Hey, is he holding a hammer there?

[Guildenstern]

Oh FUCK.

And, yeah, is that a hammer I see in his hand? Because, you know, it occurs to me that there are more ways to "remove the ability and desire to breed" than castration, chemical or otherwise.

[Quantum Alchemist]

It's hard to tell from this angle.

It could be a knife. Or a sword. Or a mace...

[Seafog the 3rd]

Looks pretty 'swordy' to me.
Sirrus having access to this Codex is something I find disturbing.
The nature of the book implies (to me anyway) that it contains some essence of the Tree in it (or perhaps Kalis book). Or is there yet another part of the Tree other then the phyical saplings and the metaphysical Incarnates that we haven't seen yet?

[Guildenstern]

... wow. Just think what sort of paper would be made from that tree pulp. Might explain why the initial notes continued to exist despite the whole "author erased from existence" thing.

[Acolyte]

Looks pretty 'swordy' to me.

I'm guessing it's more machete or cleaver-like.

Sirrus having access to this Codex is something I find disturbing.

Relax, he's fictional. Unless there's something about all this that Matt's not telling us.... MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

The nature of the book implies (to me anyway) that it contains some essence of the Tree in it (or perhaps Kalis book). Or is there yet another part of the Tree other then the phyical saplings and the metaphysical Incarnates that we haven't seen yet?

ISTM it has to do with the manner in which it's written, the ur-text which DeSaul actually wrote and which was sent to the publishers. If a substantial edition was produced, we can probably rule out anything like paper made from Yggrasil-sapling pulp, since it likely would not have been available in quantity. Even if DeSaul could get some it would have only been used for his original notes, not the published edition. Its present rarity is because the forces of Heaven attempted to destroy all copies. That some survived the purge suggests to me there were a lot of them.

Kali's book responds to the will of its possessor, at least to a degree, while the Desaulian Codex instead directs its possessor. (Or is that possessee?)

I should point out that both the saplings and the Incarnates are physical. In the latter case, they'd be "Discarnates" if they weren't. Of course, like every living (and some nonliving) things they have a metaphysical element. I'd say the Incarnates are rather less "meta-" than most: They're trapped in the Earth system and unable to transcend it, forced to reincarnate again and again.

I'd like to thank Matt for getting his terminology correct. Back when I was younger and more foolish, I actually read books that David Eddings wrote. (I know better now, of course.) In his "Belgariad", a key prophecy is contained in a book called the "Mrin Codex". In the sequel, the "Malloreon", one of the characters has occasion to look up the original manuscript. It's a scroll. Obviously, Eddings used "codex" just because he thought it sounded mysterious and had no idea what it meant. I pointed this out in my Amazon review of "Guardians of the West". Naturally, this (among other flaws I pointed out) has gone over like a lead balloon with the rabid Eddings fanboys, and almost my lowest-rated review apart from when I took it upon myself to slam certain "Veggie Tales" and "Blue's Clues" tapes.

[Seafog the 3rd]

I maybe should have said, he is hefting the thing in his left hand as if it were a bladed object.
Its Sirrus within the context of Matts story having the Codex thats worrying to me.
What means ISTM?
So codex is just a fancy term for a book? It also fits with Eddings usage as well, as the scroll was a hand written, classic, manuscript. A pages type book is only one of the words possible meanings. Me thinks you were being too harsh taking Eddings to task for using that term.
The Incarnates are physical presences, but they embody the metaphysical aspects of the world tree, ideas/concepts like death, battle, mischief. The saplings embody the phyical reality elements of the world tree.
My head hurts, so I'm going to lie down now. Bye!

[Acolyte]

What means ISTM?

"It seems to me"

So codex is just a fancy term for a book? It also fits with Eddings usage as well, as the scroll was a hand written, classic, manuscript. A pages type book is only one of the words possible meanings. Me thinks you were being too harsh taking Eddings to task for using that term.

Either a scroll or a codex might be called a "book", but a scroll is a thing you roll up and a codex is a thing with pages that you turn like that modern thing we call a book. That's what the word means. It has nothing to do with whether it was printed or handwritten, it refers specifically to the form of the object.

This Jewish Torah is a scroll. This Orthodox Christian Gospel is a codex. Both books, but not the same kinds of things.

It's not really a fancy word. It's just that a codex is the default form of a book in the modern era, so it's just taken as read that when we say "book" that's what we mean so it's dropped out of general usage. One might still use it in a context where neither form is necessarily predominant. I imagine that in the universe of Strange Daze weird metaphysical shit the books you need tend to be scrolls as often as not.

The Incarnates are physical presences, but they embody the metaphysical aspects of the world tree, ideas/concepts like death, battle, mischief. The saplings embody the phyical reality elements of the world tree.

The metaphysical too, if what Morrigan could do with one was any indication.

[Seafog the 3rd]

Actually, according to Dictionary.com, codex means:
A manuscript volume, especially of a classic work or of the Scriptures.
or alternately:
an unbound manuscript of some ancient classic
the most recent added meaning is:
book formed of bound leaves of paper or parchment
This definition is largely due to Christianity and was only mentioned in the description of the history of the term, not as an actual definition.
And manuscript mostly referes to something handwritten.
The Mrin Codex was certainly a manuscript, a classic volume of prophecy, a Scripture more or less, was fairly ancient and was unbound. So it does qualify as a codex.
Codex seems to me to imply more along the lines of 'very old literary work', possibly adding 'important' in the front then 'bound volume', which has been throughly replaced in modern language by the term 'book' itself. Based on my research, Eddings codex is substantially more deserving of the term then Matts codex!

[Seafog the 3rd]

When Morrigan aquired a sapling, all she did was change physical reality nearby. At least thats the understanding I got when Matt explained it. What metaphysical properties are you specifically refering to?

[Acolyte]

On "codex", read the word history section. The definition you're citing is not complete. Codex ALWAYS refers to a book of bound leaves. Always. Try a good, comprehensive physical dictionary. Or this. Or possibly this.

You've kind of got things sideways here. This "definition" of the codex isn't due to Christianity, it's that the Christians were the first to go for the codex in a big way. They made it popular, they didn't invent it or change the meaning of the word. "Unbound" means a manuscript that formerly was bound and fell apart, not one that was never bound. (At the very least it means that the text was written on folded leaves meant to be read in pages as a modern book.)

When Morrigan aquired a sapling, all she did was change physical reality nearby. At least thats the understanding I got when Matt explained it. What metaphysical properties are you specifically refering to?

The ability to change physical reality nearby counts as a major metaphysical property in my book. Or codex.

[Mirober]

I should probably note that my definition of Codex comes from The Call of Cthulhu Keepers Companion, which describes a Codex is a collection of unbound papers. Probably not the most reliable source, but there you go.

[Guildenstern]

Good call, Acolyte. The thing in his hand wasn't just cleaver-like, it was, in fact, a cleaver.

Good to have that cleared up.