I mean I think so. I speculated that back when S made the realization magic was alive in someway.
In my mind its the effect of a bunch of people applying their wills to the world.
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Its a huge deal because she is doing it with a few hundret thaums instead of the ācouply thousand minumum required to free castā
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Thatās not a strict requirement, itās just that free-casting usually requires enough time and effort that by the time you get there youāll likely have already grown your capacity to at least that much
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Not arguing that itās a huge deal because it is but thereās a few advantages that she has that makes it make sense that she can free cast this particular spell so early. One is pluralism part of the difficulty of free casting is holding all the parts of the spell in your mind being able to focus on different parts of the spell at the same time is a big advantage, and second most people at her level of thaums wouldnāt have a single spell that theyāve used to this degree. If Damien started using his listening spell every day and just started leaving it active as he went through his day he would probably learn how to free cast it ridiculously early as well.
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Is anyone else hope that the Raven Queen visits Nat and offers her a boon in return for trying to help Sebastian, and if she does the thing Iām hoping that Nat requests is an introduction to people her own age that are likely to rise to power either through personal power or organizational authority. It would make sense because power through connections is the Gervin way and it would be awesome to see Nat meet Theo and Miles who both qualify.
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I think it would be a rather wonderful literal version of the idea āwe are each defined by the people experiencing us and we define them in turnā. Perhaps it is truly so for Siobhan and her motherās side of the family. Siobhan is Sebastian is the Raven Queen and each is given power and restricted by their external definitions.
I would also like to remind everyone of the name for the ethnic group Siobhan belongs to: the People. Which came first? Or which of these is closer to the truth:
- There once was a group with intrinsic ability to be multiple identities in one body. They are each a āpeopleā.
- Something dramatic and possibly horrific and related to the emperor changed a group irrevocably. Severed their link to a soul plane or something so they become powerful tools. The people did something huge and heroic to get free and with a huge magical ritual declared themselves People.
- It is the declaration/magical self-definition as People that causes the plurality withing individuals in the group.
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I think the second one close except it wasnāt the emperor but the church that pushed them to the brink.
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Thatās part of it, but the thing thatās been noted about her time and time again is the clarity and focus of her Will.
If someone with a few thousand thaums can achieve the same results as Siobhan can with a few hundred, thatās huge because it shows how very focused she is. She is that focused water jet as opposed to a larger spray.
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A excellent point, I has forgotten the ritual they did, that made it so they must be defined as people. A continual reinforcement of such that affects everyone, and in turn defining them in the view of others. Considering other notes of abstraction and perspective affecting things and possible pograms similar to Nulls they may have imprinted a particular pattern onto the Spirit World in turn affecting how they are defined as casters of magic. At the least the definement being continually made may have made a particular form of magic affiliated with being of the People easier. Which may have some comparatives to the Brillig and the Black Desert but from opposite directions.
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My hope is that she keeps it to herself. Itās an ace in her hand that she can hide until she absolutely needs to show it. With the High Crown after Sebastien and the Architects basically shoved after her by Oliver, she needs one hell of a strong hand.
This is the scene Iām referring to:
[Architects:] āShe might even be able to find Kiernan, if he were to pray to her?ā
Oliver smiled. āIs he devout?ā Before they could respond, he waved his hand nonchalantly. āSetting that aside, even if she can, that doesnāt mean she will. Just rationally speaking, she tends to help a certain type of person. Kiernan doesnāt fit that profile at all.ā
āWhat type of person?ā
āThose who are innocent but have the potential for a bright future, and those who treat her particularly well.ā
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Iām just going to note that it isnāt exactly rare for individual ethnic groups to refer to themselves as, essentially, āThe People,ā or something derived from it in their own language in our world, so I tend not to read too much into it.
examples:
La Raza
Inuit
Magyar (Hungariansā name for themselves)
Deutsch
Dutch
Swede
Aka/Biaka
Thai
Lao
MÄori (sort of)
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Oh yes, its simply notable here as they specifically force anyone to use their conception of themselves to refer to them.
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I does also strike me here that its possible Legion on some level given how Claudio worked may get its energy to act by aligning concepts either directly with its constructs or by being given such things with spells. Just a thought given possible undreaming order interactions
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I donāt think that is relevant in this case. They donāt speak a different language and it is specifically a aid that no one can refer to them with any name except āPeopleā.
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Not sure if this is the right place for this comment, but Iāve been wondering a few things:
- I thought Siobhan read a book about the spirit realm that cautioned against naming spirits and instead summoned them with descriptions?
- What is later named Legion had taunted Siobhan while she was in the sensory deprivation spell in Eigengrau by saying that her Grandfather had meant to send her to someone but didnāt repeat the details, but I didnāt see that in the Builder of Dreams book? At that point Siobhan had told him the shaman was dead and heād left her a map with a line to that village? Who would he have sent her to? He suggested that once she could ride a skykraken, she could go beyond the known lands to find someone powerful? Like lands where the blood emperor is believed to have originated?
- Why did Siobhan never seek to find any of the People, even when she was wandering with Ennis? She didnāt have the chance to learn from her mom but probably could have learned from one of her momās friends/visitors, if she could have found them.
- Was Ennis ever anything but a complete waste of space? How did Miakoda ever meet and fall in love with him?
- Iām hoping we learn more of Raazās backstory!!
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- It didnāt say you couldnāt name spirits, and technically Legion is an Aberrant not a spirit. Iāll have to find the exact quote from the book but it was merely that descriptions were more accurate than names. In this case it is both in one. Names have power.
- It was lying. Legion lied to her many times, trying to get free.
- It might not have occurred to her, she might have been afraid of being handed over to the Red Guard for being contaminated if they knew about how her mother ended up or the fate of her village. She simply might not have found them - they donāt strike me as a numerous people and they might have had ways of keeping in touch Siobhan was too young to learn.
- weāve never seen Ennis when Miakoda was alive. He took her death hard and a lot of men change when their wives are gone. Just because someoneās a good husband doesnāt make them a good father.
- Yes, I would love to know more about the mysterious Raaz Kalvidasan. Heās a very intriguing character.
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āSpirits had no nameāand should not be given one. āWhat happens if you do?ā Siobhan wondered. The book didnāt say. Without any horrifying cautionary tales, she had a hard time taking warnings of danger seriously. Instead, spirits should be described. If she knew a specific one she was looking for, she might summon them using words like, āThe friendly spirit who knows the shaman Siobhan Naught, who loves flowers and knows the color ultraviolet, who has walked with Siobhan Naught through the Valley of End and has been contracted to aid her.ā
Iāve been wondering if Aberrents are actually somehow spirits that slip through during the break event? Maybe powerful thurmaturges can host powerful, sentient spirits, but weak thurmaturges host only weak spirits that propogate a single anomaly?
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Ah, thank you. Clearly I, like Siobhan, didnāt take the warning seriously since there were no horrifying cautionary tales 
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Siobhan is considered a shaman now, right? If only fledgling.
Iāve been thinking about where Liza is. Been a while since weāve seen her. Sheās out looking for a shaman right?
Could Siobhan and Legion help her out with her problem?
I am more than a little curious that if magic is what most people believe, itās more that it will get to the point that enough people believe so she just simply can