Formenos
Katlinel the Dark-eyed
Of the many extraordinary characters in The Saga of the Pliocene Exiles, one of my favourites is Katlinel the Dark-eyed.
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She is such an inclusive, compassionate person. Someone who sees past ones skin, deep into the soul, to like and love the mind behind the body. And we don't get to hear anywhere near as much of her as I would have liked.
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She was a member of the Tanu High Table, abate the most junior member, a Hybrid and a key player in the Peace Faction, and she is critical in the timeline, in redeeming the whole of the Howler people under Sugoll, and therefore in ensuring Aiken's victory over the Firvulag...
OK that last bit may be pushing things a bit, but only a little.
So, who was she...? I've broken this into three questions, the answers to which, I hope will crystallise who she was, what she stood for, and why she is so cool!
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Who was Katlinel the Dark-eyed?
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What were Katlinel's metapsychic powers?
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Was she really a potential candidate for ruler of the Tanu?
I am sure there are others, probably more interesting and insightful, but these are mine, for the time being.
Who was Katlinel the Dark-eyed?
Katlinel was the hybrid daughter of Leyr the Brave, former Lord Coercer and head of the Guild of Coercers.
She must have been at least 27 years old by the time of the passage of Group Green into Exile, and that is only the case if she was conceived right before the arrival of the Rebels, led by Marc Remillard. The rebels arrival resulted in Leyr's unfortunate and significant injuries during the ill-fated Tanu attempt to exterminate the rebels. These injuries were a significant contributing factor to Leyr's subsequent defeat by Gomnol for the leadership of the Coercer Guild (although this defeat was probably inevitable as Gomnol was a very tough Coercer).
Had Katlinel been born shortly before these events, I suppose it is not inconceivable that Leyr would have been able to build a relationship with Katlinel at a distance. Leyr dwelt with Minanonn, and those others who had publicly given up on the Battle-religion living in the Pyrenees, and they could easily have been aided in such relationship building by other members of the Peace Faction, both in the Catalan Wilderness and in Muriah, such as Dionket, Mayvar, Creyn, etc.
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I certainly don't see her being conceived after Leyr's exile, in some sort of secret liaison with one of Leyr’s favoured human concubines (or whatever). Katlinel would, I am sure, have suffered considerable prejudice, more than a normal hybrid, if this were the case, and she couldn't have hoped to rise to the High Table. So, she just must have been conceived prior to the arrival of the Rebels in 2083 AD Milieu time, while Leyr was in post, making her at least 27 years old.
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​She is a very confident and compassionate individual, but prepared to make firm, definitive and quick decisions when the path is laid out clearly for her. Because of this I would probably place her a little older than this minimum age, and probably in her late 30's. This would have given her up to ten years, maybe, with her father before his exile, to have built a really strong relationship.
Given the possibility of excessive prejudice against her as the daughter of an exiled former Guild Lord, it may even have been the case that she had established herself as a very promising Creator well before Leyr's exile, meaning she might be as old as her late 40s. So, I think we are dealing with a potential 20 year age band, from 27 to 49, but I favour at least a very late 30s age, and would be happy with anything up to a late 40s. Of course, having Tanu genes, she would look like a late teenager, early 20s, either way. Lucky lady!
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One of the most exciting and telling character traits she posses, IMO, is her capacity and willingness to challenge even the highest and mightiest in Tanu society with, seemingly, blasphemous attitudes. As she displays when all the Great Ones of Tanu society (except those on the Delbaeth Quest) meet to mourn the passing of Tasha-Bybar. In this conversation Katlinel basically openly challenges all present, including a number of Host members, such as Kuhal, Imidol, Culluket, Riganone and Nontusvel herself, to put up or shut up about the possible conclusions of Bryan's report about the impact of humanity on Tanu society, and what it might mean for Hybrids. And also she is perfectly happy to accept a guilty plea for being someone who has Peace Faction sympathies. Given the company she was in at the time, this girl has balls of steel, and is unafraid of facing up to some of the most powerful in Tanu society, both politically and metapsychically, without risk of fear or favour. And without the benefit of having a father as the head of a Guild.
What were Katlinel's metapsychic powers?
There really isn't much to go on in evaluating Katlinel's level of power, and most of what there is in a bit anecdotal and needs a lot assumptions to iron out. But it is important to note that in a world where mental prowess was the key, indeed the only factor that determined one's place in society, the fact that she has reach the heights she has, for one so young, that she had achieved the High Table, speaks volumes.
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Katlinel was Second Creator, under the leadership of old Aluteyn, a position which she lost, when Mercy named Velteyn as Second Creator after Mercy beat Aluteyn for the Guild leadership. But Mercy's appointment of Velteyn was clearly a political move to benefit The Host, and had nothing to do with Velteyn's actual creative power, powerful though he may have been. So, Katlinel's displacement as Second Creator cannot be considered a reflection on her personal Creative power, and how it measured up to other Tanu.
Katlinel's original placement as Second Creator may have been Aluteyn's softer side getting the better of him, and as a favour to Leyr, but there is no evidence of that, so given she was a hybrid (and therefore subject to prejudice amongst Tanu purebloods and would therefore have found it harder to gain positions of rank), I think her position as Second Creator shows that she probably had creative reserves that may have been unmatched by any other Tanu, hybrid or human, before the arrival of Mercy. I am not suggesting Katlinel was a match for Mercy, but I don't think it is unreasonable to place her above Aluteyn, but uninterested, at least at that time, in advancing any more.
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She was listed as a teacher of Aiken, along with Bleyn and Alberonn, and in the same breath, Mayvar gives her a title of the "Mistress of Illusion". Neither Bleyn or Alberonn have such added honourifics like Katlinel, so this does suggest that she is seen in a slightly different light. But she says of herself "...I sit at the High Table in the very lowest chair, being the least among the Tanu Great Ones." But I really do think she is just being a bit self-deprecating here. She is, at this point, the newest member of the High Table, still young, and her political position is not a reflection on her actual degree of power.
It is interesting, however, that she was unable to passively penetrate Sugoll's illusionary body when they first met, mistaking him for a Tanu Lord. But Sugoll was the greatest of the Howlers in all manners, and that means he himself must have been a very powerful creator. Not Pallol One-Eye levels of creativity, and maybe not even at Sharn-Mes or Ayfa levels of power (we just don't know), but I think he would have been close. So, maybe Katlinel's inability to passively penetrate Sugoll's illusion should be no surprise.
And Sugoll does remark, in that initial conversation, that Katlinel is "...one of rare power." when commenting on her creative power. Maybe Sugoll was just flattering her, but I think not. Plus, given her other positive social and mental characteristics, I think it quite possible that Katlinel was the kind of person who simply would not intrude on another's privacy, and purposefully supressed her Creative insights, unless given permission.
Personally, I think Katlinel's Creativity was of Guild President quality and level, and had the Saga and the travellers who had the most impact on the Tanu world not arrived (Mercy, Felice, Aiken, etc.), then Katlinel would have been a shoe in for Creative Guild President when Aluteyn finally gave up the ghost, or possibly retired.
There is actually more direct evidence on Katlinel's Farsening power than her Creativity, as during the great Howler Migration, she uses her farsight to help guide the Howlers through the underground rivers until they emerge somewhere west of Lake Constance. It is described as being "limited underground", but whose wasn't? She was among Firvulag, are described in A Pliocene Companion:
"They were strongest in farsensing and creativity and were fair coercers; but redaction and psychokinesis were very rare among them."
So, she was among a people known for having significant farsensing power, and yet it was she who helped them navigate their way through the tunnels. Once out of the tunnels, again it was Katlinel who discerned the course of the river, and not any of the Howlers. This must speak highly to her power as a Farsensor, to be better than, if not all, then the vast majority, of the 9000 Howlers who were part of the migration. One would expect that in the presence on 9000 Firvulag (I think it irrelevant they were Howlers), that there might have been one who would have sufficient Farsensing power to do better than the single Tanu/Human Hybrid present. With this in mind, her Farsensing, I believe, must have been pretty damn potent.
Redaction is also remarked upon, and there are comments to suggest she is no slouch with it. When Sharn and Ayfa intercept the Howler Migration, before it can arrive at High Vrazel, after the party, mad Greggy says:
"...And you, my dear, with your redactive faculty, must have known the truth almost at once."
This "truth" being that Sharn, Ayfa and their "trusted" attendees from the normal Firvulag side, intended to keep from all the Howlers present, that there was no way any of the 1200 or so Howler brides were going to get chosen by any normal Firvulag in the next Grand Loving celebration at Nionel. Sharn and Ayfa were advised by Fitharn Pegleg to only allow "trusted" High Vrazel Firvulag to attend the interception party. This must have meant only those who could keep a lid on their minds and were half decent mind shielders, were allowed to be present, to prevent the Howlers from knowing the "truth".
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And yet Greggy believe that with her Redaction, Katlinel would have known the truth pretty much immediately. Which she confirmed. So her Redaction must have been of sufficient power to easily penetrate the minds of at least some of the high powered Firvulag in attendance. Whether passively picking up on it or actively looking we do not know. If she was actively looking, and the Firvulag noticed, it would not have gone down well, and there is no indication in subsequent private conversations between Sharn and Ayfa that such an attempt by Katlinel was made. Which means the fall back positions are either, Katlinel had sufficient Redactive power to lift the knowledge from the minds of the Firvulag without them knowing, or Katlinel's passive redactive (and possibly Farsensing) ability was able to pick up and glean the plans and purpose of the Firvulag in attendance without any active investigation on Katlinel's part. What sort of Redactive power is necessary for this is difficult to say, but I do think this points to a possibly significant degree of power in Redaction, whether it is the former or the latter situation.
The only other power that Katlinel actively uses is her PK, when on the last day of the Grand Tourney (at the end of the Saga), Katlinel, Sugoll and the Howlers lift the titanic ball into the air for the final game. As stated above, the Firvulag have next to no Redaction or PK. So, was this another meta-power that Katlinel led them in the application of, and contributed the lion's share of the power? The ball is described as "titanic" and "heavy" and landed with a "Crash!", so it wasn't small.
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Bleyn the Champion, as PK specialist, could lift eight times his weight. I have done a lot of research in the realistic height and weight for the roleplaying games I play. If we assume Bleyn is around 7' (213cm) tall, and we know he had the standard herculean physique, then a weight of 300lbs (136kgs) is not unreasonable. That means on a standard day, he could lift 2400lbs/1090kgs (Alberonn could do half that). Over a metric tonne! I don't think Katlinel was anywhere near to this level in PK, but this does show what it takes to reach the High Table with ones meta-power speciality.
Just as an interesting diversion, the other specific examples of what PK could lift are Nodonn, would could lift 50 knights on chaliko-back, Sullivan-Tonn could lift 40 (I think), Velteyn who could lift around 22 (during the battle of Finiah), and of course Aiken's disgraceful PK could lift 900 knights (and 26 flyers). A medieval knight on warhorse-back, with armour and weapons, etc, might have weighed around 2000lbs/909kgs. But a chaliko itself weighed around 3300lbs/1500kgs. Add to this a 250lb/113kg knight and add about a addition 30% of the knights weight for arms and armour, we have a total weight, per knight of around 3625lbs/1648kgs. Well over 1.5tonnes per knight, this means the examples of PK we have show the following lifting capacities:
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Aiken: 1,482 tonnes (+ 26 flyers...)
Nodonn: 82 tonnes
Tonn: 66 tonnes
Velteyn: 25 tonnes
Bleyn: 1 tonne
Alberonn: 0.5 tonne
Anyway, back to Katlinel. I don't suppose her PK would have been any better than Alberonn's, if even that great, so let's put her at half a tonne, max. She can still pack a PK punch.
The only meta-power for which we have pretty much zero evidence of capability (inferred or otherwise) is her coercian. Yes, she was the daughter of a Lord Coercer, but a father's or mother's meta-powers are not necessarily a great guide to the powers one might gain oneself. So, it is very difficult to draw any conclusions about this meta-power, other than an unsatisfactory assumption that she had some, given her heritage.
If I were to try and quantify her powers using some kind of logical, if somewhat simple, terminology, i.e.:
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Insignificant
Low
Average
High
Great One
Guild President
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Then from what we actually know about what she has exhibited, then I would say the following:
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Coercian: Average (nothing to go on)
Creativity: Guild President
Farsensing: High, possibly Great One
Psychokenesis: Average
Redaction: High, possibly Great One
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And of course within each band used, there would be considerable variation.
Was she really a potential candidate for ruler of the Tanu?
In short, and with regret, I would say no.
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I just don't think she really exhibits the necessary broad spectrum of powers at the necessary levels, like Aiken or Nodonn, even if she is probably operant in all five metafaculties. There is just so little to go on. I am not talking about the degree of power, although that is clearly very important. But to my mind, she just doesn't show a significant amount of power, and even the power she is big in, it can only be inferred how good she is, because of the lack of demonstrative evidence in the Saga.
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Nevertheless, she was still a Queen, still a character I love, and I wish Julian had written more about her. And even if she didn't have the watts of characters like Aiken, Marc, Elizabeth, some of the Grandmaster rebels, Mercy, Nodonn etc, she has other characteristics (as a few others do too), such as compassion, curiosity, empathy, ethics, etc. Which for me, are much more pleasing to contemplate.
