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War Maid's Choice Spoiler... Isvaria's Axes

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War Maid's Choice Spoiler... Isvaria's Axes
Post by BrightSoul   » Mon Feb 06, 2012 4:03 pm

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Spoiler Space....







Did anyone else find it a tad forshadowing that Leeana meets Isvaria right after Gayrfressa has a conversation with her about learning to fight as a Wind Rider and she's dressed in full Plate with a Battleaxe? Is this a glance at her eventual future training?
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Re: War Maid's Choice Spoiler... Isvaria's Axes
Post by PeterZ   » Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:55 pm

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Battleaxes are not handy from horseback.

BrightSoul wrote:Spoiler Space....







Did anyone else find it a tad forshadowing that Leeana meets Isvaria right after Gayrfressa has a conversation with her about learning to fight as a Wind Rider and she's dressed in full Plate with a Battleaxe? Is this a glance at her eventual future training?
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Re: War Maid's Choice Spoiler... Isvaria's Axes
Post by Michael Everett   » Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:39 pm

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PeterZ wrote:Battleaxes are not handy from horseback.


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Re: War Maid's Choice Spoiler... Isvaria's Axes
Post by DrakBibliophile   » Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:43 pm

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He loses more horses that way. [Wink]

Michael Everett wrote:
PeterZ wrote:Battleaxes are not handy from horseback.


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Re: War Maid's Choice Spoiler... Isvaria's Axes
Post by Skia   » Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:55 pm

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I honestly expected her to become a champion of some sort in this book. She seems to have the temperament and the aptitude for it.
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Re: War Maid's Choice Spoiler... Isvaria's Axes
Post by PeterZ   » Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:36 pm

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I imagine I would, Drak. Trying to wield a 2-handed weapon from 5-6 feet off thee ground is bad enough. Trying to wield a long enough battleaxe to reach far enough down from 8 feet up is worse. Better to have a long 1-handed weapon, like a sabre.

If she were strong enough to wield it one handed, that would be another thing altogether. Unfortunately, she isn't Hurthang.

DrakBibliophile wrote:He loses more horses that way. [Wink]

Michael Everett wrote:
PeterZ wrote:Battleaxes are not handy from horseback.


Do we want to know how you know this?
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Re: War Maid's Choice Spoiler... Isvaria's Axes
Post by FriarBob   » Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:14 pm

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BrightSoul wrote:Leeana meets Isvaria ... and she's dressed in full Plate with a Battleaxe?


Did you ever see Isvaria explicitly described as wearing full plate? For that matter, do we even know for sure what the typical armor and weapons of her Axes would happen to be? Yes a battleaxe is likely... but we have no guarantee about the plate armor.

Others already explained the battleaxe is extremely unlikely for fighting mounted, especially from courser-back (unless, of course, we're talking about a Horse Stealer... and even then likely an extremely exceptional version of one like Hurthang). However, I think this is also part of why Isvaria did NOT ask Leeana to become one of her champions. I suspect that of the gods of light will eventually enlist her... and no doubt it will be the one that best suits her.

I think we can also rule out Lillinara. The "progression" of the Arms of the Maiden/Mother/Crone just doesn't really seem to fit Leeana, and given that she's about to become a mother (though I do have to congratulate Weber on finding a very subtle way to "give it away") I can't see her starting as a Arm of the Maiden when no longer a maiden is she.

As she is no dwarf, Torframos is extremely unlikely. Chemalka, Chesmirsa, Norfram, Silendros, Khalifrio, Hirahim, Sorbus, and Tolomos all seem unlikely to even have champions at all. Even if they do, they're extremely unlikely to fit her.

That leaves only Korthrala, Semkirk, Tomanāk, and Toragan. Korthrala seems unlikely for a girl raised a thousand miles from the sea... AND whose never even traveled even remotely close to it. Given she's no mage, Semkirk seems excessively unlikely... but were her child to be one (or a wild wizard), then that might change in time. I wouldn't be at all shocked if Tomanāk were to become her patron. But I could also very easily buy Toragan.
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Re: War Maid's Choice Spoiler... Isvaria's Axes
Post by BrightSoul   » Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:57 pm

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Friar Bob, it is specifically called Plate Armor with a Surcoat of the darkest blue over it with a long double-bitted axe leaning on the tree behind her.

Didn't want to pull the exact text and quote it before the release to put too much of a spoiler in here.
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Re: War Maid's Choice Spoiler... Isvaria's Axes
Post by PeterZ   » Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:50 pm

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I suspect Toragan or Semkirk. Leeana got all weepy when the horses suffered. She seemed much more passionate about horses than any other Sothoii. I wouldn't discount Tomanak, but that seems a bit too easy. I wonder if RFC can pull off Toragan without making her seem like a steriotypical tree hugger? If she does come off like a tree hugger will she still be as interesting? We shall see.

Semkirk may be it because my impression was that here "Sight" seemed more reliable than Lady Daggeraxe. At least that was my impression upon reading about it in WRO. If she ends up recognizing her gift later in life, she may decide to follow Semkirk.

FriarBob wrote:
BrightSoul wrote:Leeana meets Isvaria ... and she's dressed in full Plate with a Battleaxe?


Did you ever see Isvaria explicitly described as wearing full plate? For that matter, do we even know for sure what the typical armor and weapons of her Axes would happen to be? Yes a battleaxe is likely... but we have no guarantee about the plate armor.

Others already explained the battleaxe is extremely unlikely for fighting mounted, especially from courser-back (unless, of course, we're talking about a Horse Stealer... and even then likely an extremely exceptional version of one like Hurthang). However, I think this is also part of why Isvaria did NOT ask Leeana to become one of her champions. I suspect that of the gods of light will eventually enlist her... and no doubt it will be the one that best suits her.

I think we can also rule out Lillinara. The "progression" of the Arms of the Maiden/Mother/Crone just doesn't really seem to fit Leeana, and given that she's about to become a mother (though I do have to congratulate Weber on finding a very subtle way to "give it away") I can't see her starting as a Arm of the Maiden when no longer a maiden is she.

As she is no dwarf, Torframos is extremely unlikely. Chemalka, Chesmirsa, Norfram, Silendros, Khalifrio, Hirahim, Sorbus, and Tolomos all seem unlikely to even have champions at all. Even if they do, they're extremely unlikely to fit her.

That leaves only Korthrala, Semkirk, Tomanāk, and Toragan. Korthrala seems unlikely for a girl raised a thousand miles from the sea... AND whose never even traveled even remotely close to it. Given she's no mage, Semkirk seems excessively unlikely... but were her child to be one (or a wild wizard), then that might change in time. I wouldn't be at all shocked if Tomanāk were to become her patron. But I could also very easily buy Toragan.
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Re: War Maid's Choice Spoiler... Isvaria's Axes
Post by FriarBob   » Tue Feb 07, 2012 12:32 pm

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BrightSoul wrote:Friar Bob, it is specifically called Plate Armor with a Surcoat of the darkest blue over it with a long double-bitted axe leaning on the tree behind her.

Didn't want to pull the exact text and quote it before the release to put too much of a spoiler in here.


Well I missed that part in my recheck. I didn't look up high enough in the paragraph. Although technically it's only called plate armor... so she might not have been wearing articulated arms and all of that. Some of the members of the Order of Tomanāk were mentioned as wearing articulated armor, but she could have been in chain arms instead, or even just plate but without the articulation. Not that it really matters.

But it still doesn't fit otherwise, even beyond the horseback issue. With Krahana so badly weakened by the loss of her most powerful servants, Isvaria probably isn't going to need to recruit a lot of Axes for the short term (unless they have other duties beyond taking care of the undead).

PeterZ wrote:I suspect Toragan or Semkirk. Leeana got all weepy when the horses suffered. She seemed much more passionate about horses than any other Sothoii. I wouldn't discount Tomanak, but that seems a bit too easy. I wonder if RFC can pull off Toragan without making her seem like a stereotypical tree hugger? If she does come off like a tree hugger will she still be as interesting? We shall see.

Semkirk may be it because my impression was that her "Sight" seemed more reliable than Lady Daggeraxe. At least that was my impression upon reading about it in WRO. If she ends up recognizing her gift later in life, she may decide to follow Semkirk.

FriarBob wrote:That leaves only Korthrala, Semkirk, Tomanāk, and Toragan. Korthrala seems unlikely for a girl raised a thousand miles from the sea... AND whose never even traveled even remotely close to it. Given she's no mage, Semkirk seems excessively unlikely... but were her child to be one (or a wild wizard), then that might change in time. I wouldn't be at all shocked if Tomanāk were to become her patron. But I could also very easily buy Toragan.


I never saw anything in WRO about her having "true sight" or anything like that. She does apparently have SOME sort of mental-or-wizard-like powers because of the way she could sense when her mother was injured and knew where her father was in relation to her on the road to Kalatha. But she hadn't gone through puberty yet and already had those skills, and so far we've never seen a mage (or at least not any OTHER mage) with their powers active prior to puberty. Furthermore, she's not depicted now in WMC as having developed MORE skills (or as having had any sort of mage crisis in the interim, which usually happens at puberty or very shortly afterwards). Nor does Wencit suggest sending HER to Zarantha for training when he does suggest doing so for Sharlassa. Which suggests to me that either Leeana has a dormant talent for "the art" or it's completely unrelated.

Oh and I forgot to mention Kontifrio earlier. (For that matter Orr as well, but I don't think that's a serious option.) We have no idea if she has any champions or not, she so far seems completely uninvolved. But that could be just because she hasn't been needed yet. Yet her domain of "nurturing" the family and home would fit to some degree with Leeana's talents, and also fit to some degree with the fact she's still (officially) a war maid. She could be instrumental in helping Sothōii women become less oppressed without overdoing it into an outright "battle of the sexes" like we're unfortunately cursed with in actual reality.

About the only reason I think Tomanāk really has any realistic chance is that he and Lillinara were the two that officiated at the wedding, and while the "injustice" of the "freemating" was probably a key reason for Tomanāk to be there, the bracelets do carry the signs of both Tomanāk and Lillinara... yet I still discount the idea of her becoming an Arm of Lillinara because of the way the promotions seem to work in that order. Of course, the symbols could also be discounted as merely a way of saying "these deities pronounced this marriage so shut up you pigheaded bigots"... so who knows. I too think it would be a bit odd to have two champions of Tomanāk married to one another, but I also wouldn't call it impossible.

But yeah, My primary guess is still Toragan as well. I agree about her concern for the horses and life in general fits that sphere of influence. And I would say he's already done a good job of avoiding turning her into a stereotypical treehugger. Most people who are extremist enough for me to consider them a treehugger are opposed to any form of industrial development and will do or say anything (including outright lie about "global warming") to try to force their viewpoint on others. I've got no problem with people who want to protect the environment in a sane fashion (reduce pollution in general, eliminate unnecessary forms, etc) and I think Weber would agree with me here. It IS a good idea to do that, so long as you don't try to kill all industry in the process and force man back to the stone age so everybody can die at 30 and women can die in childbirth at 14. (Yeah, yeah, it's an exaggeration... but not much of one.) And I think that's exactly what he's done with her, she does everything she can to help, but doesn't try to burn down smithies or sabotage the canal project or anything else like that.
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