It is mentioned early in the movie, that dinosaurs are more similar to birds than to reptiles. So at least in movie continuity, this is true as in reality. So why then wouldn't they use bird DNA instead of amphibian DNA? In-universe explanations only please, please - I know the plot needed an excuse for the spontaneous sex-changing. Answer This is from memory and it's been a while since I've read the book and it is mostly mentioned there rather than the film but there are a number of relevant points linked together to form a vital plot point. We can deduce from their success that the scientists must have found a way to succeed. In addition, and remembering that the book was written in the late 80s when the understanding of genetics was considerably less than nowadays, the science in Jurassic Park is not viable in the real world so we can also assume that genetics is less difficult to get working right. It's also viable to assume that the scientists experimented with ...

In the mid-90's, I read a wonderful collection of stories that I've been trying to find since. The book was titled something like Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Stories , I believe published in some time in the 1980's or early 1990's. Some of the stories I remember included: A women tries to convince a vampire to transform her as a way to cure her HIV infection. A man with the power to control minds comes upon a house populated by other strange characters, including a sentient radio, an old man with a lightning bolt tattoo who flies around the world to keep the Earth's plates stitched together, and a woman in the attic who uncontrollably shape-shifts into the love of whoever she talks to. A story in the afterlife, where people are endlessly walking down a path, and two characters begin unlocking the subtle code of the arrows inscribed on the ground. Any help tracking this book down would be greatly appreciated! Answer The Year's Best Fantasy Sto...

I am seeking additional supporting canon evidence for the idea that within the Potterverse, it would be potentially possible to use magic to genetically engineer/enhance witches/wizards to have superior magical ability. Related to that is the question/idea. What same evidence might support the idea that muggles could eventually learn to use genetic engineering to introduce 'magic genes" into the mugggle gene pool, thus making magic accessible to the general population? If members prefer I can break this into two separate stack questions. Evidence I believe which already support either/both of these scenarios include: Magical abilities appear to be genetically inherited We see numerous references to families in which magic appears pretty much to appear every generation. The term "pureblood" is used to denote where such abilities are almost guaranteed. Within wizarding families Only rare recessives (a.k.a. squibs) appear to not inherit such abilities. J.K. Rowling: ...

I'm a big fan of the X-Wing miniatures game by Fantasy Flight Games . The game first came out before Disney changed the Star Wars canon to include only content created after April 25, 2014 and all the movies/TV shows. The game references a lot of Legends material, has created some of its own new material, and has re-worked some other non-canon material. Since there have been releases post-April 2014, is the game considered canon? Are only the newer releases canon? Or is it all Legends ? Answer It appears to be Legends canon (not "Disney" canon) Although the X-Wing miniatures game has had releases since the new canon rules took effect, such new content is still considered to be in Legends continuity. An excellent example of this is the Imperial Raider expansion pack set to be released in 2015. The press release announcing the expansion pack describes how the Raider-class ship was created by Fantasy Flight Games for the miniatures game as a counterpart to the Tantive ...

The book begins after Earth has been attacked several times, already. These alien vessels are being sent into the system and attacking the planet. An elite team of humans from all over the world (iirc) called the “Angels” are sent up on what is almost always a suicide mission to stop the ship and prevent if from wreaking destruction on the planet. As I recall it, only one person has ever survived one of these and that person is in pretty bad shape. Their actions are guided by a crowdsourcing effort, where anyone on the planet can suggest an action, which I think were voted on before the Angels would carry them out. The one I read was a paperback, I don't think it made it to hardback. I read the book sometime between 2000 and 2010. It was in English and it was pretty new. It was an uncatalogued paperback from a library. I think the cover art was a space ship of some kind, but I'm not completely sure. Answer Could it be Earthweb by Marc Stiegler ? I have the book, but it's ...

Cavil must have gone to great lengths to introduce the Five into the human population. You can see some of the effort in The Plan, though that is more to save a Five already in the population. Although the Five are clearly introduced at different times in history (Tigh and Ellen seem to be the earliest), one problem remains: How did Cavil fake Tigh's military documents? If his military history (including his discharge) was a fabricated memory that Cavil implanted, how was Adama able to get him "back in"? Without faked documents, he would have discovered Tigh's true history. How much access does Cavil really have? Answer All of the Final Five would have needed faked records - indeed, all of the cylons that were inserted into colonial society would have needed them. It isn't inconceivable that the cylons were experts at computer systems, and were able to infiltrate records and replace them. Bribery of administrators and people in useful positions is also not unli...

Many times both terms are used as synonyms. In A Storm of Swords, Jon mentions that he sees skinchangers and wargs among the wildlings. George R.R. Martin, when asked about the difference said: A warg is bound to a wolf. Skinchanger is a more general term. All wargs are skinchangers, but not all skinchangers are wargs. But in the books sometimes are used the term warg to refer a skinchanger that controls other animals (such a hawk and a shadowcat by one of Mance's guards). Answer I think " Warg " is just a synonym or subgroup to " skinchanger " in this case. GRRM is infamous for allowing his characters to use their own perspective on things, in which case they can use a term incorrectly. I think the term " Warg " is most often used in a superstitious fashion, and " skinchanger " more matter-of-factly. Warg is also not GRRM's word, but something that's been around a while, read more here .

I have noticed that guest quarters on the Enterprise D have fruit bowls on their tables. A prominent instance is the fruit bowl in Berlinghoff Rasmussen's quarters in " A Matter of Time ". The first thing that Rasmussen does when Data takes him to his guest quarters is take a piece of fruit and shove it in his pocket. Who replicates fruit for these fruit bowls before guests arrive? More generally, who removes unused fruit and tidies quarters after guests leave? Is there a ship hospitality staff, perhaps including Guinan's wait staff in Ten Forward? Answer I'm going to go out on a limb here and say " no-one ". My guess is that rooms are automatically configured and maintained by the ship itself: The Enterprise has replicators in every set of quarters and access to high-precision transporters. The Enterprise has a powerful semi-intelligent AI. We know from the TNG Technical Manual that guest quarters are configured "at short notice" but can onl...

At the end of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , 20th century marine biologist Gillian Taylor goes back to the future on the Bird of Prey and is given her own ship to go exploring the galaxy in. Is there any discussion about what happened with her after that (canonical or not)? Any "continuing adventures in 23rd century marine biology" stories? More importantly, was there any discussion about people on Earth missing her, or investigating her disappearance? Answer Main Canon There's a throwaway line in the film to explain her decision to time-jump without a second's thought. GILLIAN: What are you talking about? I'm coming with you. KIRK: You can't. Our next stop is the 23rd Century. GILLIAN: What do I care? I've got nobody but those whales ... Star Trek: The Voyage Home - Original Screenplay While the clear implication is that she has no family and friends, there's nothing specific beyond that within the main canon. She doesn't appear in any futur...

I recall reading a book where the nondescript quirky captain of an independent starship was hired to take a group to a possible lost starship. The ship was a giant ecological repository and contained tech which had since been lost. Everyone tried to board, running afoul of various creatures and defenses. The independent captain (thought least likely to survive) wound up somehow managing to become recognized by the ecological ship as its new captain-owner, and spent the rest of the book providing its services, on his terms. Part of this story also appears as a short story in an Analog magazine. I probably read this in the late 80s, early 90s. Answer When you mentioned the part about how the "least likely to survive" guy becomes the new captain-owner of the big, powerful ship, it came to me in a flash! Tuf Voyaging , a collection of shorter pieces about protagonist Haviland Tuf. Some of them had previously been published separately in magazines, then the author decided to add...

I'm trying to find a short sci-fi story that I read some 40 years ago (in the early to mid 70's). Earth had been isolated with some force field as Humans were regarded as too dangerous/uncivilized by the galactic civilization, but something had happened and Humans were potentially needed to help.. The story was about earth being checked out to see if Humans were now safe enough or it would be even more risk to let them loose. The story ends with the force field being released and Earths moon being taken along by the Humans so that they would have something to remind them of home... That's what I vaguely recall. Any pointers would be most appreciated.

When it appeared as a snake to Parvati, would it really be able to bite or choke her, or is it just scaring without actually being able to attack? Answer Lupin decided to use a Boggart for Harry to practice the Patronus Charm on after rejecting the idea of practicing with a real Dementor, because bringing a real Dementor into Hogwarts would be too dangerous. “Ah yes,’ said Lupin, when Harry reminded him of his promise at the end of class. ‘Let me see … how about eight o’clock on Thursday evening? The History of Magic classroom should be large enough … I’ll have to think carefully about how we’re going to do this … we can’t bring a real Dementor into the castle to practise on …” - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 12 (The Patronus) In addition, Lupin described a Boggart turned into a Dementor as "the nearest we'll get to a real Dementor", which means that there is a difference between a Boggart in the form of a Dementor and an actual Dementor. “What’s tha...

Is there any canon information in Harry Potter that proves one way or another whether a wizard always owns only one wand as a matter of routine? What I am talking about is a wizard buying and owning one wand and also a second wand (for backup, or simultaneous use, or separate purpose, or ceremonial+work wand), akin to people buying more than one pair of boots, guns or hammers. A proof would be either canon info showing someone owning 2 wands simultaneously; or a statement showing why that does not happen except in rare exceptions (see below). NOTE: I am discounting special situations such as winning an extra wand in a duel ala Harry (e.g. the second wand's obtainment wasn't intended/planned), or someone winning a Death Stick from prior owner (in which case it was intended as a replacement wand and not an extra one); or taking another's wand for a time being, ala Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy (since it was more of a "temporary replacement because main wand was useless fo...

When I was a kid I had a book that I loved, as I think about it I'm pretty sure it would be characterized as a graphic novel although I was unfamiliar with that term at the time. It was a large hardcover comic book but a full-length story, probably a few hundred pages long. This would have been about 25-30 years ago. I recall a little about the plot: It starts with a spaceship crashing somewhere, I remember one of the first panels had the phrase that the ship "yawed wildly". I always remembered that because I had to look up the word "yawed". The rest of the story is told in flashback form, with the rise of an empire, and I'm pretty sure there's a guy who's a slave or otherwise in the lower strata of society who rises to be the ruler of the world or something like that. I thought that the title had the word "titan" or "empire" in it (Empire of the Titans, or Rise of the Titans, or something similar), but Google searches have been u...

Plot involves two parents with a baby. They are visited by time travellers from the future who tell them the baby becomes like a god in the future, the first superhuman. I think the name of the baby was Alexander. The time travellers are here at their future leaders request, to begin his education while still a baby. The parents get increasingly stressed out as their baby / then toddler learns psionic abilities but acts like a normal baby. Teleports the mother into a shop to buy him candy while she is not dressed. Shakes the father upside down to make coins fall from his pocket when he claims to have no money. Eventually the child goes too far with some strange equipment left by his instructors, and he suddenly vanishes, never to return. The parents are relieved as life had become so difficult. Apparently the whole future time line has been wiped out. Answer This is When the Bough Breaks , a short story from 1944 by "Lewis Padgett", the joint pseudonym of Henry Kuttner and ...

I mean to ask that we know that resurrection stone brings people nearly back from the death . So how exactly can we interact with a person who is "livelier than a ghost but less than alive"? I mean we can talk and see (partially) the ghosts, but the resurrected persons are more than a ghost. So what are the additional ways we can interact with them?

In Star Trek: The First Contact movie, future Borg tried to contact their home world in 2063. If the communication was successful and the Borg from Delta Quadrant came to Earth in 21st century, there'd be two Borg queens. The Borg queens had individuality which represented the collective. And, technically all Borg were able to connect to both queens. How would the collective work then? Answer We actually have several examples of disconnected groups based on the same technology: All of these were based in the same Borg technology, but the main Collective was unable to influence/break/fully reintegrate them without special assistance (and with the sub-collective, it didn't work at all). In Unimatrix Zero, Part II we also learned that the hive mind allowed for instantaneous galaxy-wide transmission. Axum's ship was on the other side of the galaxy, yet there was no lag when he conversed with Seven. This results in 2 main possibilities I can think of: The two Queens were alr...

T-1000 could morph into anyone's body. Then, what was the point of using the police officer's body all the time when the T-1000 was chasing our heroes? What was the point of notifying them that this is me? Couldn't he simply walk near John Connor as a homeless beggar and finish his task?

After reading This question, I wondered if Barriss fell to the Dark Side in order to frame Ahsoka Tano. In order to do it, she force-choked the witness from a far away distance, which is something we have only watched powerful Dark Side users like Sidious and Vader perform, and at the time she was only a Padawan. This question lists her among the Jedi who fell to the Dark Side during the Clone Wars, but I don't remember if it was clearly stated by anybody in the council. So, pretty straight forward. Was it stated anywhere that Barriss fell to the Dark Side? Or did was she just disappointed by the Jedi's actions during the war? Answer At first I too thought that Bariss had fallen to the dark side, but upon further investigation I believe it is at best inconclusive to say anything about the matter. Let's look at her actions. Actions part 1: She Force-choked a suspect, fought with red lightsabers etc. Those lightsabers were stolen from Ventress to frame Ahsoka earlier, an...

In Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky a concept called the ' Interdict of Merlin ' appears: (all emphasis added) Chapter 23: His hand on the doorknob, Harry Potter already inside and waiting, wearing his cowled cloak. "The ancient first-year spells," Harry Potter said. "What did you find?" "They're no more powerful than the spells we use now." Harry Potter's fist struck a desk, hard. "Damn it. All right. My own experiment was a failure, Draco. There's something called the Interdict of Merlin -" Draco hit himself on the forehead, realizing. "- which stops anyone from getting knowledge of powerful spells out of books, even if you find and read a powerful wizard's notes they won't make sense to you, it has to go from one living mind to another. I couldn't find any powerful spells that we had the instructions for but couldn't cast. But if you can't get them out of old books,...

The Vorlons in the Babylon 5 saga are very secretive. As far as we know, only two humans ever visited their empire and lived. Vorlon territory was restricted to other alien species and (almost) every known expedition into Vorlon space failed to return to their respective governments. Much like the Shadow homeworld, Vorlon is protected by an array of highly advanced and automated defense systems designed to keep out intruders and primitive spacefaring races. These defense systems remain in place and active even after the Vorlons abandoned their home and left known space; evidence suggests that the systems will not allow outsiders entry to Vorlon until 1,000,000 human years have elapsed. They wear encounter suits and very rarely leave the suits because they don't want others to see how Vorlons appear . Despite their secretiveness about their empire, their history, and especially their physiology , somebody poisoned the Vorlon ambassador to Babylon-5 . How would anybody know how to ...

Things I remember about this book: Every child was selected for a certain job/career; If twins were born, one was always killed; Seeing colors for the first time (describing the color of an apple); Seeing war and death and poverty. Does anyone have any idea what this book might be? Answer That book is most certainly The Giver by Lois Lowry. There are two others that she wrote along the same lines called Gathering Blue and Messenger that form a trilogy. I loved reading them because they reminded me that in order to understand how good some things are, we have to remember how bad other things can be.

I tried to leave the title as non-spoiler-ish as possible. If enough time has passed that a spoiler in the title is permitted, please feel free to edit. At the end of Season 6 of Doctor Who, we see... The Doctor marry River Song. But we don't see them spend much time alone; at least not as far as I've watched so far. Is their marriage ever consummated? Answer It is, presumably off-camera in one of their many romps while River is "imprisoned" in the Stormcage facility for the murder of the Doctor. River was sentenced to twelve thousand consecutive life sentences in the Stormcage Containment Facility in the 52nd century for the Doctor's murder. (TV: The Time of Angels, The Pandorica Opens) She served the sentence to make the Silence believe him dead, but starting with her first night, often escaped to spend time with her husband, then returned to her cell. (TV: First Night) TARDIS Data Core -> River Song Talking to Dorium at the end of the Wedding of River Song...

In The Force Awakens , Rey is shown salvaging components from cylindrical structures in a crashed Star Destroyer's hangar. Is there any information (cue the TFA Visual Dictionary , Incredible Cross-Sections , etc.) on the function of those components and what they're called? Answer UPDATE: According to the Force Awakens: Visual Dictionary they were " Capacitor Bearings ". Quite why a capacitor needs a bearing isn't explained. The script describes them as " various mechanisms " A metal sheet is pulled open to reveal the wrapped up faceof A SCAVENGER, perhaps alien, in GOGGLES, FACE MASK and GLOVES. Backpack with a STAFF strapped to it. Uses TOOLS to remove various MECHANISMS from inside the wall. We are in an upside-down, canted CORRIDOR. The Scavenger finds a valuable piece, drops it in a SATCHEL. The Junior novelisation is similarly enlightening, referring to them as " various components " She hung on to the wall of a demolished destroye...

The Stargate franchise is built around the notion of extraterrestrial visitors in Earth's ancient past, connecting many ancient Earth cultures with fictional extraterrestrial races such as the Goa'uld, Asgard, etc.. As a result, we often see a lot of Egyptian hieroglyphics, Norse runes, and other writing forms on screen. Where there is supposed to be a correlation with ancient Earth languages (regardless of origin), do the symbols actually make sense? Are they just random/arbitrarily chosen symbols? Do they form intelligible phrases? Do they contain production in-jokes? If so, what do they say? Examples of alien writing: Stargate symbols. Representations of constellations; non-linguistic and therefore out of the scope of my question. Hieroglyphics. Look like Ancient Egyptian. Stargate mythology associates such writing with the language of the Goa'uld. Do any of the symbols appearing on obviously Goa'uld artifacts (resurrection sarcophagus, walls of Goa'uld ships...

I've caught up with the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited TV Show. I intend to start watching the Justice League movies as well. What is the suggest viewing order for the Justice League animated movies ? Answer The same Wikipedia link that you mentioned also has the answer to this. Most of the films before the Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox doesn't share any continuity. Only few do, which are: Superman/Batman This continuity is based on the Superman/Batman story line. Superman/Batman: Public Enemies Superman/Batman: Apocalypse Justice League This continuity is based on the JLA (comic book) story lines published in 2000. Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths Justice League: Doom Batman: Dark Knight Universe This continuity is based on Frank Miller's Batman (Dark Knight Universe). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Part 1 Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Part 2 Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox also works individually, but the ending set up a new ...

They have steam engines to pull trains and sky scrapers in Manehattan but use candles to light with and fireflies in lanterns. They must have steel mills to make steel for rails and beams for building. If they have steam engines, internal combustion engines aren't too far behind. And they don't seem to have telegraph or telephones. Seems to be an odd mix. Answer Because technology is introduced only where the plot absolutely requires it . This has resulted in some truly bizarre (and anachronistic) tech seen on the show. Lauran Faust (creator of FiM) spoke to this specific issue in an interview with Equestria Daily Q. The ponies are definitely the heart of the show, yet they occupy a world that is rich with mythology and fantasy while still sporting a variety of modern technology. What was the creative strategy behind constructing the realm of FiM's Equestria? How did the team approach this balance between mythological fantasy and modern tech? Faust : I always wanted the ...

There are many maps of the Star Wars Galaxy floating around. One thing I like about them is that they show the entire galaxy was not controlled by the Empire and that even a large portion of the galaxy was still uncharted. In The Force Awakens we see two major factions (Resistance/New Republic and First Order). The New Republic was formed once the iron fist of the Empire was broken. The First Order is the reformation of the remnants of the Empire. I was wondering if there was a new map released that shows what parts of the Galaxy each faction controls now? Answer Yes. The following map appears in the Force Awakens: Visual Dictionary . It doesn't, however contain the sort of granular political detail that would make it useful for your purposes

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...

My friend remembers an older cop show where the lead is a woman that time travels to the current day. The only other thing he remembers is that the cop got upset when someone wanted to shake her hand because in her timeline that was either how they have sex (or as intimate as sex).

Is "Lord of the Rings" a trilogy of books? It was published as 3 separate books, but can it be called a trilogy? Was it intended to be a trilogy by Tolkien himself? The question arose in comment discussions here , so I figured it's information not universally known and can benefit people. Answer TL;DR Tolkien himself did NOT consider it a trilogy. It shouldn't even be called 3 books, since Tolkien didn't refer to them as books, but as volumes, and any time he used the word he air-quoted it as 'books'. Wikipedia gives us a good start: Tolkien regarded it as a single work and divided it into a prologue, six books, and five appendices. Because of post-World War II paper shortages, it was originally published in three volumes . To back that up, we can refer to Tolkien's letters: Letter 136 P.S. I have given some thought to the matter of sub-titles for the volumes, which you thought were desirable. But I do not find it easy, as the 'books', thou...

As I remember the being from a multi dimensional universe seemed to change form as different parts of it interacted with our 3 dimensional universe. I read it in the 1963 paperback edition of The Best of Science Fiction edited by Groff Conklin. Here is a list of the contents. The 1946 hardcover edition has stories that are not in the 1963 edition. Anyone familiar with either edition should be able to identify the story. Answer "The Monster from Nowhere" , a short story by Nelson S. Bond , also the answer to this old question ; originally published in Fantastic Adventures , July 1939 , available at the Internet Archive . It starts on p. 291 of the 1963 paperback edition of Groff Conklin 's 1946 anthology The Best of Science Fiction . The thing changed! As I watched, there seemed to be, at one time, a globular piece of matter twisting on the rod. An instant later, the globe had turned into a triangle—then into something remotely resembling a cube. It was constantly in...

I've noticed there are actually non-Force-sensitive Jedi (or at least one, Randon), and that Droids are described as "holes in the force" (cited on our own site, here ). But are there machines in the Star Wars universe that are able to make use of the Force in some way? Answer Rakatan Infinite Empire used several: Hyperdrives : Rakata used Force-based hyperdrives that allowed their vessels to journey to worlds with a strong Force signature Star Forge The Star Forge was a giant automated shipyard, designed to create the most powerful army of all time, constructed by the Rakatan Infinite Empire in 30,000 BBY, five thousand years before the rise of the Galactic Republic. The Star Forge drew energy and matter from a nearby star which, when combined with the power of the Force , was capable of creating an endless supply of ships, droids, and other war material. ... ... the Star Forge began feeding off these negative traits inherent in its creators. As a result the Star For...

I'm not really sure when I read this book (or series of books), but it was definitely when I was a kid, so I'd say at least 10 years ago. It's about a maze which when successfully navigated, gives the person great power. One of the powers that I remember was that a singer who had navigated through the maze was able to use her voice eventually to kill people. Eventually you find out that the maze was created long ago by some race known as the illuminati. It's set in a civilization that is less advanced than it previously was (some kind of downfall event occurred) but they still are able to travel between worlds. I specifically remember some threat that travels between solar systems and destroys the stars (by entering the stars and devouring it from the inside out). Sometime during the course of the plot the male protagonist gains the ability to travel through time and he witnesses the more advanced civilization in the past. There's a part where he is imprisoned with ...

In Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 Episode 2 (" Darmok ") we are introduced to an alien race called the Tamarians who communicate entirely by metaphor. The concept is that all communication is done using folk stories. Captain Picard eventually realized this and was able to communicate with the Tamarian captain. However, I was wondering how the Tamarians would go about teaching a metaphorical language to their children? Children would not have the frame of reference of Tamarian folklore so how would they teach it without either using more metaphors (which also wouldn't be understood) or a completely different language (which would defeat the purpose). Obviously Captain Picard, as an educated adult, was able to understand the language but that was only because he only understood the concept of folk stories and metaphor from earth culture. A child growing up in Tamarian society wouldn't have this prior knowledge. Answer Although some great answers were provided...

To get into the Ravenclaw dormitory, they need to answer a riddle. What if they don’t know the answer? How will they get in? Answer You wait for somebody else to show up. When Harry first encounters the eagle, Luna explains what happens if you get the question wrong. If you don’t know the answer, you wait for somebody else who does. Same as all the other dormitories, except (this being Ravenclaw) there’s a vague hope that you’ll learn something by doing so: “What? Isn’t there just a password?” “Oh no, you’ve got to answer a question,” said Luna. “What if you get it wrong?” “Well, you have to wait for somebody who gets it right,” said Luna. “That way you learn, you see?” — Deathly Hallows , chapter 29 ( The Lost Diadem ) According to the Pottermore welcome letter for Ravenclaw , it’s not unusual to find people stumped by the riddle, waiting for somebody to come along and help them out: It’s not unusual to find twenty people standing outside the common room door, all trying to work out...

It's a world that includes fire, water, air, earth, shadow and light users. This world has at least one archipelago with a king, that's died in the previous squashing of rebellion, his descendant lives known only to few. At the beginning of the series a girl is on a fire-owned submarine vessel that gets attacked by Shadow rebels. The Shadow rebels have at least one base in the archipelago and train people there. I'm not totally sure, but I believe there's also an island that has a lot to do with trade. Also, the fire... clergy, I guess? Has absorbed the light part, so basically there are only 5 separate elements remaining. Some info I'm not quite 100% sure about, but I think the king of the archipelago might also be called The or a Pharao Unfortunately this is pretty much all I remember. Answer Ah-ha! It's the Aquasilva trilogy, by Anselm Audley: From the Wikipedia entry: Heresy (2001) is set within the stormy waterworld of Aquasilva. Aquasilva is controlled...