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Spermy Smurf posted:Quoting myself again. I did not realize but in my latest reread in crippled god they specifically say why: You are very fixated on this thing. They could be magically imbued, or blessed by a god, or giant turtles on the completely different world have naturally much tougher shells than real ones.
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Nov 7, 2014 18:05
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It's so incredibly dumb I was trying to come up with a better answer. Then I found the real answer which no one else quoted and posted it. I'm not fixated, I just think it's on par with Esselmonts mystery characters.
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Nov 7, 2014 18:52
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That's not really a definitive answer though, it's just saying they "devised" the armour which could involve magic or technology or looking at a turtle and saying "lets try those things." Which is frankly good enough for me anyway, its a world of magic and technomagic velociraptors and poo poo not everything needs a science explanation.
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Nov 7, 2014 19:09
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I was just guessing it was on of those dumb medieval kryptonite things like weasels being able to kill basilisks.
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Nov 7, 2014 19:31
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Spermy Smurf posted:It's so incredibly dumb I was trying to come up with a better answer. Then I found the real answer which no one else quoted and posted it. I'm not fixated, I just think it's on par with Esselmonts mystery characters. Pretty sure the real answer was posted, just without citation. But I'm with Xachariah as far as why this is such a thing for you. Plenty of things in the series have less explanation and are happily accepted, it being a magical world etc etc etc...
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Nov 7, 2014 21:05
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I posted about it three times, people said why, but did not provide proof; just speculation. I just provided some speculation of my own, and then provided the proof no one else did. I am not hung up about it, I still think it's dumb as poo poo though. I understand there is magic, I understand there are T-Rex's with lightning-bolt guns. I get it. I love the series, it's the best series I've read, but seriously: No one else thinks it's stupid and wishes for a better explanation? I'm allowed to think that a super-strong race that can punch through a Toblaiki skull with a 'brush of her fingertips' but for some reason cannot punch through turtle shell is dumb. It does not mean that making 3 posts about it is 'hung up' about it. I wish for a better reason, sure, but it doesn't make me hate the series or anything.
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Nov 7, 2014 21:36
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Spermy Smurf posted:I'm allowed to think that a super-strong race that can punch through a Toblaiki skull with a 'brush of her fingertips' but for some reason cannot punch through turtle shell is dumb. e: I've also got friends who are big into turtles, and one who keeps four enormous tortoises (we're talking like several hundred pounds each), and those fuckers have shells you'd need artillery to puncture, so maybe it's easier for me to roll with the idea. But again, it seems like it shouldn't be so hard to swallow just considering real world application of materials. For example, in WW2, both sides eventually designed tanks in such a way that the profile of the armor - the curvature, planing, etc - acted to deflect projectiles/forces that would have easily punctured a flat piece of the same material. Habibi fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Nov 7, 2014 |
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Nov 7, 2014 21:51
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Spermy Smurf posted:I posted about it three times, people said why, but did not provide proof; just speculation. I just provided some speculation of my own, and then provided the proof no one else did. I am not hung up about it, I still think it's dumb as poo poo though. I understand there is magic, I understand there are T-Rex's with lightning-bolt guns. I get it. I love the series, it's the best series I've read, but seriously: No one else thinks it's stupid and wishes for a better explanation? Eh, I'm still waiting for a better explanation of warrens. Like, mages open portals right, and they telepathically draw power through them, but is it a different dimension? Pocket universe? Are they a plane that goes on forever like in Planescape or is it a discreet area? How is there an aspect of Light and an aspect of Illusions aren't they basically the same thing? And they draw power from the land or some kind of luminiferous aether in the plane/dimension? So OK they're apparently part of the veins of an elder god so does that mean it's sort of like... miniaturisation and teleportation? Or is the veins a concept for some kind of dimensional transcendence and the elder god is a universe onto himself like some kinda infinite recursion thing?
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Nov 7, 2014 22:42
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Xachariah posted:Eh, I'm still waiting for a better explanation of warrens. Yes. I gave up trying to figure it out. I figured that each warren was another planet created by Krul with his god blood. But then where was the Refugium? They walked from Kurald Emurlahn through Omtose Phellack and ended up in Tellan? All of these are connected? And then Kurald Galain and Kurald Thyrllan are right next door to each other but with a big white curtain of milk down the middle? The Imperial Warren was Kallor's old kingdom that he trashed but is also Jacuruku which also is a continent in the normal world? A wizard did it.
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Nov 7, 2014 22:58
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Tokelau All Star posted:Yes. I always assumed that all the realms existed before Krul, and all he did was make/provide/become easier paths to get between them. But other non-krul paths totally exist, and there also exist numerous other places that krul can't even get you (but some other newer god yet to be maybe could). I don't know why we're spoiling speculation, but whatever.
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Nov 7, 2014 23:13
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For the Imperial Warren stuff. I forgot who, but somebody basically moved the damaged version of the continent after Kallor messed it up to a pocket dimension and allowed the original version to go back go back to normal. Or something like that. I think.
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Nov 7, 2014 23:50
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If we're speculating, there's definitely a connection between Chaos (which dragons and their blood seem to embody) and magic. And we know that the names of some of the chained dragons are the same as the warrens, which seem to be aspected towards the dragons chained there. Maybe it's something like the chained dragons bleeding into their own little dreamworld pokeballs, and K'rul helps connect mages to the dragons through their dreams, where the mages can suck in a little bit of dragon blood to do magic. Hell, if Burn is sleeping, maybe there is some kind of Inception thing going on where the world is going to end when she wakes up because the Malazan world is her dreamworld, not because the earth is literally going to wake up with volcanoes and tsunamis.
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Nov 8, 2014 01:17
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Someone in Assail, can't remember who exactly, refers to mages as "manipulators of dimensional leakage." I imagine we'll find out more about the way "magic" works as the Kharkanas trilogy progresses.
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Nov 8, 2014 01:44
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Juaguocio posted:Someone in Assail, can't remember who exactly, refers to mages as "manipulators of dimensional leakage." Isn't it mentioned offhandedly that Krul is performing the warren making ritual off screen.
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Nov 8, 2014 02:37
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Ethiser posted:Isn't it mentioned offhandedly that Krul is performing the warren making ritual off screen. It's mentioned explicitly many many times.
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Nov 8, 2014 06:31
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 Anime alert , but I figure utilizing the energy of the warrens is kinda similar to how alchemy was done in Fullmetal Alchemist with the energy that flows through the Gate.
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Nov 8, 2014 06:41
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Finished Assail, and I think I'd agree that it's ICE's worst. I enjoyed Kyle, Fisher and Crust's scenes, but overall it's a badly conceived, poorly written book. The sheer number of typos that made it into the final publication really speaks to the level of care that went into its creation. It would be funny to go through the whole Malazan Empire series and count the number of times a character loses consciousness, then wakes up and gets told about how the plot has advanced.
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Nov 8, 2014 11:04
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Ugh, I've been thinking about it the last couple of days and The Crippled God could have been so much better with just a couple more scenes. Paran is my favorite character in the series, so naturally my main complaint with the book was not enough of him. A showdown between Paran and the Errant was building up for multiple books, just a quick meeting between them, a "gently caress you I don't even want this power and I'm way stronger than you" and I would have been happy. Also, if I didn't know that a Karsa trilogy was planned I would have been pissed at his [lack of] treatment in the book.
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Nov 9, 2014 21:16
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Tokelau All Star posted:Ugh, I've been thinking about it the last couple of days and The Crippled God could have been so much better with just a couple more scenes. Paran is my favorite character in the series, so naturally my main complaint with the book was not enough of him. A showdown between Paran and the Errant was building up for multiple books, just a quick meeting between them, a "gently caress you I don't even want this power and I'm way stronger than you" and I would have been happy. Also, if I didn't know that a Karsa trilogy was planned I would have been pissed at his [lack of] treatment in the book. I kept hoping for a Torvald/Karsa reunion all the way through OST. 
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Nov 9, 2014 22:57
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Juaguocio posted:It would be funny to go through the whole Malazan Empire series and count the number of times a character loses consciousness, then wakes up and gets told about how the plot has advanced. About the same numbers of times a scene starts with a character in emotional torment over something that just happened that the reader never sees directly.
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Nov 9, 2014 23:16
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Turpitude posted:Woah, I just bumped into Steven at my local brunch place (Cabin 12 in Victoria). I used to see him writing in the coffee shop all the time but then he moved to England, I guess he's back in Canada. Anyway, he had some sci-fi book with him that he has just written, it had a freakin' space ship on the front and he said it was a "send-up of Star Trek." I haven't been keeping up with this thread but did you guys know about this? My mind is pretty blown and I am super excited to read this thing. If you haven't grabbed a copy yet, Bolen Books has a bunch of autographed copies sitting on the shelf in the science fiction hardcover section.
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Nov 10, 2014 01:45
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Baby of The Week posted:If you haven't grabbed a copy yet, Bolen Books has a bunch of autographed copies sitting on the shelf in the science fiction hardcover section. Aww man, time to book a clipper trip I guess 
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Nov 10, 2014 08:56
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Tokelau All Star posted:Ugh, I've been thinking about it the last couple of days and The Crippled God could have been so much better with just a couple more scenes. Paran is my favorite character in the series, so naturally my main complaint with the book was not enough of him. A showdown between Paran and the Errant was building up for multiple books, just a quick meeting between them, a "gently caress you I don't even want this power and I'm way stronger than you" and I would have been happy. Also, if I didn't know that a Karsa trilogy was planned I would have been pissed at his [lack of] treatment in the book. As someone who didn't like Paran nor the Errant I am on the other hand perfectly happy with this. Fiddlers reading of the cards in Letheras is pretty bad-rear end though. Started on BH and I find Kalam and Quick Ben less and less interesting. There is a certain point in Eriksons books where a character becomes too powerful and then sort of uninteresting. Following the stuff happening at squad level have always been the best parts of Erikson and I find the Bonehunters more interesting than the Bridgeburners were. But we are seeing different perspectives of them, where the Bridgeburners were an accomplished unit whereas the Bonehunters are still starting out.
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Nov 10, 2014 09:40
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So the Malazan Reread of the Fallen just finished the series and is doing their normal Q&A with Erickson... http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/11/steven-erikson-the-crippled-god-q-and-a
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Nov 10, 2014 21:26
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I might register just to beg him not to let Esselmont write any more books.
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Nov 10, 2014 21:38
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They also had a pretty good discussion of the Hetan/Barghast storyline where Erickson clarified some things, back during their Dust of Dreams read.
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Nov 10, 2014 21:42
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I personally think the Parans have the charm and competency of a substitute teacher.
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Nov 11, 2014 01:21
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I want to name my fantasy football team Graham Ganoes Paran but I don't think anyone in my league would get the reference.
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Nov 11, 2014 04:23
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amuayse posted:I personally think the Parans have the charm and competency of a substitute teacher. Tavore and Ganoes get pretty loving competent.
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Nov 11, 2014 07:47
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amuayse posted:I personally think the Parans have the charm and competency of a substitute teacher. Are we reading the same series?
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Nov 11, 2014 16:00
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Baudin posted:Are we reading the same series?
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Nov 11, 2014 20:03
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anilEhilated posted:I can see his point, honestly. It wasn't the case when I first read the series, but after two rereads, my favorite Paran is definitely Felisin. Oh loving barf.
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Nov 11, 2014 20:06
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Well, Tavore you're never supposed to see into and is very hard to empathise with by definition, and Ganoes is way too much of a good guy in a series that usually does a pretty good job of sticking to the shades of grey. Hell, he's one of the blandest characters in the series and as far as I can tell his character stops developing after the third book, he's got his ascendent position and it's solidified as him being the deus ex machina man. Felisin is only there for a bit but with her, you can see where she's coming from, what's shaping her. It's not a nice read and sometimes it's outright painful, but her response to what she's subjected to seems the most human to me. Hell, her death scene and the fact she goes into a duel without knowing how to fight are among my favorite bits in the series; it explores a lot of aspects of war, but that scene is probably the only one that focuses on the sheer absurdity. Felisin dies to make a point - without being aware of it or intending it; at the same time, she dies facing her fear even while acknowledging she's not going to beat it. Okay, so it might be a lot of drivel, but at least something out of that should get through. I'm finding even her pettiness and cruelty more engaging than anything we see out of the other two siblings; hell, most of Tavore's mystique is even established by other people, not by anything she does. edit: Mind you, I also genuinely like Blistig and my favorite character is Udinaas. You don't want to put much faith in what I'm saying is what I'm saying. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Nov 11, 2014 |
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Nov 11, 2014 20:40
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anilEhilated posted:Well, Tavore you're never supposed to see into and is very hard to empathise with by definition, and Ganoes is way too much of a good guy in a series that usually does a pretty good job of sticking to the shades of grey. Hell, he's one of the blandest characters in the series and as far as I can tell his character stops developing after the third book, he's got his ascendent position and it's solidified as him being the deus ex machina man. My favourite is Fiddler/Strings, because in the end he is the most human one. His transformation from HoC and onwards is very rewarding and his only supernatural talent ie his affinity for the Deck only helps making him human.
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Nov 11, 2014 21:05
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anilEhilated posted:edit: Mind you, I also genuinely like Blistig and my favorite character is Udinaas. You don't want to put much faith in what I'm saying is what I'm saying. Udinaas is great. I love that by The Reaper's Gale he holds absolutely no reverence or fear for all these ancient, powerful warriors he's been saddled with, continuously calls them out on their bullshit, and doesn't care that any of them could murder him at any time. Like Seren says: the only likable one in the whole group.
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Nov 13, 2014 08:39
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Blistig isn't likeable but SE likes to put devils advocate voices in his book. I mean if you're a solder you'd be better be sure somebody is there trying to say the emperor has no clothes if you're going to march through a (un)magical endless wasteland.
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Nov 13, 2014 08:55
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Wolfsheim posted:Udinaas is great. I love that by The Reaper's Gale he holds absolutely no reverence or fear for all these ancient, powerful warriors he's been saddled with, continuously calls them out on their bullshit, and doesn't care that any of them could murder him at any time. Well, if you have lived most of your life in explicit or implicit slavery where death is a common punishment, I guess you get to a point where you say "gently caress it" and just don't give a poo poo any more. So I am finishing up Bonehunters. Crokus is kinda meaningless, L'oric as well and Leoman, even though Y'Ghatan is great. Dejim Nebrahl is anticlimatic. The Karsa Orlong/Samar Dev interaction is one of the best things. Iskar Jarek is Whiskeyjack, but we know that from other places as well. Also, it is stated that the child of Eres'Al and Trull will be the true master of the Shadow warren.
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Nov 13, 2014 09:13
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Zeitgueist posted:Blistig isn't likeable but SE likes to put devils advocate voices in his book. I mean if you're a solder you'd be better be sure somebody is there trying to say the emperor has no clothes if you're going to march through a (un)magical endless wasteland. What you have to remember about Blistig - and it's easy to forget as it is overshadowed by most of the other events at the conclusion of the Chain of Dogs - is that he stood aside and failed to act out of strict adherence to the command chain once before as his commanding officer issued what were by those present clearly understood to be suicidal and/or criminal orders, and it resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Malazan soldiers and civilian refugees (not to mention some of their best military officers). So you could take his actions as less devil's advocate, and more those of a man who thinks he's seeing history repeat itself. Cardiac posted:Well, if you have lived most of your life in explicit or implicit slavery where death is a common punishment, I guess you get to a point where you say "gently caress it" and just don't give a poo poo any more. Habibi fucked around with this message at 20:08 on Nov 13, 2014 |
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Nov 13, 2014 20:05
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Zeitgueist posted:Blistig isn't likeable but SE likes to put devils advocate voices in his book. I mean if you're a solder you'd be better be sure somebody is there trying to say the emperor has no clothes if you're going to march through a (un)magical endless wasteland. Well I did appreciate Blistig for having at least some sort of dissenting voice to Tavore's decision to march across the Glass Desert
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Nov 13, 2014 22:22
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His reaction always felt the most normal, humane one to me. He's no hero, even though he's forced to be one in the end; and in a series of this size, you learn to appreciate the few guys who don't end up as heroes. And as Habibi said - in TCG he's taking initiative after seeing what he regards as another suicidal command. I honestly can't blame him there.
anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Nov 13, 2014 |
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Nov 13, 2014 22:54
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