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Mage Errant What If 1
🕑 Added 2024-08-31 13:30:10 +0000 UTCAnd here we go, with the first set of questions and answers! There's definitely more on the way, don't worry! And we'll be back to proper short stories next month.
What if Talia had actually developed a fire affinity? (Asked by Bingus.)
Most probable scenario:
If Talia had never developed a fire affinity, she never would have gone to Skyhold in the first place. With her tattoos working as fully intended, she would have become a great power within two years, leading to a major upset in northern Skyreach Range politics. Around the time of the Exile Splinter’s return, she and several other great powers of the mountain clans, along with Iris Mooneye, make a failed attempt to breach Intet Slew’s lair in the ruins of Louthem. Talia dies in the attempt, and several of the other great powers are badly wounded, though Intet Slew is badly wounded in turn, and her defenses are badly breached.
Hugh decides to pact with Chelys Mot before entering the labyrinth, and as such, Bakori takes no interest in him, Sabae, Godrick, or their fourth team member, who was tragically born nameless.
Exile Splinter found and captured by Havath. Cold Mind breach still failed.
Coven plan to destroy Havath slowly proceeds as planned. Havath unable to persuade Heliothrax to move directly against Skyhold, no direct warfare ensues.
Alustin remains teacher to Hugh, Sabae, and Godrick. He and Valia kill each other in a duel five years after Hugh’s arrival at Skyhold.
Hugh and Sabae date briefly. It goes terribly, though they remain friends afterward.
Less probable scenarios:
The northern clans go to war against Highvale instead. Extreme loss of life, region falls into chaos.
Talia sets everything on fire. Everything. Including the planet’s atmosphere.
What if Alustin’s love for his students had outweighed his hatred for Havath? (Asked by Merlin King.)
Most probable scenario:
Alustin decides against betraying Kanderon, and confronts her directly with the letter after the Battle of Skyhold. She clues him into the shape of the struggle, and he uses his book magic to subtly aid her plans.
A badly weakened Dominion faces constant raids from various roving great powers, while Sica builds up its forces.
Kanderon, alerted to the weakness in the pact with Hugh, alters their contract to remove most of the superfluous clauses and remove the weakness.
Godrick’s anger at Havath is fanned by Alustin. Hugh and his friends still pact, this time driven by Godrick’s growing craving for revenge.
Sica and Havath go to war. Havath wins, Heliothrax bringing down two Sican Elders, but both sides are still well armed, and the ceasefire is tenuous. Valia dies during the war.
Heliothrax in her monstrous form, craving vengeance, gathers together various other great powers— most lesser, but she hires Dorsas Ine- and launches a strike against Skyhold. The Coven, Andas Thune, and their forces meet them deep in the mountains, as Skyhold’s defenses are still being repaired. They eventually claim victory, but at great cost in lives, including Ilinia, Sabae, and Godrick.
Alustin, blaming himself for Godrick and Sabae’s deaths, descends into alcoholism and obscurity.
The Young Warlocks are inducted into the Librarians Errant.
Hugh and Talia become wandering mages for hire after the battle, no longer wanting anything to do with the Great Powers, Kanderon, or Skyhold. They take jobs ranging from wardcrafting, wardbreaking, to simple mercenary work. Hugh builds many of his secret refuges, scattered across the continent. They settle down together in the Tsarnassan city of Lemannen in their late twenties to start a family in relative obscurity.
Less probable scenarios:
Alustin convinces Kanderon to follow his plan of a decapitation strike against Havath City- one carried out with significantly less foolish magical superweapons, along with the Last Echo. Alustin is killed by Valia in the fighting, who in turn is killed by Emmenson Drees, though he dies as well in the process. Hugh and the Gang all survive, but don’t pact. Kanderon still intends to turn them all into great powers, but through very different means. (This one is still a fairly probable scenario.)
Intet Slew takes advantage of the chaos after the Battle of Skyhold to conquer and destroy Yldive, the westernmost major city of the continent. A Grand Hunt is finally issued against her, and during the process, Heliothrax and the Coven come to a tenuous peace— though one unlikely to last forever. More than a dozen lesser great powers die bringing down Intet Slew, and Iris Mooneye is badly wounded. After the battle, strange reports began issuing out of the ruins of Louthem, where Slew had lurked for so long— reports of something moving in its depths.
What if Talia claimed the great power title after killing the Herdsman? (Asked by Valerie Keryk.)
Most probable scenario:
Valia laughs at her and leaves. Alustin abandons Talia at Dragonclaw Yardang.
Talia is hunted down by one of the various desert great powers within the next week.
Hugh, Godrick, and Sabae die during the battle of Skyhold.
Alustin is as such unable to launch his attack against Kanderon, but the grief-stricken sphinx decides to go to war against the Dominion directly, satisfying Alustin’s purpose.
The resulting war leaves a half-dozen cities in ruins, and Kanderon is once more known as the Mad Sphinx. The continent is thrown into chaos.
Less probable scenarios:
Valia kills her on the spot. Alustin goes berserk, and the two of them die at each others’ hands. The Havath Dominion and Sica go to war, but Heliothrax is badly wounded during the fighting. After she recovers, she departs Anastis for Limnus, determined to turn herself into something truly unkillable.
Talia survives being hunted by great powers after her declaration, and manages to join the Tomb Guard over the Sleeper’s prison. Scenario otherwise plays out similarly to the most probable scenario. Talia grows into a bitter, withdrawn woman.
What if Alustin told his students his version of the Gorgon Incident? (Asked by elm.)
Most probable scenario:
They end up even more confused, then go to get pastries.
Less probable scenarios:
They end up even more confused, then go to a teashop.
They end up even more confused, then Mackerel somehow manages to herd a confused sunling into a fabric store.
What if Hugh’s Stellar mana had truly been incorporated into Mackerel? (Asked by Puck “Vic” Florist)
Most probable scenario:
Mackerel gains electromagnetic senses to go with his topological senses, as well as faster flight and the ability to disrupt lightning spells and related magic.
Hugh goes largely unwounded at the Battle of Imperial Ithos.
Mackerel’s new abilities allow the group to take a very different, in some ways much more dangerous route through the multiverse— where they acquire some very different magic.
The archmages take fewer casualties during the battle with Heliothrax- including Valia.
Valia is, like Alustin, recruited by Kanderon at the end.
Less probable scenarios:
Mackerel gains the ability to fire starbeams, uses it almost entirely for large-scale vandalism. Causes the talks in the demesne of Pitas the Younger to fail when he carves a giant [redacted] into the lich’s bismuth, getting everyone kicked out. Alustin is not stopped, the Tongue Eater is destroyed, [redacted], [redacted], and the Liar [redacted].
What if Hugh was not a warlock, but had regular magic? (Asked by David White.)
Most probable scenario:
Hugh of Emblin, copper and pine mage, gets into Skyhold on a scholarship due to his massive mana reserves.
While he receives some minor bullying due to his difficulty with spells, he is no longer Rhodes’ preferred target, as his difficulties are better understood.
Alustin’s interactions with Hugh are limited to getting him set up with spellform construction classes with Emmenson Drees.
Hugh ends up being recruited by the enchanters during the Choosing.
Sabae and Talia still end up Alustin’s apprentices. Along with Godrick, Rhodes becomes the fourth of their group— and without their friendship with Hugh, they don’t see his worse side until they’re already friends.
Alustin takes Sabae, Talia, Godrick, and Rhodes to Starholt instead of Theras Tel, seeking a means to track down Bakori in the labyrinth from Iris Mooneye. While there, Godrick meets a handsome gorgon his own age, and they start an on-again, off-again relationship that lasts for years. His friends tease him mercilessly about being the short one in the relationship.
Indris dies from poison, and Ataerg devastates Theras Tel, massively disrupting trade in the Endless Erg. Massive storm systems rise up in the desert as her command of the winds collapses. Ilinia spends the next few years regaining control.
Alustin, Talia, Sabae, Godrick, Artur, Bandon Firehair, Aedan Dragonslayer, and Rhodes successfully fight off the Sacred Swordsmen at Imperial Ithos, retrieving the Exile Splinter without requiring Kanderon’s interference. The Heir to Ithos dies during the battle, stepped on by Artur without anyone noticing.
Rhodes and Sabae briefly date. It goes disastrously.
Talia stabs Rhodes in the calf with a butter knife when he tries to flirt with her. She gets in absolutely no trouble for this.
Hugh, with his natural caution, becomes a skilled enchanter, and ends up specializing in navigational instruments. He ends up settling in Ras Andis, where he starts a successful enchanting business and marries a healer. His business becomes quite popular with the Radhan, and he actually runs into Avah on multiple occasions, though they never become more than friendly acquaintances.
With Indris dead, Ilinia focused on claiming her power over the winds, and trade in the Erg disrupted, the Coven’s plan to destroy Havath never kicks off. Instead, following an assassination attempt against her by three of Havath’s communal great powers— a great glass sphere, a scorpion made of various resins, and a colossal enchanted mechanical spider, each piloted by dozens or hundreds of mages— Kanderon begins subsidizing new liches in Tsarnassan, Alikean, and Sican territory, as well as vastly increasing the numbers of mages from all three nations admitted to Skyhold, as well as covertly funding separatist groups and terrorists in the Dominion.
Ilinia constructs a second Storm Throne in the ruins of Theras Tel, whose rebuilding she is funding, and establishes a subsidiary Kaen Das dynasty there.
Less probable scenarios:
Depending on his combination of affinities, Hugh ends up being recruited by a variety of different departments in Skyhold. In some probabilities, he still ends up getting recruited by Alustin— and in most of those, he ends up a member of the Librarians Errant, along with the others.
What if Sabae actually learned to whistle? (Asked by Bingus.)
Most probable scenario:
No such scenarios found.
Comments
Bronkeykong
I feel like it’s a crime that no one had commented on this line. “After the battle, strange reports began issuing out of the ruins of Louthem, where Slew had lurked for so long— reports of something moving in its depths.” What is intent slew protecting the continent from!!!
Merlin King
Oh no, I totally agree. I was just being dramatic. He’s an awesome writer, and it can be seen by how he ties up the ends of the stories
Ellariayn
Also, the fact that Sabae can’t whistle no matter what is .
Ellariayn
John manages a ridiculous number of HEAs (happily ever afters) for his characters. The fact that there isn’t a HEA for each character is accurate and very realistic. The number of HEAs that he manages in his stories and still makes it all realistic (while being told in a fantasy world lol), is a testament to his skill as a writer and story teller.
Ellariayn
I mean.. it’s Talia. Anything less seems like not enough. Although she didn’t make the planet explode so… win?
Tobias Begley
Oops, I did it
Apotheosis
Reading this all I could think: "Information requested .... report complete."
Patrício Carlos
"Mackerel gains the ability to fire starbeams, uses it almost entirely for large-scale vandalism." For some reason, that's my favorite line on the whole thing
Cooper Hollis
As someone quite invested in both of y'all's worlds, please do 😁 (if possible within the means of ones own schedule and mental health of course)
MikeL
LOL, very nice. So is the nameless one actual named “nameless” or has no name?
Apotheosis
Ah good stuff, copper and pine really is a nice combination
Peter
Now I'm curious to know which major plot points would not change the overall story if they went differently.
Tobias Begley
Very fun! I'm tempted to do this myself now...
Elliott
“Talia sets everything on fire. Everything. Including the planet’s atmosphere.” Holy hell! 😱
Yulerule
I really liked the What if Hugh’s Stellar mana had truly been incorporated into Mackerel? Scenario! I wonder what magic they would have acquired? And is there any reason this didn't happen?
Merlin King
I’m sad now. There isn’t really a happy ending for the students and the teacher. Oh well, there’s other schemes to cook up and chaos to cause
Merlin King
Hm, maybe I don’t like the scenario where Alustin ends up not betraying everyone. A lot of them die, in a lot of scenarios, huh? Fascinating. Really shows how it was very specific circumstances that led to the plot
