The Pub Discussion Board

What is the average lifespan of someone in dugerra? In the 1st book is Sam just hiding her age or extended it?

(posted from the Item Information Page)

Wizards live good long times.  Lives in the 140-150 year range are not uncommon.

In book 1, however, Sam is merely hiding her age.  She isn't yet old enough to worry about extending her life from a "normal" human's.

Eric Storm

... You're asking why different associations and organizations have different organizational or administrative structures????

That's like asking why a captain in the US Navy is an O-6, while a captain in the US Army is an O-3.  Different groups decide on their own terminology.

HOWEVER, I would like to point out that the Potions guild does not use 1 as the lowest rank.  David is a 2nd-level potions master, attempting to achieve his 1st-level mastery.  So far, we have discovered that "level 1" occupies the following positions within guilds:

Potions: highest
Conjuring: lowest
Peg Riding: highest
Proraziveur: lowest
Spellcasting: highest
Animal Care: highest
Healing: highest

As you can see, "level 1" is actually usually the highest.

Given that proraziveur certification is a license, it makes perfect sense that it would start at 1 and go up as you gain more authority.  While I have not, within the story, established why Conjuring does this, I can think of two viable reasons that it would:

1. Because they are not entirely sure of the limitations of Conjuring (or weren't when the guild was formed), and, not having an upper limit to apply, they started with the lowest skills and worked their way up.

-or-

2. Conjuring perhaps started out not as a guild, but as a licensed activity, and that would give it the same structure as the proraziveur license: the more authority you have, the higher your number is.

And, just so you know, this was not accidental.  I very intentionally used different terminology within the different guilds.  David is a "Potions Master Second Class".  Eleanor Abernathy is an Animal Care Giver Level One.  This is to show that the guilds are independent: they aren't government agencies, so they are not unified in their administration.  (NOT that government agencies seem to be in the least unified in their administration, at least here in the US...)  Though a guild must receive government approval to form, the government does not oversee the guild's operation.

I hope this answers your question.  If not, please rephrase your question in the form of an answer. 


Eric Storm

Silly leap year. If not for you I would have read Eric's next chapter today and not tomorrow morning.

Nicely done Eric. This chapter has answered a lot of questions I've had stewing in my brain. I also like the way things are going for David at the moment, even though I just waiting for the next thing to pop up on him. Keep up the great work, and I'll keep up the reading.

(posted from Chapter 3: August)

Another Fantastic Chapter, as always. Thanks Eric.

(posted from Chapter 3: August)

Well, David would have been hesitant to contact Miss J in the first place, due to the nature of their relationship at the time.  But mainly, it's because the author didn't think of it.  SOOOoooo, we'll say he contacted "a fairy", but that they didn't know what was happening, either, only that there was a curse involved.  Yeah, that's the ticket.



Archangel, you say hopefully "neither of them" will become a regular occurrence.  What are you referring to?

Eric Storm

Nice! David as a healer wizard is kind of impressive.

(posted from Chapter 3: August)

Man David has worse luck with relationships than I do lol. Enjoyed the chapter immensely.

Why do readers always assume that, because I didn't write something down, it didn't happen at all?

What would you have found interesting about David and Gwen "reuniting"?  I put this term in quotes because both David and Gwen live in Bolmont.  Chances are, they saw each other at least a couple times over the summer.  (And no, I didn't write about that, either.  Why would I, unless it had some impact on the story?)  I certainly already made it clear that Gwen could visit whenever she liked, because David had her and Jess over for dinner right after he moved into the house in Book 5.  Therefore, the only reason she would NOT visit was because she was too busy.

But, even if they hadn't seen each other since Ellie's graduation ceremony, what, exactly, would I have written about them seeing each other that would have been remotely interesting?  There'd have been hugging, and the usual, "What did you do over the summer?" questions, and a bunch of general chit-chat, as there usually is when two old friends who haven't seen each other in a short while get back together.  *Yawn*.

I can't write about everything that David does.  The series will exceed a million words by the end of book 6 as it is.  I have to prioritize what is important, and what is... well, frankly, irrelevant.  Do I tell you that he still has sex with Prof. Stott?  Or that he sees Olissa on a daily basis?  Or how about that he spends four to six hours a day just studying?  No, I don't relate these things because they don't add anything to the story itself.

As to David's lament that he has lost all his friends:  He is now head of the security department.  He has a whole new set of colleagues to fill in that slot, not to mention the entire Bolmont Division of the Rimohrs.  These may not yet be true friends, but he can hardly feel like he's alone.

Eric Storm

I've never watched Naruto.

Sam is not excessively old.  Although I have not, in fact, picked an age for her, you can figure her to be late 40's to her 50's.  However, we know that she appears much younger.  This is a combination of the natural tendency of wizards to live longer, mixed with the use of "youth magic" to keep up her appearance.

Eric Storm

Gwen spoke to David at Ellie's graduation ceremony.  She hugged him at the ceremony, and she asked if he was coming back the following year.  If she was going to be upset about the family rift, it would have happened at that point, not later.

And it's not that you made me "upset".  I just find it very confusing some of the things people think I should include in stories.

Eric Storm