So we know that both Lacer and Liza fought in the Haze war, and it happened far enough in the past that it seems to be far enough that Siobhan and Oliver weren’t born yet when it ended.
What else has been mentioned about it?
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Here’s a rather significant except featuring a lot of the stuff we know all in one place
Though Siobhan seems to have uncritically taken that information from a Gilbrathan book, so the narrator seems rather unreliable.
Lacer also says that Siobhan was born “two decades after the war”, which means it was approximately 40 years before present.
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Another thing that has been mentioned by Liza is that the army is more or less evil. They conscripted children/teens in the war. It’s implied but not proven that one of Liza’s army buddies was permanently damaged after the war, in service of the army, and may be at the Retreat. Maybe a relative, close friend, or lover. We don’t know.
This discussion lends itself to my question about what Lacer actually did in the war to become an exalted war hero. Did he invent the reverse scrying attacks? Did he lose his temper and blow up a city?
What exactly, is his “specialty?” Both in the war, and in the RG? I know lots of you must have some different ideas about this. Offensive attacks? Divination? Somehow harnessing an Aberrant? It can’t be his obsession about pre-cataclysmic texts, but it could be related to what is fueling that fire. EDIT: Or, maybe I’m wrong and his specialty as a historian IS his strength.
Given how Lacer teaches, i wonder if he was some kind of Green Beret style secret operative, infiltrating behine enemy lines and harder to trace because of his free casting - and his deeds became public only after the war was over (which is why Siobhan knows so much about him from a war that ended decades before she was born).
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That seems likely to me. The Red Guard refers to him as “special agent” after all.
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This makes Siobhan’s answer really strange: if he was just a powerful specialist, then he wouldn’t have been particularly important (neither a leader or a spell inventor) but then, maybe she just got that answer wrong.
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My headcanon is that Lacer did something basically Medal of Honor (the award, not the game) worthy of recognition, that wasnt published until after the war. Like take down an Aberrant on the front lines, or infiltrate a major enemy stronghold, or save a battalion of Lenore’s army.
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In terms of casting, my reading of Lacer’s spscialty is that he is an extremely flexible generalist and uses that to his advantage in a similar style to Siobhan’s, leaning into his abilities as a powerful free caster.
We’ve seen that in his hands, wben you can put it anywhere, nearly instantly, a projected thin wire or a relatively low-powered slicing spell can be incredibly effective.
I think he’s sort of a swiss army knife of quick little effects more varied than anyone could ever practically carry the spell arrays for, with more power and quicker thinking compared to almost anyone else involved.
We also know that he once hunted a dragon with a team, which opened his eyes to the horror of the world, and I feel like that may have been part of the haze war somehow? It seems more likely to have been a Haze War thing than a Red Guard thing at least.
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… I don’t think she got that answer wrong
I just think that the crowns and University are not teaching his stuff as common knowledge, they were quickly and quite thoroughly shown that they are willing to not only withhold information, but lie.
That looks between munchface and Lacer said something.
But Grandfather wanted our girl to know anything and everything, all of the time, to question what she is told, and I have a feeling that Grandfather knew at least knew of Lacer reputation, and approved of him, and used him as a role model outside of himself.
In fact it would surprise me if Lacer knew more about the naught family line than I’ve gotten to. (She just got vomited on while showing how big her cahoones are to the WestBay heir in my listening)
Someone somewhere here (everything blends for me) that it’s confirmed that the army is “basically evil” siting mainly their use of taking advantage of teens and young adults, but all armies that uses a draft do this, or have done that…
But I bring that up because Eliza says that they trained her but wanted control of her after and, again, my audible skills are a bit lacking, but it feels like she told them to f off.
However, lacer chose to stay because it gave him more access to the actual source of information.
Why can this guy read a language with ease of a culture that is all but dead? I doubt that’s the only one he knows.
I think he’s like Eliza, but knows how to toe the line just enough to stay and have access to the best information