Question time! Because Toby trivia is fun.

[seanan_mcguire]

It's been a while since we've done this, and with A Red-Rose Chain coming up, I figure it's time to once again offer to answer your questions about the world. So...

I will make ten blog posts detailing aspects of Toby's universe. Ask me anything! I will not answer every question, but will select the questions that I think are the most interesting/fun/relevant, and will detail them to my heart's content. There's a lot to learn and know, and asking loses you nothing. Remember that nothing I answer here is full canon until it appears in a book: I will always reserve the right to change things if the series shifts between now and then.

Leave your questions on this post. I'm declaring comment-reply amnesty for any that I choose not to answer this time, since otherwise, my wee head may explode.

Game on!

Comments

[marziek.livejournal.com]

Is it very wrong of me to want to know how the Fae feel about incest or close kinship relationships? Even if it is very wrong to want to know, could we find out? I mean, in some cultures (Egypt?) that wasn't taboo. Is it to the Fae?

Also, if that question isn't suitable, I'd love to hear about geas (is that already plural? I don't recall. Neeeeed caffeine) and any ways around them.

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

(Geas is singular; geasa is the plural. I learned this while editing.) :)

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

How did the divisions of kingdoms and territories come about?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Your question has been answered.

[kay-gmd.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see more on Cliff, (sorry if I got the name wrong I don't have the books handy)

Either some of how he and Toby got together, or maybe how he experienced Toby's disappearance.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

That is not a question about the universe: it's a question about Toby's relationships, and another character who hasn't been featured much. I'm happy to talk about cosmology, but I will not give spoilers. I'm sorry.

[wasureneba.livejournal.com]

I'd love to know more about how the scents of magic work -- clearly they're partly inheritable, based on the bit where Tuatha seem to have a smoke scent, and clearly they're mutable, since Simon's changes. What other sorts of things go on with them?

[jenfullmoon.livejournal.com]

Oh, good one. Along with "how come they have contrasting scents." And two scents.

Does anyone else ever wonder what they'd smell like with magic.

[wintersolstyce.livejournal.com]

What's the story behind the Thorn Road? It seems....dangerous, even by Faerie standards.

[evaleastaristev.livejournal.com]

related question - What are all the roads, and how/why do they exist?

[sdelmonte]

We've seen what relations are like between various local houses. But how are relations between the high kings and queens of Earth? Is there some sort of "Security Council" that meets every so often, if only to prevent tension from becoming all out war?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yes, there is, but Toby knows nothing about it, so I can't share.

[tylik.livejournal.com]

How does lineage through firstborns work?

I mean, it seems like it's still sexual reproduction, and sometimes both parents are firstborns, but it seems that descent of record is usually tracked only through one (so, maybe dominant descent? Or are their multiple varieties of offspring any given firstborn may have?) But in at least one case there are multiple firstborn, and while firstborns clearly have children by people who aren't firstborn themselves, logic suggests that at some point the mating population was only other firstborn, their parents, and Something Else Altogether.

(All entirely understand if the answers to this are too plot relevant. But it seems equally likely that at least parts of it are one of those things that everyone knows, except, y'know, us readers.)

[scamander360.livejournal.com]

Kind of related to this: I understand that you get a new race when two Firstborn have a kid, like when Blind Michael and Acacia got together and had a Blodynbryd. But will two Firstborn always produce the same kind of kid? By that I mean: if Acacia and Blind Michael had had another kid, would it invariably have been a Blodynbryd? Or would a second child have been some different new race?

[geekhyena.livejournal.com]

Could we learn about some of the more reptilian fae races? I know lamia were mentioned once, but more info would be neeat ^_^ Or the avian races.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

No.

If I give any detail on a race that hasn't shown up yet, I essentially "lock myself in," because people will never believe that isn't canon. So no.

[lazzchan.livejournal.com]

Would we be able to learn about the other territories outside of the San Fran area? The roads could possibly lead to other places and I'd be interested to find out if the other areas know about the influx of Firstborn inside that area (such as Amandine, wherever she may roam) Luidaeg, etc) and what other Firstborn are in say.... Oklahoma or whatnot. I love that this takes place in San Fran, by the way. It makes me want to visit with the utmost burning, but surely the Fae have migrated to other places and would be verrry interested in the High King and Queen going to where a recently invested Queen in the Mists has shown up.

(I kinda stared at my screen in happy, befuddled shock, by the way, at this opportunity and I hope that I am asking the right sort of question?)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Not really? I try to leave the places we haven't visited as vague as I can until we go there, for the sake of not accidentally locking myself into something I don't want to live with.

[ceitfianna]

I know children are important to the Fae and there have been moments of seeing how children are raised differently among the various races. Does this create problems or arguments when Fae are fostered or for those who aren't noble when they interact together or are there certain things that every child learns? I hope that makes sense, basically I'm really curious about childhood among the Fae and how varied it can be. Thank you.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Your question has been answered.

Faerie isn't fair...

[bree-ramsey314.livejournal.com]

...but does it have a system of justice? We witnessed Toby's trial (I use that term loosely) but that was a case of a very high crime. What about the smaller stuff? Clearly the fae are just as prone to imperfection as we mortals, so surely there must be crime; is this handled strictly by the nobility, or is there some system involving judges and such?

RE: Faerie isn't fair...

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Whatever the King/Queen/local ruling noble says, goes, except in the case of murder.

[replyhazy.livejournal.com]

What will be the end of the Selkies -- will the Luideagh one day demand the surrender of all their skins? Or will the young shapeshifters start to refuse the skins until there are no more using them?

[jenfullmoon.livejournal.com]

*applauds*

I think this is my question as well. Or has this already happened offscreen?

[hardy himmelhund (from livejournal.com)]

Iron and steel. I'm not an expert on metals, but I think most sorts of steel contain 90% or more of iron. What we call iron in everyday language isn't pure, and 100% pure iron is hard to come by and not a very good material for knives or dungeon door hinges. So what makes the difference between Fae Kryptonite Iron and Happy Toby Steel as in her Volkswagen?

[bree-ramsey314.livejournal.com]

This is something I've wondered about too, so much that I did some research. Your typical low grade, plain carbon steel has less than one percent carbon, and high grade, plain carbon steel is still more than ninety-eight percent iron. Now when you get into alloys the iron content drops down considerably, but plain carbon steels account for most of the steel we, and the fae, would encounter day to day.. My take on this would be that even the tiny amount of carbon in, say, a steel sword or dagger, is enough to alter it to the point where it is no longer poison to the fae. I mean look at the difference in appearance; my trusty cast iron skillet is black as can be, but my steel short sword and dagger are both shiny silver.

[melchar.livejournal.com]

I've wondered about the cold spaces between that the cats run through. Does anything -live- in them?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

No.

[sean robinson (from livejournal.com)]

1. Are there Fae celebrities? Folks who have cult followings for being a singer, or an artist, or a band? I'm also wondering if there are Fae newspapers, or news sources? How do you find out if you're living in Silences about Londinium?

2. As a second / follow up -- other than the Tuatha and the Dochas Sidhe, who else is claimed by Oberon?

3. Last question is mostly about a the process of when a Firstborn chooses the parent they'll claim. If someone like Annie had chosen Oberon instead of Maeve, would she have been different physically/ magically? Or is it largely a matter of descent and inheritance?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

1. Yes.

2. Spoilers.

3. No change; it's just inheritance.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Your first question has been answered.

[anna-en-route.livejournal.com]

So far most of the Fae seem to be adhering to European/Chinese/Japanese mythology, are there other branches of mythology that you plan to incorporate into Toby's world and if so, are there any ways in which they contribute to Toby's world which you feel comfortable describing?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

No.

Basically, the only way something is "fae" is a) if it is European, or b) if the creator myths are flexible enough that I can incorporate it without being disrespectful. It would be enormously appropriative and wrong to say "oh, all the North American spirits are fae descended from these three European figures," so I will not do it. Honestly, if I could go back to me in college (when I was setting this world up) and slap me around, there wouldn't be any Asian fae either, not to make it whiter, but to make it less borderline appropriative.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

How many of Oberon's children are alive?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Spoilers.

[taylweaver.livejournal.com]

What's the definition of death in Faerie?

Since fae bodies don't decay, it doesn't seem like it would work the same way as it does in the mortal world where, if someone's heart stops, you have a few minutes (and only a few minutes) to get it started again. No decay makes me think no brain cells decaying, which makes me think that, assuming the Night Haunts have yet to show, a fae heart could be restarted hours, days, or even years later, and the person would be alive again. (And this would be resuscitation rather than resurrection). Is that how it works? Or is there some other piece that comes into play to mark the point between living and dead?

The further we get into Toby's story, the more I've been wondering about this.

[m reed (from livejournal.com)]

This is most certainly spoilers.

April is still trying to restore "whatever was taken out" from the bodies generated during "A Local Habitation". It is mentioned in passing in "Ashes of Honor" as a partial justification for "why doesn't April and company evacuate the Shallowing, which is becoming unstable due to the events in that book."

[clodia-risa.livejournal.com]

How are the bloodlines from the Firsts of the fae passed to their descendents? Did the three have many Firsts (multiple Daoine Sidhe) who bred and created the entire bloodline? Or did the "Firsts" of the different kinds have kids with each other, and each of their kids just happened to be much more like one parent than another? Rayseline and Toby definitely have some bloodmixing because of their parentage, despite their mothers being Firsts. Was it a different time? Were the Hope Chests involved? Did The Three have something to do with it?

If answering these would lead to spoilers, then please feel free to ignore entirely!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Your question has been answered.

[scamander360.livejournal.com]

Given the state of modern science, how easy would it be for human scientists to differentiate fae from humans based on, say, blood or tissue samples? We know the night haunts replace dead fae bodies with human-seeming mannequins in order to protect Faerie from discovery. But is there some mechanism in place to protect living fae (that can otherwise easily pass for human, like the Daoine Sidhe, Tuatha, etc.) against encounters with doctors, scientists, or the like? Is modern science capable of recognizing anything "off" about fae blood?

Like, say a random Daoine Sidhe got hit by a car and, despite his/her best efforts, ended up in the hospital---would the lab work set off any alarm bells? Do the fae have some built-in magical camouflage on the cellular level? What about changelings---would their DNA ever possibly set off any warning bells?

Basically: to what extent does modern science have the potential to screw with Faerie's great masquerade? The fae can (often) disguise their faces, but can they disguise their DNA?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Spoilers.

[heavensgardener.livejournal.com]

I'm curious about Faerie and trans* people: are there any trans* and genderqueer fae, and if there are, how would this be handled legally/socially/etc?

[professor_mirror]

I came here to ask pretty much this exact same question. High five, Internet stranger!

[marooux13.livejournal.com]

Can you explain how Oberon claims his children? OR, How do the other Faes from the underwater, fire, ice realms and those that are in the sky travel to the summerlands? Or... Just talk about the summerlands in general.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Your question has been answered.

[greenhafling.livejournal.com]

How does one inherit a title or fiefdom in the October-verse? Does blood count more than power?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Your question has been answered.

[vatine]

Are there any representatives of the Nordic fairy-tale creatures (trolls, dwarfs, elfs, giants; varying slightly to drastically from the more commonly observed anglo-saxon fae that one sees) in Tobyverse?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yes.