[Sinisdar Toste]

the man is shorely a wild card, not ur run o' the mill sapper sargeant, clearly an enigma of the highest degree, a person possesing a plethora of possible positions, and aslo a real great guy. and he can certainly read the ebb and flow of the ethers with a precision unmatched in non-sorcerous/unascended as yet beings. really supports the idea of some kind of shadowy force using him to shape events.
but wouldnt it be great if it was all just coincidence?

[Mentalist]

you know, this makes me think that Fid actually has some magic, just knows nothing about it..
Like Blend, in MoI, QB says that she had the talent, but never even knew about it....

[Where is Dassem Ultor?]

Dolorous Menhir;224511 said:

There were some dark hints that Fiddler was something special in DG. I think when he is travelling with Icarium near the end, Icarium remarks or thinks on the matter. Can't remember anything specific though.

I believe Icariums reflections (it may have been Mappo...) were centered around the fact that the soldier who survives repeated engagements is not the typical soldier. On top of that, Fiddler has seen T'lan Imass, Soletaken at war, has fought under the most famous human commanders of his time, and scoffed at the current empress while he was still a teenager.

I don't think he's the reserve MotD hiding in the wings. I just think he's somebody who has risen to the challenges presented to him; somebody who has become great by responding so well to those challenges.

[Kurt Montandon]

Just a little quick note: In GotM, there's a scene where Kruppe lays out a Deck field in his head. I'm not entirely sure what that means, but Erikson doesn't seem to have given up later on as to the notion of Kruppe having a strong affinity to the Deck. So, Fiddler's not the only candidate as a reserve component for the Azath.

[Dolorous Menhir]

We're placing too much emphasis on using the Deck here. Tattersail and Tayschrenn are both Adepts with the Deck, and many others have shown ability with it. That doesn't mean they are all potential Masters of the Deck.

[Abyss]

I tend to agree with the Lazy (EDIT: because DM took issue with 'Angry' ) Rock that there are probably not an abundance of covert MoDs running around. hat being said, the notion that there are a series of seemingly low-power humans who are possibly unknowing agents of the Azath/Deck/Houses etc has a certain appeal.

- Abyss, waits for the 'Kruppe: Agent of A.Z.A.T.H.' novella.

[Dolorous Menhir]

"Dolorous" doesn't mean "angry".

[Kurt Montandon]

Abyss;226341 said:

the notion that there are a series of seemingly low-power humans who are possibly unknowing agents of the Azath/Deck/Houses etc has a certain appeal.

It'd certainly be an improvement over the knowing agents of the Azath.

[Abyss]

Dolorous Menhir;226381 said:

"Dolorous" doesn't mean "angry".

Corrected.

kmmontandon;226387 said:

It'd certainly be an improvement over the knowing agents of the Azath.

There was a split in the NO cult. Maybe it goes further than that.

- Abyss, 'nameless idiots' heee...

[Lisheo]

Aye.
I thought some of the NO became the Tanno Spiritwalkers tho?

[BridgeBurner]

Aptorian;225591 said:

I remember someone pointing out that helm could be a nautical term, meaning the Perish are the Wolf Navy.

That was me I also pointed out how they may be 'steering' events, since they seem to have a lot of knowledge about the real conflict (preparing the magical sea-gateway for 2 years and saying that the 14th alone will not be enough). That, BTW, would make them Fanderay's.

To add to DM's point, Paran had no affinity/experience with the Deck at all. Yet he became Master of the Deck. And IIRC Tayschrenn asked Tattersail to do a reading because she was better at it then he was. That doesn't mean he had no skill with the Deck.

Although, Tayschrenn may have put it like that because he was grooming Tattersail to become a Master of the Deck and wanted her to be in touch with it as much as possible in order to make her become chosen by the Deck. Typically Tayschrenn too, if this is the case, since he doesn't put himself in that spot and just stays on the sideline, with a means of controlling the new Master then (or so he would think).

Which would mean that the Deck has some kind of awareness. After having seen Mockra talk to Seren, I wouldn't be too surprised if this turned out to be the case...

[Cougar]

Well we all know that Fiddler has something a little extra about him, I've been leafing through DG (it's next to my toilet) and it's moments like when he's talking to the Tano Spirit walker (p.92 DG paperback)

Fiddler [talking about the path of hands] "Why would shape shifters have an interest in a warren's gate? The are hardly a brotherhood, nor are they users of sorcery, at least not in any sophisticated sense"

When the spiritwalker expresses his surprise Fiddler passes it off as just from experience but time and again he displays a depth of knowledge or intuitive senses that seem far deeper or greater than he should have.

Also on p.93 he tells the spiritwalker that for him to posses his memories would endanger the spiritwalkers life.

On his age: on the same page he states he has been in the army 15 years, which means I feel we can regard the estimate of his age at the start of GotM as wrong, also later on Crockus describes him as long in the tooth a clear indication of his age.

[Mentalist]

Umm, just a small thing, Cougar, but do you mean DG?

also, i'm not really surprised at his knowledge that much, after all he's been in hte same squad as QB and Kalam who know lots for at the very least 10 years (Dassem was still in charge when he sent the Bridgeburners to huntdown QB in the Raraku)

[Cougar]

kud13;226916 said:

Umm, just a small thing, Cougar, but do you mean DG?

also, i'm not really surprised at his knowledge that much, after all he's been in hte same squad as QB and Kalam who know lots for at the very least 10 years (Dassem was still in charge when he sent the Bridgeburners to huntdown QB in the Raraku)

Yeah, I meant DG; edited.

I think the point here is really: "Does his knowledge exceed what we might have expected him to pick up from experience?", my feeling is yes, but there is no evidence, it just a gut feeling.

[Zendog13]

Me thinks that if Fid became MotD, the Azath houses would become very crowded places. He would want all his friends near. That and the Gods would be in serious trouble every time he got drunk thinking of old friends and reached for his violin...

[4092]

just a guy with a natural gift.

[Abyss]

Lisheo;226632 said:

Aye.
I thought some of the NO became the Tanno Spiritwalkers tho?

It's been suggested.

I also wonder how far the rest of the split goes - we have the faction that was responsible for the whole 'history of Iccy's keepers culminating in the releasing Dejim replacing Mappo with Veed' thing, we've seen the Keepers/Watchers of the Azath in NoK, we know some of them were obsessed with binding things like demon-possessed T3s and K'chain nahruks in basements...

Tieing that all back to my original theorem, maybe the split in the NO cult reflected a split i the Azath themselves, which could in turn lead to more forces for balance than simply one MoD.

I'm stretching, i know, it's just so clear that Fid is more than a 'mere' soldier that i'm wondering whether SE is leading us somewhere.

- Abyss, split a cult once... ok, it was more of a dodgeball team...

[Zendog13]

Well I like your theory Abyss, though we might also want to look at the possibility of Paran remaining in position and Fid (maybe along with some others) joins him. In this case it probably would not be a hierarchical structure like that of Holds/Houses but more a companionship one like Shadowthrone and Cotiliion. It would make sense to have a team controlling the deck, especially when there are so many players to watch over, not to mention their armies.
Fid would be a prime candidate.

[Shurque's biatch]

What if the master of the deck position turned into a new house? The Deck hold?

Knight of high house Deck?
Ace, King, Queen of high house Deck?
How do those titles go again?

[Aptorian]

Captain Wolverine
Hulk Spiner
Ironman Mason
Spiderman is the weaver
Galactacus is Lifestealer.

I think