Character and Faction List/ What comes before

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Wolfdrop

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« on: August 17, 2017, 02:13:43 pm »
Is there any particular reason the character list was excluded for TUC?

I was hoping we'd have one mapping out who comprised each of the contingents, Trials. Seemed like a good chance to lay out the roster for who would be in the Ordeal, given that a few new names appear, Grimmel etc.

And is in just me, or was the what comes before significantly shorter than previous entries?

Madness

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« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2017, 03:21:40 pm »
The "What Has Come Before" section was greatly reduced and streamlined on the recommendation of our own reichorn (or delavagus, as many of us know him as).
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Wolfdrop

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« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2017, 03:32:39 pm »
Oh man really? I was hoping it would be the longest and most detailed one yet!

What was the reason for advising the change if you don't mind me asking? Keeping it one way for 6 books then changing it for the final volume seems a strange choice.

The WHCB were great for laying out what happened in clearer terms given the writing fervour and ambiguity of some of the endings.

Madness

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« Reply #3 on: August 17, 2017, 03:37:26 pm »
What was the reason for advising the change if you don't mind me asking?

Lol... I want to say it was something like "Bakker, this is getting fucking ridiculous."

Not everyone appreciates digesting the minutia as we do ;).
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Duskweaver

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« Reply #4 on: August 18, 2017, 02:58:23 pm »
You mean we were supposed to read the "what has come before" bits? :P I have to admit I've never bothered, and never felt like I missed anything by not bothering. But then I actually like Bakker's tendency to ambiguity and obscurantism and feel absolutely no need to read a summary at the start of the next novel to make sure I 'got' everything. I'd have preferred the pages wasted (from my PoV) on the WHCB summaries to be spent on more new and interesting revelations.
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TLEILAXU

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« Reply #5 on: August 18, 2017, 05:40:37 pm »
I read them due to OCD.

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« Reply #6 on: August 19, 2017, 04:18:27 pm »
You mean we were supposed to read the "what has come before" bits? :P I have to admit I've never bothered, and never felt like I missed anything by not bothering. But then I actually like Bakker's tendency to ambiguity and obscurantism and feel absolutely no need to read a summary at the start of the next novel to make sure I 'got' everything. I'd have preferred the pages wasted (from my PoV) on the WHCB summaries to be spent on more new and interesting revelations.

He added the WHCB bits because his long-time editor and his agent previously admonished "catch-up notation." You'll notice that some opening chapters in each book include basically bullet-point openings describing what came before. Bakker also used the WHCB to play a game with history as he does with the "in-world Glossary."
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