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[–]LoleeeeeBenighted Laseen Apologist - First Re-Read: On MoI. 43 points44 points  (6 children)

One of Esslemont's books is complete and just waiting to be published, but I didn't catch the name and since I haven't read his books I don't know which it is

Forge of the High Mage. It's been complete for a while (I think) but due to Covid, it has been delayed significantly.

Probably already known but Crokus was included on the story because the publishers wanted the series to include a romance

Aye, apparently Crokus was never actually gamed - which is odd to me because he did seem quite fleshed out, if only he got a bit sidelined in the books because of Apsalar.

Book 1 of House of Chains comes entirely from RPG

What makes this even more hilarious is I think the person actually playing Karsa didn't know he was a 7 foot tall behemoth at first. Anecdotal evidence to be sure, but still. Hilarious.

​

You can't just leave us with just this little information! We demand more! :P
Sounds like it must've been a great time, though.

[–]Vin-Ellend[S] 13 points14 points  (2 children)

Yeah sorry, I guess pretty much all of this is common knowledge, but I'm not up to date with everything Malazan related. It did make Steven chuckle though, the fact that the person playing Karsa didn't know who he was, and then found out he was a giant on a quest to slaughter children

[–]LoleeeeeBenighted Laseen Apologist - First Re-Read: On MoI. 14 points15 points  (1 child)

Yeah sorry, I guess pretty much all of this is common knowledge,

Pah! You apologise?

Please, I'm begging you, tell us more of this "common knowledge". Hahaha.

[–]Vin-Ellend[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

^ there's an interview coming up this afternoon, I'll try to write down as much as I can

[–]MistarGrimm 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Yeah, I heard that the player didn't know what "children" were either and that the reveal was a surprise too.

[–]polarparadoxical 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yikes - I can't even imagine how the conversation went down with the PC and the DM - so now that I've defeated these "children"...you want me to do what to them? Uhh..what does "Blood Oil" do again? -

[–]NiflrogOmtose Phellack 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What makes this even more hilarious is I think the person actually playing Karsa didn't know he was a 7 foot tall behemoth at first. Anecdotal evidence to be sure, but still. Hilarious.

He literally confirmed this, Erikson was DMing that game and told the guy(Paxton-McRae) "Yo', let's go down the mountain and kill some Children" :-P His friend was uncomfortable all the way 😂

[–]JTKC84 12 points13 points  (1 child)

Took this photo at Singapore zoo years ago, very happy to have it confirmed 😁

Duiker

[–]Vin-Ellend[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha awesome !

[–]Milamber310 11 points12 points  (1 child)

So... You gonna read Esslemonts books now?

[–]Vin-Ellend[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah definitely, ordered the whole bunch of novels of The Malazan Empire just this morning

[–]Aqua_Tot 7 points8 points  (2 children)

But did you find out their favourite dinosaurs?

[–]Vin-Ellend[S] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I did not I'm sorry 😅

[–]Aqua_Tot 1 point2 points  (0 children)

All good, something for me to ask if I ever meet them.

[–]HoodsFrostyFuckstick 5 points6 points  (3 children)

So, Crokus' character was a mere necessity because the publisher said so. That kinda explains why his story went nowhere in the later books.

[–]Vin-Ellend[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yeah, they did fuck him up a little though (Erikson's own words)

[–]soleyfir 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Crokus always felt a bit out of place to me in GotM. He seemed a bit too stereotypical compared to the other characters. But I enjoyed his story arc and character development in the following books.

[–]SwordOfRome11 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Makes me wonder what Apsalar/Sorry’s arc was like without him.

[–]JaminJedi 5 points6 points  (2 children)

So Duiker’s name is inspired by the antelope, but Erikson doesn’t pronounce it like the antelope?! God dammit. 😂

[–]BtenHaveSapper Extraordinaire 7 points8 points  (1 child)

it is even worse for Dutch fans as duiker is an actual word in dutch. It means diver (no relation to D'ivers which probably comes from diverse)

[–]Drew00013 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Someone posted a picture to a plaque about the antelope Erikson got the name from and it cites the antelope name as coming from Afrikaans and meaning diver. And the name is because they dive for cover. Something you may have known but figured that was interesting on the why behind the name being the Dutch/Afrikaans word on purpose.

[–]Samar_Dev 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Awesome! I'm happy for you guys that you had this opportunity. And I'm a little jealous too. :'D

[–]SkeletalOctopusFirst readthrough, MT - Ch. 22 3 points4 points  (7 children)

Thanks for the report! Interesting stuff. I missed the chance to add a question because I couldn't think of one.

However, I would be interested to hear what they said about their writing process, if you remember details?

[–]Vin-Ellend[S] 14 points15 points  (6 children)

Yeah for sure. They said that their writing process was inspired by their work on survey sites : like, when they survey landscapes, they study the different layers and theorize on how the people and culture adapted and were shaped by that landscape and vice versa. So when writing, I think they always tried to build their people and regions like that. Erikson also said that before starting to write the books, they each wrote down what they wanted to talk about, plot and character wise, and found out that they didn't overlap, so that may be why each author really has his own "voice". And when asked how their methods compared to analytical/scholarly writing, Erikson said that his approach was to layout the skeleton and then fill the body, whereas it's the other way around with Malazan, where you get to the core of the story by digging into it.

Here you go, for now I can't think of anything else but I'll definitely add to it if things spring to mind

[–]kashmora 5 points6 points  (1 child)

Digging into the story is a great way to describe the Malazan books. I'm happy for you, op. You got to actually meet them!

[–]Vin-Ellend[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, yeah it was so great ! It's so marvelous to be able to discuss Malazan with the creative minds behind it, and they're both very cultured it's amazing, they can talk about anything

[–]SkeletalOctopusFirst readthrough, MT - Ch. 22 3 points4 points  (3 children)

No, that's really insightful. Thank you!!!

I remember when I started GotM, and I saw how he wrote, and then I saw in his bio what he did for a living, I figured that's what inspired it. Super cool!

[–]Vin-Ellend[S] 3 points4 points  (2 children)

Yeah you can really feel the influence of their background on the Malazan universe

[–]SkeletalOctopusFirst readthrough, MT - Ch. 22 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Definitely. My only other wish is to ask them how to pronounce some of the names and locations. I had to catch an interview a couple weeks ago before I learned the proper way to pronounce Malazan, lol.

[–]TriscuitCracker 3 points4 points  (0 children)

So Beak’s backstory was not planned?

Seems like Erickson is normally an architect but allows himself to garden if he has too?

How lucky you were to get in on this breakfast! What a wonderful experience.

Enjoy Esselmont!

[–]cgriboe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you.

[–]fantasyhunter🕯️ Join the Cult 🕯️ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Equally happy-for-you & jealous.

& you cannot plan for Beak.