Changing the World: All-New Tales of Valdemar

:He was wired tighter than a banjo, and losing it on all sides. He lasted as long as was needful, but only just. His Companion was all that was holding him together at the end. The magic requires a wildness inside that just doesn’t mesh well with the discipline that is required to be a really good Herald. Most Herald Mages never mastered the level of discipline needed to be good Heralds but got too much to really embrace the wildness . . . they were the battle cruisers of our world, a compromise design that didn’t work very well.:

“That’s from World War II. Firepower of a battleship, speed of a cruiser. Looked great on paper. German sub killed one with one shot.”

:It was the Bismark, actually, sank the Hood. British battle cruisers got roughly handled at Jutland in the first go, but the Brits didn’t learn the lesson for another war. Figured that just because the idea hadn’t worked didn’t mean it wasn’t still a good idea.:

“Hmmm, that might be a bit obscure for my readers . . . Maybe the Windows ME of Valdemar?”

:No, that’s not right, either. The HM’s worked . . . it was the internal contradictions that they couldn’t resolve.:

“OK, how about like a spork . . . compromise design that works okay, but not outstandingly, and does two mutually contradictory things.”

:Hmmm . . . let me think about that one. Van’s going to be spinning like high-speed lathe in his grave to be compared to an eating utensil, but I guess it does sort of capture the essence of the idea. Vanyel, the most powerful Herald Mage to ever come down the pike . . . as a spork.: The Companion considered it a moment. :Okay. Spork it is.:

It was the obvious question, so Dave asked it. “How do you know so much about our world?”

:I read a lot.:

“How. I mean how do you turn the pages?”

The Companion gave him a very long look. :E-book. Next question?:

Dave looked at his notes, momentarily off stride. “Umm, yeah. Lessee. Okay. But magic eventually came back, right?”

:It never really left. We just sort of locked it out of Valdemar until we were ready . . . until our hands were tipped anyway. Magic had grown more wild and more dominant among people who were wild anyway and didn’t care about consequences. So, we brought it back . . . in a way that shaped it as a tool we could use. It was a tool, a weapon, but secondary to the Herald/Companion team. That remains the core of what we bring to the fight. The wildness of the magic brought under the control of the Herald, under discipline, not competing with it.:

“You said there were two reasons.”