Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: excited
  • Music: Talis Kimberley, "Uffington Hill."

Question time! Because Toby trivia is fun.

It's been a while since we've done this, and with A Red-Rose Chain coming up, I figure it's time to once again offer to answer your questions about the world. So...

I will make ten blog posts detailing aspects of Toby's universe. Ask me anything! I will not answer every question, but will select the questions that I think are the most interesting/fun/relevant, and will detail them to my heart's content. There's a lot to learn and know, and asking loses you nothing. Remember that nothing I answer here is full canon until it appears in a book: I will always reserve the right to change things if the series shifts between now and then.

Leave your questions on this post. I'm declaring comment-reply amnesty for any that I choose not to answer this time, since otherwise, my wee head may explode.

Game on!
Tags: continuity checking, toby daye
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aryn_wilson

August 5 2015, 16:08:04 UTC 1 year ago

I'm probably going to phrase this poorly, but I'd like to know what exactly happened that had Oberon declaring that the Court of Cats was outside the rules or fairy.

seanan_mcguire

August 14 2015, 16:11:43 UTC 1 year ago

Spoilers.

bree_ramsey314

August 5 2015, 18:13:41 UTC 1 year ago

This one is strictly in the silly category, but it's something that has tickled my brain ever since I read the first book. First some facts; a female koi typically lays thousands of eggs when spawning. Less than half of these will survive to adulthood, but when you're talking thousands of eggs that's still a lot of fishes, and Toby was there 14 years. So my question is; just how ... complete ... was Toby's transformation into a koi? If it was, like, really complete, then how many koi swimming around in the park now do you suppose are her offspring, or related to her fishy self?

Hardy Himmelhund

August 5 2015, 18:47:36 UTC 1 year ago

Argh! That's a good one. Also, how many of Toby's fishy babies has Tybalt eaten?

seanan_mcguire

1 year ago

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bree_ramsey314

1 year ago

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ashbet

1 year ago

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taylweaver

1 year ago

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vixyish

August 5 2015, 23:18:43 UTC 1 year ago

For reference, and so that people don't repeat questions, here are the previous Q/A posts for the Tobyverse:

An early post on marriage and divorce

Feb 2011 question post
How history is written
Fosterage
Fae politics/Court hierarchy
Cait Sidhe court structure
Fae madness

Aug 2011 question post
The Changeling's Choice
Fae geography & biology
Fae races & where they come from
Shapeshifters
Merlins

Aug 2012 question post
Fae naming
Fire fairies
Language
Hiding

seanan_mcguire

August 6 2015, 00:10:35 UTC 1 year ago

I actually didn't link to any of these on purpose, hon, because as noted in the entry, things can change unless they've appeared in the books. So some of these would actually have different answers now.

tsgeisel

August 6 2015, 03:29:11 UTC 1 year ago

A presumably simple question:

Oberon, Titania, Maeve. The Firstborn.

Do they know where they came from, and just don't talk about it, or did they just wake up one day wherever they were, and say "Well, here we are. Now what?"

In a related question, is this the sort of question other Fae are allowed to research, or are they "discouraged" from asking questions like this? In a similarly related question, how much do the average Fae actually *know* about the Firstborn?

(Note: I understand specific answers are probably spoilerific. If you just want to go to the related questions, that's fine.)

seanan_mcguire

August 6 2015, 18:42:15 UTC 1 year ago

Toby does not know where they come from, ergo at this time, neither do we.

professor

August 6 2015, 07:11:49 UTC 1 year ago Edited:  August 6 2015, 07:12:28 UTC

Fae cultural institutions -- besides the fae courts, the libraries, marriage, and the system of fosterage, what are some of the others out there? I mean, as humans we have hospitals and schools and universities and museums and the Girl Scouts and too many more to count. A race of functional immortals will have vastly different societal needs, though, and I'm curious what has sprung up.

seanan_mcguire

August 26 2015, 16:58:01 UTC 1 year ago

Way too many for me to detail in something like this.

professor

August 7 2015, 23:11:05 UTC 1 year ago

I'm curious about the biological makeup of fae blood. Everything we've seen in the books suggests that fae bleed red, just like humans. But human blood is red because of iron. So does what does fae blood have in it that makes it red? If it's iron, how does fae blood not rot them from the inside out?

seanan_mcguire

August 26 2015, 16:58:11 UTC 1 year ago

Magic.

poincaraux

August 8 2015, 04:37:44 UTC 1 year ago

Every time a new book comes out, I reread the series. After the last couple of rereads, I thought "gee, I should make a list of characters and the scent of their magic. Bonus points if it's written up with known lineage information." Any chance you have such a thing on hand to share?

I'm hoping this counts as a question about the world, because I want to see how things are related. I'll certainly understand if it counts as a question about people, and the answer is that I should just suck it up and write it out during my next reread.

poincaraux

August 9 2015, 00:07:15 UTC 1 year ago

Maybe a better way of phrasing this would have been "how does scent work in relation to magic? How does the smell of someone's magic relate to their lineage, how does it relate to their character, how does it relate to what they can actually do magically, and how serious do things have to be for it to change?"

seanan_mcguire

1 year ago

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poincaraux

1 year ago

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I've always wondered...

kveberle

August 8 2015, 20:04:54 UTC 1 year ago

what is involved in creating an islet or realm?

RE: I've always wondered...

kveberle

August 10 2015, 02:24:14 UTC 1 year ago

and is possible to make more?

parcae

August 10 2015, 04:34:53 UTC 1 year ago

A question that a friend at work and I are both curious about: I know you've covered the way children descend from their parents, and the way races descend from the Big Three, but past that -- how do the Firstborn themselves reproduce? If two Firstborn have children, would those children themselves be wholly a separate race, or would they be half of one parent's race and half of the other? Toby is the child of a Firstborn, but since she's also the child of a human, she's still a changeling. And it's come up that the Tuatha de Danann have two Firstborn, each of whom have their own line, and each of those lines have their own scent as far as magic goes, so they can't have reproduced with each other (as far as I can tell the whole inbreeding thing means slightly less to the fae, but if they had then I don't think there would be the two distinct lines with the distinct scents).

Super-sorry if this either is a spoiler for the future or has been explained elsewhere, but we're both super-puzzled, and I wanted to take the opportunity to ask.

seanan_mcguire

August 26 2015, 16:58:33 UTC 1 year ago

This has been answered.

Seasons for the fae

jane_dark

August 12 2015, 23:11:10 UTC 1 year ago

I finally thought of what I wanted to ask!

So, for diurnal humans in the northern hemisphere, there are the parts of the year when the days are long, and the parts of the year when the days are short. So we have culture surrounding summer and winter. But I realized that for the nocturnal fae, things would work in the opposite way -- with long nights in the winter, and short ones in the summer. Do they have different culture for summer and winter too? Or does it just not matter very much?

Deleted comment

RE: Now in the right spot

seanan_mcguire

August 26 2015, 17:04:53 UTC 1 year ago

Spoilers.

Deleted comment

RE: Oooh!

seanan_mcguire

August 26 2015, 17:06:17 UTC 1 year ago

Spoilers.

Yes, they do.

jenett

August 15 2015, 01:37:19 UTC 1 year ago

I've been thinking about cultural things: there are lots of implications (especially in the court scenes) of there being a sort of cultural language everyone acknowledges, even while individuals have their own style (or impress their own style on their own court/lands/etc.) I suspect there's no way to answer this without locking yourself into things, but I'm curious about the tensions and unities of those things.

But also, what arts (and crafts, and skills?) are particularly valued, in a broad cross-court sense? And which ones, not so much?

Deleted comment

seanan_mcguire

August 15 2015, 02:26:01 UTC 1 year ago

All fae are descended from the Firstborn, period, no exceptions.

How interactions between realms is handled would, unfortunately, be spoiler territory.

cgbookcat1

August 15 2015, 02:37:43 UTC 1 year ago

Through what processes do the various Fae domains develop personalities of their own? How much autonomy do they have from those holding the land?

If this question is spoiler territory or previously addressed, please ignore it.

seanan_mcguire

August 26 2015, 17:06:50 UTC 1 year ago

Spoilers.

acelightning

August 15 2015, 03:18:08 UTC 1 year ago

What can you tell us about the Luidaeg that we don't already know, that wouldn't be spoilerish or otherwise outside the parameters of this discussion? (E.g., can/does she affect the weather at sea? And does her influence include the Atlantic, and the other seas of the world?)

seanan_mcguire

August 15 2015, 05:05:02 UTC 1 year ago

Nothing.

acelightning

1 year ago

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acelightning

August 15 2015, 03:21:07 UTC 1 year ago

Is there any race of full-blood Fae that is not affected by iron? (Again, don't answer if this violates your rules.)

momentsplinter

August 22 2015, 04:38:19 UTC 1 year ago

This has been mentioned in the books! From Late Eclipses:

Yarrow wood dampens the magic of those rare races who aren’t bothered by iron. A Gremlin will saunter through an iron seal, but yarrow stops them cold.


I feel like there may also have been other brief mentions of fae who aren't bothered by iron, but I can't remember and it's entirely possible I'm mistaken. (My encyclopedic knowledge of the series is slipping, welp). But anyway, it seems that the answer to your question is yes :)

seanan_mcguire

1 year ago

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art_of_idiom

August 15 2015, 03:21:56 UTC 1 year ago

Can you talk about the sacred woods and why the Fae swear by them? Why are rose, thorn, ash, oak, yarrow, pine, or any of the different woods important? Do all of the woods have special properties in magic? (I know yarrow is like iron to one fae race, but that is the only property I can remember learning.) Hopefully that is not too spoilery.

seanan_mcguire

August 26 2015, 17:26:16 UTC 1 year ago

Spoilers!

art_of_idiom

1 year ago

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joyce

August 15 2015, 03:38:20 UTC 1 year ago

I'm not sure that this is going to come out right, so bear with me, but how did the Fae end up with their apparent lack of taboos about same sex relations? I do remember a comment that Toby made one time that said "Immortality is a long time… Some experimentation is expected" or something along those lines. Is it really as simple as that?

On the other hand, reproduction being sexual for most of the Far as far as I can tell, even if you're in a same sex relationship, are you expected to give that up when it becomes family time, or can you get around that with donors, etc.?

Are there poly Fae? Again, immortality is a long long time for monogamy...

( apologies if any of this steps into spoilers territory; I'm trying to keep it general.)

[And thank you, as always, for the representation in your stories. It means the world, as you well know.]

artofcheatery

August 18 2015, 04:14:47 UTC 1 year ago

I think this is sort of what you're looking for: http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/435156.html

scamander360

August 15 2015, 03:51:50 UTC 1 year ago

1) What do the Fae use for currency?

2) Would you be willing to go a bit more into detail about Rides? We saw Blind Michael's Ride, and we've heard mention of Maeve's Ride. But the exact requirements of a Ride (other than Fae + steeds) seem murky, and it's not entirely clear what the ultimate purpose of a Ride is---i.e., do different Rides have different end goals? What's the difference between a Ride and a group of friends just going riding together? (Is there one, with the Fae?) Could Toby grab her friends, some horses (some motorcycles? some cars?), and go to it? Are there certain set Rides that occur at certain times (like, the Queen in the Mists leading a Ride every year on Beltane, or something of that sort)?

3) Do the various kingdoms have any form of social safety net set up for their people? Are there domestic violence shelters? Is there any mechanism for removing children from abusive homes? Food banks for the less fortunate Fae? Any Fae charities operating?

acelightning

August 15 2015, 04:04:53 UTC 1 year ago

(Yes, this is my third question in a row.)

What are the Night-Haunts? Where did they come from? Who's in charge of them? (Again, the usual disclaimer applies.)

seanan_mcguire

August 15 2015, 05:05:21 UTC 1 year ago

This has been explicitly detailed in the books.

acelightning

1 year ago

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museclio

1 year ago

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acelightning

1 year ago

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lylassandra

August 15 2015, 04:52:31 UTC 1 year ago

Can geasa be countermanded or lifted? Are there consequences to laying one/ what does it take to lay one? (I assume it can't be that easy or people would be laying them on their enemies left and right).




seanan_mcguire

August 26 2015, 17:27:01 UTC 1 year ago

Spoilers.

nurseiris

August 15 2015, 06:45:57 UTC 1 year ago

Can you tell us more about fae creatures? Take the Afanc for instance, which of the Three claims it? What is the parentage of the Kelpies, or the wee fae that Toby arms with toothpicks? I assume they are all descended from the Big Three, but does it just come down to Oberon banged a pond while thinking of a horse, thus kelpie?

seanan_mcguire

August 26 2015, 17:27:25 UTC 1 year ago

Spoilers.

tsgeisel

August 15 2015, 08:09:24 UTC 1 year ago

Toby, being a knight, and the responsibilities she has (and has had), interacts with the more powerful members of Fae society. So my question doesn't concern them so much...

You have a society with essentially no public libraries, little mass communication over long distances, no television, etc. What do "ordinary" Fae do? The ones not in a Baronial household, or such. Are there Fae insurance salesmen somewhere? Farmers? Is it an insult to call one a "shoemaker" because of the whole human thing? Basically, "What's it like?"

tsgeisel

August 15 2015, 08:13:45 UTC 1 year ago

Humans have fairy tales and folklore, that may not be accurate about the Fae (although that whole "iron" thing we know is), and even if humans don't believe in them, the stories still hold some power over us (in a non-magical sense).

Are there Human writers or stories that have had an influence on the Fae? Is Shakespeare well regarded? Or Spenser? Or maybe Gaiman? Is there some pocket of Fae out there who really like Three's Company? How much cultural crossover is there?
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