Date: April 17 2021 4:06 AM Title: Chapter 31: Foregathering
WA WA WA WAIT A MINUTE
DOES
Does Icaria's dad live in the Old Lands, or is he just dead?
Because I think it's the Old Lands, considering like 20 chapters ago you made it canon in your lore tomkins are still trickling in even 200 years after the first batch of tomkins showed up. AND I still want to know how they got there in the first place, be it spaceship or reality shifting shenanigans, because either way, racist as it may be, I find it hard to believe a bunch of rock throwing animal skin wearing savages could just accidentally themselves onto another planet. It would also explain why Icaria would be so fervent about the doctrine of the First Emperor, even moreso than Firkon, if the tomkins are still suffering in their place of origin, and she hailed from there/has close family there, it would make sense why the haven of the New Lands (no matter how dangerous) would be something she'd so fiercely protect.
Also since you said the story's kind of approaching its endgame it would be the perfect segue into the Old Land exposition.
OH and I know the answer is probably gonna be "LOL I just came up with it off the top of my head but thanks for the idea it's now canon" but I had a theory where the name "tomkin" comes from. There's the old fairytale, first published in 1621 about Tom Thumb, a boy no bigger than a person's thumb. Tomkins are also about the size of a thumb, give or take half a centimeter, therefore they're like the family of Tom Thumb. Tom's family=Tom's kin=tomkin
ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED *X-Files theme*
Author's Response:
You're half right. Tom came from Tom Thumb, but I came up with kin because it's the suffix of "munchkin". Cute little name for cute little people, when they're not trying to shoot you down with ridiculous little "siege" weapons.
Date: April 15 2021 2:48 AM Title: Chapter 31: Foregathering
OKAY SO something that's been bouncing around in my head for... a week or two. So Orestion and that sort are Romans, the Akritai and the likes of Agopolis are clearly Greek, so what's Q'thuman and Hassan and Aalyiah then? Persian? Ottoman?
Author's Response:
Persian sounds about right, though I would say that they don't necessarily have a 1:1 real world analogue in the same manner as the other two.
Date: April 08 2021 3:26 PM Title: Chapter 31: Foregathering
Poor naive Sihil doesn't realize the tomkin slaves (or at least some of them) would probably be grateful for death at this point.
I do have a couple of questions. How old is Volkard, since during the second intermission when he was presumably 12-14 it seemed like humanity was still pretty booming to only be cautious of tomkins.
Also going back and reading from the beginning, sometimes you said Teagan's hair was black, not auburn. I mean it's been a couple years so I understand the inconsistency. Oh, AND in the chapter where Teagan first meets Aaliyah and Hassan, when she's having Eucharion pull the arrow out of her eye and she's making a pulling motion there's a simile where you call a spool a thimble. A thimble is one of the metal things you put on your finger to keep from poking yourself with a needle, a spool is the plastic or wooden thing that has thread on it.
Author's Response:
To be frank, I never really thought about exactly how old Volkhard is, I was just thinking something along the lines of, say, maybe 50 to 60. Of course, he looks somewhat younger because of the abstract property of magic that slows aging considerably.
At this point I'm promoting you to editor-in-chief whether you want to be or not. I keep forgetting the difference between spool and thimble and I REALLY thought I got it right this time around. I guess not. Thimble just... it SOUNDS like it should be the small part. It really does.