Was SRD aware of the Insequent before the Last Chronicles?

Book 2 of the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

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dlbpharmd
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Post by dlbpharmd »

Good post.
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Zarathustra
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Post by Zarathustra »

dlbpharmd wrote:Good post.
I'm going to assume you meant mine, and say, Thanks! :)

And the most Gratuitous Quote of the Day Award goes to . . . me! For quoting myself:
I wrote: Why couldn't Donaldson simply bring in a bunch of Unfettered Ones to fill the role of the Insequent in the LC? With the Unfettered Ones, Donaldson already built within his mythology a class of secretive, seclusive, solitary people who sought out unknown Lore. That's the Insequent in a nutshell! He didn't need to invent another class of such beings.

And another thing: if a class of people already existed prior to the Unfettered Ones, prior to the Old Lords, then why did the Land need Lords? They already had them in the form of the Insequent!
The more I think about this, the more I like it. If any class of characters got a raw deal in all 3 of the Chronicles, it was the Unfettered. I always thought there was so much potential with them, but it was never realized. Sure, one of them saved Covenant in PTP. That's important. But I always longed for a vindication of their long, solitary quests for knowledge. I always wanted their solitary searches to produce something, so that their labor didn't seem like such a waste. If Donaldson had brought forth a group of Unfettered, a collection of badass "old school" lords who have put aside their solitary quests and united to meet the challenge of this age . . . damn that would have been cool. A lot cooler than the ad hoc Insequent.
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Post by Aleksandr »

Re: The cool thing about Berek was the he was the first one to awaken to Earthpower, to get it to respond directly to humans.

It's not clear to me that the Insequent are working with Earthpower, any more than Kasreyn was. Earthpower has the unique property (unlike like most "magic" in fantasy tales and unlike our own science and technology) that it imposes an ethical burden on the wielder: to use Earthpower one must serve Earthpower. That doesn't seem at all true of the Insequents' abilities. Also, if you object to SRD introducing powerful beings who antedate the Lords, does this also apply to the Elohim who played a role in the Land's history (Colosus and Forestals) long before Berek showed up?
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Post by danlo »

The Insequent are beings of knowledge, not power. I think Joey alludes that they might be the "Children of the Rainbow" or one part of them? I don't see them as Unfettered, but I do see something in Amok and the Seven Wards that may eventually explain them. Also the "stains" fascinate me: TC's stains from Morrinmoss and LA's from the Verge of Wandering. I feel they'll tell us something that will blow our minds.
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Post by Vraith »

Heh... resurrection consequence of WF's memory of old threads...mostly just to say on this:
Zarathustra wrote: If any class of characters got a raw deal in all 3 of the Chronicles, it was the Unfettered. [[[snip]]]

brought forth a group of Unfettered, a collection of badass "old school" lords who have put aside their solitary quests and united to meet the challenge of this age . . . damn that would have been cool.
I don't mind the Insequent, really...
But I agree the Unfettered were cast aside and wasted.

And that's a damn cool thought there, at least in seed form.
It seems SRD felt he needed a different KIND of power, separate from Earthpower. [and I think that's so]. But there's no reason one, some, or all the Unfettered...in their specialized delving/studies, [as a direct consequence of them, actually, and their knowledge of the shortcomings/limits of Earthpower] couldn't have been the ones to find/use that new kind. They BECOME the Insequent...because they already were/had chosen to be, seekers of the very particular. Personality/Archetypically, Insequent and Unfettered are much the same.

And, on a small/detail note: it would account for why at least some Insequent powers roughly imitate wild magic/white gold.
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Post by wayfriend »

For one thing, Vraith, there's no such thing as Unfettered when there are no Lords. Because all Unfettered start out as students of the Staff in the Loresraat. They are "unfettered" from the Land-Service which is expected of such students. The word has no meaning without this.

I think Donaldson would be stretching the principle a bit too far if he brought them into the Third Chronicles. He could have, but I can see why he didn't. They make no sense in light of the Masters, as they not only disallow anything like Lords, but they would oppose Unfettered on sight. If the Unfettered found a way to exist, they would only undermine the severity of the problem that the Masters present.

Still, there's something to be said for leaving something perfect alone, too. An Unfettered army would only stain their image, which is based among other things on private works and reclusiveness.
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