The Pub Discussion Board

At some point in time, you might need to publish a Compendium Dugerran just to get your readers on the same page.

1. I already expected something like that
2. The driving force is more than obvious. There are certain clues within the books that make me think that I already should know the answer, but maybe I am as dense as David in that regard.
3. It really depends on how far you want to expand the timeline.
4. You are right that I meant the Job right after finishing school. Currently the timing of everything fits nicely with him finishing all 8 years. It is pretty clear that he can become whatever he wants to be, even a master in metamorphose.
5. And I never said or implied that there was a limit. My wording was just...meh. From the books it seemed that the highest ranked conjurers were rank 5. And awarding a rank seems to need to be done by a conjurer of that or a higher rank. Just forget about that. Question answered.

Thanks for the answers...even though I did not expect that many.

edit: typo

Last edited by Sniper (2016-07-13 10:30:50)

Okay... a little confused here.

1. Ghosts cannot "inhabit" Earth in any way, shape, or form.  ALL ghosts are in Haven.  Those ghosts who can see into (and be seen from) Earth are doing so through "windows of clarity", where the veil between worlds is thin.

2. When or where did I say that a lot of ghosts "inhabit" Earth?  And when did I say it was more common for former wizards to do so?

3. Even supposing all of the above, it makes the assumption that any of the four wizards in question still exists in ghost form, rather than having discorporated long ago.

4. Even supposing that one or more of those four did exist, it makes the assumption that David could FIND one of them, in a world larger than Dugerra and Earth put together.

Eric Storm

I was talking about the teleportation.

1) I was mistaken in thinking that Haven overlapped instead of being separate; I'm not sure why I thought that, I know better.

3) I said "earthly" when I meant "physical" in this case.  Dugerra is still a physical plane, albeit one that is apparently infused with considerably larger amounts of magic than Earth.

2) (Yes I know it is out of order but there is a reason) The thinner veil and larger prevalence of magic in Dugerra made me assume (yes, I know what that means) that the ghosts on the physical plane were more likely to be familiar with magic and as such wizards would be more apt to chill on the physical.

4). He does technically have forever to find them, but with his friends in the ghost community, he could spread the word he is looking for them and as a demighost, while he is DEFINITELY dangerous to ghosts, he also affords them options for things others would have trouble giving so he does have SOME stock to trade.

My point was more that HE has forever, not that the ghosts are guaranteed to be there.

I would imagine that David's ability to interact directly with the physical plane and not freak people in Earth out or even people new to Dugerra, could benefit some ghosts in ways.  Completing unfinished tasks, watching over loved ones or family members after the ghost decides to discorporate being some examples.  Heck, with his growing fame, he has a greater reach than most as far as politics goes as well.  His divinatory skills have been used by the King and government, he is a high ranking guild member in 3 guilds and has earned some level of loyalty from several magical races that could benefit those he chooses to help.  Even if he didn't have cash at this point he could make a fortune selling his services as a one man "A-Team" since we all love it when a plan comes together. 

As far ghosts working with ghosts they know vs. David, he DOES know at least 1 VERY famous ghost and has several others he is friends with that can vouch for him.  Penny and Woodward would be the best for playing up his positive reputation as absolutely fair and totally ethical.  I would imagine their opinions of him would still carry a decent amount of weight with other ghosts.

Oh well, just thoughts.  Ignore them, ruminate on them, take them to heart, no matter I have fun discussing them like this.

He could take trades.  I realize that it would require trust, but David could bank favors and then when he needs something from the ghost community he simply contacts one of the ghosts that owes him favors and then requests them.  The barter system for services worked relatively well for centuries here on Earth, it could work on Dugerra, especially considering that services David renders for the ghost community and individuals can make the ghostly existence better as a whole, making it much more palatable.

what if they discorporate before they repay the favor?

Fenixreign, that only works if all, or even some, of the ghosts agree to be David's eyes and ears. Eric has made it very clear in the story that ghosts pay very little attention to the living world. A lot of them don't even like the living world anymore. A lot of them can be angry at Demighosts for being able to live in the narrow lane having the advantages of both the living and the dead. A lot of ghosts would NEVER agree to such a thing.

Jefferson made my first point for me.

Ghosts would not help David in the way you suggest.  They do not give a shit what happens to living people.  And if there were any truly sensitive information (like possible war plans or such) that someone wanted to make sure were not seen by anyone, they would surely enact ghost prevention devices to keep the ghosts away.  (Did you forget about those?)

And Barbarian went halfway to making my other point:  Because ghosts can discorporate, a bartered transaction would only make sense if the ghost was providing their service first.  David, after all, cannot discorporate to get out of fulfilling his promise.  BUT! No ghost is going to trust David to honor his commitment.  Demighosts have a reputation of doing whatever the hell they want, and no amount of talking from other ghosts that they're not familiar with is going to change that.

And though Lord Woodward is a very famous name, as a ghost he is a complete unknown.  He never leaves Woodward Castle, so unless the ghost comes there, they are never going to have met him.  His behaviors, attitudes... all of it are going to be a complete mystery to any other ghosts.  They will assume he has changed since dying, so they can't rely on his life history for clues... in short, his recommendation means squat.

Do you begin to understand why it sucks to be a ghost?  Three billion people, slowly going either completely insane from misery, or becoming absolute assholes from the same.  The few who manage to hang on to their... er... "humanity" are definitely the exception, not the rule.  Help David fight a war?  Why would they care?  Why would they bother?  Only the most recently deceased would even give a damn that others were dying... and they'd be too miserable in their own death to help much.  Imagine this:  In one fell swoop, you have lost everything.  Not just your life, your money, your home... you've lost your entire family, your community, your career, your purpose... your ambition is useless, your drive is useless.  Your dreams for the future are gone.  Your hope for making things better is gone.  Your chance at "living the dream" (if you've not already done it) is gone.  As a ghost, you have no reason for existing.  There is no purpose to Haven, no grand design, no "brighter future", no "better tomorrow".  Nothing you do there is likely to make a damned bit of difference, whatsoever.  The singular hope you have for doing anything long-lasting is to help the living... and thereby remind yourself on a daily basis that you don't matter, that your "time" has come and gone.  This is the "life" of a ghost.

Miserable, cold, dark, and bleak.

To quote Prof. Edgars:  "...living forever is not all it's cracked up to be."

Eric Storm

So you would probably be one of the few who wouldn't go stark raving mad from being dead.  Most people are very socially connected, and those connections are important to them.  Loss of that network of support would be devastating to almost everyone.

Of course, you'd be stuck trying to help people you didn't even comprehend, let alone know, because you wouldn't be able to communicate with very many people in Earth, so you'd be stuck talking to Dugerrans, who handle things in such bizarre ways (relative to Earth ways of doing things) that you'd be left scratching your head most of the time.

Eric Storm

FR, whatever meds you're obviously on... either stop taking them... or up the dosage.



Eric Storm

Eric I have questions for you about future events:

1) When David was asked to use divination by the king's service secrets' agent he said he saw two events and had a feeling. We know the first event is about a year from now .From what he saw from the second event we can guess safely (?)it's two years from now (since the number of students is low , war with the were would have begin ?)( meaning year 8) so , is it safe to assume that his "catastrophe" feeling is three years from now ?

2) If it is , would that mean a ninth book ?Or maybe more? Like a sequel to the Woodward Academy Arc ?

3) About David/Emile relationship.It looks like David have not trust but faith in Emile more than anyone else
Even more than Olissa or Jailla ?

4)If David have the oppotunity to be be reaaaaaaaaaally intimite with Emile, will he seize it ?

5)What Happened to the girl which dream's David saw  ? I mean if she has prophetic dreams like that wouldn't she be ketp an eye on by the king's intelligence services ?

6)How is Denise doing ? Does she feel regret over her attitude towards David ? Whose side is Roy(Denise or David), It looked like he didn't care one bit about the situation with Elli.

7)Now that David and Olissa are together, i Assume she's not his sex-slave anymore ? xD

8)The person taking seth job, will it be a pretty woman with "big boobs" like david joked about ? There is a lot of potentiel for a funny scene with Tanya if it is ^^".

9) Will David have a sex with another teacher . By that    I mean a teacher he never have sex before .

10) Will Rose join David's small circle of friend ?She's into things we don't see a lot and is adorably friendly.

I stop here, 10 is a lot ^^
The rest is about characters we don't see anymore like ( Devyn) or is plot related ( since you won't answer them i'm not asking them ^^)

PS: Ok I lied, one last question . Are there important event which seems unrelated related ?For example...the Clan being in league with the Weres in some ways ?

(posted from the Item Information Page)

Last edited by neolyn (2016-07-27 18:38:11)

3) Who David trust the most? Emile,Olissa or jailla ?

9) Well I don't know! That's why I'm asking !^^"   A new prof in the school ? Or a prof we already know but whose situation changes like Cat?

10) Well... Some people do, some don't. Still, it was four years ago for them .

Ps) What I meant by not asking  plot related question was more about the content of the plot in itself(like details) . I wanted to know if, with all the things happening this year, some events were related in some ways . I didn't hope for  a clear answer but more of a " yes/no/maybe" answer , nothing more.

Glad we get to see Denise again event if it's in another book. :')


Like always : Good work ! It was  fun to read.

3) Well it's because it's an easy question that i didn't ask about Emile vs Sam ^^.

9) David has Elemandy and divination  for DS. About elemandy it seems  he only has Aeromandy left and Prof Rutherford said that there is not much to develop with it. About Divination , he completed anything he wanted to do except the mood changing walls.

  For short, it seems there is not much more room for improvement in Elemandy and we don't know any new idea for his divination ( but i Bet he will think of something worth using in Rimhor investigation). Since David is in for 2 years and a half more at the Academy , he could start a new subject or restart with one ( like Enchantment ), meaning he will meet a new teacher or have own he already knows like Ms. Thorpp .

Plus Everything can Happen, maybe Prof Rutherford's husband will cheat?