The theme of today’s chapter is Hunger. 
Thoughts, theories, and general discussion welcome!
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Not commenting on the chapter right now because my brain isn’t coherent enough to make pertinent comments, but I just wanted to let you know that I’m happy you’re looking after your health (even if my inner book goblin screeches whenever delays are mentioned 
) and I hope you continue to take it easy and keep to a schedule that works for your body, not your ambition.
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We are so close to finally getting answers. But still, delays are nowhere as important as your health Azalea! We can entertain ourselves and theorize while waiting.
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What is Claudio made out of? How does he have veins to strain when he is all skin?
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Where is Raaz’s body? His spirit has to reclaim it to fight Claudio if the nightmare Siobhan had is correct.
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It seems Claudio was trying to get closer to the titan’s body so he can transfer more of its power:
Claudio was crouched in front of Mom’s frame with his hand on the control glyph painted in blood on the floor. “Just a bit more,” he coaxed. “Just a bit closer, transfer a bit more. This is what you were made for.”
We can guess why he sent Siobhan into the spirit realm using the liquid he got into her eye and why he chose not to kill her twice. From Chapter 272:
“The mental barrier in dreams is quite porous, which allows me to create this binding. I think of it like a tether, from myself to them, and from them to the place I choose. The longer someone is bound to a place or construct in the spirit realm, the more their mental barrier wears thin, and the other end of the tether will begin to affect them…viscerally. They act as both beacons and anchors for me, and I have found that, through very precise guidance, some of the nature—the idea—of the place they are tethered to flows back through them, to me. In this way, I can create new concepts for myself.”
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But, what did Claudio mean by “This is what you were made for.”? I think this indicates that Raaz’s training+breeding project had the intermediate goal of producing a sorcerer with sufficiently strong willpower (or whatever needed characteristics) to access and survive the spirit realm. This ability is what’s allowing Siobhan+Miakoda to work against him and keep sending Siobhan to her body.
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Back to Raaz, he told Siobhan his project with Claudio is exploring/mapping a region and its exploitable resources but that is probably a half-truth. Raaz was described as sad about what’s in the tower, but also determined as if the project is something necessary. He wanted something more.
From earlier chapters, we know Raaz was worried about stabilization (of the mirror access I suppose):
He turned back to Claudio. “I would like to assess and quantify the rate of equalization and degradation to see if we can predict it. That’s the first step to long-term stabilization, which seems the obvious long-term goal.”
Claudio’s attention turned back to Grandfather immediately. “I agree that should be our goal, but I would suggest that a focus on improving the input parameters, rather than quantification, is the most likely pathway to success.”
…..
“I think we’ll be able to see with our own two eyes if it’s working or not, and we could save months of time while still gathering those numbers, just at a less snail-like pace.”
Later on, the stability of the fungus/thing that took over the treehouse impressed both of them and they talked about it in terms of their mapping effort. I think they experimented by sending objects and animals through the mirror before going in together. These early attempts probably were the curse effects that scared the villagers. Raaz must have wanted something so badly to justify the sacrifices (to himself, at least).
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RE: This - remember that Claudio fully took Siobhan into the spirit realm when she was fighting Lacer. He’s got a use for her body at the moment (she has blood, he needs her blood to control Miakoda) but he could have dumped her grandfather in the spirit realm.
RE: breeding program - we don’t have any evidence of this, really. We know Miakoda was adopted. Raaz didn’t approve of her chosen mate, but he accepted it. Siobhan remembers her mother telling her that her grandfather has scars (emotional) and that he’s become better over the years but he’s still damaged. Claudio lies like he’s breathing - I wouldn’t take anything he says too seriously, not unless there’s irrefutable proof, and even then I’d be wondering - cui bono? It’s never Siobhan (and it’s not going to be Miakoda). He weakens the spirit when he weakens the trust in the people around her. It’s exhausting, damaging. It’s almost better to assume it’s a lie and deal with any truth within later, when he’s no longer a consideration. Besides, he might have just meant it as an offhand comment - no one made Miakoda into an aberrant.
On the chapter itself, I know the theme is Hunger and we have aching, hungry spirits in an aching and hungry land lamenting that which is does not and cannot have. We have Claudio’s hunger for power.
But we also have Siobhan and Miakoda. Siobhan is hungry for her mother’s love and care and the safety of her arms and Miakoda is delivering in the only way she can. She can’t hug her, hold her, tell her everything will be alright or even kill Claudio and save her…but she can give her a path back to her body. Back to a modicum of safety.
I really wonder what happened to Miakoda. Was she destroyed? Is she still around somewhere? Is she still somewhat self aware, somewhat sane?
Edit: I feel like more is being made of the skin thing than is necessarily needed - note how Siobhan becomes tired the more aware she is of her body in the spirit realm? Ideas lend you weight. Why not so for an aberrant? Eyes are important. The externalities of humanity, the visible parts that you see and experience - they are important. But you do not often consciously think of your organs. Also, Siobhan is 13. She’s describing what she can see as best she can. I doubt she could scientifically describe the dermis, epidermis etc. and quantify what he’s actually made up of, but she can go “he looks like he’s made of skin because when you cut it there’s nothing underneath except more of the same”. Like a wax figure that’s the same colour all the way through. It would be like a layer of skin that never ended. Veins are important because humans will eventually notice if you don’t have veins, if they can’t see a pulse. If you move things without engaging your muscles. Aberrants like Claudio have to fit in if they want to work their magic to best effect. I doubt it’s conscious - but it has some interesting implications if it’s true.
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Yes I also got the feeling that the Aberrant Surpreme Claudio just exalts himself above Miakoda and sees in her nothing more than a tool. I think he kept a healthy portion of hubris from the original Claudio.
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I am still gathering thoughts but part of my suspicion is Raaz wants a stable portal because that may allow both the gathering of sorcerous materials but also effectively new spells from those given regions without as direct a risk of breaking for sorcerers.
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On this part specifically it may just be another of Claudio’s statements of self-import. That his predecessor was so focused, to the point of disdaining other applications of his will, like he was destined to become current Claudio. That Miakoda’s aberrant ability seemed almost designed to support Claudio. That Raz’s letter appearing was serendipity. That Claudio views himself as a demi-titan etc.
Claudio is quite taken with himself making his declarations of fate, destiny or purpose hard for me to take at face value.
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To me, it seems very clear that she is both. She held a conversation with Siobhan, of a sort, consistently seems to be trying to help her, and seems to have even stolen Claudio 's technique for accruing power as an aberrant!
I’ll go into why I believe these things in a moment, but first I’m going to note that resistance to losing one’s personhood as an aberrant might be what the Naught bloodline was actually so highly valued for.
“It’s why Kal didn’t want her marrying me, isn’t it?” Naught said with a shrug. “The pure Naught bloodline was too good for me, supposedly. But all it did was keep ‘er alive a little longer after she lost Paimon. It couldn’t save her from the sickness in her head. She just kept casting, even when she didn’t need to, even when she knew what it would do to her, just for the pleasure of it. She didn’t care about me or little Siobhan anymore, only the magic. I didn’t see ‘er when she died. Kal said it was a mercy. I wouldna’ recognize ‘er corpse, and…” Naught shuddered and fell silent. “Well. I left Siobhan with Kal, after that. But my girl knows better than to cast without her Conduit. I—I shouldn’t ‘ave given the ring to those Gervin Family people. She needs it, now, and what if something happens to ‘er, like with Miakoda, because she doesn’t ‘ave it?” Naught buried his face in his knees, pulling the ratty blanket tighter around his shoulders.
Thaddeus was too busy with his own elation to pay attention to the man. Siobhan Naught. Naught. Perhaps a variant on “Null?” He had heard rumors, of course, about those who were born with the traits of a Null, yet still able to cast magic. How they could resist the madness that came with casting through their own flesh and blood. It was clear enough that they were more than children’s tales, but he had thought all those with that particular mutation gone hundreds, if not thousands, of years before. Resistance was not complete negation, after all, and they were a powerful potential threat to enemy and ally alike.
Perhaps the Naughts had managed to slip through the cracks, the secrecy of the People keeping them out of modern records, maintaining their abilities through careful breeding, or even inbreeding.
Or, perhaps the Blood Emperor’s experiments had not been so fruitless, after all.
This changed everything.
As Ennis notes here, the purity of the bloodline doesn’t seem to have done much for Miakoda from an outside perspective, it kept her alive a little bit longer without breaking, when that break was inevitable. Why would that be such a big deal that it would be earth-shattering for Thaddeus and would inspire the Blood Emporer to try to recreate it? Why would it be necessary to keep secret and for it to have slipped through the cracks in avoiding outside detection?
But maybe the madness that comes from casting through your own flesh is exactly the thing that wipes the minds and prior identities away from newly formed aberrants? Lasting a little longer in a fight without a conduit while gradually going mad would be nice, but it wouldn’t be a big shift in the political landscape. Having a corps of loyal, intelligent aberrants though? That would be a power that would reshape the world and that those seeking power might do anything for.
…Which brings us back to Miakoda.
It seems that, initially, as the mirror, she may have been lucid, but she was no longer capable of speech and so had no good way to communicate other than showing different places, which it seems that Claudio and Siobhan’s grandfather just interpreted as randomness.
This is what Claudio believes about her abilities, probably colored by what Siobhan’s grandfather believed before Claudio arrived:
“This Aberrant is a window to elsewhere—most notably the five Elemental Planes—but it can also be used to view the mundane plane, and with guidance from someone who is already familiar, the spirit realm.”
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“As you saw, anywhere the frame looks on long enough begins to leak back through, just as some of this side begins to supplant what you see there. Equalization. We have protections in place to stop it from doing this, as well as to keep it from enthralling the viewer, but it is fickle and curious for new sights, and it keeps finding ways around our control. “
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“…even Miakoda seems to have trouble gazing upon the form of Hyperiodax directly, and cannot view the spirit realm at all without my direction. If we can get as close as possible…” He trailed off longingly but soon brightened. “She makes travel easier, too! She is not just a window, but a doorway—for me. Your grandfather didn’t seem able to pass through on his own.
Attempting to communicate by showing different places might well just look like fickleness from the point of view of someone who thinks they’re studying an unintelligent magical artifact… And her effect definitely doesn’t seem to have anything to do with creating ash or embers or incense, especially not in arbitrary locations away from her body, and she cannot even view the spirit realm without Claudio’s “direction”.
The miniature incense version of Grandfather pulled his cloak tighter around himself, hunching against an unseen wind as he looked around. Of course, he didn’t seem to see her. Whatever he was looking at, wherever he really was, it was not the forest floor.
“Grandfather is somewhere far away, traveling?” Siobhan tried.
Then Mom showed her the tower again.
“It’s the tower.”
Grandfather again, and then the tower once more.
“I don’t understand.” Siobhan angrily wiped away her still-flowing tears, rocking forward and back. “I’m sorry, Mom. I don’t understand! Are you in the tower? Did Grandfather lock you in there?”
Paimon rose up from the ground once more, but this time, there were two of him, facing each other on either side of a frame. They mimicked each other.
“A mirror.”
Both miniature Paimons fell away, but the frame remained. Grandfather rose up again, this time in front of the frame. He tripped and fell through, and then his arms flailed and his cloak fluttered as if he were falling in slow motion for a long, long time. He landed, and the tower rose up in his place once more.
This clearly seems to be communication with something that responds directly to Siobhan’s prompts. And, what’s more, this entity seems to be learning new ways to use this power over the course of the conversation, in addition to seemingly growth that we seem to see throughout the book, starting from the “sand” early on. She also seems to now be able to find Siobhan in the spirit realm and create a way out, when she couldn’t even view the spirit realm on her own before.
How could an aberrant, with a single anomalous effect be developing and learning to use a new ability?,
Well Miakoda’s effect seems to be to link two things and allow traits of each to bleed through to the other side, changing each to be more like the other. That has some things in common with Claudio’s primary ability of creating conceptual tethers. When Claudio “directed” Miakoda to view spaces in the spirit realm, did that connect both sides and allow bleed-through from him to her? Claudio is attempting to use her to view Hyperiodax directly… But does that link allow for bleed-through of power much like Claudio being tethered there did? Is that why her abilities seem to be advancing much more quickly now?
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Oh I agree with all of this, but I mean Miakoda in the present day of adult Siobhan! Because we don’t know anything yet about her ultimate fate.
When I wonder about her sanity and sense of self I’m wondering what being an aberrant for the better part of a decade did to her if she still exists. Especially if she was left all alone, hidden away in the tower, unnoticed by the Red Guard - or possibly worse, found by them and taken away to be experimented on.
It’s possible that she was destroyed, of course.
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That would be perfect for the situation since Siobhan could drag him out once she finds him. However, in the nightmare, Siobhan finds his body in his room (where she grabs the artifact necklace) so either the fight takes place in the spirit realm or the dream was wrong.
I don’t actually remember when the breeding program became my headcanon. You might be right since Claudio is so manipulative.
I hope Miakoda got released from being an aberrant.
Valid. Claudio mimicking the externalities makes sense.
She found his body in his workroom with bits of brain and blood all over the place, iirc. I recall, because she was quite freaked out when his corpse sat up in her nightmare and started talking to her. We know he dies after he seals away her memories so I wouldn’t refine too much on where his corpse ends.
Unless he seals her memories away while she’s in the spirit realm, but that seems quite unhelpful if Claudio is still at large and she needs to hold on to her senses in order to go back to the real world!
Brilliant analysis. Five stars.
I wish for Miakoda’s spirit to get free. But now I also hope she gets to steal Claudio’s power and abuse him of his power delusions first.
Claudio can enter the spirit realm with his body so if Siobhan/her mom moves the viewpoint and Siobhan shoves or drags Claudio through, the sealing of both Claudio and the memories can happen in the spirit realm. If Raaz’s body was already destroyed in the real world, he won’t be able to return with Siobhan and would put a time limit on his lifespan even if he had not been severely injured already.
Oohhh, sorry for being confused and misinterpreting you.
For that, I’m concerned that she is going to suffer a fate worse than either destruction or capture by the Red Guard… I’m worried that through the “equalization” aspect of Miakoda’s power, she and Claudio end up merged into a single entity.
This might explain some of why Siobhan is able to split her will into 3 pieces, how the entity in Siobhan’s head was able to open a portal to the spirit world that Siobhan was able to go through, and why it was so intent upon having her remember (The sealed memories might not be a magical protection, but instead something designed to make the entity easier to hate/fear/destroy.)
This is my worry too, given we don’t know the fate of either of them.
The other way I can currently see it playing out is that Mirrorkoda gets taken by the Red Guard which Siobhan witnesses somehow and this whole sequence of remembering adds another layer of complexity to her interactions with them as she tries to find out what happened to her Aberrant mother’s form.
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Unless Siobhan is completely mistaken about Claudio’s goal, it seems like he’s trying to gain the titan’s ability to consume other beings and take their power. What if he succeeds and absorbs Miakoda first?
I suspect things like the skin mitigating external magic are built up associations imprinted onto the spirit world and in time the physiology of most beings. I suspect the Naught bloodline is a intent to shape such a thing intentionally, fitting given such fits into the higher order conceptual manipulation we heard the Blood Emperor was doing. And such might in turn help form those stable nodes of affiliation in the spirit world that may result in something like a Aberrant I would suspect, or rather something that is aberrant but more humanesque in sophancy.
The more one tried to become human, the better they may endure the more such would be part of the end assemblage that is the aberrant.
An additional thought is that the different areas Siobahn observed are all different angles and elements of Claudios overall or singular ability. And that perhaps most aberrants would have similar imprints on the spirit world, which may be easier to controlnor more stable hypothetically for ones derived from the Naughts.