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2018 Reader Questions 54

2018 Reader Questions 54 published on 17 Comments on 2018 Reader Questions 54

If you for some reason made a medallion for a regular-ass wolf and somehow got it to use it correctly and become human, you would have a person that can’t speak and probably couldn’t stand upright and would be really confused because it is a regular-ass wolf and not a sapient creature.

Why are there so many sapient creatures in the Skin Deep world??? idk probably magic

17 Comments

How does a sapient mythical prove they are sapient if they can’t talk in full form?

There are many ways to at least try to prove you’re sapient. Charades, modified sign language, Morse code, sharing a language humans can’t speak with another type of mythic that can speak human, general displays of problem solving ability… I mean, there are actually animal testing regulations that protect octopuses more than any other invertebrate because we’re so sure that they’re intelligent creatures.

If they’re smart enough they may not *WANT* to let on that they’re sapient; I’ve wondered about my cats for years.

Reminds me of a short story I read many years ago. This woman was giving her dog belly rubs, when she found something that felt like a zipper. So she pulled it, and this dwarf wearing a loincloth pops out. “Okay, lady, you broke the rules, no more pet dog for you. Thanks for the dog biscuits, though. They’re pretty good, except for the green ones that taste like soap.” And he walks out the door, and she never sees him again.

Then she looks up at her cat, which is sitting on top of the TV set, licking itself. And it looks back at her, and says “Hey, don’t look at me, I told him that zipper was too damn big!”

On the subject of recognizing sapience, I strongly recommend the classic SF novel “Little Fuzzy” by H. Beam Piper. Your arguments sound a lot like the talk-and-build-a-fire rule established in the backstory to prevent new atrocities in dealing with alien species. Then they encounter a new species that doesn’t talk detectably, and eats their food raw…

Aside from any weighty issues, it’s a fun read.

We know that a damaged, but still mostly functional medallion stays attached to its currently bonded owner (as is Greg’s situation) and thereby prevents them from bonding a fresh medallion.

If a person’s personal medallion is destroyed, can they ever get a new one? Is it possible to share a medallion? Can someone only bond a medallion if the previous owner has died? Can they pass on their medallion to another and live the rest of their life in their true form?

Some of these questions have been answered.

“If a person’s personal medallion is destroyed, can they ever get a new one?” – This is one that has not been answered. Probably not, but it wasn’t deliberately damaged (by the wearer anyway), and it wasn’t voluntarily surrendered. So until Kory says otherwise, my answer is “Maybe?”

“Is it possible to share a medallion?” – This also hasn’t been specifically answered, but my guess is “No”.

“Can someone only bond a medallion if the previous owner has died?” – This one has been answered. The previous owner can voluntarily surrender it, and then someone else can use it, but the previous owner can never bond to another medallion.

“Can they pass on their medallion to another and live the rest of their life in their true form?” – See my previous answer.

Now, that does beg the question, if they surrender their medallion to another, do they return to their true form, or do they continue to live in whatever form they were wearing before they gave up their medallion? Although I’m going to say they probably do return to their true form, since the medallion is not shapeshifting magic; it’s a very complex “tactile illusion”, for lack of a better term.

On the last point, I don’t think they would return to their full form, but rather, they would remain in whatever form they were in, when they voluntarily surrender their medallion.

In Orientations chapters 2 and 3, Greg says nothing about his grandfather having changed form, after giving up his Medallion, on his deathbed. Only that he died after giving Greg the Medallion, and without telling Greg anything about it.

However, there’s a further complication. How Medallion revocation is used by the Nemean Lions, as a punishment. In that circumstance, I think being involuntarily made to give up a Medallion, even temporarily, does form lock the user in full form, for the duration of being unable to access the Medallion.

“Can someone only bond a medallion if the previous owner has died?” has only been half answered. it’s only been answered for when a user gives up their Medallion voluntarily before dieing.
What happens when a Medallion is NOT voluntarily given up before its user dies?

I suspect that death overrides the volition issue. If a mytholo is involuntarily separated from his medallion (say, by the elders), it remains bonded to him as long as he’s alive. After he dies, it reverts to availability.

Another hypothetical question just occurred to me: if the medallion is taken and tossed (untagged) in with a bunch of medallions of the same type, will he know his own medallion, or will he have to paw through them until he finds it?

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