*SPOILERS* Envoy to Earth discussion.

[Kat]

[John Baughn]

I am still under the idea that the real pattern that is Tor is much more powerful than any of us think. To me the pattern has existed for an incredibly long time until it found a physical body pattern that could give it material form. Burks using magic to generate the base pattern while Gray did the genetics of it. The deeper Tor to me is so much more vast than what is just in his body...

[Kat]

[twips182]

I'm looking forward to seeing where the story takes Tor as well. My hope is he gets his stuff together and starts to be a whole person. The guy has paid his dues for about 10 books after all. Even Jake got to be a real person after only 4 books. (Btw still waiting on the Jake update Dale) Also still anxious for the Sara book which should shed some light on a few things.

Oh, welcome to the Forums Kat Good/interesting insights.

[MarciaA]

[PS Power]

The Dead End additional material (It's a four book pack, of the original books, with new material in the form of short stories from other perspectives added in for extra color.) is nearly ready to go, except for the cover. I'm starting on the edit of the additional material now. (Yesterday, to be exact.) and should have that open for others to read here soon.

[twips182]

Very good news Dale

[RyanM]

When are characters going to learn to delegate? It seems every character is always rushing from here to there with no rest and incredibly tight time schedules. Nobody thought to split the crew, give them a fast craft, and then have them make deliveries?

Also, what's the deal with Misha/Michael. There was a lot of time spent going over how she wanted a sex change and communicating what was happening to her family, but after it was done there was no description in place for the new Michael. What does he look like? How big is he? Blue, Green, or natural hair color? How did Maria, Bonita, and Collete, and their father react?

What about the implications of changing the very fabric of a persons being? Will Timon create an item that can do such changes on a whim (perhaps keyed to specific people)? I can see people like Tim, Trice, and the Sorvee family bringing assassinations and spying to a whole new level if they're able to create new forms at will.

Was Gerant given a bit of the Command Line when he was changed? Everyone is following his orders no matter what he says. While I get that he's a good person to organize the new Ancients since he's a neutral party more or less, I find it hard to believe people wouldn't have alternative suggestions to some of his actions.

[Ronald Dukarski]

Hey Ryan, I can't answer all your questions, however, one insight I had into the concept of magic in the the Young Ancient world may help. In almost two thousand years no builder thought to make a clothes dryer, silverware, plates, fire/heating devices,carts, trucks and so many more things. It seems that they(anyone really) are blind to need. Kind of dense, really, when it comes down to it. Magically speaking. So I'm not sure any of the wizards Tim and Tor included will notice that they can do the things you suggest. Unless Dale want them to discover the need. Just one of the idiosyncrasies of a made up world, I guess.

[RyanM]

I think some of that was due to implied difficulty of building, greed, and short lifespan of a magical item.
We know that most of the "commercial" building revolved around weapons and armor and that copying of such items was slow and tightly regulated.
There are very few builders before Tor came around, maybe 5 Master Builders and 30 or so minor builders/copiers.
Also, Most builders are capable of only 1 or 2 novel builds per year and those builds are probably derivative in nature.

Add all that together and you get that magic is not only rare but probably lacking variety as builders are improving and replacing items in existing markets rather than tackling emerging markets. It would also come down to simple economics. Who is going to spend 1000's of gold for magical dishes and hygiene items when it can be had for a fraction of the price and can be found at any decent sized town?