I happened to be on my parent's computer, and I ran into these. I've asked some of them before, but never gotten a satisfactory answer. Probably some minor spoilers for SotL and PotS, but nothing too big. I think.

1 Why did Liam hate Roger when no one else did? He said he’d tell Alanna someday, but he never did. It can’t be just because he was a sorcerer – did he know something, or just suspect it?

2 What happened to the Black City after Alanna and Jon vanquished the Yslander? Did the Bazhir just stay away from it like a legend? Did they stop guarding it? Was there much rejoicing (OK, that’s Monty Python, but whatever)? Were the Yslander really demons, or something like the kraken? After all, we never heard about demons again.

3 In Squire, Raoul says that there was a famine after King Jonathon used the Dominion Jewel against Roger. But when he used it in the Immortals War, there wasn’t, or at least we don’t hear about it. Was that just because during the Coronation Revolt he was holding the land together, rather than fighting with it? I mean, the whole “all things have a price” cliché feels like it should either be relevant both times or not at all. And will Roald inherit it?

4 In The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, one of the important Bazhir (sorry, forgot the name) tells Alanna that the shamanistic school will grow and become a rival of the City of the Gods. So why haven't we ever heard from it again?

5 After the death of Jonathon, what would happen to the Dominion Jewel? Would it just be passed to Roald/heirs of Tortall – and if it was, could he use it? Second, what about being Voice of the Tribes? Isn't passing that one going to kill him? Therefore, isn't getting killed in battle (Squire, "Roald is of an age...") not exactly the smartest thing to do? Who will become Voice after him?

These questions have been sitting on the back burner, some of them since I read SotL (and that was five years ago). If you have any opinions or knowledge, I'd love to know.

Moonlightrider

Oooh, those are great questions. I would love the answers to them myself. Sadly, I do not know the answers to ANY of them.

Thanks, Krisian!

  

Tammy? Tim?
Cheers!

~Amanda

Come on Tammy!!
Regarding the Dominion Jewel and repercussions when using it, I think Jonathan used it in such a bizare & powerful way - physically stopping the earth splitting in two is a huge feat - caused the famine as the earth had suffered. I imagine just fighting against people - magic in terms of things that people can do with their gifts would have less issues.

Regarding the Dominion Jewel/Voice of the Tribes question -
(Not sure if this will be helpful, but...)
Ali Mukthab (sp?) said that the Voice gets certain powers, including the knowledge of when they are going to die, so I guess that Jon will know when his time is up and arrange to appoint a new Voice before then. He might not die in the process though, because Ali Mukthab (sp?) was very sick remember, but Jon might not die from old age/illness.

For some reason i always had the feeling that now since the Bazhir and Northern Tortall has been united that the title Voice of the Tribes would be eliminated now that the Bazhir have a king of sorts... just my idea though, i doubt whether there's any validity to it.

wow I have always wondered some of those questions too.

>
>4 In The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, one of the important
>Bazhir (sorry, forgot the name) tells Alanna that the shamanistic
>school will grow and become a rival of the City of the Gods. So why
>haven't we ever heard from it again?


Tammy said this: The Bazhir school is flourishing, but it's mobile, like the Bazhir. Some scholars are invited to come and lecture, and some actually stay; some Bazhir come to the university to study. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't happening!
in a topic called Questions about the Royal University which can be found here:

http://www.sheroescentral.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=6&topic_id=49281&mesg_id=49281&page=2

>>1 Why did Liam hate Roger when no one else did? He said he’d tell Alanna someday, but he never did. It can’t be just because he was a sorcerer – did he know something, or just suspect it?<<

Because Liam met Roger in Carthak and had seen how he acted there, like a prince dispensing favors among the healers, rather than somebody who just wanted to help people. He'd even seen Roger hit slaves. He never bought Roger's "I'm reformed and humble" act because he didn't think Roger had it in him.

>>2 What happened to the Black City after Alanna and Jon vanquished the Yslander? Did the Bazhir just stay away from it like a legend? Did they stop guarding it? Was there much rejoicing (OK, that’s Monty Python, but whatever)? Were the Yslander really demons, or something like the kraken? After all, we never heard about demons again.<<

The Black City's still there. While the Ysandir are gone, the Bazhir are never going to feel it's a safe place to be. Demons are somewhere between immortals and elementals, I suppose. They never got banished to the divine realms, and there aren't that many of them, so I haven't had to deal with them again. ::cough::ignoring that I created them::cough:: It's a big old world, after all, and I haven't really done that much exploring in it. Though I know Rebba will be doing some traveling. Maybe she'll run into some.

But I don't see the Bazhir ever treating the Black City casually. They have very long memories. And who knows what kinds of bad spirits still inhabit that glossy stone and can come out now that the Ysandir no longer hold the spell chains that keep them captive? Bwaaahaaahaaa . . . Djinn, anyone?

>>3 In Squire, Raoul says that there was a famine after King Jonathon used the Dominion Jewel against Roger. But when he used it in the Immortals War, there wasn’t, or at least we don’t hear about it. Was that just because during the Coronation Revolt he was holding the land together, rather than fighting with it? I mean, the whole “all things have a price” cliché feels like it should either be relevant both times or not at all. And will Roald inherit it?<<

On Coronation Day Jonathan had to use the Jewel to hold the entire country together. Since then he's been very careful to use it only in small areas, and to try to have stored-up power in other crystals on hand in the royal treasury or at the university to replace what the Jewel uses, so the Jewel doesn't take it from the land later. The Jewel replenishes itself with what's handy. Jonathan can deal with small shortages if he must, but the famine was pretty grim. These days he tries to be prepared for anything. As Armitage says in this thread, just because I don't get a chance to include it in the books, that doesn't mean it isn't covered--the kingdom has to run even in the places I'm not writing about it.

>>4 In The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, one of the important Bazhir (sorry, forgot the name) tells Alanna that the shamanistic school will grow and become a rival of the City of the Gods. So why haven't we ever heard from it again?<<

And Armitage posted the link to the thread where I answered that one recently.

>>5 After the death of Jonathon, what would happen to the Dominion Jewel? Would it just be passed to Roald/heirs of Tortall – and if it was, could he use it? Second, what about being Voice of the Tribes? Isn't passing that one going to kill him? Therefore, isn't getting killed in battle (Squire, "Roald is of an age...") not exactly the smartest thing to do? Who will become Voice after him?<<

The Jewel may or may not pass to Roald. It has been known to pass to a line's heirs, and I imagine it will probably go through a couple of generations of Contes. Eventually, though, there will be an heir who isn't really fit to rule, and the Jewel will move on. It's done it before, it will do it again. But not, I think, with Roald, even if he is a bit stiff, poor boy.

The Voice isn't hereditary. It's never hereditary. And I don't think it's necessary to die in passing it on, it's just that Ali Mukhtab was sick, and the passing killed him. Even if Jonathan were killed in battle, or there was some accident, I can't believe it's never happened in all Bazhir history. There would be some immense magical working to bring the Voice back, but they would create a new one if they had to. And since it isn't near time to pass the Voice to the next person, I have no clue as to who the new Voice will be. I only know at most into a couple of years into the future, and for the time being I don't even know that. For the next few years, all the books I have to write take place well before the events in TRICKSTER'S QUEEN, so I haven't really begun to think about the books that take place after that. It's only then that I'll be able to see what's going on for the next couple of years.

Tammy

“No person is your friend who demands your silence.”
Alice Walker

wow *said in an awe filled voice*

*happiness*

That explains a lot of questions. I'm rather surprised I didn't check back with the earlier Bazhir post - exams, I guess.

So the people in Carthak knew Roger wasn't so great. And the mages in the City of the Gods knew his rivals had a habit of disappearing. Apparently he wasn't so over-the-top perfect villian after all.

I'm not sure if that makes me happy or sad. Both, I guess.

Well, thank you. I'm happy now. I'm on my laptop or I'd ask the next set of questions. You've been spared.

*dances around her room until she stubs her toe on the bedframe and uses some interesting language*

Thanks!

Moonlightrider