Oh about how much Max Thaums can Siobahn/Sebastian channel right now?
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Is there anything you wanted to write about but ultimately cut due to deciding it didn’t fit the story?
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Sympathy for ALL OF US, you included. 
Erythreans, as you said, are extra intelligent and empathetic. They’re less likely to spook, and more likely to hold very specific grudges against very specific people.
They can be bred to look particular ways, or magicked to have certain colors and such, but as a breed they have no particular determining characteristic. They come in a lot of different varieties.
Erythreans very rarely sprain their ankles or break their legs, and have even been said to scale sheer cliff faces like a mountain goat.
Their stomachs and digestive system are less delicate than most horses, and on the battlefield, some have even been known to eat the flesh of their dead enemies.
They can be trained to dance with impressive coordination, and seem to inherently be drawn to music.
They like to play pranks on their owners as well as those they dislike, and are great escape artists. Some of them even make a game of it.
Elmira has been found in the kitchen several times, somehow having gotten into the honey jar.
Some refuse to be ridden, and they will often escape from an owner that they do not like. Some will forcably adopt another horse, or a creature of another species, including humans and humanoids.
People have suggested that they’re related to unicorns/perytons, but there isn’t evidence of that. Others have suggested that they are an Earth-element version of a kelpie.
But mostly, they’re just extra-awesome horses. Great companions for life.
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Oh and since you mentioned Silva Erde has a more nuanced understanding of blood magic, Would Siobahns normal use generally be ok in their eyes? Or is she still a bit over the line
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I don’t know the exact number of non-human races, but I’d say, if we’re talking sapient, probably a dozen, with some minor variants between some similar ones.
A lot of them are pretty rare, and live on the edges of the known lands, away from human-majority civilization.
If they are sapient, and specifically if they can learn to cast spells that aren’t part of some inherent magical ability, they have rights and can be granted citizenship.
In Lenore, they’re still discriminated against somewhat, and not always because people dislike them, but because they’re “strange” and “new” and that make people feel awkward and fearful.
In Silva Erde, they’ve integrated a lot more easily into society, some of them even bringing their own culture into the country and finding small groups of like-minded people.
In Osham, they are desired for their particular abilities put toward specific purposes, under the guidance of the state.
And some of the other sapient peoples prey on humans, rare meat-style.
Some are extinct.
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As of Chapter 149 I believe, it was a little over four hundred thaums. She’s been continuing to grow since then.
We’re going to have another Henrik-Thompson near the end of Book 4, but I don’t want to talk about that in advance because it might be a little too much like a spoiler, to those who are clever.
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Who controls the Red Guard? They did not seem to care much about the High Crown’s opinions.
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There have been several side plot style, extra chapter ideas that I haven’t been able to fit into one book or another. Sometimes, the idea gets axed as not being important or fun enough. Sometimes, it just gets deferred for some future section of the story.
Like, I had an idea for the under-bed dust bunnies making it into a chapter.
I wanted to write a duel between Rhett and Sebastien.
When is Sebastien going to meet Titus again? I wanted that to happen in Book 4.
I wanted more Ana in Book 4.
And I had a plan for a chapter at the end of Book 4, that’s hopefully going to make it into Book 5 instead since this book was just too too huge.
But generally, one of the things I wanted to do for this series was “Whatever I want. All the things I want.” So I have multiple different story threads that I weave together like a tapestry, and these books become super long because of that. But they’re absolutely stuffed with themes and conflicts and characters I enjoy.
The danger: It becomes unweildy and I drop the metaphorical ball.
Small spoiler:
I wanted to write about what happens when some girls try to do divination on Sebastien. “He loves me, he loves me not,” style. I’m hoping to find a place for it in Book 5.
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How did you come to your decision to write Siobhan’s/Sebastien’s gender as you did, referring to her as a person using both names, according to who she’s presenting as at the time, but consistently referring to her with she/her pronouns and as a girl even though nobody else sees her that way as Sebastien?
It’s a somewhat unusual way to deal with characters that magically swap gender presentation, especially as Sebastien grows into being part of her identity instead of just a mask she wears, possibly indicating some fluidity in her own gender.
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There was a lot of social upheaval in reaction to the industrial revolution around 1900, and new business structures: cooperatives, utopian socialist societies, unions, trusts, and corporations. The thirteen crowns seem to be more like facist corporations than traditional aristocracy. What are you willing to tell us about the political systems you want to comment on in PGTS?
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OMG that would be hilarious!
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They’re around. There just aren’t a ton of them compared to the overall student population, and they aren’t supposed to get any sort of special treatment in-class.
But, if Sebastien cared more and was less oblivious, she might know who some of them were.
For instance, Nunchkin, her eternal arch-rival who beat her in Practical Casting, is one.
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I’m not exactly sure how to word this, but I’ll do my best.
Siobhan/Sebastien is a person independent of their physical form.
For an example: If your brain were transplanted into a robot body, are you now an “it?” If your robot body has breasts, are you a “she?” A penis?
Siobhan/Sebastien uses female nouns because she thinks of herself as a woman. Even when she accepts Sebastien as a name, it’s just a name.
She’s still herself.
Even if Sebastien becomes an identity, it’s still her identity, formed from her mind inside that body. She might be a little gender-fluid, but she’s never thought of herself as a man, and so she isn’t.
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Some of the things she does would probably be considered alright, given fully consenting subjects as well as oversight and, essentially, a license to practice dangerous things that could harm the people she works on.
Other things would probably cause problems because of the drama that goes into her spectacles and shenanigans. No country wants some rando sorcerer out there doing weird shit.
And some of the things she does they would consider firmly evil. I bet we can speculate which ones.
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This is, unashamedly, one of my most favorite parts of the series. It’s simple, when you think about it.
Additionally, it helps you to get into the other character’s heads a little bit more when they are observing or thinking about her. It helps to create that distinctive flavor that someone who doesn’t know her very well is the one narrating this, and creates some unexpected humor…
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This is a good question, it’s just too large to answer here. I’ve got dozens of pages of Lore notes about the social/political situation in the PGTS world.
Suffice it to say, you are correct about the Thirteen Crowns. They’re a corporate-adjacent oligarchy, I guess?
They benefit from the current structure, and so of course are resistant to advancement and other changes that might give more power to the general citizen.
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Okay, we’ve hit 9:00pm for me here. If someone has ONE last quick question (I see someone typing) I will try to answer it, but then I’m out for the night.
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I’ll go for it! Why does Oliver hate his smile?
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I posted a thread about this earlier so I suppose I’ll just condense it and take my chances:
How far away can professors Lacer freecast a spell with and without physical (a building- so can’t see other side but can imagine it) and magical (ward) obstruction?
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To what extent does clarity of will allow for the removal of components? It’s mentioned in either a grimoire or the appendix at the end of book 2 (my memory is not too clear on that). Just like the flesh-mirror healing spell, can a more robust and powerful will do away with more components or all components entirely?
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