someone without established House history. It would be really hard to falsify, right? And if he doesn’t have a falsified history, Catalina would have figured out long ago that he was her grandfather. So maybe this whole connection is a red herring? It’s just SO red.
Wait! Maybe this is a Xavier-esque kind of situation? And that’s why he was tossed out of his house. So he could appear to be from a Hephaestus house, but one parent was actually from House Molpe, thus the dual prime and the general public unaware of the Molpe connection.
Now I’m just making stuff up. OK, this has been way too much fun but I actually have to work at some point.
If Linus is grandfather, then the Baylor girls, or at least Arabella, would have to know about it, since she says “hello, grandfather” to the man with Victoria. I had assumed she recognized him in the moment, rather than already knowing who he was. Her reaction seems too calm, if she came upon Linus with Victoria and suddenly deduced he was grandfather. And by RF, surely she would have said something to her siblings.
But the fact that, now, Arabella knows grandfather, at least by sight, is intriguing. (Unless, for narrative purposes, we need Arabella to think she knows who grandfather is, but is incorrect.)
I am assuming she is correct, and now knows him, at least by sight.
I suspect Linus of being Caesar, but not grandfather.
Alessandro also realised Linus was Catalina’s grandfather, in Sapphire Flames, in the the scene where they are at Linus’s house together. Linus also says at one point that he saw Victoria shortly after she gave birth to her son – another hint that he’s James’ father. Lots of little clues sprinkled about! My only question is why Arabella hasn’t told her sisters yet, since she seems to love gossip. I think she knows because of her Magic – she sees people’s colours or maybe it’s smell related? ????
And also lots of hints that Linus is a siren as well. I remember when Nevada first talked with him – I think in the hospital coffee shop – she thought something like, “You just knew he would never lie to you.” He had showed her the tip of his wings to beguile her! That’s my interpretation anyway….
This is my first post to the blog – HL is my favourite series ever and I am going to really enjoy going back through years of posts!
I agree with you that Alessandro figured out Linus is Catalina’s grandfather – and Linus knows it.
+1 re: the hints that he is a siren. Nevada’s book started with “All men are liars. All women are too.” So for her to think “You just knew he would never lie to you” definitely gives me pause.
Hypothetically, if you had one older sister who was a human lie detector, and another that could simply charm the truth out of anyone, wouldn’t it be nice to know something that they don’t? Also, again, not saying anything, please don’t read too much into it, but Linus treats Nevada with professional courtesy, with Catalina he is a stern mentor. However, he adores Arabella. She gets away with stealing his expensive liqour and cigars.
I originally thought Linus was Caesar based solely on the comment he hated to be bored. But when we found out he was the warden of Texas, it made no sense to me that he would be head of a conspiracy to destabilize the government that he works so hard to maintain.
I do think Caesar could be a siren. How else to explain so many disparate primes never revealing his identity. Unless you postulate that all of them have allowed themselves to be hexed, which seems unlikely. Recently thought, hey there’s an unknown siren floating around – the Baylor’s paternal grandfather! So maybe he’s Caesar. Heh
In so far as Linus knowing and maybe even liking Victoria, it’s been my impression that prime society is pretty small. There could have been any number of reasons that they would know each other over the years. Heck they might have dated for all we know.
And my bet is that “grandfather” might very well look similar to his son, James Baylor. Add that to finding an older man secretly meeting with Victoria and cooing over the new baby and Arabella could easily assume he’s her grandfather. Anyway, it’s a hell of a lotta fun to conjecture!
Re Linus being Caesar- he could be an upstanding guy in all other ways, but be Caesar because of some kind of emotional scarring. House Andrews does love those complex morally ambiguous characters.
Or maybe it’s all a giant sting operation! That would be awesome.
I keep tossing between Linus being grandfather and Caesar myself.
I started to wonder… could Linus have a split personality? One part warden, the other part grandfather?
Could Victoria have split Linus’ personality in two?
Victoria never married because her fiance was murdered. So maybe Linus never married because he had been in love with Misha Markot?
I think Linus is a dual Hephaestus and Siren. Throughout the series comments are made how Linus can work a crowd/assembly, etc. I still think he is Ceasar
Yep. He’s Caesar and Arabella’s grandpa. And one can have favorites among ones grandkids. For all sorts of reasons.
I really do appreciate the clarification on this. I was confused to the point where I thought Alessandro’s “make stuff from thin air” ability was a secondary dark horse talent unrelated to his antistasi abilities, which I thought were purely arcane/mental. Good to know that antistasi abilities also manifest physically too (when you’re just *that* good at least, though I should probably stop, Alessandro’s head is big enough as is.)
Glad you and Gordon got to go away for a while. Thank you for the explanation. The theories while you were on vacation were getting pretty wild.
Mod R did an excellent job keeping the BDH entertained. 😀
Yes! I absolutely agree! Mod R deserves a round of applause for the excellent posts! Well done Mod R! Thank you!
+
+1000! ????
+1 ????
Now I’m kinda wanting to read about someone summoning a demon and naming him Bob. ????
Twin Peaks & Dresden series have not quite demon Bob’s.
And Discworld often makes jokes about the native names of so-and-so landmarks actually translating to things like “it’s a mountain” or “stop waving your finger in my face” (that’s not a direct quote, I can’t remember which book it for a word for word quote).
Heck, probably half the rivers in THIS world are literally named “river river” because someone asked a local what the river was called and the local answered with their word for river.
Humans are astoundingly unimaginative at times ????
The Sahara Desert, for example.
Naan bread (bread bread)
Chai tea (tea tea)
and my personal, all time favourite:
The Los Angeles Angels (The The Angels Angels)
“Your finger, you fool” always my favorite. 🙂 There’s also “I don’t know, what?” hehehehe
+1
As I understood the comment from Mod R’s last post, it was why some are called Magus XXX and some Magister XXX. My personal guess is that Magus is naming the magic ability itself while Magister is describing the person who has that magic.
So for example: We have Magus Exemplaria and Grandma Frida is a Magister Exemplaria.
That’s how I understood it.
btw, totally off-topic: I really like the name Frida written in english (it also sounds so much better than in german language where it originates from). In “proper” German language it would have been spelled Frieda -with an e after the i. I always wondered how english natives would speak that. I myself have a pretty ordinary (and boring) name, but it sounds just beautiful if some english people speak it. Some say N-ei-kohl, some say N-i-ko-lee. I really do like that.
And because I stumbled across the HL books through audiobook, I of course have the HL series in english and in german. I have to confess: your narrators are much better then those in my native tounge. they always germanise everything.
And honestly, the German language in general is just disgusting. Except the Berliners and their dialect (my hometown), they are really funny.
Uhh….sorry, I’m afraid I just got drowned in how beautiful the English language is and….I will start my weekend now, because I got just wonderfully satisfied with a bunch of good laughter’s from this post.
BIG thank you to HA and enjoy your weekend @all
Had a roommate in college that spelled it Frieda and my SIL is Farida, but she’s originally from India.
“As I understood the comment from Mod R’s last post, it was why some are called Magus XXX and some Magister XXX. My personal guess is that Magus is naming the magic ability itself while Magister is describing the person who has that magic.
So for example: We have Magus Exemplaria and Grandma Frida is a Magister Exemplaria.
That’s how I understood it.”
No, that’s not right. They are simply names of different magic talents. 🙂
I’ve always felt that naming things (properly) is very hard.
So I always try to delegate such things to other people.
That’s why my software is full of Thingamabobs, Doohickeys, and Watchmacallits.
(If you ever get tired of writing, maybe you could help drug companies come up with better names. [of course that has trademark and multi-lingual challenges])
Oh dear, sorry that I misunderstood it again.
I’ll go and do a re-listening to make a proper try in understanding that.
I guess my confusion comes because I hear them in both languages and in the German ones there a other names for it.
Sorry that I stole your time 🙁
My knee jerk pronunciation of Frieda in midwestern American English (phonetically speaking;) is “Fry-E-duh.” No clue about everyone else’s interpretation! 😉
German pronunciation would be „free-dah“
Roommate was pronounced Freedah and SIL is Fahreeda
I live in the Midwest and I have always pronounced Frida or Frieda as “FrEE -duh”
I’m from Maryland and pronounce both that way also.
Please put Magnus Bob in the books!
I’m thinking that needs to be a pet’s name.
Magus Bob…follower of Moloch or one of the Prime Houses of Houston?
Hey, at least someone didn’t call a demon alias Smith and Jones. 😉
Magnus…not magus. I’ll go back to work now…..
The problem w/ a demon named Smith or Jones is that they would never get any rest. Too easy to remember their names for a summon. That’s why they like unusual names and spellings. ????
Haha, if a Bob ever shows up I will laugh. We named one of the trio of male wild turkeys that visit our yard Bob… his pals are Stuart and Kevin. After the Minions. Lol ????
This is why we love your work so much. You put so much thought into the little details that make up the world you’re writing in. And we keep coming back to the blog because you answer questions so thoroughly. And because you’re funny. And because sometimes Gordon gets away from you and let’s something slip.
Glad you enjoyed your vacay.
Glad you guys got a nice break!
As always thank you for the explanations. You guys are some of the best world builders I’ve had the pleasure of reading.
Thank you, especially for the info on Alessandro’s magic.
Thanks so much for the clarification!
Magus Bob sounds fun ????
1) So happy you both had a well-deserved break!
2) Huge hugs, appreciation and kudos to Mod R for (his/her/their) continued amazing work in keeping the BDH alive, well and well-fed.
3) Thanks to Francesca who Mod R thanked for helping with the graphs of connection on the ‘while you were out’ blog post.
4) Speaking of Alessandro – please, please – is it Al-eh-san-dro or Al-eh-han-dro? I think it’s the former, not the latter.
He is Italian, A-leh-san-dro. ????
Mod R – I adore you like the SUN! Thank you; now I’ll hear it properly in my head when I read it. (I’m re-reading HL for the 6th time so this helps!).
Thank you for explaining Alessandros power. I’ve read and reread the books and just couldn’t get a firm grasp on his abilities. They always felt like they were deus ex mechanica.
If Curran and Conlan are the only Firsts (which is fine with me, by the way), what has Derek become?
He was never quite an ordinary wolf – though I have some solidly unflattering-to-other-people speculations on the reasons for that based on things in your books and far too much personal experience. Even if just that he was born human rather than shifter does factor into it.
If Derek is not a First (the original ones were made, not born, after all – you said it yourselves in Gunmetal Magic), what is he?
I have no problem with waiting for an answer to my question. But if it isn’t answered in one of the remaining two books you have PROMISED us for Ryder, I will probably explode.
“I have no problem with waiting for an answer to my question. But if it isn’t answered in one of the remaining two books you have PROMISED us for Ryder, I will probably explode.”
The more you try to make me feel obligated to write with that promised in capital letters, the less likely it will happen. 🙂 I don’t respond well to reader pressure. I simply quit.
Sorry. I won’t do it again. I have tried to not do it previously.
I did just check something I thought I recalled from Blood Heir. Namtur says something to the effect that Derek is what shifters used to be long ago. That’s still not an explanation of how he got there, but I’ve suspected that Pastor Haywood had something to do with it for a long time. I’ll wait.
I wonder if Derek’s transformation was because of what happened in Magic Stars.
Do you refer to his encounter with the ancient Hunter, or the encounter with the letavitsa/siren?
I somewhat agree with Terry. Derek has become God kisses, or somewhat divine. Whether it was through a religious journey to find himself, similar to Native American spirt journey. Or he ate something divine. I look forward to finding out. It seems Julie and Derek both have leveled up. Blood Heir was a bright spot during Covid. (thanks HA)
Julie’s already pretty conclusively ruled that out. She said that even when Curran *did* eat a bunch of divine animals and went more than halfway to being divine himself, his magic still looked nothing like Derek’s.
I was confident it all flowed logically, because that is the way you roll.
Similarly, I am confident there is a logical explanation for Derek’s leveling up that does not involve retconning him into a First, e.g. he followed Curran’s example and ate an animal god.
“Magus Bob” ???????????????????? I LOVE the attention to detail you guys put into your writing. So cool!
Again, always loving tidbits from Hidden Legacy. Have a great weekend everyone!
I could read a small book with just lore in this series or the other series AI has.
MAGUS BOB??? heh. Please, please let there at some point be a Magister Murphy
+1, because that got a chuckle!
That would be a talent to make unlucky things happen to your enemies at the most inopportune times. 😉
That’s the active level.
Unfortunately, the passive level of this power makes bad things happen to you!
Not the most desired power out there…
For some reason, a “Magus Bob” seems to belong with a Roman story to me — and that’s not right because they are different worlds. It’s just the way Roman is to me, the ultimate normal guy in Eyore pyjamas who happens to report to and serve a dark god, because somebody has to do it. I hope Roman finds someone who sticks around instead of running away when his god calls on him.
Heh. My husband is an organized soul — he’s a professional records manager with a masters in library and archivist sciences and likes things in tidy boxes. He will rant often about the inconsistency of naming conventions and folksonomies. (Because he’s a professional, he can explain how to organize them anyway.) I will explain this to him and it will make him twitch but it makes me happy — one of the major things I love about your books is the in-depth amazing world building.
Thank you for taking the time to give us this information.
Really glad you had some ‘downtime’. I hope you are both feeling good now. <3. Mod R has been keeping us entertained ! (Bless her)
Thank you for all the 'magic' details. I love it. It really increases my love of your work & this page. Can't wait for next book!
That was most interesting, thanks!
And I’m really happy that HA got a break and went to S. Padre. I’ve not been, but I’ve always heard it was really nice. I lived in Corpus Christi 1976-1981 and loved going to the PI national seashore and Mustang island and hunting for sand dollars out on the first sand bar in the winter (many broke by the time they made it to shore). I miss that area a lot.
For all the work that you do that largely go unnoticed…
THANK YOU!!!! ????????????????
I love South Padre! I grew up in Texas – and we went there so many summers when I was a kid. I’m sure it’s changed a lot – but unloved the beaches and warm water. So glad you had a relaxing break!
We all need more breaks! The pandemic stress is so real – but it’s easy to tell ourselves, if we haven’t had a big disruption to our work that we should be okay. We’ve all had a huge giant disruption to our lives. Anyway- I love hearing about people taking breaks and actually enjoying them.
I have a toddler and right now the thought of taking a break with him just sounds like more work – trying to enjoy a vacation without his regular bed or toys! Some day we will successfully enjoy a beach vacation! Maybe to south padre!
I’ve been to the beach with my kids as infants and toddlers. It wasn’t much of a vacation for me. Much more fun as they get older, unless you have a lot of willing family support with you.
So glad House Andrews got a well deserved vacation.
When I was kid less, I went to Hawaii for the first time to visit family with a one and two year old. My visions of relaxing on the beach were dashed. I realized then that there’s no such thing as a vacation with young children, just a trip.
You change locations but there’s not a lot of relaxation. Your obligations to keep them fed, dry, safe, entertained, and rested are unrelenting. (That realization was effective birth control for years).
Fast forward to parenthood where joy and love make the sacrifice totally worth it.
New experiences for toddlers are crucial for their brain development and it’s a refreshing change for me and so even though it IS a ton of work, I encourage travel, including to the beach, with toddlers. My parents observed a big advance in developmental milestones, especially language, after travel for their kids and I’ve noticed it in mine.
We just returned from the coast with our 3 and 5 year old & booked another trip to escape wildfire smoke.
While the beach requires constant vigilance of waves, sunburns, and sand eating, our littles are endlessly entertained with snacks & sand toys and so that makes it “easy” in a way.
Tip: I have them wear sun hats and full body 2 piece swim suits because it’s hard to re-sunscreen sandy skin every 80 minutes (aerosol helps but is bad for the lungs so I use a pump spray mineral sunscreen for sandy hands and feet).
There are lots of blogs with packing lists and other tips for traveling with toddlers that may be helpful too.
Oh boy, sand eating – if my mother was still here, she’d have a story about that….ok, I’ll tell it on myself.
Our family lived Michigan when my brother and I were toddlers, a western MI beach town. On beach day picnics, I dipped grapes in sand and ate them that way unless my mother could get them away from me and clean off the sand. A cleaned off grape was promptly re-dipped in sand and consumed. (Maybe toddlers have a silica dietary requirement??)
Fast forward to age seven, and trying the “grape with sand dip” experiment. That would be a big “NO” from me!! ????????????
We probably didn’t vacation much in those days, but we spent a lot of summer days at our local beach.
Is it wrong that I want Magus Bob to be a thing now?
I love it when we details and explanations like this. It makes the world feel much more “real” and well thought out.
Does anyone else in the BDH now feel compelled to shout out, “Nissan Versa!” ala season one in Heroes? I’ve been rewatching it with my tween-aged kiddo;)
How about the Spyder? “Hey, I know, let’s name a car after something a lot of people are afraid. We’ll just spell it differently so they won’t realize it.”
I once owned a Mitsubishi Eclipse. Some could say I was in the dark about a lot of things.
The Chevy Nova, allegedly a six passenger sedan. Not if you put six adults in it!!! ????????
Hi did i miss a book??whos arkan?or Marcelo??
Help,how could i miss that??!!
Hi Gerganna,
You are looking for Emerald Blaze, Catalina’s second book ???? https://ilona-andrews.com/hidden-legacy-books/#catalina
All your princesses are in that castle hehe
Thank you!
I reread again hidden legacy from the beginning, im on the third book now, the c part is for Katerina.
But the truth is i love nevada the most and she s my favourite girl ever????????????
Yay for South Padre! We went in the winter once, not being fans of ocean swimming, and it was lovely and peaceful.
I am grinning over the comments upthread about Bern’s code. I think the sexiest thing ever is competence. Probably why I love HA characters so much.
Glad you two took some time off. Getting a break from the “slog” is almost certainly good for you both. South Padre is beautiful.
Thank you for all the hard work. The BDH does appreciate it – really we do.
Being able to vacation by the water is magical. You can listen to it all day and it’ll soothe you at night, too. Mind you, the water I generally get to listen to when we get away is Lake Michigan, but it’s more than big enough to talk to me… =) If you’re ever doing a signing thing in Michigan again, I highly recommend South Haven, a beautiful resort town right on the water for a quick getaway. Great restaurants, wineries, breweries, farm-fresh produce, it’s a lovely place to get away to and just relax.
I posted once in the FB group about how I was smacked in the face about Catalina’s melee weapon ability also being a form of Magus Sagittarius. It’s not limited to ranged weapons! After I figured it out, I realized you’d put so many hints in there that I’m actually embarrassed it took that long to compute! It just wasn’t something my brain was actively working on, but it’d been lurking in the background awhile, I guess. =)
Magus Bob.
*snert*
The embarrassment of being in a group of snobby prime teens and having to admit your talent was Magus Bob!
Lpved reading this since I just finished a Hidden Legacies reread! Happy y’all took a much needed break. Sometimes we need these without realizing it or being able to do so. ????
I get smarter every time a read an IA post 🙂
With all of the thought that goes into creating this world and characters, I’d love to play the game.
thank you for the explanation!!! I love the details you all take the time to add to your stories.
I have a question (one that’s driving me crazy, even though it’s such a detail????). Im re-reading ‘Sweep of the Blade’, and I can’t even begin to picture what a Savin looks like, despite the description in the book. Can you help?
Also, I hope you had a WONDERFUL time on SP! I grew up in Rockport, TX-so it’s my fave, but SP is great????
*Savon! Dang Auto-Correct????
I’m guessing she means the savok (the awesome mount that Maud rode into the hunt), but I could be wrong. ????
Ooooh, yes, ofc, that will be it. Thanks Breann!
No problem!
Thanks for all you do for the BDH and for the blog! I like to think that your hard work takes it off of IA’s plate, so they can concentrate on writing and not spend so much time or mental energy on all of us. ????
Thank you for this clarification around Alessandro’s magic. I had assumed he was dual-powered like Nevada and Catalina – the weapon creation and the antistasi power. But it makes total sense now that they’re two facets of the same survival power. But what is the etymology of ‘stasi’ if he is an antistasi? Does it mean ‘attack’?
The word αντίσταση, meaning “resistance”. It was popularised by the Ethnikí Antístasi, Greek Resistance movement during WW2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_resistance 🙂
Makes sense. Who knew?;)
Love the details. And now I have the completely unrelated song “Jesus’ Brother Bob” by the Arrogant Worms in my head
In Inherited Luck by Mel Todd the Lord of Chaos is renamed BOB because its real name causes extreme distress to everyone who hears it!
This is a series I would recommend for those who like HL since it is magic in a modern day setting but very different to HL.
1) Happy you had a mini respite
2) Thank you Mod R for entertaining BDH, you’re Brill
3) I will await any (every) book for when you deem it fit for release.
4) Appreciate the discussion and explanation of Magic names
5) I’ll not raise my hand for any magic Bob ????
6) Stay safe, stay healthy ♥️
Thanks for the explanations. I have a question, in Sapphire Flames, Alessandro canceled Jocelyn’s magic for a short time without a circle. Doesn’t he have a short range power to cancel other people’s magic?
Jocelyn was locked into Catalina, then switched to Alessandro. When two mental mages are locked, it’s a terrible idea to separate them. She taps out because she spends everything she has on the attack towards Alessandro, which ofc he brushes off because he’s Antistasi and practically immune (see above). Given enough time, she could recover.
Hope this helps 🙂
I’m glad you got a break and had a chance to rest and relax. Mod R did a wonderful job and deserves much praise!
I always love reading your blog posts! You write so well, and your explanations/discussions of your work add tremendously to my enjoyment of your writing. Thank you!
Speaking of SUV names, does the name of the Nissan Armada make any one else giggle?
Well, it makes my eyes roll a little. Does that count?
Yes! It’s like Nissan expects U.S. car buyers to have no historical knowledge whatsoever. As far as I can tell, it was called the Armada only in the U.S., and called the Patrol elsewhere in the world.
Side comment, but it’s Ford Edge because they previously were using E words for their SUVs. Explorer, Expedition, Edge, Escape, and EcoSport. After Explorer, Expedition, and Escape, they ran out of “good” E words.
Now they’ve brought back the Bronco and all bets are off.
Thanks you for further explaining how the various powers got their names. Yes, many had noticed that a lot of thought had gone into developing the naming system, but I had not appreciated all the nuances. I had been imagining that each power/skill had two names, a formal name (with the latin/greek origin) and a more common name that everybody uses. Kind of like having a registered name and a stable name with horses.
I had to look-up South Padre Island on a map app — that is way down in the corner of Texas, isn’t it. Hope you are both rested and refreshed.
Magus Bob and “I declare thy name is Bob”… hilarious!
Also, I wonder if Catalina is aware of the extent of Alessandro’s power in EB. I just did a re-read and noticed that she was worried that Victoria Tremaine could have hurt him when he visited her in prison.
A slightly off topic question but guess still relevant as you are clarifying things in the post. I just re-read EB. How come Arabella is responsible to manage the house finance being so bad at Math? Seems a bit inconsistent!
I can tell you as someone who worked in the London finance world for almost a decade, High school algebra and investment management have extremely little to do with eachother ????
Being extremely observant, intuitive and connected to background information and trends the way Arabella is characterised to be is much closer to the mark ????
Thank you for your response! I do agree about the algebra part! 🙂
But, investment managers are almost always very good with numbers and Arithmetic (and usually financial mathematics). I can’t imagine such a person struggling with that division in Wildfire! 😛
Dog with a bone 😉 – even stronger argument:
In EB when Catalina asks Arabella about vulnerable investments, she instantly says that will be about 30% of their portfolio. That’s not an information one just memorizes and usually will involve thinking of the approximate numbers, doing a mental calculation, and then coming up with the percentage. This will a require a more complex division than the the one in Wildfire. 😛
Anindya, are you the exact same person you were when you were 15 or did your abilities and interests change and grow as you matured? ????
I’m going to let you enjoy your bone.
Got it. So now Arabella is very good with numbers and possibly financial mathematics. Thanks for clarifying! 🙂
Lord have mercy. Thank you Mod R for your patience.
Also…lots of people have trouble with one aspect of math, but no problem with other aspects.
How many times did my brother whine “WORD Problems? I HATE word problems!”
But if you extracted the actual problem from all the words, he had no trouble at all.
‘Arabella in school’ had decided she hated long division. WHIIIINE.
‘Arabella all grownup’ gets a paycheck, and knows how to calculate under pressure.
Oh yeah. And I found word problems much more engaging that plain old equations, because there was a reason (beyond the grade) to find the answer. Also, good at geometry does not necessarily translate to good at other kinds of math, I’m here to tell you.
This. I’m our family finance person, but am not good at high school math. “Arrange the budget so we can keep a roof over our heads and buy more books” is way more motivating than “figure out how wide this parabola is”. “Pay attention to investment trends and maybe retire someday” > “How close can you get to 0 without actually getting to 0?” (I think that’s what calculus was; maybe it was how close you can get to 1. It was a long time ago and I failed three times. Thank goodness I finally found someone who cod explain the pattern of calculus to me in a way that made sense).
Computer, data input, QuickBooks… Where is the math, I see no math, I only see familiarity with programs.
Investment choices – assuming she does that – are not arithmetically heavy.
If she also does the bookkeeping, it has largely become data entry. The computer does the calculations – “all” she has to do is get the formulas right to start with (Harder than you might think.) and enter the correct numbers.
Personally, I was am early adopter of home computer bookkeeping.
I am dyslexic. (I can see 16 and transcribe as 61 easily. I have, so I am sure about that.) Proof reading does not help – my brain insists that there is no difference – though reading the numbers aloud does, sometimes.
If I can get the amounts right the first time, I’m golden. And there’s always the “adjustment” feature if I miss.
Awesome! I was literally just wondering “wait, what is Alessandro’s passive field?” like an hour before I saw this post. Thank you for clearing this up. Your explanation about survival is super cool. It reminds me of Katsa in Graceling.
I was also wondering, how is the broader nature of the antistasi talent such a well-kept secret? It makes sense that most people don’t know about it, there being a lot of talents and the people who have them being very interested in maintaining the advantage and safety of secrecy. However, when Catalina first explains near the beginning of Sapphire Flames, she says, “He was an Antistasi Prime. His magic nullified other mental magic.” This is a pretty specific specialization, and effects on space, biology, and/or personal physics (like shielding from a fall, healing, or pushing to the surface of water) seem like a significant category departure. When Nevada learns about the full extent of her own active field abilities in White Hot or Wildfire (don’t remember exactly when), the things she didn’t know about are largely things that seem closely related to what people perceive as truthseeking and interrogation-specific abilities. We also see her do more tangential things like kill/incapacitate with her magic or kind of tangle her magic with Rogan’s for fun or when he’s trying to win an argument.
It’s like Nevada has abilities that are all spaced along one line, whereas Alessandro’s abilities are like related but different plants all grown in one garden. Is it just that some abilities are more narrow than others? Am I reading too much into it? I would love to have some more detail about how this works in the world and how people end up thinking the antistasi skill set is so much more narrow than it is. Unless, of course, it would be a spoiler! Thank you for this awesome post. I love stuff like this because the HL world makes me want to crawl right into the book and live there.
I bet it runs along the lines of ‘Antistasi does not translate to anti-mental magic.’ As was explained above, it’s more like Antistasi = anti injury magic.
With people like Alessandro’s father and grandfather advertising their abilities and skills specifically as assassins, it is likely they showcased a talent (for general public knowledge) that made them very dangerous, but hid many tricks up their sleeves.
Alessandro’s power is like an armadillo shell. It reacts to threat to help the mage survive, and will do so in the most danger-adapted way. After all, mental resistance wouldn’t do much against a swarm of scorpions. It’s very single purpose, but multi utility 🙂 .
I hope this helps 🙂
Also, I appreciate your naming-system amazingness because as someone who sometimes writes fantasy-ish things, I spend a LOT of time on the Wikipedia master list of Greek and Latin roots and I still can’t manage to come up with good names.
I’m sure you already know, but Mod R did an outstanding job this past week.
I visited South Padre Island a few years ago. I remember I had to pay the tourist tax in a small town driving to the island. The speed was 65 mph then went to 55 mph via a really big sign, then 45, again with a big sign then 35 with a really small sign.
Marcello was not a god just as Alessandro is not a god. They are not invulnerable. Just well protected.
Dear Ilona thank you for everything you write, while I’m gratefule that you took your time to explain this please never say the same about Connor, for me He is invulnerable, perfect, hot, his awnsomeness is unlimited ???????? He is Mad Rogan! So he has some vulnerability I would rather not know it ????
Hi Mod R, Ilona, Gordon, Someone, can any of you guys remind me how Connos’s father died? Was he assassinated? O died naturally?
Glad you had a good time in S. Padre! Welcome back to reality! 🙂
LMAO! “…before it takes us so deep into the woods, we will need a Nissan Pathfinder to get out.”
Thank you for all you do to clarify for us!
And thanks again Mod R for the awesome family trees!
Not to me it isn’t – I have a degree in math and I can’t budget or do finances worth a darn. My best friend, who can’t math at all, is a finance whiz.
oops, meant this as a reply to Anindya.
Fascinating. Thank you!
Yay for vacation, especially by the water! Hope you are feeling better and got some rest! ????️????????
Ha! Thanks for the info on Alessandro’s healing. I was wondering how he healed so fast. I do know it takes more than 6 months for a healthy person to recover from a broken pelvis and collarbone.
I always thought that Arkan’s magic was an area effect and unless you stopped him and it directly, before it activated, you lost all chances. Somewhat like Alessandro not being able to affect the magic of “rose gold Cecilia”.
Thanks for the clarification… I don’t know how you manage to have time to write with all the data you study.
Our family has spent a week or two at South Padre pretty much every year for the past 14 or 15. Whenever I could get a break from running the theater we would pack up the car and head south.. Just love being there. We just got back 3 weeks ago.
So glad you took that break. Hopefully you can take many more.
You have given us so much over the years, we are fine waiting for whatever you choose to write, and whatever pace you decide to share it with us.
Thanks for the excuse to re-read everything. I can’t remember either Arkan or Marcello. Sigh…
If you make another trip to South Padre, I highly recommend JB’s German Bakery. I lived in Corpus Christi for 2 years, and the it is one of the things I miss most about living there.
Hah talking about made up words Gordon’s car,Stelvio, is made up Italian *lol”.
Words change and adopt themselves in real life so why not in a fictional world? People who talk about proper English forget the language melds and flows, usage changes. In the US we got rid of the silly ‘u’ s the Brits love to use ‘colour’ ,anyone?
I remember an old cartoon where a 1940s hepster dies and is talking to St.Peter,who can’t figure out what the heck he is talking about, brings in Noah Webster, who visualizes what the guy is saying literally, it is obviously wacky w things like ‘his baby’,’cutting up a rug’ and the like.
Oh Wonderful! I’m glad u had a mini vacay and a good time!
This was amazing! Alessandro’s passive magic is even more impressive than I realized. Then again, he (House Andrews) is so good at obfuscation, it’s little wonder he is underestimated.
I’m glad you had a great get away.
I love this explanation, thank you! It can be hard to grasp the nuances, and they are so much fun to try to figure out 🙂
I really liked your explanation of Allessandro’s magic. I did kind of wonder how he could jump out of windows etc.
????
I started a new lab job this week and my brain is just dying at the end of the day from SOPs and OJT… coming here and hearing how it’s going and reading comments is a nice way to unwind.
Thank you so much for clarifying! It makes so much more sense now, I assumed his passive field was nullifying magic.
Hope you had a nice vacation
Good to know just how much work thinking and planning you both do
Thank you
Cool info thanks. You guys rock
I love your brain!
Enjoy your sense of humor so, so much.
Re-read On the Edge two days ago and it gave me a lovely feeling of catharsis when I finished. Very satisfying. May go read Bayou Moon again, because William and Cerise have been my favorite since your OWW days. 🙂
I’m quite fond of the Kinsmen tales, too, though – lovely romances, very nice details and worlds.
Fabulous thank you. I’m glad you got a break. ☺️
Demon Bob. Love it. Sounds like another series. ” I’m Bob the demon..I live in a shoe. Demon Brittany lives there too.”
Welcome back and I hope you had a lovely vacation. Thanks for the explanation.
On a completely separate tandem, the BDH is always mentioning how many books they read /own and how bookstores are disappearing. So I thought the BDH might like this good news story.
After Collecting Over 8000 Titles, Woman Fulfills Dream of Opening a Bookstore While Recovering From Diagnosis
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/carole-ann-warburton-bookstore-open/
Man, I really tried with this. My entire “take” on it all has been, “That’s what they named it, that’s what it is. Roll with it.” It all made sense to me from the first reading. That’s just how good the writing is!
Linus can’t be father to James. My memory is fuzzy, but the father Victoria paid for sperm was Greek, was he not? The Keeper of Records found one family in Greece with that magic. Linus is not Greek, and he was not excised from his house and in need of money enough to sell sperm. I think he could have been the intended Caesar, but not grandfather to the Baylor girls. For reasons unknown, but probably related to how Linus tends to stand up for someone beaten down as he did for Runa’s mother, he is friendly with Victoria. Her beloved was murdered, after all, and she was left alone in terrible circumstances as an orphan who wanted to build her house. She is a horrible person, but so are many of the magic users. I never thought he was a siren, but rather an empath who feels the pain of others and tries to help to ease it. Perhaps he’s just a nice guy. In any case, his entire life history is known and we all read it in Emerald Blaze when the situation with Morton was explained. What Allessandro realized when he said he was an idiot was that Linus was the Deputy of Texas. Or so I thought.
I just love the world of Hidden Legacy. I’m eager to read the final chapter of Catalina’s books. But I’m thrilled that you two took a trip and finally relaxed a little bit after you waited almost two years to get away when you wanted to, back before the virus hit so hard. Sometimes, you need down time to continue with work time. I’m glad you took it.
We don’t know if Linus is Greek or not. We don’t have a lot of background info on him and he could have changed his name. Also, he’s described as “an uncle who lives in Italy” (White Hot)”, someone’s favorite uncle who owned a vineyard… in Greece or Spain (Wildfire),” and “hot, dark-eyed, Scottish” (by Grandma Frida- Wildfire), so it’s possible that he comes from somewhere in Europe (and in particular, Greece).
In Emerald Blaze, Catalina says she did her homework on Linus because he built a close relationship with their house and if they inherited his enemies, she needed to be aware of them. Linus was in the army, retired, went into politics. He was in Texas at the time, 42 years old. In White Hot, Linus is described as “… He looked like your favorite uncle who lived somewhere in Italy, owned a vineyard, laughed easily, and hugged you when you came to visit…” That was Nevada’s first take on him, not truth about his background. Cornelius describes him to Nevada as being from a very old, very powerful house who used to be the Speaker of the Upper Chamber. His life was lived in Texas, and his family was well-known. He’s not someone who slipped into Texas from somewhere in Europe, unknown family background, and suddenly rose to the top. If his very powerful house contained a siren or two, it would be known. His history is well-known. The Keeper of Records found one family in Greece with sirens. It wasn’t the Duncans in Texas.
We have to remember that that information about James’s father came from Victoria Tremaine. As a truthseeker, she is an excellent liar. As a devious, manipulative, Caesar-following, self-centered, egomaniacal Prime with an eye on the long con, she will say whatever is needed to get what she wants at that point. In short: UNRELIABLE NARRATOR.
What’s most interesting to me is that the best liars wrap a tiny bit of truth in the lies, to lend substance and verisimilitude. So what partial truths has she given the Baylors…?
But wouldn’t Nevada have known if Victoria was lying? Or was that info given to Catalina? I can’t remember.
She told it to Nevada, and yes, Nevada would have known if she’d lied.
“Born June 10, 1921, on the Greek island of Corfu, [Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth] was the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, and Princess Alice of Battenberg.”
Just saying. Family heritage can be complicated.
Especially when there’s big money involved.
I was reading Sapphire Flames yesterday and found the part where Benedict refers to Alessandro as the artisan! A delightful easter egg found.
I was also thinking about Zeus. I think he needs to have kittens. There could be a fun negotiation with a summoner house to bring across a female of his species (there would need to be discussions about sentience and choice). It would be great! Possibly of similar feel to the Rosebud scene. Please.
Who says Zeus needs a female to have kittens… Surprise Zeus is pregnant!
Didn’t Alassandro cancel the Mage’s magic on the rooftop or am I trippin?
Why do you state that naming system goes unnoticed? If that stamens applies to me, a reader of your books?
All of my life I have read. Accurately, from the age of 3.
If I see a word I do not know I look it up. If it does not exist I take the parts of a word, a phrase, and look for the Latin equivalent. It is stated a few languages started from Latin. There is not an equivalent for Proto-Indo-European that I can locate on line.
I have an appreciation for your naming systems and I create flowcharts in my head of characters and their family trees when I read. I enjoy the, self inflicted, organization.
“…the naming system that largely went unnoticed.” Emphasis mine 🙂
Thank you, Ilona Andrews for the post. Glad to know you got a mini vacation. Mod R did a great job keeping us on our toes.
I ROFLOL over the comments about Bern and computer code. I have a BIL who is a computer hmm, nerd/ geek/ whatever. And I have a sibling who is electronically impaired as in her computer crashes regularly. ????
Is it just me or did anyone else sing that title in your head? And now I can’t get that song out of my head.
How ever do you want me…
Thanks Authorlords! The magister / magus makes total sense, I just wanted a definition!
I love reading these in-depth explanations. If you give a TED talk, I want to be there ????
I’m glad you were able to get away and have some time off to yourselves. And thank you Mod R for the fun blog entries! I’d love to read more from you!
He didn’t make a circle when he was testing her as a siren at the end of wildfire….
Nor did he nullify her power, he simply resisted it and then pronounced her a Prime based on the strength of the attack.
So then he could resist Montgomery’s powers… he can resist
Yes, he simply resisted…..is there a difference? Is he not antistasis
Yes, there is a difference between resisting an attack and nullifying the magic. He could resist Montgomery’s powers if they represented an attack against him, but Augustine making himself look slimmer is not a danger to Alessandro.
He also didn’t make a circle when he nullified what Jocelyn could do on the roof long enough for Catalina to take care of the summoner. At some point, and I can’t even look it up right now, he told Catalina when she asked that his power worked if he were up close and personal, which he was with Jocelyn, and it was short-lived, which is why he had to kill Jocelyn rather quickly on that roof. She sat there, very confused when he nullified her powers. He also easily resisted what Albert Ravenscroft tried to do to him, because they were close enough together to do that. But it splashed onto Catalina, because he couldn’t totally nullify it from that far away, just avoid it for himself.
The test from Alessandro to Catalina the siren was that she couldn’t make him do what she wanted. He was immune to her siren call.
No, He wasn’t. Read the scene. It took several people to fight him to keep him from going to her. He struggled and then eventually regained control. I really cannot read the books for you 🙂
Such a cool post and love all the attention to detail that IL show.
Also I now have the Soul II Soul track Back to Life stuck in my head ???? and dancing to this in the kitchen
Thank you so much for this smart, witty, detailed explanation.
I am so interested to hear about San Padre Island, it will be fun to look it up!
Sorry to go off on a tangent, but wouldn’t it be cool to see a Bern POV vs a Leon POV? Uh, maybe about naming (trying to tie back in).
I’ve been rereading the books and snippets and really find myself enjoying the side characters.
Excellent explanations, as always. The level of details you go through to make these worlds both real and make sense within their version of reality is mind-blowing. Every time I think I want to write fiction (I do write non-fiction), I reread one of your books and realize I don’t have the dedication and that internal ‘push’ to create the art you do. It’s a good thing, since I don’t want to write half-way there crap. I do write pretty good poetry (generally, no plot or world-building required).
Arabella Baylor with a Madero!!! I am begging. Hilarity will follow, no doubt
Not quite relevant to this post, but I found no other way to ask:
Is there any way to see the lovely art that was done for the Inkeeper books in color? I just see part of the covers on the site, but not the inside art. I just re-read all the Inkeeper books (since they are my solace in difficult times…) and would really like to see the inside art in color… <3
Thank you.
@ Simone
You should be able to see the pics in color if you open your ebook(s) in the app (from the ebook store where you purchased).
Same if your library uses ebook lending services like Overdrive/Libby/Hoopla and carries the books there too.
Some of those platforms might include a read in browser option (like Overdrive or Kindle).
Model names for cars fit in a variety of categories. Firstly there is the need to match the type of car (SUV, minivan etc), secondly there is the within range style (numbers for BMW and Lexus for example). Model names might have been developed decades ago matching characteristics that are no longer seen as desirable (Cherokee) or possibly no longer consonant with the model (Minis are no longer very mini), but it may be difficult to drop the name because of customer recognition. Model names may need to work in multiple different languages which may lead to problems because they may mean unfortunate things in other languages:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/31168/11-product-names-mean-unfortunate-things-other-languages
Interestingly there is an academic literature on the development of new “markets” (products). Magic in the Hidden Legacy world has reached a very developed stage – there are product ontologies, boundaries, strategies and ranking systems in place.
I really appreciate the information on Alessandro. It was driving me crazy trying to figure out how he healed so quickly in Emerald Blaze. Thanks!
This was very helpful, I didn’t pick up on some of these details. Thank you! Can’t wait for the next book!
thank you for answering my question! there was a lot more to this than i had understood, and a bit that i had misunderstood. i greatly appreciate the clarification. and i love that you’re willing to go into such detail for us.