[CD Sample Chapters - Spoilers] Suggestion Box for the Upcoming Q&As

[AcornArmy]

With the online Q&A sessions coming up today and on the 20th, I thought it might be helpful if we had a place to pool question ideas. If you want to ask a question, but for some reason can't remember any of the thousand questions you've had about the series over the years now that the pressure's on, or if you have so many questions that you feel like you need to spread them around so that other people can share some of the burden, then this thread's for you.

Some of mine, to start off:

1) Angels are apparently all soul. So:
   1a) Can angels be soulgazed?
   1b) Can the Fallen in the Denarii be soulgazed through the second pair of eyes which    sometimes show up on the foreheads of the Denarians? And, if so:
   1c) Will the soulgaze be different than the one you would see if you simply soulgazed the    Fallen's Denarian host?

2) Would you(Jim) please clarify exactly who the Faerie Queens can personally kill and who they can't? At various times in Summer Knight and in the rest of the series, we've been told or seen evidence that:

-- The Sidhe Knights are the only ones allowed to act in matters not directly related to the Faerie Courts. (SK, Ch. 10)
-- The Queens are not allowed to kill anyone who isn't a member of their own Court. (SK, Ch. 10)

And yet:

-- We've seen fae servants of the Faerie Queens kill and attempt to kill mortals many times.
-- Aurora was able to try to kill Harry just fine, but was unable to harm Murphy. (SK, Ch. 20-21)
-- When Harry is preparing to deal with Mab to become the Winter Knight, he thinks to himself that Mab can't kill a mortal, only make them wish they were dead. The implication seems to include the Winter Knight. (Changes, Ch. 30)

So which mortals can the Faerie Queens kill? Bob tells us one thing, but evidence in the books indicates something else.

3) Can Changelings be soulgazed?

4) Since Lash is apparently some sort of spirit-being, can she take on a physical-seeming form while she's in the spirit world, the way ghosts can?


Questions From Other People (from a more-or-less identical thread I made last year, which, alas, came too late):

Vairelome:

From one of the recent threads concerning Maggie, there was some discussion about her official last name right now (post GS, staying with the Carpenters).

So: "What is Maggie's official last name right now?" and if clarification is needed, "Under what last name is she registered at the local elementary school (assuming that's where she's placed)?"


Karley:

1) How and when did Harry and Michael meet? Would you consider writing a short story about their first encounter?
2) How long has Arthur Langtry been the Merlin?
3) How does one become the Merlin? [ Already answered. ]
4) Is the Winter Lady Maeve the same person as or was she some way involved with the old Irish Queen Maeve of Connacht?
5) If Harry ever does put his full effort into universe-hopping, can you make him go to Discworld?
6) What are the names of the other three minor vampire courts?
7) How did Justin DuMorne find out about Harry?
8 ) When did the old Mother Summer retire and why won't Mother Winter retire?
9) How old is the Gatekeeper?
10) How did the White Council annex the New World shamans and what were the reaction of the Natives?


Eleyctra:

Is it significant that the eyes of Lea changed from gold in the earlier books, to green in Changes? Is Mab controlling Lea more than we think?


jeno:

1) How old were Eb and Maggie Sr when they first manifested a talent?
2) How many sisters does Thomas have? [ Already answered. ]

[TheCuriousFan]

jeno:

1) How old were Eb and Maggie Sr when they first manifested a talent?
2) How many sisters does Thomas have?

These ones have already been answered.

3) How does one become the Merlin?

This one was also answered, the senior council pick out a new Merlin from amongst themselves.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

I have a bunch of questions in the relevant thread, but only one of them got asked, I'd want it to be whether Talos is still alive after the end of SK, because that is one that for some reason irrationally nags at me and seems unlikely to connect to anything that would lead to an "I'm not going to tell you".

I'd also really like to know
1) When was Kemmler's last stand, 1961 as per DB or WWII as per GS ?
2) If Harry had known about Lea's bargain with Maggie, could he have just demanded her help against Justin instead of selling himself for it and:
2b) if the answer to 2) is yes, is Harry ever going to find/figure this out ?

but I suspect that 2) might well get an "I'm not going to tell you", and there have been rumblings that some of the apparent series inconsistencies are part of a larger plan so 1) might as well.  Indeed, I can see 2) being resolved in CD.

[AcornArmy]

These ones have already been answered.

This one was also answered, the senior council pick out a new Merlin from amongst themselves.

Okay, stricken from the record.

I have a bunch of questions in the relevant thread, but only one of them got asked, I'd want it to be whether Talos is still alive after the end of SK, because that is one that for some reason irrationally nags at me and seems unlikely to connect to anything that would lead to an "I'm not going to tell you".

You mean the Questions for Jim 2012 style 2 thread? Yeah, that'll work, too. The reason I started this thread, though, is because that one has 22 pages, and a whole lot of random questions in it that no one's going to care enough about to ask at a Q&A. I didn't think most people were likely to spend that much time on the subject. And one of the Q&As is tonight, so a short thread to put the questions we care about most into seems easier than sifting through the other thread looking for ideas. I guess I wanted a distilled version of the QfJ2012 thread.

[Second Aristh]

The question I'd enjoy having an answer to the most at the moment is

Do all faeries have a weakness to iron and if so, has it always been that way or is it more like wizards and murphyonic fields?  What is considered iron/cold iron (i.e. is it the amount of iron that matters or some sort of metahysical signifigance)?

[TheCuriousFan]

Okay, stricken from the record.

You mean the Questions for Jim 2012 style 2 thread? Yeah, that'll work, too. The reason I started this thread, though, is because that one has 22 pages, and a whole lot of random questions in it that no one's going to care enough about to ask at a Q&A. I didn't think most people were likely to spend that much time on the subject. And one of the Q&As is tonight, so a short thread to put the questions we care about most into seems easier than sifting through the other thread looking for ideas. I guess I wanted a distilled version of the QfJ2012 thread.

You know I'm just going to gather every question I asked over the course of that thread right? And you could just read the question posts rather than all 22 pages.

(click to show/hide)

How old is Rashid in terms of years lived (not how many years ago he was born)?

How old is Margaret in terms of years lived (not how many years ago she was born (e.g. coming out 100 years later after a day in the NN only counts as a day for her age rather than 100 years))?

Does being a witch affect how long you are fertile (hopefully this settles the fertility threads once and for all)?

What were the other massive incidents Ebenezar referenced when talking about his acts as Blackstaff (we know he did Krakatoa and Tungska as two examples of massive incidents) and why did Ebenezar cause each of these incidents?

What are the abilities of the swords of the cross?

Is it possible for wizards to use body altering magics to extend their lifespans?

Do wizards gain power (not just skill) with age (i.e. is a 300 year old wizard more powerful than at 20 years old?) like every other supernatural group seems to?

What did the Red Court use Chichen Itza for when Cortez was there?

Are there wizards among the ranks of the Einherjar?

How many Einherjar are there? (specific number please, not just millions)

Will the Shapeshifting Guru from the Ukraine mentioned in the list of freeholding lords in White Night play a role in the series or will it be like the Jade Court and not appear in the series?

What are Harry's specialties in magic (there have been some inconsistencies about what he is skilled at)? How skilled is he with evocation?

Did Mab rewire Harry's brain to be better at ice magic like speculated? If no, how was he flinging around the precision ice magic in Changes?

Was the moment when Harry lost control of Sue in Dead Beat the moment that Butters got out of the polka suit to go treat Luccio's injuries and having Morgan replace him as drummer?

Was the shadow of death seen behind Kincaid under Harry's sight in Blood Rites Mavra?

Are the White Court, Red Court and Black Court types of phages like Shagnasty and Titania's messenger in Summer Knight imply?

How old are the senior council members?

Did they find Simon's body at Archangel after the Red Court attack?

Will we ever see that short story with Klaus the Toymaker back in WWII?

Will we see more of Klaus the Toymaker?

How many people alive in The Dresden Files have power over Outsiders?

Does Harry have an incorrect understanding of the Darkhallow and other parts of the Word?

Why did the half-turned Red Court and Cassius experience sped-up aging the moment they lost the thing stopping their aging? Shouldn't they have just gone back to aging at normal rate?

Did the Wardens find Justin's corpse?

What are Rashid's specialties in magic?

What are Nicodemus' abilities when there isn't a sword limiting him to vanilla mortal like levels? Can he use magic like Harry does?

What is the general layout of Demonreach? How big is it?

Did He Who Walks Behind slow down time around the clerk who tried to run? If no, how was he slowed down?

How long did it take the Wardens to find Harry and how did they do so?

Could you elaborate on the various activities mentioned (pyramid sitting, getting real married etc) when they were picking out a new senior council member in Summer Knight?

What happened to the lightning taser and the shield crystal?

How did Ebenezar's instant death spell in Changes work?

What are the names of all the factions and freeholding lords in the Accords (excluding the ones whose existence is a walking spoiler)?

And another question, where did the power for the Hellfire come from? And if it came from Lasciel, how did it get through all the barriers Harry put between himself and the Coin?

Why do the Wardens seem so understocked in homemade foci like equivalents of Harry's duster?

Was the chant to call He Who Walks Behind in Blood Rites actually in English or was that Lash making it sound like English so that Harry could understand it?

How does He Who Walks Behind speak English? (with a British accent no less)

In Changes, Odin talked about the power of the Lords of the Outer Night's blood being spread among thousands of offspring, what did he mean by this? How does having offspring weaken the LooNs?

Why did Milwaukee, Wisconsin vanish from the face of the Earth for two hours in the Unseelie incursion of 1994?

How many people died because of the events of Dead Beat (the hex and people's reactions, the Wild Hunt, the Necromancers and their zombies running around)?

How did the Necromancers find out about the Word? Corpsetaker's Anthropomancy?

Here we see a few examples of what happens when wizards skilled in particular areas draw in power, can we get a comprehensive list for what happens for wizards of each specialty draw in power?

Is Joe the janitor at the train station in Small Favor actually just a janitor, or is he, like Uriel, an angel in disguise? And if so, is he Autobot or Decepticon?

And this is the shortened list with some questions cut entirely and others fused into one.

[AcornArmy]

Argh! Fine! I'll just drop the questions into your thread.

[LordMelvin]

2) Would you(Jim) please clarify exactly who the Faerie Queens can personally kill and who they can't? At various times in Summer Knight and in the rest of the series, we've been told or seen evidence that:

-- The Sidhe Knights are the only ones allowed to act in matters not directly related to the Faerie Courts. (SK, Ch. 10)
-- The Queens are not allowed to kill anyone who isn't a member of their own Court. (SK, Ch. 10)

And yet:

-- We've seen fae servants of the Faerie Queens kill and attempt to kill mortals many times.
-- Aurora was able to try to kill Harry just fine, but was unable to harm Murphy. (SK, Ch. 20-21)
-- When Harry is preparing to deal with Mab to become the Winter Knight, he thinks to himself that Mab can't kill a mortal, only make them wish they were dead. The implication seems to include the Winter Knight. (Changes, Ch. 30)

So which mortals can the Faerie Queens kill? Bob tells us one thing, but evidence in the books indicates something else.

Re: Your three points:
-- We've seen the fae wreaking mayhem on multiple occasions, but the only real bodycount was in PG, where they were acting via Mollys' choice. It was, essentially, Molly's decision to indulge in black magic that opened the way for the horror movie fetches to go wild at the convention, while at Arctis Tor, anyone present had clearly chosen to involve themselves in the events, I. E. become involved in matters directly related to the dealings of the court.
-- In Summer Knight, Harry as Winter Emissary was an open target, since he was - temporarily, to hear him tell it - a part of Winter, while Murphy was, as a vanilla mortal who happened to be standing nearby, not a legitimate target, and therefore the Chlorofiend had to pull its punches.
-- Take 1 part wishful thinking, 2 parts assisted delusion via [GS thing], and 1 part not-thinking-straight-due-to-having-just-been-permanently-injured. Garnish with inaccurate phrasing and unreliable narrator to taste.

[AcornArmy]

Re: Your three points:
-- We've seen the fae wreaking mayhem on multiple occasions, but the only real bodycount was in PG, where they were acting via Mollys' choice. It was, essentially, Molly's decision to indulge in black magic that opened the way for the horror movie fetches to go wild at the convention, while at Arctis Tor, anyone present had clearly chosen to involve themselves in the events, I. E. become involved in matters directly related to the dealings of the court.
-- In Summer Knight, Harry as Winter Emissary was an open target, since he was - temporarily, to hear him tell it - a part of Winter, while Murphy was, as a vanilla mortal who happened to be standing nearby, not a legitimate target, and therefore the Chlorofiend had to pull its punches.
-- Take 1 part wishful thinking, 2 parts assisted delusion via [GS thing], and 1 part not-thinking-straight-due-to-having-just-been-permanently-injured. Garnish with inaccurate phrasing and unreliable narrator to taste.

That's useful speculation, but my problem with it is that we have to speculate in the first place. These are supposed to be hard rules which have to be followed by the Queens. I just want a clear, straight answer from Jim on the subject. If nothing else, it'll make things easier for the DFRPG folks.

[Direwolf513]

The question I'd enjoy having an answer to the most at the moment is

Do all faeries have a weakness to iron and if so, has it always been that way or is it more like wizards and murphyonic fields?  What is considered iron/cold iron (i.e. is it the amount of iron that matters or some sort of metahysical signifigance)?

Something nagging at me from another thread - why don't the Fae have an issue with the iron in human blood? The answers in the other thread (ranging from there's not enough iron to make a difference to blood having its own metaphysical significance and weight that cancels out the metaphysical significance of the iron) are all well-thought out and plausible, but I'd just be interested in Jim's take on it.

[Casterbridge]

Concerning Angles being soul gazed, Harry tried to soul gaze an angel in Ghost Story, the angel stopped him, implying yes they can be soul gazed (but probably have ramifications in the mental department, my guess anyway).

[Lord Rae]

Actually he tried to use the sight on an angel in GS... not soulgaze. Different and distinct actions.

[Aesir]

I'm fairly certain that the following were answered by Jim at one point or another:

Do wizards gain power (not just skill) with age (i.e. is a 300 year old wizard more powerful than at 20 years old?) like every other supernatural group seems to?

What did the Red Court use Chichen Itza for when Cortez was there?

What are Harry's specialties in magic (there have been some inconsistencies about what he is skilled at)? How skilled is he with evocation?

How old are the senior council members?

[Jebm]

1)Who taught Fix swordplay after he was Knighted?.

2) If a White Court vamp became a Knight for one of the Fae Courts, would the power boost  and new magic affect/overlap with their vampire powers?

3) Does being a Winter/Summer Knight mean you still have to follow the Laws of magic?

4) What is Ancient Mai's  specialty since you've said before that she's never been one for physical combat

5) How different is rune magic in terms of function and effect from the regular magic we've usually seen in the series?

6) How highly ranked were the Eebs in the Red Court Hierarchy since they weren't True Mayan and would they have stood a better chance against Susan and Harry if they decided to fight instead of sending in the scrub and the Ick ?

7) Where did Madrigal Raith acquire those ward cloths as they seem to  be rather convenient for participating in a duel  he didn't know he'd be in.

[King Ash]

1)Who taught Fix swordplay after he was Knighted?.

2) If a White Court vamp became a Knight for one of the Fae Courts, would the power boost  and new magic affect/overlap with their vampire powers?

3) Does being a Winter/Summer Knight mean you still have to follow the Laws of magic?

4) What is Ancient Mai's  specialty since you've said before that she's never been one for physical combat

5) How different is rune magic in terms of function and effect from the regular magic we've usually seen in the series?

6) How highly ranked were the Eebs in the Red Court Hierarchy since they weren't True Mayan and would they have stood a better chance against Susan and Harry if they decided to fight instead of sending in the scrub and the Ick ?

7) Where did Madrigal Raith acquire those ward cloths as they seem to  be rather convenient for participating in a duel  he didn't know he'd be in.

Pretty sure that this one has been answered with Enchanting.