Furies of Calderon discussion

I am on Chapter 8 and it is bringing my attention to it because Tavi, Amara, & Fidelias were on the same side, but Fidelias is serving to Aquitainus? So far, Tavi is 15 years old and escaping from Marat warrior. The only magic I read is "Fury" such as firecrafter, watercrafter, aircrafter, earthcrafter, etc...

Here is my question, in Chapter 6, how did Amara talk to First Lord through River Gaius? What is River Gaius? Is it the name of fury?

She spoke to water furies within The River Gaul, and dropped into it a copper disk or coin (that was given to her by Gaius)and from it came a shape & coloring of the true figure - Gaius, the First Lord.

Hope that helps.

One of the things you learn is that the middle and upper class view "Furies" as an abstract power available in Earth, Fire, Water,Air, Metal, Wood, etc. If you have the ability, you can call up a Fury in your "element."
Later on, you learn that the "country" crafters give names to their furies (which many cityfolk consider crass, superstitious, and beneath them.)

But on the other hand, the country folk have a raw power that the city folk lack. And some say the First Lord himself refers to Furies by their name.

So perhaps Gaius in the name of a Fury? Or perhaps not.

Cody wrote: "I am on Chapter 8 and it is bringing my attention to it because Tavi, Amara, & Fidelias were on the same side, but Fidelias is serving to Aquitainus? So far, Tavi is 15 years old and escaping from ..."

You raise an interesting point about Tavi, Amara, and Fidelias being on the same side. I find that Fidelias served his own interests to suit the cause he believes that he is fighting for. Tavi's loyalities have not yet been tested but Amara's have and the belong to the First Lord.

Furies and their strengths are a constant wonder to me as a reader. I think the idea of Furies is a very unique one that I've not come across in any other book that I've read. Cityfolk Furies do not always have the power or strength that the country folk seem to have with their Furies.

Something to think about how does anyone really know where Fidelias's loyalites truly are his own or someone else's?

What's really infuriating (sorry about the pun) is that after this neat trick of making a long-distance call to the First Lord, Amara seems to forget all about it, a convenient bit of amnesia as just one simple follow-up call later on would have made the last 2/3 of the book unnecessary. It's disappointing that the author, having introduced this quite cool bit of magic, can't even be bothered to explain why characters don't use it in obvious situations elsewhere in the novel. For heaven's sake if you're going to give your character access to a magical cell phone don't pretend they'll use it once and then forget all about it about it just because it would ruin your stupid convoluted plot otherwise!

Actually that was explained why Amara didn't use the coin after the first time. Because Fidelias and the other traitor's could trace this bit of magic back to Amara. Thus catching her before she could get out of the valley or making further contact. Fidelias trained Amara, so he would also have a coin.

Additionally, Amara did not use her coin because her mission was to gather proof. Gauis knows his rule is in jeopardy. If Amara asks him to call in troops from Riva, and the threat turns out to be a ruse, then he loses more credibility and maybe his crown. Therefore she doesn't use the stone, toughs it out and endures the fight.
So, indeed, the last two-thirds of the book make perfect sense.
I'm not a fan of Butcher's Dresden series, but I think he hit the mark with Codex Alera. I hope he continues to write fantasy, not just urban fantasy.

And on the craft itself. The First Lord is a very powerful Furry crafter. He is believed to be one of only a few capable. The way I understand it, a powerful water crafter can use their fury to communicate through connected furies and water is the only medium that it can be accomplished in. Think of it like a massive game of Telephone one fury to the next and so on. To work the persons water fury must either have power over or be friendly with the furry being used.

Nels wrote: "And on the craft itself. The First Lord is a very powerful Furry crafter. He is believed to be one of only a few capable. The way I understand it, a powerful water crafter can use their fury to ..."

the first lord is actually the only person to be able to use all of the elemental furies if I'm not mistaken

Tyler wrote: "Nels wrote: "And on the craft itself. The First Lord is a very powerful Furry crafter. He is believed to be one of only a few capable. The way I understand it, a powerful water crafter can use t..."
It is rare, but it depends on the power of their furry craft as well. Nearly all lords have some manure of all furry craft, some are just better at things than others. Book two they set it as beads.. the more bead a student has at the academy of a certain color, the more power he has in that field. Many o the other lords children have at least something in all, but usually specialize due to natural talent. Sorry if that ruined something, but it is explained very early on in book two about this bead system and otherwise really doesn't do much to the plot.

nah its good i'm almost finished with book 2 right now i know about the beads, but I don't remember them saying that they have talent in all. a few yes. but I also think that the first lord can control wild furies to some degree because in book one he used some wind furies to help amara get to calderon valley faster.

Tyler wrote: "nah its good i'm almost finished with book 2 right now i know about the beads, but I don't remember them saying that they have talent in all. a few yes. but I also think that the first lord can con..."
It is one of my favorite series so i have read them more than a few times... Lets just say Gaius's craft is special, you learn about it heavily by the end of the series. The other lords, most you take on what you see, the longer the series goes the more you see them doing things. flight-air, young- water keeping them looking that way, metal crafting is internal, but anyone of them in the military knows to use a sword and protect themselves so logical to assume a little, some are known for the form their fire fury takes on the attack, At this point i have mentioned all but stone and wood. Look to their children to get an idea as to what the parents are powerful in... Max is a good example of what one of the lords hopes his son can be with fury craft based on the amount of beads.