Ask Novil questions about Gaia
In 2014 and 2015, I posted two news entries [1] [2] in which I asked our readers to ask me general questions about Gaia. That proved to be a quite popular format with lots of questions being asked.
The chapter Monster should have answered many open questions regarding the story of Gaia. But some of you may have additional questions, for example about the setting. In this case, post them in the comment section of this news entry. I will try to answer all questions as long as I don’t consider the answers to be spoilers for the plot.
I still want to know what happened to that one where we [i]were[/i] allowed to post spoilery-type theorising.
@ Wisknort:
Whoops, no BBCode.
what is the Nature of Magic in this world? is it a particle that permeates the atmosphere and is absorbed by people who use it? a Field of energy that permeates reality and can be manipulated? or a force of Nature like the wind or earthquakes? i find fantasy worlds that can explain their magic with a property that can be applied to that world much better. that’s just my opinion.
Joke question: Assuming that E=MC^2, solve for Magic. 😉
Actual question: Are there people in this world who forsake traditional weaponry, but instead focus their magic through their fists/feet to perform the various “techniques,” like in anime or old martial arts films?
Bottas Heimfe wrote:
The Bluestream is similar to what scientists used to call “ether”. It’s a field of energy that flows through the whole world, including solid objects, and has varying density in different points in space. It’s not made out of particles. Spells can manipulate the Bluestream to make it interact with the material world.
bargamer wrote:
That’s uncommon. But it happens when a fighter with some magic abilities loses his weapon or a wizard has to go into close combat.
What’s the tech level of various regions of gaia? The Elves seem to be very advanced, the humans more ~renaissance era. What about the dragons, imps & dwarves?
Another question: Why was Lilis reaction to going to the dragon lands so hostile?
Will you ever go to print?
Is magic approached as a sort of science, or is it more of a “if it works don’t mess with it” mindset?
Arent wrote:
Dragons usually don’t make use of technology. They are much more primordial than the other intelligent species, but of course on an insanely high level.
On the contrary, imps are very proficient in the field of constructive magic. Imps working as inventors, a mixture of wizard and engineer, have contributed some of the most interesting advances in technology and magic. They are often interested in the playful or gimmicky. Humans tend to have a more practical approach.
When there still were dwarves, they were known for their mechanical engineering. But it was cruder what you can now see in Aracona with the magical cable car. The dwarves always had trouble to use magic as efficiently as humans and elves.
Arent wrote:
Santhilia is governed by the Dragon Council which is led by Aolilatse who is generally not someone you’d describe as “merry” in any shape or form. On the plus side, Santhilia offers a beautiful countryside and also an insanely high amount of safety from any kind of danger thanks to the strong hand of the Dragon Council. This comes at the prize of very strict laws and the fact that humans are treated as second-rate citizens, except for a few individuals who have earned the dragons’ respect thanks to some heroic act. Like Ryn and Alissa’s brave fight against the monster in Midgard.
I think that Lilith could live with the attitude of the average dragon, but Aolilatse is just pushing it too far for her.
hamstap85 wrote:
This is currently low on my priority list.
Anon 1239 wrote:
Magic is almost a field of science on Gaia, like applied spiritual physics. A powerful spell is like a complicated formula that you have to understand, memorize and use. Plus, you need that special connection to nature.
So. Magic. Super neat stuff and I love how well thought out the actual intricate mechanics of Gaia’s magic is! So my question regards to spells with “residual” or “passive” effects. Namely limitations regarding them.
1.) We’ve seen some spells cast can persist after the caster has died, for example, the casket. How are locks or seals able to function if the mage who cast it is dead?
2.) I guess this ties into the previous question. I thought a lot of spells were concentration based, but that seems to only be for actually establishing the spells effects. For example, Lilith’s Black Marble. She falls unconscious after using it, but it stays functioning for about 10 minutes afterwards. So is it normal for spells to be able to persist after a caster is unconscious or worse? Or is this feat only available for stronger wizards?
3.) Lilith’s protection spells expire some time after she teleports Iliath and Viviana away from Oakdale. Is there a maximum distance for how far away a spell can be from the caster before the spell wears off because of… I dunno, a lost connection or something? Or is the spell blunt to the person and it has a proverbial lifespan until it wears off, regardless of the distance of the caster?
Now my last question is a tad different subject from the other three.
Illusions. All of Oakdale was under some sort of perception jamming spell, and that’s usually all illusions can do in most magic settings, is interfere with perception.
But the Oakdale everyone else was in was more than just an illusion and maybe even more than a simulation of Oakdale. The town and many buildings were destroyed, but buildings acted like buildings still. Stairs still led to upper floors, papers still had complex articles written in them, etc. so everything was there and yet somehow… not? I’m especially confused on how characters are any food if it was texhnixaly an illusion or some fake magicy thing. I don’t have a single question for all of this and I doubt you have a single simple answer, but if I can try to even get some general idea of what I want to ask is…
What the spell cast on Oakdale more like and illusion or a simulation or Oakdale before it was destroyed??
@ Peyton:
Typo: meant to say ‘bound to a person’ and not ‘blunt to a person’. That whacky autocorrect.
Peyton wrote:
I think magic on Gaia works pretty similar to other fantasy settings in this regard. There are many spells which have an instant effect, like casting a fireball. There are also many spells that have a lasting effect, like a protection shield. The caster usually no longer has to concentrate on a lasting spell after casting it. It just stays until its life span comes to an end, irrespective of the mental state or location of the caster. There are a few spells that require the constant concentration of the caster. One could also extend the life span of some spells with an instant effect this way. This would be a larger mental burden for the wizard than casting a similar spell with lasting effect. But the instant spell itself may be easier to cast and the wizard may not be able to cast the spell with the lasting effect.
Peyton wrote:
The newspapers were the only thing that weren’t destroyed. They were real. The cellar of the municipal archive remained intact.
In general, it was simulated reality.
•1: What are the details behind Amos giving Ryn the newspaper? Was Eldor behind it?
•2: It had been a month since Eldor had released Dyson in Heyselfall. How did she know he was still there, and where Sandril could find him?
•3: What was the cause of Lilith’s “Black Eyes”?
•4: Was Eldor aware of the fact that three ‘special’ children were conceived that night? Is he aware of it now?
•5: Where is Isaac’s book now? Was Lilith working from a copy or the real thing?
•6: Where and how did Lilith learn how to teleport her friends? And how did Eldor, a master of teleporting, not realize she was not sending Ryn and Alyssa to Greendew?
•7: Speaking of teleporting, why did Eldor “pop in” on Lilith in her cell?
•8: How and why did Lilith survive that blast at the end of the first chapter in the Red Hall? Was it an illusion? If so, why?
•9: Was it Eldor who blasted her? If it was, what has happened to his staff? We’ve never seen him holding a staff since.
•10: Why did Lilith split up the party when she teleported them out of Oakdale?
– Why eldor sayed: “she is dead , already”? (Monster 60)
– Why eldor burned oakdale?
– Why eldor accused lilith for high treason? (She was nearly died in the prison , so why eldor risked her life?)
– How many months they spent in oakdale?
– Can you tell us (estimated) amount of left pages to be told?
Also my personal thoughts and feelings about gaia which some of them needs your explanation.
Note: this lines isn’t absolute criticism. some of them are criticism and some of them are my personal feelings (and even maybe misunderstanding about gaia world)
– I feel gaia took inspirations from lord of the rings and skyrim( which isn’t a bad thing). history of gaia in chapter 2 , reminds me of lord of the rings prologue.
– I think gaia is more about mystery and romance with a theme of fantasy rather than pure fantasy.
What i mean by fantasy stuff? Well , for example , the stealing of the avaril was a thrilling fantasy plot (you know , gathering magical items from dungeons and etc …) Which we never saw an event like that again. Also Lilith’s prison break was good. But from that point whole story theme changed to mystery and puzzle thing.
(Suggestion: quest for obtaining rainbow knife can be a thrilling (pure fantasy) prequel or flashback)
And about romance and relationships , i think focus on this things is too much. they cause wandering from main plot
– Viviana’s character weirdly changed during the story (maybe intentional?) At first she was brave and smart , she always had multiple plans for her goal. But now she is afraid of death and hasn’t any useful plan. How is it possible for a thieve leader who wants to become queen , to be insanely afraid of death? And why she is leader of thieves while her mentor (Salacea) Is already there?
– I see some weird things in gaia world. For example people use sword and bow but at the same time they have electricity and wear modern shirts and have modern robots. This kind of things doesn’t match with each other. (Please explain about this)
i personally prefer medieval fantasy , without any technology , because magic is their technology!
One of this weird things is gaia’s theology
People born , grow , make choices and then die. No afterlife world, no heaven and hell, no consequences for their choices
Also their soul recycle after death , meaning all those unique characters with special abilities and attributes will be lost after death. their choices won’t affect even their next existence (next creature who will born with their soul)
So in this world , there is no way to truly punish bad guys for what they have done to others. Even by death. i think this will cause some feeling that living in gaia world is pointless, just a repeating process which has no outcome.
Can you cast destructive magic with the bluestream? Because everyone talks about how Lilith uses “red magic” when it seems to me as if it was just normal spells. Also is the world populated thoroughly with wizards or is it a close-knit bunch or more like the Jedi where everyone can use it but just not very proficiently?
Someone64 wrote:
As I understand it, on Gaia, magic is their technology, just as you said. They don’t use electricity like we do; they use magic. Microphones, video cameras (recording crystals), projectors, robots, trams—all are powered by magic. Of course, this doesn’t immediately explain why they don’t have better weapons such as guns made using magic.
PMark wrote:
1) I think one can make a good guess whether Eldor was behind it. One needs to let go of the concept that all effects have causes in the past regarding high-level magic on Gaia. Some have causes in the future.
2) Magic. See page 1 of Gaia.
3) It was a side effect of the condition she set herself into.
4) http://www.sandraandwoo.com/gaia/2015/01/30/breaking-all-barriers-042/ and http://www.sandraandwoo.com/gaia/2016/11/05/monster-057/ together should make it clear that some things about Viviana elude him.
5) Eldor still has it. It was the original book.
6) Lilith learnt a lot about magic in that month. Eldor isn’t all-knowing or omnipotent. He couldn’t analyze Lilith’s spell fast enough.
7) To observe her progress.
8) Eldor needed her alive, of course. Either the spell was an illusion, or Lilith managed to cast a protection spell fast enough, or it was a real spell, but Eldor made it harmless when seeing that Lilith wasn’t able to cast a protection spell fast enough. This will remain an open question.
9) Yes, it was him. If I wrote that page now, he would not use a staff. It is irrelevant.
10) This remains to be seen.
Someone64 wrote:
1) If one assumes that Eldor spoke the truth, then I guess because she _is_ dead…
2) Eldor prepared Oakdale to be the perfect place for Lilith learning those spells. This apparently involved burning it down. Ask him about the details ;).
3) This is answered pretty clearly in http://www.sandraandwoo.com/gaia/2013/06/28/the-tower-in-the-sky-020/ But was Lilith really ever in danger…?
4) I haven’t calculated it myself, but it should be around 1 1/2 months.
5) Maybe another 500 pages?
6) I never played Skyrim. The backstory about Arathor has indeed some similarities to LotR, especially the names. I didn’t know Arathor was the name of a character in LotR since I only watched the movies. I thought it was only similar to Aragorn.
7) Gaia was always envisioned to be a mixture of fantasy, mystery and romance elements. Like a Final Fantasy game.
8) Viviana’s character did not change _weirdly_. She has been put into several life-threatening situations recently and it’s rather surprising to see how well she’s coping with all of it so far. Also, she doesn’t have the support of the Shadowdancers anymore, neither of the people, nor of the gadgets she’s so accustomed to. And in particular, she’s missing her mentors Gradus and Salacea.
>>>> How is it possible for a thieve leader who wants to become queen , to be insanely afraid of death?
She didn’t want to become queen at first. She was pushed into it. She is afraid of death because of the traumatic events in the forest and because they’re facing a mad wizard who is so powerful that he could kill them with a snap of his fingers. She also isn’t _insanely_ afraid, she is still functioning as a human being pretty well.
>>>> And why she is leader of thieves while her mentor (Salacea) Is already there?
I don’t understand the question.
9) Gaia is similar to the settings of the Final Fantasy games where magic and technology also complement each other. I think it’s very believable that people would use magic for more practical things like just for fighting like in other settings.
Yes, the life cycle is pretty similar to that in reality. Since there’s no afterlife, that makes Viviana being afraid of death all-the-more understandable, doesn’t it?
Warcraft-3-Player wrote:
Sure, it’s easy to cast a spell that burns a piece of paper or cuts a wood board in two. However, there is a natural barrier that makes it much harder to cast Bluestream spells that intentionally harm creatures. That’s why wands are popular for this kind of thing. While the natural barrier is not gone, it’s lower.
Everybody can use magic, but most aren’t able to cast more than a light spell that illuminates a room. Think of magic like of math:
Solving 6^3 + 2^4 -> A little shimmering orb.
Coming up with E=mc² -> Teleporting someone.
Coming up with a proof for P =? NP –> A step _below_ breaking the time-suspension shield.
@ Novil:
“The newspapers were the only thing that weren’t destroyed. They were real. The cellar of the municipal archive remained intact.
In general, it was simulated reality.”
Oh. Oh golly. That answers a question I hadn’t even thought to ask. Or at least I assume it has. Question being… “Why would Eldor leave an available source of information regarding his exploits for Lilith’s friends to discover?” I mean, easily he could have destroyed the archive since he could destroy a town.
I mean of course, the only answer to the ‘why’ is just a theory of ‘he wanted them to find out’ but then that brings up another question of ‘okay but why did he want them to find out??’ Unless we’ve gotten a clear answer in story, guess I’ll just have to wait for more story to be told…
I mean, Salacea is viviana’s mentor, he is older, he is more experienced and he trained viviana, so why viviana is leader of thieves?
New questions:
In Monster 35 Ilias and vivi’s protection shiled expired. Ilias is trained in the academy, so he should be able to cast a weaker version of lilith protection shield, so why he didn’t? And why no one (except for lilith) uses magic in this group while all of theme should be able to use it?
(according to gaia settings, everyone can use bluestream to manipulate the world, specialy ilias, allisa, ryn and sandril who trained in academy, they are not as good as lili but they should be able to do something while lili isn’t around)
Hey I have a quick couple of questions about magic in Gaia :
-we saw quite a few different things that magic can do, but I’d like to know more – if magic is related to science/technology, what “fields” of magic are prominent in Gaia?
-how are magic crystals made and what goes into making them?
– are there fundamental “laws” of magic in the Gaiaverse? Perhaps parallel or akin to Newton’s laws of physics?
@ Someone64:
* Theme = Them (please add “edit” feature 😀 )
Also , according to The tower in the sky 20 San must be Lilith’s sister , is this correct? (But how?!)
Does non heterosexuality exists in Gaia?
And if yes, is Chereck gay?
Life on Gaia is to my understanding limited by the available spirit-force. However, if say a lot of horses dies, can other species “steal” the now available spirit-force and become more at the horses’ expense or is the spirit-force “locked” to horses? If the answer is the latter, what happens if a species goes extinct?
Someone64 wrote:
He can’t cast a useful protection shield because he’s not good enough in casting spells for that. Ryn could have cast a useful protection shield, but nothing even close to what Lilith could cast even back in the academy.
Natanel Schor wrote:
1) There’s at least protection magic (creating and destroying protection shields), constructive magic (building things using magic), elementary magic (the largest field, including classic attack spells and illusions), nature magic (manipulating beings without a soul, like trees) and healing magic.
2) We saw that in http://www.sandraandwoo.com/gaia/2014/08/12/the-letter-of-jael-bara-077/ The wizard casts a special spell directed at the crystal. This is often a time-consuming process, lasting for at least several minutes. For a spell of a certain type and power, you need a crystal of a special type. Crystals that can serve as containers for high-level spells are rare and valuable.
3) I’m not interested in digging this deep into lore. Neither of other worlds, nor of my own.
Someone64 wrote:
I think it’s clear that San is not Lilith’s biological sister.
sister clair wrote:
It is very rare.
Unless said otherwise, everybody should be considered straight.
Crystalgate wrote:
Yes, species can go extinct. Since the Darkness, Gaia has a severe problem with biodiversity. It already had few species to begin with, and several died out back then. Therefore, there are now more humans on Gaia than before the Darkness. The larger and more advanced and intelligent a species is, the larger the soul its members have.
Is it possible for someone to have a large gathering of creatures, say humans, and they all willingly have up the tiny amount of bluestream control they have to one person, can someone use all that power to cast a powerful spell? If so can someone rip the bluestream from the group forcefully if they resist? Also how close can you get to mind control in Gaia?
Someone64 wrote:
I think I can answer this. Just because someone is a good thief doesn’t mean that they would make a good leader of thieves. Look up the Peter Principle. The Shadowdancers know and trust Viviana to be a good leader. She’s charismatic, clever, a great schemer, and won’t back down when she knows she is right.
By the way, I think you are confused. Salacea is not a man. She is a woman married to Milo Torval. She never was a member of the Shadowdancers. This is explained in the “CAST” tab at the top of the page.
Could you be thinking of Gradus, the man who rescued Viviana from Delvor’s hit squad?
Why did the dwarfs become extinct?
Is the Gargolye in The Red Hall 007 a living beeing/stone dragon or just a enchanted statue? He seems to be bondet to the jainitor somehow….
What subject does the book which Alissa got for lilith in Breaking All Barriers 140 has? Is this important to the story?
Thank you for doing this Q&A!
And thank you for this great comic! I’m loving it very much!
When the characters were trapped in Oakdale, they interacted with the other villagers there. Eldor stated that these villagers were not dead, merely asleep like Lilith’s brother. So were they interacting with the actual people, or just illusions of them?
Also, would Eldor really have killed Lilith’s friends when she agreed for him to “get rid of them”? It seems like he doesn’t just kill people for no reason, like the inhabitants of Oakdale, or the guards back when he killed Delvor Garrot.
Last question which I just thought up because of that… what is that place he dropped Garrot into??
@ PMark:
Yes , i mean gradus
Thanks
Dear Novil
Thank you for this great webcomic, en for doing this question session.
1) In your answers to previous questions you used mathematics a few times to explain something, e.g.when referring to magic. Also you used diagrams from the infamous paper on the abc-conjecture in the notes Eldor was drawing. Is math an (important) source of inspiration? Something you just like to refer to? I sense at least a decent background in math.
2) What is the difference between an imp and a familiar? Also, Eldor seems to be the only ons having a familiar (Kali). Are familiars that rare? Are they flying secretaries or do they have a deeper connection with the person they serve?
Keep up the great work.
Another question
Are you creating webcomics just as a hobby and for fun or is there any commercial benefits?
Warcraft-3-Player wrote:
No, that’s not how it works. Wizards can work together to cast a stronger spell than they individually could cast. For this, each wizard concentrates on a part of the spell. They would still manipulate the Bluestream in a similar way as if they would cast different spells at the same time. This also takes training and only works for some specific spells. Most of them are long-lasting spells. This usually does not work for instantaneous spells.
Mind control is usually only possible with Redstream spells.
Peter_Skater wrote:
1) I have the details settled but I’m not sure I like the backstory enough to ever elaborate on it in the comic.
2) A living being. A gargoyle was just shown three pages ago in the last panel of http://www.sandraandwoo.com/gaia/2017/03/21/the-way-back-home-009/
3) It’s a random magic book. You can forget about it.
Sambo wrote:
1) They were interacting with “representations” of the villagers.
2) That’s left open to interpretation.
3) An unpleasant one ;).
SaBoeckieBoeckie wrote:
1) I’m a computer scientist. The algebra and analysis courses in university were pretty intense and left a long-lasting impression on me. At work, I have to do basic math for computer graphics problems, like calculating transformations of objects in different coordinate systems.
2) Imps are the most widespread draconic race. They are never “familiars”. They are pretty similar to humans regarding their intellect and magic abilities. The current page features another wizard with a “familiar”. However, the concept doesn’t really exist on Gaia. The fox-like creature is more like a pet. Kali is more like an assistant.
Someone64 wrote:
There’s our Patreon campaign and the ads on the website.
If we were players of a Fantasy RPG set in Gaia (like perhaps, Dungeons and Dragons) and you, Novil, were the DM, would Imps be a playable race?
Oh, and one other question that’s more about Gaia itself: Are the “chromatic” Dragons (red, blue, green, etc.) generally evil while the “metallic” ones (gold, silver, bronze, etc.) generally good?
The Andinator wrote:
Yes.
The Andinator wrote:
No. Dragons on Gaia don’t follow the good-evil scheme.
I had some questions regarding the essay on the origin of the world and setting.
1) How can Gaïa be the goddess of life/everything and bhaal god of death/nothing(ness?) I understand that Gaïa likes life, and Bhaal has no qualms about genocide, but Gaïas creatures seems capable of dying, and Bhaal seems quite good at creating life.
2) Which brings me to my second question: are shadow creatures and achdevils animals/people or just extensions of Bhaal? In other words, do they have souls (not spirit based, but from Bhaal’s source?), fellings, and free will?
3) So to sum up, are the differences with Bhaal/Gaia, bluestream/redstream and their creatures by nature or design – is it hard for the bluestream to hurt while the redstream can mind control because of their nature, or because of the personalities and choices of their gods?
I hope I am not too late:
1. One very specific favorite of mine: Is Eldor emotionally damaged ? By that I mean that he has trouble anticipating other people’s emotional reactions.
– Delvor Garrot would take an eye on him after the humiliation and find out that he is a red mage and nearly succeeded in executing Lilith.
– Assuring his minion that he was completely safe because Vivi and Ilias are nice people and bluffing; the only problem is that Vivi seconds later tries to remove his head.
2. Was the Red Hall attack in essence the same disturbing test of power? Sending his minions “Try to kill as much people as possible” exactly during Lilith’s speech and expecting Lilith to repel and contain the attack (and watch how good she currently is) ? Was any wizard specifically targeted or was it simply Kill, kill, kill ?
3. Is the hag which granted Lilith three wishes in the dream coincidentally the very same person who stole Eldor’s object and hid it behind a time suspension shield?
4. To clarify it once and for all: Had Eldor his own invulnerability spell on him during Vivi’s attack (I don’t believe it because he had a wound)? If Lilith would have sensed and disabled his contingency teleport spell, would Eldor be dead ?
5. Were the falsified evidence for the treason already hidden in the Lilith’s house or was it planted by the guards ?
6. Does the location of the punishment for Delvor and the Elven spy connect to Bhaal? How did Eldor discovered it?
7. Vivi told Ilias that she was flattered by him when he entered the bar, but also very mad about the accusations. Would that mean that if Vivi would not have fallen in love both Ilias and Alissa would have failed immediately?
Durendil wrote:
1) Their roles seem to have transformed into more classical “God of Life” and “God of Death” roles after the creation of the planet.
2) Somewhere in between. They are living beings, but with a limited free will.
3) There’s not much of a difference between those two things.
TSK wrote:
1) He’s arrogant and full of himself, that for sure, but I wouldn’t say emotionally damaged. And he also has a lot to do during this crucial period of his plan. He doesn’t sleep a lot and just can’t be everywhere at once and think of any possibility.
2) Yes, it was a test. But killing Hel was also one of Eldor’s goals. Maybe some of the other teachers too, but that’s less important.
3) No.
4) It was a teleportation trigger spell. Once a potentially dangerous object or spell came in contact with his skin, he immediately teleported back.
5) Hidden there, very likely by Eldor or his henchmen.
6) Looks like it, doesn’t it? I think “discover” is the wrong word to use here.
7) I think it’s very likely that they would have failed in this case. But Lilith would have very likely been rescued by the golden dragon Xarlaxe in this case.
Hello Novil, first of all, let me thank you and Powree for creating such a wondeful comic – I’ve been following it for several years now and I can’t stop wondering how you manage to amaze me completely with nearly every new page! 😉 Many thanks for that, you are the best! :))
Aaand here are my questions… 🙂
1) How it came that Jael was suddenly all alone in the forest and the rest of her travelling group just vanished?
2) Why the sweet and reliable Casper unseated Jael and ran away?
3) And most importantly, is Casper alive and alright? (I’ve been wondering about what happened to Casper for more than a year now… And to be honest, I am more interested in his fate than in that of Sandril. 😀 I do like Sandril, though. ;))
Many thanks for answering at least some of my questions (provided the answers are not plot spoiler, of course) and have a very nice day! 🙂
With Midguard and Golnar going to war with Cania, can you tell us about the relative strengths of their militaries? Have there been any armed conflicts between these nations in recent history? Are there alternative motives of some or all of the parties? Is one side clearly superior, or better outfitted? Essentially I want a a brief explanation on the how thing look militarily as the war begins.
Thanks!
@Novil
Thank you very much. But 4. answers not exactly the question…. 😀
IvoryTower wrote:
1) Eldor’s maze spell malfunctioned because of the special properties of Viviana’s soul.
2) He heard the terrible sound earlier than Viviana.
3) This is currently unknown.
MisterGray wrote:
They only wanted to mobilize their armies. They didn’t immediately declare war or start fighting.
There hasn’t been a war between Cania and Midgard yet. Cania has only become a powerhouse in the last century. It once was a duchy around Aracona. Cania’s rise to power started with slaying a powerful dragon that had terrorized bordering duchies for decades. At the same time, Aracona became the center for constructive magic. Its population quadrupled in just a few decades.
In the next decades, Cania united several smaller countries that had been independent before, most notably Ileasaar, Cheysh and Askaroth. Ileasaar was one of the few countries they actually conquered by force. Most became part of Cania out of their free will. This gave them the chance to finally get out of Midgard’s sphere of influence.
As the largest country on Gaia by population, Midgard also has the largest army. But Cania’s army is better equipped. Midgard has more “high-level” wizards. But Cania has more “medium-level” wizards and access to some innovative spells. I guess that Cania’s overall military power would be a few percent above that of Midgard. But since it’s so close, the motivation of the soldiers and wizards would play a central role. However, Cania would have no chance against Midgard and Golnar at the same time if they fought competently. Especially if Ileasaar would not fight on Cania’s side, or even against it. The everlasting loyalty of Cheysh and Askaroth is also not something the king of Cania can count on.
But large scale military conflicts are extremely rare on Gaia. Nobody could say how such an event would turn out. All members of the army would have a very low tolerance to be used as “cannon fodder”. So you would have to give them a very good reason to continue fighting after the first crushing defeat. Moreover, genocidal maniacs don’t live long on Gaia, so the new ruler after the defeat could not be *that* much worse than the previous one, further reducing loyalty. A couple of the most powerful wizards and dragons would band together and assassinate a truly terrible tyrant. And there’s _no_ protection against that. If the top 5 wizards come to the conclusion that Gaia would be a much better place without you, you’re dead. Everybody knows that. Now, assassinating Eldor, that’s a different story.