#graygem

[cosmik-homo]

We're going with Gnomes first? Kender propaganda how dare they sully the good name of dwarfhood. Unbelievable.

[grimoire-of-geekery]

Dragonlance Week Prompt #5: Vows

Good.  Evil.  Neutrality.  Seven gods of each.  All in a precarious balance around the world, trying to sway and influence it to their will.

Probably my favorite AND least favorite aspect to Krynn’s structure is the three pantheons.  Specifically, because I don’t believe in the idea of “evil gods.”  The word goð means “of goodly nature” in some interpretations, as in it’s the same root as that of the word “good.”  Meaning, power and omniscience alone do not make a god.  One must also be of goodly nature, given toward creating the world’s future and happiness.

I’d love to have this philosophical conversation with someone (maybe even Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman), but my opinions and views are irrelevant, as Dragonlance canon clearly establishes the three sets of gods as creators of the world, and one set is established as evil.

Anyway, this spread is a spread done entirely with the Major Arcana in mind, since the gods would be major forces.  I don’t have a direct correspondence between the gods and the Majors, because I don’t consider the Majors to be good or evil only.  Instead, I’ve created spots for each of the gods in their pantheons, and the cards will determine what those gods’ influences are working on at the moment.

You may place the center card any time you like.  You may begin with whichever wheel you like, but you should lay the wheel in the order the cards are laid.

The rightmost wheel represents the Gods of Good.  All the cards meet together in a council-like fashion, but their numbering system descends down from the first card, showing that Paladine is the Chief God of Good and supercedes all others.  They correspond as follows:

Paladine, Father of Good and Master of the Law

Mishakal, Matron of Healing and Love

Kiri-Jolith, First Knight of Righteous Honor

Branchala, Song of Inspiration

Majere, Teacher of Discipline

Habbakuk, Blue Phoenix of Life and the Sea

Solinari, Keeper of the Silver Moon of Good Magic

The leftmost wheel represents the Gods of Evil.  The very layout is shifty, and Takhisis’ position is the only upright card, showing that she is supreme, but her card is down at the bottom of the wheel, reflecting her tendency to be sneaky about her influence, and also reflecting some of the recent canonical changes in pantheon...  The cards correspond thusly:

Takhisis, Queen of Darkness

Sargonnas, Consort of Vengeful Honor

Hiddukel, Prince of Tarnished Gold

Chemosh, Lord of the Undead

Zeboim, Lady of Tempests and the Sea

Morgion the Seething, god of Envy and Disease

Solinari, Keeper of the Black Moon of Evil Magic

The topmost wheel represents the Gods of Neutrality.  Each card in a loose lockstep, allowing for independent action but with an eye toward balance.  They correspond to the following card positions:

Gilean, Observer and Keeper of the Tobril (the book of creation)

Sirrion, Lord of Flame

Shinare, Lady of Trade and Craft

Reorx, Lord of the Forge

Chislev, World Mother of Nature

Zivilyn, Seeker of Wisdom

Lunitari, Keeper of the Red Moon of Neutral Magic

The central card represents Krynn and the free will of mortals, symbolized by the one wild force which no god can control- Chaos, the god within the Graygem, coveted and feared by all gods.

You may place the center card any time you like.  You may begin with whichever wheel you like, but you should lay the wheel in the order the cards are laid.  Once all cards are laid, you will see what each god’s influence is upon your world.  The Fool card is of particular interest, as it means they seek to directly influence the mortal realm, and their influence is upon the Graygem (read the center card to tell what they are up to).  That god is closest to the querent at this time.

This reading only employs Majors, mind.  It will reveal the shape of the world in a rather interesting way, and probably should not be undertaken but once every three months at earliest.

Have fun!  Look for more interesting posts on @dragonlance-week​!

[meldelen]

Dragonlance Tales II: Kenders, Gully Dwarves and Gnomes - A quick review

Cover art by Larry Elmore, depicting the short story “Wanna Bet?”

Just completed this second volume of Dragonlance Tales, Kenders, Gully Dwarves and Gnomes which, as its title rightly says, revolves around stories about these misnamed "minor" races from the fantastic world of Krynn, although not all of them. The first thing is that it surprises me that so many years ago, the first time I read it, I gave it such a bad grade (2 stars) that I now go up to 3. I guess then I didn't get the meaning of this compilation of stories, or I didn't have a lot of sense of humor - it's never been that I had too much, anyway, but now I must have more because I've really rolled over my sofa in laughter, honestly.

Again, the biggest criticism that can be made to this bookis the same as the previous one: they are written by different authors and, therefore, the qualities are different. The first three - Snowsong, The Wizard's Spectacles and The Storyteller - are quite weak, although they have their moments and the ideas that inspire them are good, perhaps, with better writers, they would have been better. A Shaggy Dog's Tail, on the other hand, is good; it hides a valuable moral lesson that has nothing to envy to the classic fables; and  Lord Toede's Disastrous Hunt is fun as it stands alone, especially if you've read the Chronicles, of course. Surprisingly, Definitions of Honor is a beautiful story whose message would perfectly serve the real world; and only for this one the entire volume is worth it. Then we have Hearth Cat and Winter Wren which, even being a bit weird, I never refuse a Raistlin story before the Test - Raistlin could have a story where he becomes innkeeper of The Inn of The Last Home and still I would love it - and then, Dagger-Flight is a story as creepy as it is disgusting, the best I can say of which is that the author took it out of his sleeve.

The volume, however, is sold with the longest story, Wanna Bet? which is the only one written by Weis and Hickman. Surprisingly, it's not the best in the book, but let's just say it's a necessary prologue to Dragons of Summer Flame. It tells us about the three Majere brothers, children of Caramon, "kidnapped" by Dougan Redhammer - we already know who he really is - to help him recover - without much success - the Graygem of Gargarth, the horrible artifact that is going to appear later again. The story is entertaining, I will not deny it, but I reiterate that I can’t with Palin. The authors' attempt to make us like him makes me sad (it’s s as if Caramon learned magic to try to be like Raistlin). Well, I hope someone liked him. For me, the so-called "second generation” is one of the biggest mistakes of these authors.

Finally, the one with which I almost fell from my sofa was Michael Williams (official poet of the franchise) and his deconstruction Into the Heart of the Story, in which he destroys the nine Heroes of the Lance while making fun of them (except Raistlin, of course, because whoever has the balls to mess with him has not been born yet) telling a supposed "alternative version" of the reality that we read in the Chronicles and that, I hope, nobody considers as canon. Of course, I laughed at ease with this one.

Anyway, will stop rambling now. We have another volume of stories that focuses on the "minor" races of Krynn emphasizing their lights and shadows. If you are a fan of Dragonlance, I definitely recommend it, because it helps to make you more aware of the lore of Krynn. And it would be worth arguing whether, as many people now say, if this of the "major" and "minor" races of the universe is racism on behalf of the authors or, as I believe, we are totally misinterpreting what they wanted to tell us with this, which is, IMHO, just the opposite.

[mmodnaya]

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[dlthrack]

The World in Flux

   Krynn has suffered much in its past. Dragon Wars. Cataclysms. But none as bad the most recent calamity. Takhisis, the Queen of Darkness, finally made good on her promise to conquer the world. After the Second Cataclysm, when the rest of the gods were busy fighting titanic god Chaos, Takhisis put her plan into action. As soon as Chaos was re-captured within the graygem, Takhisis stole the world, cutting it off from the River of Souls and the other gods. Weakened by the effort this took, Takhisis was powerless to stop the invasion of Krynn by powerful alien dragons, who hunted and drained power from the native dragons, until they were mighty enough to shape the lands as they saw fit.    After many years Takhisis was able to regain some of her power. She siphoned it from the souls of the dead who could no longer continue on their journey, trapped on Krynn and hidden from the other gods. Takhisis give this power to a young girl named Mina, who raised an army to retake the continent of Ansalon in the name of her one god. In the aftermath of this, the War of Souls, the alien dragon overlords lay dead, the elven city of Qualinost was utterly destroyed, and Silvanost was conquered by the minotaur empire. With the elves, the ancient enemy of evil, driven from their homes, and the alien dragons defeated, it seemed Thakisis finally had the world that she always wanted. But right at the moment of her apparent victory, Krynn was discovered by the other gods. As a punishment for her crimes she was stripped of her godhood and turned mortal. Immediately thereafter her mortal form was struck down by the vengeful king of the Silvanesti elves.    To maintain the balance of the world the highest god of light Paladine had to give up his godhood as well. He took the form of elf and named himself Valthonis. With the pantheons of good and evil having lost their leaders, for the first time in history the pantheon of neutrality is in ascendance. Gilean, the head of the gods of neutrality, has declared that the balance will be maintained at all costs so that nothing like the Cataclysms or the War of Souls will ever happen again. Mishakal, consort of Paladine, has taken control of the pantheon of good and made it her mission to undo the evil deeds done while the world was stolen. There is a power vacuum in the forces of evil, both in the pantheon and their primary agents on Krynn, the Knights of Neraka. As gods and men vie for control, they search for anything powerful enough to tip the scales.

[meldelen]

Dragons of Summer Flame - A (very sad) review

"So you would not apologize to her. You would not ask for forgiveness. What, then, did you want to say to her?" Raistlin was silent long moments. He had turned back to the bookshelves and was staring now at the shadows that surrounded the books, staring at a time that would never happen. "I wanted to tell her that sometimes, in my long sleep, I dreamt of her," he said softly.

Just for this moment, this sad, sad book is worth it.

Why sad? Because after the constant rise that the Chronicles and Legends have been, this closure is a bitter disappointment.

Dragons of Summer Flame is the conclusion of the cycle started with the Dragonlance Chronicles. Honestly, I’ve not re-read the 6-9 books that would go between the Legends and the present one I am going to review - series known as Dragonlance Tales and published as The Second Generation - because I don’t own copies nor did I ever. I didn’t enjoy them enough to buy them. Neither does this one, and it’s in my possession because it belongs to my husband, specifically.

From the Dragonlance Tales, a series of short stories in the style of the Preludes and other prequels and spin-offs, it was only memorable the moment when Palin Majere - younger son of Caramon and Tika and nephew of Raistlin - passed his Test for be a mage. And that's because of the chance of seeing Raistlin again, who’s mostly dead, although the idea that he survived to suffer daily the torture of Prometheus at the hands of his goddess has its macabre appeal. In the end it is just a hoax, like that abomination called Raistlin's Daughter, which I don't know how the authors could have come up with, since it fits the character like a slipper on top of a television.

But let us go to the present volume, Dragons of Summer Flame, a duology that includes The Knights of Takhisis and The War of the Gods in Spain. I said it’s a bitter disappointment, and not because it’s bad in itself - the story’s very original and very well written - but because the authors suffer what I call SAS (Successful Author Syndrome) that has led them, basically, to write a lot of fanservice and pull flashbacks because they already assume that readers will settle for it.

The story revolves around the second generation of the Dragonlance's heroes, that is, their children (or alleged children) and their actions to prevent Chaos, the father of all the gods of Krynn, who has managed to escape his confinement in the Graygem of Gargath, destroy the known world and all gods with it. As I said, it’s not a bad plot. The book rarely gets boring, although it does depending on the section. It has very positive things, such as giving more consistency to the social context, for example, of the city of Palanthas, providing more lore and depth to the story, something that they have rarely done until then. The idea of the evil knights adopting a honor code and polite behaviors to their enemies is also excellent. Not to mention the humor, as good as is always was in this series.

Dragons of Summer Flame. Cover art by Matt Stawicki.

BUT, unfortunately, they take it for granted that, as far as characterization, dialogues and character development are concerned, at this point their readers are unconditional fans and will accept anything. Nope, gentlemen, anything is not enough, no matter how great you were with the Chronicles and wonderful with the Legends. Unforgivable mistakes? Hold my tea:

1. Bring back characters that are already dead. Sorry, but in my modest view, this is a bad author resource. Yes, we loved them, we miss them, but they are dead. Leave them alone. Removing them from the grave is not going to make them better or more lovable. Sometimes the last memory, painful as it is, is the best memory we can have of a character. So leave them alone. The authors abuse visions, flashbacks, or even the physical return (it's a kind of magic!) of beloved characters from the past. Nope, it’s a mistake, because they don’t even play a prominent or relevant role. They are only there out of nostalgia, fanservice and to serve as motivation for the second generation of characters, who are alive. NO, NO, AND NO. 

Raistlin was dead, a martyr to his own ambition, from villain to hero in an instant, a living legend forever in Krynn. Why bring him back stripped of his magic, but still suffering his ill health, so that everyone rubs in his face his many past mistakes, suddenly forgetting that he also died because of them? You’re mean, people. Kitiara, Sturm, Flint, they are dead, let them rest in peace, it’s very annoying constantly bringing them back in visions or flashbacks. Even Tanis, who dies in this book, is soon brought back in another vision. Oh, c’mon!

2. The characters of the second generation are not well developed, they don’t have autonomy or their own personality, I don’t get to love them as I loved their parents. Why? Well, because the authors have made them live in the shadow of their parents (or uncle), stripping them from their self-agency.

About Tanin and Sturm Majere I hardly remember a thing, they start the book already dead, and I can't figure out if they were developed much in the Tales. Palin Majere is a shadow of his uncle, poor thing. I say this because there’s nothing wrong with him - he’s handsome, he’s young, he’s brave, he’s kind - and therein lies the problem, he’s a certified Gary Stu. But he lives with the expectations of being like his uncle, all the time compared to Raistlin, which is absurd, because Raistlin is/was incomparable. His evolution isn’t believable, because we know that he’s a mediocre mage - at best - and in the end we see him guided by his uncle, endowed with invaluable artifacts like the staff and the book of Magius, and doing an OP super-spell that hurts Chaos. Come on, please. We are not blind: victory belongs to Raistlin, who’s the one leading him throughout the book. And that final statement that he’s the greatest mage in Krynn? Please. We all know WHO is the greatest mage in Krynn - and poor Palin doesn't even get to the tip of his golden heel.

Steel Brightblade is Sturm 2.0 despite his mother, Kitiara, suddenly super interested in him - although she’s dead - constantly tries to turn him towards evil. Usha "Majere" is really nobody - thank you, glorified authors, for confirming that she’s NOT Raistlin's daughter and fixing this mess a bit - apart from being another Mary Sue who’s only there to be a link between the Irda - practically just taken out of the sleeve of the authors - and the other mortals. Oh, and to be Palin's love interest, of course.

The only decent character is Tasslehoff again, who, thanks to the gods, although more mature, remains faithful to his essence - and then they go and kill him. And how. Life sentence for Weis and Hickman for doing this to him.

Dragons of Summer Flame. Cover art by Larry Elmore.

3. Flashbacks, repetitions, memories, nostalgia, repeated explanations throughout the same book of events that we already know - and reencounters. Many reencounters. Tense reencounters. Happy reencounters. Reencounters. And the only reencounter that we don't have, the only one that I wanted, that I really needed, never happens - the one with Raistlin and Crysania. Yes, I admit it, it's very problematic. It’s to reunite the victim and her aggressor. Only that a part of me refuses to victimize Crysania, because as Raistlin well says, she knew - mostly - what she was getting into, and besides, Raistlin is totally unrepentant, he doesn't regret anything. But you get to see him reunited with the one that IS his true, real victim - his twin Caramon. In this bloody book full of unnecessary reencounters by mere fanservice, couldn't you have given me this one? Life sentence for Weis and Hickman for doing this to ME.

Anyway, I leave this ranting because I won’t solve anything either. Dragons of Summer Flame, and in general, all the books dedicated to the second generation are an example of why sometimes it’s better to stop writing about the same thing and give rest to your beloved characters. This epilogue, to be honest, was superfluous, better to have closed with the Legends. As a friendly reader out there says, seeing what Weis and Hickman have done to our beloved characters makes you want to shave your head and attack someone's car with an umbrella - only in quarantine I shouldn't and I also like my hair.

SAS. Successful Author Syndrome. When you have succeeded, it’s best to quit. And if you're still going to write more - among other reasons, because the bosses make you - at least leave your dead rest in peace. It’s the golden rule.

Needless to say, I haven't even bothered to read more Dragonlance books from this point on.

[mmodnaya]

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[mmodnaya]

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