Is free will a reality, or a figment of our imaginations?

Diana says it’s “nefarious”. I agree! The masses are unconsciously being influenced by a powerful few, in “Catling’s Bane”.

Resa – I figured you came up with “influencers” before the term became a big deal. I can understand it ticks you off that it has become such an over used term, but in my mind it makes you somewhat prophetic. That is very cool.

Diana – Oh, the tattoo is gorgeous, and I love the photo with the slanted sunlight through your window.  How artsy and gorgeous. 

Resa – Yay! I believe it is correct to say no Luminescence tattoos means no power of Influence?

Diana – Yes, that’s correct, mostly.  Tattooing is how luminescence enters the bodies of the influencers. and the tattoos are designed to precisely measure and inject the different colors/powers.

But that’s not the only way luminescence can enter a body. Catling’s initial strange power to block influence enters when her mother attempts to scrape the birthmark off her face and her pain is smoothed with river water.  Raker gains his version of influence when an enforcer gouges out his eye and he falls in the river. 

Diana- It’s perfect!  That’s just how I saw her, hair and all. I always saw her as a wispy little girl, and you captured that impression well. And fabulous job on the eye.  A birthmark that looks like a rose (sort of) is a tough draw. 

 Because of her eye, I was never able to find a good image of her when I was writing. So she stayed mostly in my head.  I like those pretty fairy lips. It’s lovely to see her come to life.

Resa – Catling has begun studying under Vianne. She is about 13 1/2. Taking bits from the book, this drawing happened. A pink jacket is mentioned earlier, boots later on. She is all prim and proper, pearl buttons and tatted lace on a white blouse.

However, some tendrils have escaped her braid, which is spread on top of her head. There is an incident with Kadan bullying Catling. Vianne comments on Catling looking disheveled.

Resa – This one is just before the tattooing. She is 15 going on 16. I grew her up. She’s been through a lot.

A red flared waist jacket is scripted around that time. Red is a good grow up from pink. This is just before her head gets shaved.  Here she has taken her braid down. I wanted to show the passing of time by how much her locks had grown. 

Diana -The drawings are wonderful. And I can see how you “grew Catling up.” I love the choices – the pink and red, and the braid up earlier and down later. It’s super fun to see how you interpret the character and her appearance (like a costume designer for a show!).

A major player in this book is Vianne. She is one of the most important “influencers”.

Resa – Why did you choose whites & pearls  for Vianne’s palette?. I saw icy blue under her jacket mentioned, but it only serves to accentuate the whites.

Resa –  Could she have any Farlander blood in her ancestry?

Diana – No, she wouldn’t. The inhabitants of the cities are human, the descendants of colonists who came to this planet so long ago that they’ve forgotten most of their history, replacing it with a myth about the founders. 

The original people of the planet, the Farlanders, are still around – relegated to the swamps and the far north. They are humanoid but taller and longer-limbed, and they have patterns of green spots on their skin related to the luminescence. 

There is a Princess, Lelaine,  in the story. Introduced late in this first book of “The Rose Shield” series, not much is known. She is 17, and from what I took away has some royal smarts.

Resa – I began with an at home daytime outfit.

Diana- That’s perfect for Lelaine, Resa. I always pictured her as a fairytale princess without the fairytale life. It’s quite a tragic tale in the end.  You captured her beauty, youth, and worldly poise.

Resa – Here’s Lelaine in a horse riding outfit. In the book, the king is in a blue robe, so I’ve made blue the royal colour.

Diana – And Lelaine in her riding attire is perfect. I’m looking forward to seeing her in her formal gown.

Resa – Here’s her all out princess ball gown.

Diana- And Lelaine looks like the princess she is, so … perfect!  

As they are a key to the power, I’m most curious about the tattoos of the “Influencers”, and want to know more.

Resa – Are the tattoos are luminescent?

Diana – Oooh, good question. Though the colors used to create the Influencer tattoos are distilled from the world’s bioluminescence, I never pictured the tattoos as glowing. That said, they aren’t the flat colors of modern-day ink, and they don’t fade or become muted over time. I see them as quite vibrant.

Resa – Knives, needles and mallets are used to carve and etch the skin? Are the mallets for driving in the needles? Or is the mallet for pounding to soften lines?

Diana – Yes. I did some research into ancient/primitive tattoo methods, which are still in use in many parts of the world today. Knives, needles, and mallets are all part of the process. Aside from the pain of the cuts and punctures, she has to deal with the emotional impact of each color of luminescence.

The mallets are used for driving in multiple needles at a time. In these cases, the needles are set into various sizes of wooden blocks or paddles, sort of like a wire scrub brush. With one whack of the mallet, multiple needles penetrate the skin. It’s a lot faster than one stab at a time.

Resa – The colours are absorbed into the cuts and etchings by the coloured luminescent baths? (A sort of tie dye type of tattooing?) 

Diana – Yes, exactly.  One color is absorbed at a time and in a specific sequence.

Resa – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet are the colours of the luminescence. These are the colours of the spectrum, minus indigo. Did you do this on purpose?

Diana –  Well, I wanted to limit the colors to six!  One had to go, and indigo was nixed. The six remaining colors represent the six motivators that in various combinations account for human behaviour: Love, fear, pain, pleasure, death, and life. So yes, in a way this was purposeful.

The tattoos are beautiful and fanciful, but they needn’t be. The design is based on the artistry of the needler. Since each color represents a base emotion and is part of the world’s power system, they’re distinct/separate when applied to an influencer’s body. When the tattoos are healed, the influencer can use each color/emotion individually to bend another person’s emotions, or they can blend them to get a unique emotional response. Blending is part of the influencer’s training, and Catling will learn those skills in Book 2.

 Resa -“Woad” … Am I right in thinking you use this word for “Tattoo”?

Diana – Woad, the way I use it, is more based on the fantasy (quasi-Celtic) tradition of painting, drawing (or tattooing, in this case) magical symbols. Woads might be symbolic, but more often they were thought to carry a magical property, offering the wearer protection or making them indomitable in battle, or a woad painted on a door might prevent evil spirits from entering.  Woads in Celtic tradition were indigo, but I used it more generically to mean a magical symbol. In Catling’s Bane, not all of the tattoos are symbols. Catling’s garden is simply a beautiful design. But the tattoos on the men may be more geometrical and may include woads aligned with the colors the symbol represents. 

Resa – Why does Catling’s head have to be shaved when getting poisoned/tattooed?  The design is described as part of her back, and falling over her shoulder. There is no mention of the tattoos going onto her scalp. 

Diana – What a great question! I always saw Markum as the artist behind the tattoo designs. His canvas is the influencer’s skin, and he proceeds with his vision regardless of any suggestions he might receive. In fact, he may do the opposite of any request, just because he can! I imagined Catling’s tattoos might extend onto her scalp, but I may not have written that.  Markum likely would have wanted the option – thus the shaved head. 

Resa – Will her hair grow back for the next book?

Diana – Yes, it will. Once the influencers have their tattoos, they’re good to go.

Resa – Did Vianne pick the floral design? Or is it pre-prescribed?

Diana – I imagined that most of the female influencers received some version of flowers, but they wouldn’t have been free to pick the design. 

Resa – Catling gets many tattoos at once, to get her caught up. Normally, at what age would a chosen child begin getting tattoos and training?

Diana – I didn’t specify a particular age, but it would coincide with training, so perhaps the first would occur around age 14. Normally, the colors would be added one at a time, with a break in between treatments to heal and recover from the trauma.  Catling is forced to endure the whole thing at once for political reasons – the influencers want her oath of loyalty before she reports to Lelaine and begins blocking their control.

Resa – At the beginning of the story we observe Influence being used in an evil way. Later, we seem to learn that it can be used for good. Is it ever used for true honest good in any of the 4 books?

Diana – What a great question!  Oh, all the blurry lines in this one. Influence is part of life.  In our real world, we attempt to influence each other all the time. With money, sales pitches, beauty, logic, facts and lies, book covers and blurbs, gaslighting, rebates, and yes, emotion!  That one is a big one.  If you change how someone feels about something, you can influence them to buy a car, move to France, adopt a puppy, or get married!  Emotion, emotion, emotion. Are those good or bad choices?  Depends.  In the book, influence is used primarily to control others. Sometimes that control is applied selfishly, but other times it’s applied for a higher good – like the good of the nation or to save someone’s life.  I tried to add a lot of moral ambiguity and motivational complexity because that’s how people make choices.  The difference in Catling’s Bane is that those on the receiving end of influence don’t have a choice about it.