#Ulciscor

[elelandia]

The will of the many: la volontà dei molti.

Qualcuno ha definito “The Will of the many” scritto da James Islington, come il fantasy dell’anno (2024). Io l’ho letto adesso, nel 2025, ed essendo solo a Febbraio non so dirvi se sarà IL libro dell’anno o se ne leggerò di altrettanto belli. Onestamente lo spero, ma ne riparleremo più avanti. La cosa che posso dire con sicurezza, però, è che è un bel libro, per non dire ottimo. Ho scelto di…

[abitterberryblog]

this community needs more memes. you're welcome.

[lyssq]

I think it's very funny how basically everyone who matters knows Vis is a lying liar but they're all just dead wrong in guessing the truth

[sapphireginger]

Assemble the Universe

AO3 Link

A young soldier sits on the scorched battlefield with the lifeless body of his best friend in his arms. His cheeks are streaked with tears, his skin is coated with blood and mud. His eyes flicker slightly and in an instant he shoots his gun, downing the last of his enemies. He is the lone survivor. As he drops his gun, he starts humming. He doesn’t know how he knows the song, but right now, it feels right. It is both a ballad of grief and of promise.

Then, he utters three words, “Assemble the Universe.”

Suddenly, as if they were waiting for him, shadowy shapes emerge, seemingly out of thin air. They surround him but then shift from shadows to mirages before finally shifting to completely corporeal.

Standing in a circle, the nine lords and ladies of the Galactical Kingdoms and Queendoms across the consuls surround their new leader.

The young man knows what he must do now. Slowly, he rises and lays his friend to rest before joining the ranks of the shadow lords and ladies. He will be their leader, their king and he shall rule the cosmos.

The moment he lost his best friend, he severed all times to his former self and former life, his former identity. No longer is he Steven Rogers. He is to be a leader, a king and a ruler. From now on he will be known as Ombré, and will live by the saying: Sub umbra expecto, et cito ulciscor, meaning, In shadow I wait, and swiftly I take my revenge.

Revenge is a fine line to walk, but without Bucky, without his anchor, no one can stop him from giving in to his darkness. Perhaps that should scare him, but it doesn’t. It’s everyone else who should be afraid.

[quethequotes]

“If you keep working, there’s a chance you can do what you need to do.” “Find what you and Ulciscor are looking for?” “Get into Class Three.” I swallow. Tension drains out of my shoulders as I acknowledge the statement. Then I allow myself a grin. “You think I’m pretty good.” She snorts. “I definitely didn’t say that. Or imply it.” My grin widens. “No, no. I can see it now. You secretly like me. You think I’m—” I’m staring up at the sky, rasping, air vanished from my lungs.”

Lanistia, Vis, The Will of the Many, James Islington

[reviewsthatburn]

*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book. 

DNF 27% in.

I found myself struggling to get through THE WILL OF THE MANY, and I ultimately did not finish reading it. I enjoy doorstoppers and I like long books, the length is not the issue. I can like a slow burn story when I have an idea of what the slow burn is building to, but while I mostly understand why Ulciscor is doing what he's doing, I don't understand what Vis (the protagonist) is doing or what his goals are.

Full Review at Link.

[keptalivebymagic]

Finally done The Will of the Many after a thousand years. I had to return the book to the library at one point and then wait to get it from a different library, and then it was just a slow read.

This is in no way a comprehensive review. It's just some spoilery notes for myself.

The bad

So little happened in the first half and SO MUCH happened in the second. Just name after name after name. Task after task. The pacing is just so bizarre and I remain unconvinced that a better storyteller couldn't have found a way around having the first 250-300 pages be, essentially, set up.

Very, very few questions were answered. I can't tell if this was a flaw or if I'm just feeling frustrated as intended. I wish we had a single goddamn answer, to any one of a myriad of questions.

The women were... Eh. I'm always wary of male authors for this reason. The book is a real sausage fest and I'm not convinced that it's a feature of this deeply flawed society. I get the sense that it's a flaw in the writing. It also feels like the handful of female characters were either "bad" in that they actively sought to hinder or hurt Vis (the protagonist) or "deeply flawed" in that they made mistakes that hurt or hindered, even if they were redeemed later on. The mistakes they made, and the violence they perpetrated, wasn't justified by any sympathetic motivation, either. I'm thinking about the head of the orphanage (who whipped Vis), Belli (who betrayed Callidus and then retaliated against Vis), and even Aequa when she believed Vis to be cheating and arranged a violent ruse to catch him. (Which reminds me, Aequa set it up for Vis to get beaten up by two strangers to prove that Vis was cheating, and their instructor was told in advance but went along with it. How the hell did Aequa warrant more blame in Vis' mind than their instructor??)

Meanwhile the male characters were more likely to be neutral or "good", even when they were in positions of great power and therefore a significant threat to the protagonist (I expected for more recognition of how much power Indol had, for example). The "bad" men were shown to have understandable motivations (Iro who had lost his sister; the two crappy instructors at school that had been negatively impacted by the principal; the principal himself brings so much harm to his students to allegedly stop another Cataclysm). Even Ulciscor, who is the biggest threat to Vis, has his sweet "dead brother" defense.

The romance was shoehorned in and not compelling. We know nothing about who Emissa is as a person.

The good

There were a lot of emotionally poignant moments (after the halfway mark). The trip to Suus was definitely fraught with tension and with payoffs for that tension. The final conversation with Ulciscor was so upsetting, as it was intended to be (I assume). Getting to know Eidhin was SO GOOD. I love that boy so much. Same with Callidus. The banter was so excellent.

The physical setting was compelling. The story moves across a lot of geographic space and I had a good idea of the physicality of the space, which I appreciated.

The end.

I'm going to bed now.

[rhetoricandlogic]

THE WILL OF THE MANY by James Islington

RELEASE DATE: May 23, 2023

An orphaned prince on the run gets a chance at freedom if he can become one of his would-be enslavers.

Three years ago, when the Hierarchy killed his family, 17-year-old Vis Solum had to hide in their Republic, bury his rage, and pretend to support the population’s enslavement in order to survive. The Hierarchy is built on Will—a person’s mental and physical energy—ceded by the low to those above them, and then again, all the way to the top of the three pyramids of leadership: Military, Governance, and Religion.

Will powers carts and carriages, keeps vaults locked, and gives Will-users inhuman abilities while sapping ceders of their health and life span. So far, Vis has managed to refuse the ritual to cede his Will. Now, he has little more than a year before he legally has to cede or have his Will drained by Sappers. When Senator Quintus Ulciscor Telimus offers Vis the chance to escape ceding for at least another year, and perhaps never do it at all, Vis agrees. The man officially adopts him so he can attend the Catenan Academy, where all students are tested and prepared for the highest Hierarchy positions. If Vis dominates at the Academy, he can choose a position where he doesn’t need to cede or receive Will at all, far away from the Hierarchy. In return, Vis must act as a spy to prove Religion is unearthing a dangerous weapon. Then, when Vis is blackmailed to act as a double agent, everything changes. In order to succeed, he must become one of those he so hates while keeping his true identity a secret. If he doesn’t, he’ll end up dead, or worse. This Roman-inspired fantasy starts slow but more than makes up for it soon enough. With the inevitable comparisons in mind, fans of Pierce Brown's Red Rising will enjoy this book, but it’s darker, deeper, and takes unexpected paths worth traveling. Trust that the author will get you there in the end.

A multilayered exploration of the complacent as complicit, all within a unique yet relatable magic system.

[realbacchus]

Quintus Arrius adopted Judah Ben-Hur... Ulciscor is a quintus (probably) and adopted (probably) Vis.

I've connected the dots (I didn't connect anything)

I'm reading The Will of the Many and I'm just going to pretend that the cell being 41 is a reference to Ben-Hur (1959)

[drarryspecificrecs]

H/D Cliché Fest 2013 : (fics only)

hd-cliche || official masterpost || AO3 || ∑= 22 fics + 2 arts + 2 podfics The Mod(s) : @kittymiaomeow​ & sksdwrld + Banner © : chouette_e

All's Fair (In Love and Marriage) by Darkravenwrote [M, 2k]

Azkaban Light by faieance [M, 1k]

Beat of the Night by blossomdreams [M, 1k]   *not on AO3

Blindness Errors Betrayals by drarryisgreen [M, 10k]

Distant Tomorrow by @acciotomriddle [E, 3k]

Fiery Ferret by @kittymiaomeow [G, 600]

I Don’t Want the House by JosephineStone [T, 2k]

I Hate Potions by ChokolatteJedi [M, 7k]

Lessons by hanyou_elf [E, 1k]

Let Me Count the Ways by susannah_wilde [G, 2k]

Negotiations and the Arrangement by inspired_being [T, 1k]   *not on AO3

On the Run by ashindk [M, 800]   *not on AO3

On the wings of an Owl by slowroad [T, 8k]

The Plan by @eidheann [G, 1k]

Rehearsed Steps by @ashiiblack [M, 1k]

Sew Me Back Together Again by xenadragon_xoxo [E, 19k]

Submission by hanyou_elf [M, 2k]

Ulciscor by ChokolatteJedi [M, 1k]

Unknown Pleasures by birdsofshore [E, 10k]

Wishful Thinking by winterdaffodils [E, 2k]   *not on AO3

The Wolf Pack by @dracogotgame [T, 13k]

Work First, Play Later by @a-lafaye [M, 1k]

---

✔ other lists

[abitterberryblog]

TWOTM Emissa Corenius : An Over-Analyzation

Major The Will of the Many spoilers and random theories ahead !!

Okay, so when I first read The Will of the Many, I wasn’t reading properly, and I just kinda assumed that Emissa was just a kinda blandly written character in such a well-written world. That was, of course, until the whole twist thing. What I liked was that it wasn’t a complete 360, and that she didn’t end up as extremely bad, but flawed enough for me not to be annoyed with her existence, and for her to not seem like only a Mary Sue 'love interest' character.

The thing is, I don't think she is at all.

First of all, I’m starting this with an analyzation of her relationship with Vis, and her not-so-role as a ‘love interest’. Was it real? Was it fake? I think she eventually did grow to be fond over him after a while, but I’ve always known she was going to betray him somehow. Something about the vibes.

It all started with the glass of water at the infirmary. I know there’s a chance that maybe she’s just, idk, kind or whatever, but after the ending, I’m not so 100% sure.

Not only that, but Ulciscor  constantly nagging about how suspicious he was of her. (Normally I'd pass it off as Ulciscor  being obsessed and hyper-anxious about the mission thing, but this was Emissa, and that caught my interest.)

There’s a really fat chance that she was, somehow, working with Veridius. This does not mean that she’s evil or whatever, and I'm still trying to figure out of Veridius is good or not, but it does make her a lot more interesting and complex.

Towards the end of the Iudicium, Emissa uses Will. You can’t use Will during academy stuff without some sort of source, or somebody allowing to use it. It's simply not possible?? Veridius? He’s literally the Principalis of the academy, after all, and during the infirminary scene at the end of the book, its implied that the Principalis spoke with Emissa beforehand, when he says to Vis that ‘she’s distraught’ and tries convincing Vis to talk to her.

What I noticed in this book is that the author, James Islington, is very careful in what he keeps in the book. Details. Hints. No matter how small or useless they seem. There are MAJOR spoilers, but : Here's a funny example I found.

See? Everything is littered in little details to be explored upon later. Even something as simple as a background detail of Aequa flipping coins.

ALSO, and something that I don’t see talked about for some reason, is the fact that Emissa knows that Indol was planning to deflect from Military to Religion. Indol never told her this. He’s shocked that she knows. Guess who may know??? Veridius???? That's right!!!

The question is, why would Veridius tell Emissa this? No idea from me here. But something else during the Iudicium arc catches my attention, and it’s the fact that Veridius PRIVATELY tells everybody what prize they would get if they won the whole thing. As implied by Eidhin (after he cancels on the Iudicium thing for Vis’ sake), Veridius often tempts them with something they really, really badly want,  and something that would drive them to want to win. 

I’m surprised not many people talk about that scene where Emissa asks Vis for the Heart of Jovan in the Iudicium, so she could win. She’s upset by this, obviously, since she cries and stuff, but I notice that she says “I can’t let us get separated.”

When I first read, I assumed she was talking about Vis, but that wouldn’t make sense, since she basically stabbed him as he fell off a tower (?) like, five seconds later. And also, her and Vis being separated wouldn't be related to her winning the Iudicium, (unless she's in a scenario where she'll have to leave forever or something if she doesn't win, which isn't really likely), Which makes me wonder, who was she really talking about?

Hopefully, we’re find out in the next book. Someone she really cared about? Relative? Family member? Am I missing something? Will this be important?

After all, we don’t exactly 100% know why Veridius planted Vis near the Callidus-Eidhin punchy debacle. He obviously knew Vis would step in.

At first I wondered if he was trying to kick Vis out and expel him, which is probably more likely, but right now I’m running on four hours of sleep and I am high on theories.

I think I’ve read this theory somewhere on the Hierarchy subreddit, too, but what if Veridius planned this whole thing, not to expel Vis, but to plant Vis near the stables as his punishment, maybe for Emissa to keep an eye on him? Or woo him for secrets or whatever the fuck? 

At the very least, whether Veridius did purposely plant Vis there for that sole reason, or as an afterthought after Vis worms himself out with the Threefold Apology, I do think that Veridius did make Emissa watch over Vis on purpose.

Otherwise, I think it’ll be a little random with Emissa just casually joining Vis to scoop horse dung, and I do not care how cool or attractive or fascinating he may appear, I still think it’s important. Hopefully? And why do I think so, you may ask?

I do not really think Islington deliberately wanted Emissa and Vis to be like, endgame, endgame. Like, The EndgameTM.  Maybe Emissa was trying to get more information on him. I don't know. It’s plausible. Emissa is top of the academy after Indol, and besides Indol being of course the smartest (as told by Vis), Emissa is FAR smarter than most readers deem her to be. I don't think everything as simple as this. Emissa simply cannot be this blind and radiant and carefree. She isn't in a perfume ad. We've established, from the book itself, that twotm is LAYERS upon LAYERS and twist after twist.

First of all, I’m so sorry, but Emissa and Vis have like no chemistry (imo). They do have maybe like a teeny, tiny bit, but the thing is that Vis has more chemistry with LITERALLY every other character his age BESIDES Emissa. I know, I know, every writer isn’t perfect, but there’s something so suspicious about Emissa and Vis’ dynamic.

As mentioned once on a Hierarchy Series subreddit post, Emissa and Vis have a strange dynamic that is unlike the others characters. With literally every single other character/friendship/relationship that Vis is in, there are details of each interaction, each feeling Vis has with them, what they do, bla bla bla, snippets of the scene, dialogue, ect.

But with Emissa, it’s sort of just…speedran? Like, besides the whole Suus island romance debacle and theatrics, their interactions just sort of go…

“Emissa visited me in the stables and we talked. For a long time. She helped me. She's nice. Also, her eyes are really green.” 

“Emissa sometimes studied with Callidus and I in the morning, sometimes not. Blablabla, she’s great and funny.”

“Emissa talked with me during Suus after noticing that I was uncomfortable with the politician people, blabla. ”

“Emissa and I trained together. In Three. Emissa helped me study. In Three. Wow, she makes me smile. Haha.”

Obviously, I'm exaggerating, but I'm definitely NOT wrong. Open the book and reread it. I DARE you to tell me I'm wrong.

See, there’s no real scene with them. Is it just me who noticed this? Just a time jump where Vis summarizes everything he did with her and how awesome and fun it was. There’s no way an author, writing a book with this much description and detail, just fumbles a romance by writing it like this.

NOT ONLY THAT, but even the CONFESSION scene isn’t anything as theatric as the rest of the book. Not even a SMIDGEN. Even the whole kiss can be easily forgotten. It’s not some dramatic confession. It's not romantic. It's not even sweet and heart-warming in that subtle, simple way. It's just a really lukewarm 'maybe i like you' and then boom, and it's over in an instant.

Vis mentions Indol and the secret that Emissa accidentally exposes of Indol, and then Emissa (suspiciously) changes the topic to how much she likes Vis and kisses Vis. And then boom, romance. A quick end scene, as if it wasn't ever important.

Isn’t it like, hella SUSPICIOUS? She changed the topic. Kissed him. Distracted him. And then the scene ended like it wasn't a whole Vis-Developing, Emissa-Developing, HUGE relationship moment.

Which, yeah, maybe she did like him at some point, but it sure as hell is convenient, isn’t it? I’m super invested in her character now, which is ironic because I used to not be able to STAND her because I just thought her character was just a really poorly written love interest.

I’m convinced Islington has the writer ability to write a confession/kiss scene much better, and much less random than that. Which means that I really don’t think he INTENDED to make hearts swoon. Just to distract.

Emissa is very fascinating, and few people acknowledge that, and I am EXTREMELY excited for The Strength of the Few to release.

[lyssq]

Something something you want more people to talk about a cool book you gotta do it yourself… anyway POLL!

(Yes I did have to look up most of their last names)

Also feel free to share why!

[whitefangworldbuilding]

RWBY Headcanon: The Weapon of Sienna Khan

http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/File:V6_adam_short_00048.png

With a thick handle, heavy chains and Dust infused, detachable daggers, Sienna’s weapon requires great skill, awareness and strength to be utilized properly. 

In designing her weapon, Sienna Khan chose to take symbols of her people’s oppression, chains and the whip, combined them into one and turned them into a weapon with which she will bring justice to those who harm Faunus. She will turn these tools of oppression into weapons of liberation.        

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/rwby/images/c/c5/SiennaWeapFull.png/revision/latest?cb=20180907053458

She will also ever willingly use this weapon on another Faunus as a by-product of its nature. The idea of fighting other Faunus already does not appeal to her on an incredibly deep and visceral level, but to turn those tool against her own kin? never. 

But if you are responsible for injustices done to Faunus, then chances are, this will be the last thing you see. 

http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/File:V6_adam_short_00053.png

Notes: 

Would be leaning towards Arcus Ulciscor as a name, basically Latin for ‘Rainbow Justice/Retribution’ though Talio could fit in, in place of  Ulciscor.

Sadly I couldn’t get the images in cos I had them loading for like, 7 hours and I still couldn’t post :/ 

[kingofghxsts-blog]

u-lciscor started following you

“I don’t do funeral rights or magic tricks before noon or after nine.”

[quethequotes]

That is what separates us, Vis. There are those who see what should be, and complain that they do not get their due. And then there are those who see what is, and figure out how to use it to their advantage. Or at the least, overcome it. - Ulciscor Is there any way you can put pressure on Praeceptor Taedia to drop someone? Dultatis isn’t going to budge, but if Taedia initiates the exchange, she’ll have some input into who the replacement is. - Vis That sounds like you want me to fix your problem. - Ulciscor “You’re a resource. This is me recognising what is, and figuring out how to overcome it.” An unavoidable hint of snideness as I repeat his words back at him. Lanistia coughs a laugh from the corner.

The Will of the Many, James Islington

[semperlapsuslinguae]

ulciscor, ulcisci, ultus sum

3rd conjugation deponent verb

to avenge