I don't mean this to be insulting, I do value your opinion. But you were the only one of Thorne to vote for restoring the island. I'm just interested on your reasoning. Did you think there was something worth salvaging there?
[ While it's odd to be singled out like this, Thancred doesn't mind sharing his reasoning. ]
To be honest, I was on the fence about it. I felt that those who were kept there as captives should ultimately have the final say, but my reasoning was that I tend to value potential information we could gather. How the island progressed over time might have told us something about the old god involved in Josselyn's plot.
Returning there myself, however, and seeing the state it was in, I think razing it was for the best. It seemed beyond saving, corrupted to its core.
[what's the point of being on the conclave now no really what's the point he made a Mistake if he can't single people out]
I do agree there may have been some value left behind, especially since they were very quick to execute Josselyn, and her imprisoned acolytes hold no value.
In any case, it's done now, isn't it? The island is salted and burned. If we do have any further strings to pull on, we'll have to hope one of those acolytes knows more than they've told us.
I specifically asked her about the arcana symbol that you mentioned to me. She explained that the ones people found painted out in remote areas were simply a way for the cult to announce themselves to each other.
The Page of Pentacles appeared in Josselyn's notes at some point, but why that is Lorelai didn't know. She assumed that the symbol had some personal significance to Josselyn. As far as Lorelai knew it didn't have any specific power tied to it.
Name stated as Nicodemus, Nikodaemus, or Nikodai but 'Nikodaemus' was the pronunciation that worked. I'm not one to judge appearances, but the drawing in the book the Thorne mages were using had this guy's head to be a triangle, point down. Cloak with some embellishments on it, maybe metal. He was holding something similar to a thurible--a sort of hanging incense burner. Very ceremonial rite feel.
Considered to be a newer god to the Solvunn pantheon, but given that their gods go back thousands of years, 'new' is... well. Harder to place.
He is connected to mirages and reflections, so it's possible Josselyn only invoked him in order to put of the illusions over the island, and that there were other gods she called upon, and other potential... influences on her, or others for who she was trying to build a 'connection' to.
That all checks out in terms of her invoking his power to cloak the island. Whether or not there were other gods involved seems hazy, though the sheer amount of corruption and fungal growth on the island itself seems to indicate there was more to it.
You actually found this information in a book in Thorne?
Ah, sorry, lost track of how much information was disseminated and absorbed by others during... everything. Myself and Kyle went to investigate the peninsula to the north of Thorne in an effort to clear what we could of the area along what Viktor and Strange had pinpointed as a direction.
We found the start of the illusion up that way but couldn't break it, so we returned back for additional assistance. Brought Yennefer with her apprentices and they had brought various books including some on High Magic, as I knew the illusion hadn't been cast with Academic magic and with Josselyn's involvement they assumed High Magic.
The books were more scholarly than anything, no methodology, and they seemed to have access to them because they were apprentices.
[ Ah, right, this all took place back when he was in Solvunn, so it makes sense that he wasn't as aware of it as he should have been. He knew of Viktor, Stephen, and Yennefer's role in it, at least. ]
So this wasn't information we could have simply found by scouring the castle library. At least they cooperated with you.
[ It may have taken them too much precious time to get to the bottom of it otherwise. ]
Do we have any idea of why Nikodaemus agreed to help Josselyn? Or how she forged that connection in the first place?
It likely helped that they were Yennefer's apprentices and not just someone we plucked out of the halls because they were walking by.
[Though Lucifer had considered that and he's glad he ran into Yennefer.]
No, but if you're expecting gods to have morals I will tell you that notion is foolish. Maybe he was bored and wanted to be entertained. Maybe he got some kind of power from her attention. Maybe he was simply feasting on her soul.
Maybe he didn't even have a connection with her and whatever she did was enough to use his abilities. After all, she was using them in conjunction with his own methods; maybe if she had tried to twist their use for something else he would have taken notice.
We truly have no idea without asking him ourselves, and no--I don't believe anyone knows how she forged that link. But. I do know a little about the day-to-day Solvunn rituals. Prayer and bribery.
[That's how Michael put it and how Lucifer is going to stick with it.]
A simple altar, a stone bowl, an offering. Doesn't have to be to a particular god and you just have to believe that your offering is worthy for who or what you're trying to achieve.
I don't know what one would offer to try and reach Nikodaemus nor do I know how a response would look, I'm just saying, maybe if you really want answers you could try.
Ah. Yes, I'm quite familiar with how convincing Yennefer can be.
[ If that comes across as some manner of innuendo, Thancred doesn't particularly care. It's always entertaining to keep people guessing. ]
No, I wouldn't expect them to have morals. They way they view and interact with the world is far different from how we do, I imagine, and many of their actions could just be a simple whim.
I'm aware that Himeka and others in Solvunn have used such methods to try and establish a line of communication with the gods, to varying degrees of success. [ There's also that incident with Nero's arm... ] Where I'm from, with enough raw magical power as gained from crystals and with genuine faith, primals can be entreated and even summoned, so I'm familiar with the concept.
[ That doesn't mean he's ready to try it himself, realizing how terribly that could backfire. ]
Oh, there's a lot of hullabaloo that human slike to get obsessed over, proclaiming about anything has power that they can trick the masses over. I've seen witches make use of a hunk of crystal before, but I think a big ol' rock could've done the job just as well.
Primals are magical beings, often based off of gods but rather than being a true god, they are more like a corrupted bastardization of them. They siphon aether — or life energy, I suppose you could call it — from the planet, and are one of the many threats my order has tasked itself with opposing.
However, because they are beings of great power, certain tribes or groups of people will choose to summon them as a means of protection and arming themselves. They do this with their faith, and with crystals, which are a strong source of magical energy on our star.
Of course they'd be corrupted. No one, being or otherwise, can recreate the divine. And why not then take from the living world, as they were denied sovereignty by nature of being nothing more than a cheap replica reaching grabby hands for whatever they can access.
Based off... Let me guess, was it man thought it wise to bring such creatures into the world?
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To be honest, I was on the fence about it. I felt that those who were kept there as captives should ultimately have the final say, but my reasoning was that I tend to value potential information we could gather. How the island progressed over time might have told us something about the old god involved in Josselyn's plot.
Returning there myself, however, and seeing the state it was in, I think razing it was for the best. It seemed beyond saving, corrupted to its core.
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no really what's the point he made a Mistakeif he can't single people out]no subject
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I did question Lorelai while I was there.
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The Page of Pentacles appeared in Josselyn's notes at some point, but why that is Lorelai didn't know. She assumed that the symbol had some personal significance to Josselyn. As far as Lorelai knew it didn't have any specific power tied to it.
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That all checks out in terms of her invoking his power to cloak the island. Whether or not there were other gods involved seems hazy, though the sheer amount of corruption and fungal growth on the island itself seems to indicate there was more to it.
You actually found this information in a book in Thorne?
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So this wasn't information we could have simply found by scouring the castle library. At least they cooperated with you.
[ It may have taken them too much precious time to get to the bottom of it otherwise. ]
Do we have any idea of why Nikodaemus agreed to help Josselyn? Or how she forged that connection in the first place?
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[Though Lucifer had considered that and he's glad he ran into Yennefer.]
[That's how Michael put it and how Lucifer is going to stick with it.]
[oh he really wants someone from Thorne to try]
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[ If that comes across as some manner of innuendo, Thancred doesn't particularly care. It's always entertaining to keep people guessing. ]
No, I wouldn't expect them to have morals. They way they view and interact with the world is far different from how we do, I imagine, and many of their actions could just be a simple whim.
I'm aware that Himeka and others in Solvunn have used such methods to try and establish a line of communication with the gods, to varying degrees of success. [ There's also that incident with Nero's arm... ] Where I'm from, with enough raw magical power as gained from crystals and with genuine faith, primals can be entreated and even summoned, so I'm familiar with the concept.
[ That doesn't mean he's ready to try it himself, realizing how terribly that could backfire. ]
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[ This is just Normal where he's from, so he isn't quite following... ]
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Primals are magical beings, often based off of gods but rather than being a true god, they are more like a corrupted bastardization of them. They siphon aether — or life energy, I suppose you could call it — from the planet, and are one of the many threats my order has tasked itself with opposing.
However, because they are beings of great power, certain tribes or groups of people will choose to summon them as a means of protection and arming themselves. They do this with their faith, and with crystals, which are a strong source of magical energy on our star.
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Yes, though it's a practice that extends all the way back to ancient times, as it turns out.
[ Learning that even Zodiark and Hydaelyn were primals had been quite the revelation. ]
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