From the AWoM Page:

quote:

Nita finds herself facing a completely unexpected enemy that she can't conquer without giving up everything that matters to her. And if she does, she risks becoming far less than human. Or far more...

Do you think this is the Pyrdexium (humor the spelling, I don't have my book with me. A correction would be appreciated), and Nita becoming more than she might otherwise?

I realize I'm already speculating on the next book, but seriously....what do you think?

Peridexis.
Hmmm. Dairine started out with the manual in her mind, but it seems she doesn't have it any more. It'd be odd if Nita became the manual in a more permanent way.

There's a couple of "teasers" from past chats:
From the April chat:
Peter Murray DD: Nita's rating seems to increase from book to book instead of decreasing. This seems odd.
Diane Duane PM -- You know, there might be a reason.
Diane Duane (eyes ceiling, whistles innocently)
Diane Duane no guarantees.
Vidur Nita's rating should decrease shouldn't it? She's getting older
Diane Duane Vidur -- Normally that would be true.
Diane Duane Believe me...there are reasons for all these things.
Diane Duane And trust me to have them be ones that won't be immediately obvious.

From the July chat:
nitafan211 i always thoguht it would desengrate or whatever.
nitafan211 When a wizard dies.
Diane Duane Oh no...the wizard's own copy probably just vanishes.
Diane Duane Assuming they're still using a manual. Or they ever were to begin with.
kli6 Why wouldn't they still be using a manual?
Diane Duane Some people change formats in midstream. Nita may do something like that after W@W.
nitafan211 Well in AWA she was starting to get 'the knowledge' or whatever it was that Irish wizards use
Diane Duane Nita -- True. I think we may see some more changes from her.

*meeps*

I liked the peridexis- it was a neat new voice in the series. And I kinda liked its sense of humor.

Bad PM, tantalizing us with that! *twitches* now I really can't wait for AWoM.

I was thinking If Darrly is used to get wizardry into the world would the manual or could the manual do a simular thing? I mean could it use Nita as a way into the world?
Fox

Where are the pre-views to WoM?

Drea- good idea! The Peridexis seems innocent enough at this point, but there's no saying whether or not it will stay that way. Nita's power levels going up may be related to the Peridexis.Maybe it was...sitting in Nita, waiting for a good time to come out. In AWoM, you would figure that everyone's power levels will go back to normal. Maybe Nita's don't...maybe she will "keep" the power boost.

Does anyone know what the backlash of Nita's using the Binding Oath on the Lone One was? Did it happen between WH and W@W or are we still waiting to see it? If we are, it could have something to do with Nita's "change" in the next book. Also, I'm not sure of the page, but wasn't there a mention of Nita's preparing to use the Binding Oath in W@W? She thought something along the lines of: I never wanted to use this again...or something like that. The only thing I could think of that fit that description was the Binding Oath, but in WH it repeatedly says that the Binding Oath can only be performed once in a lifetime.

What is that about?

The only thing I can think of that Nita didn't want to do in WAW is her decision on page 299 that the only solution she has to the Tawalf problem is to use her life's energies to power a last spell to get rid of them all, and give Sker'ret an opportunity to keep the Lone Power from getting the Crossings.

Wait- life energies- that sounds familiar-
Is that like the spell she used on teh gimbal in HW?

I love that peridexis effect. It's just so cool...

Yeah, I think Nita is an awkward case (but thats more than obvious by now...) As time progresses she gets more powerfull and has less needs for common wizardly items, like the Manual. In the beginning, Nita used and needed the manual for every single thing she did. Even by the time of Abroad she was always studying it... but now, she brings it with her, but did she even pick up more than once in the entire W@W?? (I never really noticed, so I may be wrong here...)

Just looking at this...I can't wait for aWoM!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: kaiba4ever,

Nita was studing the maual becuase she realised that she had little of the speach knowlege, she is trying to make her spells safer by learning the language. Maybe by doing this she is becomeing so good at it that she can word her spells so she does not need as much hardwere, and dont forget she has alot of spells already nearly completed on her lovly charm braclet!!
Fox

In reply to Caitlin, my impression was that in HW Nita ran out of raw power to use to block the direct attack spells the Isolate was using against them, so she had to burn up some of her life essense to power the spell. In W@W, the spell she was going to use would have allowed a Power to intervene through her dircectly against the Tawalf, burning her life energy but much more efficently (through the calculated knowledge and foresight of a Power) than if she had done it alone.

(My first post, let me know what you guys think )

That was a very very good and well thought out first post!!! Welcome to the site Isarian, I'm Fox and have been here somewhere in the region of two years. You will love it here and PM is the guy to go to if you have problems! I think he has some sort of power as he alwasy to seems to be everywhere at once .
see ya around
Fox

Kaiba: The reason she didn't have to use the manual was because the Peridexis was feeding her all the spell diagrams. Kinda like she knew them by heart already or something

Fox: I thought she was studying it because she couldn't understand what the Robot version of Darryl was saying...?

Well...I don't think Nita or Kit would keep the power boost for long, since Tom and Carl got their power back, didn't they? And the power boost was from the wizards past latency who lost their wizardry for a little while.
I think maybe the peridexis effect was from having a large amount of power, and maybe it let the peridexis be heard more clearly, or the user needed a bit more control, which was what the peridexis was for.
Do you think the manual is the peridexis? Which is how it knows all the spells and information? It did say somewhere in one of the other books that the manual updated itself according to it's own needs as well as the wizard's, so maybe that suggests that the manual is conscious in a similar way the peridexis is?

In reply to Traveller:

When the senior wizards lost their power, the pre-latency wizards recieved a large boost of power. It would seem to follow that after the removal of the pullulus, power would be redistributed as it was prior to this event. However, there are a few things to consider.

1) Nita seems to have been the only person to have heard the peridexis. This may well indicate that she is a step ahead of the other wizards her age in wizardly development, and will continue to communicate with the peridexis, and maybe even continue to have heightened energy levels.
2) I've read in another post that Nita's power levels have been going up, not down as expected, in the last few novels - a trend which has lasted much longer than just the duration of the pullulus issue.
3)In W@W, the Peridexis identifies itself as wizardry itself, so it cannot be a version of the manual as the manual itself is not wizardry. The Peridexis' knowledge of spells would seem to stem from the fact that a conscious manifestation of wizardry would know best how to use the Speech to obtain desired results.

My thought is that Nita, at the very least, is going to be taking on larger-than-normal responsibilities in the future. We have yet to see what wizardry is like to a Senior, but I would expect that Nita is right in W@W - being a Senior involves having access to as much power as you need, at the expense of more responsibility and a higher self-imposed danger level due to the possibility of burning yourself out. Perhaps that is the path she is headed on, but looking at the blurb for AWoM, I anticipate her heading to much greater challenges and levels of power.

I think the Peridex effect is pretty cool

(maybe its like a sign that she'll be a "Senior" one day, I mean if they lost the Senior status after W@W)

I was just thinking, Nita was thinking how the senior's managed the amount of information etc required of them. Maybe this Peridexis is how seniors manage? I think Nita is getting ready for an Upgrade? I know I would like to see Tom and Carl promoted!!

And as I said before, would Wizardary like the Powers need to enbody someone every now and again??
Fox

That would make a lot of sense, the Seniors using the Peridexis for their actual wizardry - and it would be similar to the way Dairine uses Spot, in a way. We've seen Dairine have Spot hold spell diagrams for her so she doesn't have to waste precious memory keeping track of them, needing that memory for other high-priority tasks. The seniors could have the Peridexis as a more active version of the manual, and have their regular manuals as reference in the case of complex multi-wizard spellings (such as the forging of the spear Luin in AWAB).

Tom and Carl for Planetaries!!!

Peredexis: Rocks. Yes, I agree, it's like Spot or any different sort of manual... but this is special. It's like the being of wizardry. Wait, scratch that. it IS the being of wizardry! If that makes any sort of sense. I really like that touch, though. Nita seems to be gowing from plants to all mental things. Like first the lucid dreaming and then the peredexis. Is this (the peredexis) a sort of being, like Ronan's Power? And how long is this peredexis going to inhabit Nita?
(Oh yes, on a bit of a gushier note, I've named my laptop "Peredexis." I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself.)
Finally, are there any forums for the Talwalf (sp?) scene on here? I'd love to throw in my two cents. Or a nickel. Or a dime. As long as I don't get it on anyone's living room floor, I'm good!

I absolutely have to express my complete and undying love for your avatar, Alethia - as well as your name. His Dark Materials Go go Lyra! You do that alethiometer thing! LOL

Thank you, and Dai stitho!
I actually belong to an HDM website for... wait... I have a feeling that I'm going to get into trouble if I put up and linkages... *Shifty eyes*
Err... anyways, thanks!