Let’s make it awkward and talk about the beast core that Siobhan swallowed. . . and then, ah, carefully retrieved.
It had plenty of power when she swallowed it, although it wasn’t full, and it was nearly empty by the time it came out of her. We’ve been debating how this could have happened without her actively, and accidentally using her own body as a conduit. (Her borderline withdrawals from casting magic make a case for that.)
How else do we speculate this could have happened? Could her body have a way of drawing the beast core’s power? Could it have been the healing potions - and how and why do you think they would have done that? Maybe her shadow familiar spell was drawing on it the entire time - her shadow is inside her body, after all?
I’d love to hear what you’ve come up with and what you think is most likely!
If we consider the situation topologically, the path taken by the beast core lies fully outside of Siobhan. The boundaries of the volume of Siobhan include her skin but also the “skin” of the inside of her mouth, stomach, intestines, etc.
She has no problem casting using her skin so why not her “skin”. Where is the demarcation point between the two anyway?
It’s been noted several times that humans are magical beings. I think my theory on how it was drained depends on what a beast core really is, if humans can have “cores” and what the magic in a core comes from.
It might just be digestion; like absorbing nutrients, humans can absorb beast cores. It seems to me further that Siobhan doesn’t ever intend to draw on something from inside herself (in contrast to a book like The Name of the Wind and sympathy magic). So, it feels more like a natural effect that would be true for everyone.
What is a beast core anyway? In GameLit, these are generally the “harvestable” that gives the dungeon delvers a monetary motive. They are common in the new writing from the last decade, but, a long-time high fantasy reader like me finds them a bit strange. Collecting magic ingredients has a long tradition in fantasy books, but beast cores are relatively new in written fiction. Star Ocean in 1999 (which I played at the time) had “jewels” that dropped from monsters, and that was kinda close, but does not function the same. The oldest reference the internet is giving me is Dragon Slayer - a 1984 action adventure RPG - which I can say with confidence I did not play. But I’ve been playing games for decades and reading fantasy from many different eras, and the “beast core” has been invented recently and I’m not entirely sure by who. Xianxia seems a good candidate for this in written novels. So, as a source of magic, almost any kind of rules might apply.
I think it has been mentioned that beasts have their own sorts of magic, and I would speculate that beast cores are just long term energy storage that their bodies can add to and draw from over the course of their lives as needed. Basically just a magical equivalent to fat stores
As far as humans use them at least they’re pure stores of compressed energy, which have more available energy in a less dangerous form than ambient heat.
Is it possible that S has some non-human heritage that allowed her to siphon off energy for normal bodily functions without it being channeling magic? (e g. The potions used the body’s own abilities to heal, and the beast core supplemented energy for that healing)
Or since presumably nonhuman magics work distinctly from just channeling through flesh, maybe that which lies beyond the seal was able to just use it directly once it was in her body?
I am curious if the amulet that lets her transform if technically she isn’t human but a pure magical creature of some sort that pretends to be human.
She has passed plenty of scans, things to detect shapeshifters and Abbarents before. I wonder if it is simply her Divination Ward pulling on the beast core as its now inside her body and available.
Perhaps some of her impressive Will growth is not just through casting a lot but being in the Sebastion form also draws upon her magic passively somehow.
It’s all very interesting and I am thrilled to be shown the answer. When I first started reading the series I was very nervous that Azalea might be one of those authors that throws a lot of plot threads against the wall but then leaves a bunch behind and forgets them in later novels. That always drives me crazy. While revealing stuff to us has been far slower than I’m used to in most writing, I have thoroughly enjoyed the payoffs when they do arrive.
In the same vein as humans being magic and them having a core, we now know that celerium can be made from beast cores so what if the family trait that supposedly lets S cast through flesh is not actually them casting through flesh but their celerium core.
Hey, uh, she drained the beast core in her body. An implication with beast cores is that if drained perfectly they become conduits? Surely the trick isn’t that easy, is it?