In Service

[Mynt]

All I got was that magic isn't really important, it exists in the world but outside the story. No one can really use it, cept to do silly things like summoning ghosts of relatives/customers. Really what I was asking was whether or not this was a magical kind of story where Ezekiel could be a witch or something.

I picked up a steampunk book the other day, just to see if it might help. Turns out it's steampunk... about werewolves. Haha.

[Quaddy]

No. Ezekiel is not a witch. He is a spy.

Magick will feature quite a bit in this story, as they'll need it to summon Albert at some point, so I will have to create an Occultist for later. And Izzy uses magick to access the Archives, but it's coming from outside of herself. She's using a spelled object to access that information.

And Occultists can do more than summon ghosts, that's just what people want them to do most of the time. Sympathy can kill someone; a voodoo doll is a form of sympathetic magick. Basically, you create a link between two things and they can act upon one another. It's something that is learned as opposed to Harry Potter magick, which is something you're born with. And the people who know how to do it (and aren't Fay) are called Occultists.

ANYONE can do magick; they just have to be taught. And the only people you can learn from are the Fay, so only crazy people want to even learn it. But if any Mech is found doing magick, they are dismissed without references (and, depending on the magick they perform, can be arrested). Just because our characters don't do magick doesn't mean it is 1) silly or 2) isn't really important. The world in which our characters interact is just as important as our characters and what they do.

[Quaddy]

Also, what was the book?

I almost wrote a story about the Civil War involving werewolves. At some point, Stonewall Jackson was supposed to become one, and his arm was actually amputated as an attempt to prevent the virus from taking hold.

[Mynt]

Like I said, that's just what I got from your description.

[Mynt]

The book is "Dead Iron" by Devon Monk. I think it's part of a series, I remember seeing another "Dead" something book by her. I hope it's good, I only read the first chapter so far. I
m not sure how I feel about her writing style yet. xD

[Quaddy]

I have that in a pile. It's after Middlemarch. I remember it was the writing style that intrigued me about it, actually...

[Mynt]

Okay, keep in mind that I haven't been writing regularly until it became my turn in this. And that I have almost no idea what's going on AND that I didn't remember what age Ezekiel was until yesterday so it might read like he's a tad younger than 25 because I was imagining him younger. >_>

But I tried, okay. Don't tell me if you hate it. Lie to me.

[Quaddy]

He can be immature, lol. Or...it could be how he plays it off so no one questions his trustworthiness.

What do you need to know about what's going on? I thought I'd explained almost everything...

[Quaddy]

The only issue I see is your tenses; the rest is fine.

[Mynt]

The way I imagine him, he actually has Mania. So some days (or weeks) it might be harder to get him to focus on the task at hand. lol.

I dunno, the whole thing. It being a foreign country I know nothing about, during a time period I know nothing about, doing steampunk/fairy stuff that I also know nothing about.

[Quaddy]

On England:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England

On Victorian England:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_England

On Steampunk:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk

On Fairy (the Fay):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy

Specifics on Fay for this story:
The Bright (Seelie) Courts are ruled by Titania and Oberon
The Dark (UnSeelie) Courts are ruled by Mab and Herne

The Pacts (Accords) between the human realms and the Fairy realm mean that the Courts will not perpetrate any shit against humans. No stealing of human children, no more brownies blinding humans (a la Connor), no more tricking humans to visit their realm, etc. They can cross over, but they must maintain a glamour of humanity and must behave in a human manner. The Accords do not stop humans from crossing into the Fay realms; any human stupid enough to go there must accept the consequences. Titania and Victoria signed them, and Titania's word is law in Fairy; Mab refused to sign. She is bound by Titania, but sometimes members of the Dark Courts manage to sneak around it; it's rare, but it happens.

[Mynt]

What's wrong with my tenses?

[Quaddy]

They're not incorrect, you just wrote the whole thing in present tense. I want more continuity between the additions, and prefer past tense.

[Mynt]

I see.

[Quaddy]

Yeah. You weren't in the wrong; I just have a preference. You're right that Zeke comes across a little young, but making him manic more than covers for the seeming age discrepancy.