Introduction and Questions

[diadactic.livejournal.com]

Hi, all. I'm a pedantic diabetic, hence the username, and I've been a fan of the Attolia series for a number of years.   I reread the series probably twice a year. I was wondering if there would be a fourth book, and if so, when, which is how I stumbled upon this group. I enjoyed reading the short story that was printed in the Disney magazine; I hadn't known it existed. I liked some of the questions, too. Here are some questions for you:

1. Has anybody made a map of Attolia, Sounis, Eddis, and their islands that I can see? Perhaps superimposed over a map of Greece?

2. I was looking at the pictures people drew and wondering, am I the only one who is picturing the characters as being brown skinned?

3.  What did Eugenides say to Dite in the garden?

4. Why doesn't Eugenides feel that Attolia will need a large guard to fight the Mede? Is the guard different from the army? Or is the army at its largest still way too small?

5. Why is this group called Sounis?

Comments

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

Welcome!
How did you find the books, and did you first read them in order?

[diadactic.livejournal.com]

I read Thief when I was in middle school sometime- 1999 is probably about right. I wasn't so sure I liked it, but it stuck in my head and I reread it and eventually decided I did. I read the Queen of Attolia next, and didn't like it at first either, on the grounds that it was a romance, but eventually changed my mind (also warmed up to romances generally). I was waiting and read the Kind of Attolia as soon as it came out.

As to how I found The Thief, I read through pretty much everything my library had to offer while I was in middle school. I have been a volunteer since 1999 and have read close to half of the books in the children's department - and it's a large regional library. Before I got brain damage a couple of years ago, I could read a book like The Thief in about half an hour, and Queen of Attolia and King of Attolia in perhaps an hour. I do believe that I listened to one of them as a book on tape at some point, although I could be wrong. I worked in the audiovisual department of the library from 2003-2005, and listened to anything they had that I had previously read, so that I could hear them as bedtime stories and not be missing anything if I fell asleep towards the end of a tape.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

1. There was one on the Wikipedia article, I think, but IMHO it was absolutely wrong. Other than that, I don't think so?

2. No! Especially as Eugenides (and, I think, all the Eddisians) is supposed to be dark-skinned. (Attolia, on the other hand, is so pale as to be translucent. :-b)

3. Uh uh uh it has been too long since I read these books.

4. The Queen's Guard is supposed to guard the queen's person and her palace, I think. Whereas her army goes out and fights in the war. I think the guard ranks above the army. And she won't need a large guard--I think what it was is that the guard was a) loyal to her, not their king [not a bad thing in the beginning, but problematic as he assumes control--"guard me, and I shall keep her safe") and b) too large to have that many people close to her at once. "Close," yes, but that's still a really huge group of soldiers sitting around in the palace, and even if half of them decide to revolt...

again, it's been a while. but I seem to recall that being why.

[coyul.livejournal.com]

1. I think I've seen some maps posted to this community, but I have no idea how long ago or what they were tagged. They were simpler maps, none superimposed on anything.

3. I assume he told him basically what Irene told Relius later about them crying and her throwing stuff at him.

5. Apparently Sounis is a member of fandom and writes fanfic about him being awesome.

Even numbers are overrated.

[twtd]

3. I don't think anyone knows.

4. The guard was there to protect the Queen (mainly from revolt) and as long as the guard existed in such large numbers it was really a symbol of Attoila's weakness. It may seem like a symbol of strength, all of those well trained soldiers and their shiny weapons but they're mainly there to protect Attolia from her own people, her own nobles, implying what the books state outright, that her claim on the throne is tenuous and maintained through various forms of force. Eugenidies is trying to replace all of that hard power with soft power so that they at least look more secure. I think his real goal is to actually make them more secure and not just present a facade but sometimes the appearance of a thing can bring about the reality, a kind of more complex fake it till you make it.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, there are a couple of good hand-drawn maps a couple of months back.

Yes, definately see them as much darker than most of the drawings here, but I don't draw. Particularly the Eddisians. I swear somewhere someone once said the author had compared them a bit to the Tibetans, but I'm not sure about that.

Endless speculation on that one. Perhaps something like - I know you love her, I love her too, I'm not in this to take advantage of her or to take advantage of your country. I'm not thrilled about the song, but hey, it's cool. And a warning, tell your brother to cut it out or it is going to go really badly for him. -

I think the guard is a personal guard and different from the army. He wants it to be too small to launch a coup from inside the palace.

No idea why it's sounis.

- ELM -

[diadactic.livejournal.com]

It notes that Eugenides alone of all of the Gods is dark like the Nubians. And since Nubians are known for being very very dark, that doesn't really tell us how dark anybody else is.

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

1. http://community.livejournal.com/sounis/213657.html?nc=36

2. Well, Eddisians are supposed to have darker skin than Attolians/Sounisians. (Right? Now I'm wondering if I'm mistaken...)

4. The Queen's Guard is not the entire army. They're just the sort of elite, key unit that stays at the palace to guard the Queen (and King. Or, shall we say, they watch the King's back, and the King keeps the Queen safe.;-) (Again, correct me if I'm mistaken)

5. Because thats where it all starts ;-). JK.... Ro or someone is gonna have to answer that.

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

And I clicked post on this before anyone else had replied, and then it took over an hour to load the page. Stupid lab computers...

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

I think the others have been covered, but here's my

3)I think he told Dite that Irene cried because she can't forgive herself for cutting off his hand. Assuming there are some bits in the song that make fun of Gen's onehandedness, this would hit home with Dite. I see Gen saying, "You can make fun of me all you want, but I can't let you mock her pain" -- and Dite being mortified.
But clearly, this is just my imagination, and you can make up the conversation for yourself.

5) I believe the official explanation was that two of the original members were called Queen of Attolia and Eddis -- leaving the name Sounis for the community. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[puppeteergirl.livejournal.com]

I agree with Philla on 3. I can see Dite realizing that his song was hurting the queen, and thinking better of Gen for pointing this out to him. Hence the kneeling and all.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the club. I only joined about 2 weeks ago myself.

(3) " 'I warned you,' said the king, in a level voice.
'Yes, Your Majesty.'
'And I told you to warn your brother.'
'I know, Your Majesty. I did warn him. Even though I didn't believe what you told me...' "

page 234-235 of "The King of Attolia"

For the most part, I assume Gen was warning Dite of the coming fall of the the house of Eurondite.

(4) A Royal Guard describes any group of military bodyguard, soldiers or retainers responsible for the protection of a royal person, such as a King or Queen. They are often an elite unit of the regular armed forces and may maintain special rights or privileges.

from Wikipedia

(5) Good question. I always thought the full name of this blog was Eddis, Attolia, Sounis; because that is what appears at the top of the main page. I assumed Sounis was a shortened version of the name, but
Farieydance certainly offers a more amusing explanation.

[tearoha.livejournal.com]

Welcome to Sounis! (aka: the comm with the strange title)

1. Rosalee got here first :D (That top map is missing at least one island, btw; the island of Solon)
There've also been quite a few other maps drawn, and some interesting discussions on geography in the books and mapping - try the 'maps' tag under 'search Sounis tags'. I love how, using the same sources, we all come up with very different theories.

2. I think it was clearly stated somewhere - whether in the books or somewhere else - that Eddisians are generally much darker than Attolians and maybe Sounisians as well. Remember Sounis and Attolia have both been invaded and assimilated their invaders at least once before, while Eddis has remained isolated, so it wouldn't be surprising if they were ethnically distinct. But, Gen looks enough like a Sounisian not to raise any suspicions in The Thief,and his friends in the Attack on Ephrata in QoA, so maybe not.
That said, I usually forget to imagine Eddisians as dark-skinned - Ethnocentrism strikes again.

5. I have a vague memory of seeing something, very early on in Sounis' history, about the name, but as far as I know our esteemed founder isn't around any more... Rowana would know.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Why the hell *is* it called Sounis? Seems like eddis, who started the comm, called it that but I don't know why.

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

*tsk*
such language!

*goes to ask Em to poke Ro, and get the story once again*

because I know Ro's explained it in chatzy a couple of times, but I can't remember the reasoning.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Ahem -- see above. This is what Ro told me once.

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

I think Ro has provided various explanations over time.

[thelasteddis.livejournal.com]

Welcome!!!

2) I imagine them as being mediterrainian, which would be sort of olive-skinned. Eddisians would probably have slightly darker skin, and Irene is very pale. Don't know if that's what you meant.

3) Phila sums this up nicely. And he told him to warn Sejanus, which I imagine as, "Yeah, and tell your brother that if he doesn't shut up, get smart, and stop trying to kill me I'm going to kick his sorry butt."

4) The guard would protect Attolia, not her country in general. So one would hope that there wouldn't be enough corruption in her court for the huge guard to be nesessary.

5) I actually didn't know this before - thanks for the explanations, all!

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

You can read the King of Sounis's own fanfic here:

http://community.livejournal.com/sounis/185233.html