I'm currently almost finished with "Ptolemy's Gate", but I have a nagging wonderment that hasn't been answered at all so far.

Where does the resilience in commoners come from?

Arthur Underwood's wife said that the magicians themselves weren't allowed to reproduce, so it's then assumed that the magic trait or gene can run in any family. It also stands to reason that every single magician has come from a family of commoners, right? Could the resilience to magic be viewed the same way?

Would it be logical to assume that, since it's possible for people to be born with a great amount of power, people could also be born with the ability to absorb/deflect this power? If this is true then why does it take years for the resilience to "build up", and why are there so many different kinds whereas there's only one kind of "magician" (albeit in varying degrees of power)?

These questions might be pointless, but it's fun to speculate.

It takes years for the resilience to evolve. Once the magicians come into power, they apply a selection pressure. People with minor magical resilience are more likely to survive and reproduce. Over time, the average strength of resilience in the population slowly increases until the commoners overthrow the magicians, and no longer need resilience, so it goes away in that population again.

Sentynel wrote: It takes years for the resilience to evolve. Once the magicians come into power, they apply a selection pressure. People with minor magical resilience are more likely to survive and reproduce. Over time, the average strength of resilience in the population slowly increases until the commoners overthrow the magicians, and no longer need resilience, so it goes away in that population again.

So resilience is part of natural evolution? Which seems to go dormant when an empire falls at the hands of commoners who rose against them?

If the resilience was truly a part of evolution then it would be a permanent fixture of human DNA. Ever notice that people are born with 2 eyes? Why would we NEED 2? We could see with 1, why wouldn't the "extra" one just go away? Because we evolved that way.

Also evolution takes thousands of years to fully come into effect, not just 50 years. Also, if the people with resilience kept reproducing and passing this trait onto their offspring then wouldn't it be more widespread, whether after the downfall of the magicians or not?

The problem is, this is a book, therefore not totally accurate to science.

Its impossible to determine exactly how resilience would occur.

But of course, to speculate:

This is magic, and apparently magic and auras etc. can be absorbed into the human body in some way, this affects them. If this was trying to be scientifically accurate then yes it would require some kind of mutation in human DNA, in the gametes. However mutations are extremely unstable and it appears there are several different types of resiliance so it would be extremely unlikely.

But this is a magical world, so things like that are explained by magic!

So on the magic side :), as magical activity increases with the size and strength of an empires, its absorbed somehow into the commoners, but not neccesarily passed on down the family, eventually it reaches a point where the commoners rise up, and the rest is history.

Perhaps magic is absorbed by the commoners over time and possibly or possibly not passed on to their children, and as this builds up, it gives them resistance.


As for having two eyes, do you realise just how much of an advantage two eyes is? We can't see perfectly without them. Two eyes allows us to see in 3D and judge distances, as well as picking up more detail.

The ability to do magic isn't inborn. Anyone can be a magicain with the knowledge.
You seem to think with Rowling's Mudlbood system...

Where did you get that from? Nobody said that not everybody could do magic...

yeah, i was thinkiin that

Valr Says something About a Magical gene trait. I think he means that the ability to do magic is inborn.

*Shurg*

Oh, I see where you mean. Maybe, or maybe he was just referring to resilience being present to some tiny degree in everybody.

First of all, please stop referring to me as "he".

Second, you're assuming that everyone has an equal aptitude for magic at birth, just as much as I'm assuming people are born with special talents. The fact is that Stroud never states it either way. In the first book you could believe that the "advertisements" for apprentices said anything you want to further your point, but unless any of us knows for sure all this about magical birthright is speculation. You could say that, by Kitty's example, everyone is born with the potential to be magicians, but in the first book it was mentioned that Nathaniel was "tested" to be very bright. Who's to say this test doesn't determine aptitude?

Next, I'd be more ready to believe the idea that resilience is formed from residual magic than from actual evolutionary changes. The world might be rooted in magic but there are undeniable physical similarities that I don't think the author would mess with. Residual magical absorbtion also makes more sense in the fact that the longer an empire lasts the more resilience builds up, and then when an empire falls the resilience disappears. If there's no magic for the body to absorb then it only stands to reason that the resilience would no longer be evidenced.

Last, a better example about evolution probably would've been the human appendix. It's no longer used by the body, at all (and can even pose as a health risk) and yet, after all these years, people are still born with them.

Oops. Sorry.

No, people don't have equal magical strength - some people are definitely stronger than others - but anybody can use magic - it's implied by various comments about the adverts and commoners that anybody can. Whether they're strong enough to summon more than an imp is a different matter.

Yep. we seem to have arrived at the most reasonable explanation.

The appendix is shrinking over time, but it won't just disappear.

Ya, the ability to use magic is the same as the ability to learn maths, its just some are better at it than others, e.g Nathaniel and Gladstone :)

well of course we are!

LOL,

So, ya, some are more talented in that area... :)

Does that mean you could get a commoner child with resilience who is chosen to become a magician? :ph43r:

Yes. I'm sure it happens more than the magicians realise. But they tend not to get hit by magical attacks like commoners do, because they have spirits to protect them.

yeah thanks for answering,however does this mean they are a possibility in rp

You'd have to ask our head of the roleplaying section, Krim.

You can RP a bunny for all I care...it only matters to me if your bunny happens to turn fifty feet tall and shoots rays from its eyes that destroys neighborhoods. Go for it...I don't see any problem.