Rahkesh friend Ally is gifted with weapons and martial arts and more then likely could win fighting Rakhesh physically when he did a couple of simple rituals in the Room of Requirement, but with the more time, with more and more complicated rituals on regular basis, his abilities would improve constantly and not hit a certain line, like ordinary training and abilities would force no matter whom - vampire, human or fae, and I don't mean a simple magical power.

Namach said, that City Masters would seek to turn Rahkesh into vampire, when it would be known that he is genius at bloodmagic, even though he is only in his first year.

Namach and Cyala are simply very gifted at bloodmagic, the source of their "super-power", like Rahkesh, and they managed to not get themselves killed in all rituals. Even other ancient vampires, City Masters, are vastly less powerful then them:

Other vampires have their not-so-super-power from a very good training at Akren or other places and applying this training for various activities (assassination, spying, etc.) constantly for their potentially unlimited lifespans.

However, if you have muggle or even average magical vampire without connections, information or abilities to get himself to Akren or interest a powerful individuals like Rahkesh did (and I think those vampires are overwhelming majority), and who wouldn't be, most likely, an instinctual prodigy at bloodmagic maybe due to his lack of power or deep connection to magic and/or lack of capable instructors (for example from Rahkesh starting class only he and Daray are studying bloodmagic on the serious levels, when all class is powerful enough and have the best expert on the subject in the world; and moreover, Daray is not considered a prodigy), then he couldn't, for example get rid of simple sunlight problem, do rituals to improve his senses, power, mind magic, poison removal, brain regeneration, accelerated healing, and other power-improving things.

And let's face it, would be there many people who are willing and able to cut their throat, wrists and other areas constantly, hour after hour, wandlessly levitating knives, and doing it with absolute precision, knowing that slightest mistake would result in the certain death, AND having instinctual connection to magic like Rahkesh has? It was clear that most of the class was doing a couple of simple rituals in the year, and then simply drop the course. (for example Moody studied bloodmagic for a half year, Silas dropped after first year)

That Namach was doing rituals for 3000 years and managed to survive is simply unbelievable, and it is clear that he and Cyala are VERY rare jewels in the vampire community and not indicator for all vampires.

So stop whining that Namach is too powerful, because he is a vampire. He is powerful simply because he is genius at bloodmagic, who get his Mastery at 14 years

 

It is not the fact that those two are extremely strong, it is the fact that the author is constantly overpowering all of her characters, as compared to their enemies. True, it makes sense that vampires grow stronger as they age, but there should not be so many of those older vampires. Additionally, the young vampires should not be so capable of easily obliterating the Aurors. Especially since canon states that they [the aurors] are the elite forces of magical britain.

 

Is that the only complaint people have against this fic? That the character's are too superpowered? Funny, I don't see that being a complaint in nonjon's or joe6991's or ip82's or Ruskbyte's or Thor Nairda's or Naia's or the trillion other good author's fics.

And no, the author isn't overpowering her characters. Look at the last battle of A Second Chance of Life. 12 vampires died. 12 of the strongest vampires in the world. 12 vampires that took centuries to gain their power. And who killed them? Voldemort - one of those Dark Lords that come by every decade or two, with a group of 3rd-class Death-Eaters from Europe. Even when the vampires had everything going for them - surprise, intelligence, greater power - they still lost 12. What does this mean? Two things:

1st if the vampires took it upon themselves to fight every Dark Lord out there, they would lose. With attrition rates going 12 deaths per Dark Lord, they'd be wiped out in no time. Remember that in this fic Voldemort is a below-average Dark Lord solely because of the fact he comes from Europe, which if backwards.

2nd In a true battle between humans and vampires - with 1 million wizards facing off against 100 elder vampires (now reduced to 88 ) and several tens of thousands of weaker vamps, they're around evenly matched.

And not just that. Miranda Flairgold has been writing about the creme of the crop involving vampires. If she'd been writing about the best humans around, you'd think humans are overpowered. And we know that there are some very powerful humans around there - like the Headmistress of the school. Even Namach respects her. In a war, these humans would probably be able to hold their own with and maybe defeat several of the super-vamps.

You must also know that the wizards they're facing are not the stupid-European wizards Miranda Flairgold describes. These wizards know the system. They know a lot about vampires. They can't easily be beaten like the Europeans. They're Americans (and Australians and whatever)! They're not weak like those Europeans. (Lol. Nationalism rules.) All the weapons that vampires have - bloodmagic, threadmagic - also occur with normal wizards. Any other advantages vampires have can be overwelmed with sheer numbers - to win, a vampire would have to defeat 50 wizards, assuming 1 million wizards and 50,000 vampires. After all, as Stalin said, "Quantity has a quality all its own."

And remember that the average vampire isn't Daray and Silas. They're the best - of the house of Ateres. It's Saul! Remember him? The one Rakesh electrocuted when he was still a wimpy kid before attending Akren? The one who had his soul destroyed by a botched blood magic ritual Namach did? He's what humans are up against in a real war. Not Daray. Not Namach. Not any of the vampires mentioned at Akren. Saul. Actually, he's probably above average. After all, didn't he get into Akren? He must have some skill. There's a reason nearly every vampire dies before they're 100. It's because they're weak.

There aren't. There are around 100 older vamps. Let me repeat. 100!!! That's tiny! Of those super-vamps, less than 5 can match Namach. The rest die.

Remember that Miranda Flairgold explains this too. All the good Aurors have left Britain. The remaining aurors have been infiltrated (Tonks, anyone?) The aurors that the vampires fought are mere political appointees. They're definately not the best of the best; they are inexperienced, untrained, brainwashed, and have a corps full of traitors. Moreover, remember that Britain is the least powerful magical country in the world. By all rights, the vampires should have won the battle - especially when the aurors attacked their base with no prior preparation at all. In addition, the aurors aren't the best in Britain. The Unspeakables are. And they're firmly on the vampires' side. If you had a country, like say American, send its whole wizarding armed forces to attack vampires, the ultimate outcome would become quite different.

In conclusion, I am sick and tired of hearing, "Wah! She overpowers everybody!" No. She doesn't, as I have just proved.

 

The main thing that most of the people here seem to be doing is thinking that the characters we see in the story on a regular basis are the norm (including me). The majority of them are at Akren, this by itself means that they are the best, and even the best can make a mistake and be killed. The Avada Kedavra can kill even the most powerful vampire. Even Namach would most likely be killed if he was caught in an open lighted area by 50 Death Eaters, if they were all firing AKs at him he would have a high chance of getting hit, despite how badly trained they are (this might actually make them have a higher chance of hitting him, if they can't aim). Though Namach is much too smart to be caught in that situation. To me, the AK is the anti-uber spell (despite the spell itself being uber).

 

Mostly agree with ^

Lets list them off.

At Akren all the species seem to be more or less evenly matched. Normal wizards have the disadvantage of having no racial gifts (Like super healer ect) Daray and the current alpha vamp are the leaders of the vamps in terms of power. Vamps live in such an extream society it would be horrible to live in for most people. There are so few it doesnt matter if they are strong. It also seems impossible for them to do anything in groups unless their species is threatened like now. Usually they would sooner kill each other than help each other. If need be wizards could deal with one of them. Thats if the Arteris family didnt do it first,

Harry and Ally are the only human students we know a lot about but they both seem capable of fighting and winning against those two some of the time if not allways. They also seem to be by far the most numerous of the magical races. Also we have no idea what the average non Akren wizard can do. It's been said europe is so screwed up. We need to see the average american wizard.

The werewolfs seem to be not as naturally strong as vamps but have a strong pack mentality which makes them bad to mess with.

The fae are shown to be if anything bellow the other groups in terms of power with just good mind magic. In a one on one fight I'd say an average wizard would beat the average fae.

Elf... well she said in the last chapter the 4 we have seen are the ABSOLUTE top of the elves power. While they are strong they come from another universe and live forever.

Humans have super powerful people.

Headmistress... Everyone is scared of her even the super vamps.

Harry... No one wants him as an enemy... and he's only 18.

Ally... Scares the crap out of people.

Voldemort... Could take on any but the very best of the vamps... and he's only 60.

Dumbledore... a product of bad Europe training and Voldemorts better.

Fae elders... very powerful mind mages.

Namach... 3000 years old and the master of the best form of magic.

Cyla... Worked for 2000 years as an assasin... Gee I wonder why she's good?

Werewolfs... Really have no super ones but as a group are good.

Edit:- Avada Kedavra can kill even the most powerful vampire.

No it can't. Hermione said it doesn't work because of the way there sould is bound to an undead body.

 

While I certainly think that people are going overboard in how the power-levels wreck the fic, for clairties sake I must point out something. During the battle the twelve master vampires died, however Harry(Rahkesh) thought that maybe Namach and Cylia killed them in the confusion to purge the higher levels of vampire society.

However, I must insist people believe that the SuperVamps are the best of the best. These are people with an equal gift for magic as Dumbledore of Voldemort but have had centuries if not millenia to hone their magical power, and increase it through rituals. Is it any wonder that they seem so powerful? If Voldemort DID achieve Imortality, he would probably be this powerful after he had centuries of time to increase his knoweledge and power over magic.

 

It's the concept of magic and power, what i think miranda is doing is un-'JKR ing' the world but still using some of the structures from the canon, which she expresses in her bio on the authors page. Magic is bigger than earth, she seems to be going the DND route creating her own world.

If you are familiar with Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" most humans are currently in the shadowed caves, and are about to be thrown into the light.

I like it very much. (10/5), she may falter in execution but hat's off to her imagination.

 

Even though this is the exact same argument that's been going for the past 15 pages of posts, I'll point out the obvious thing you're overlooking in people's complaints.

It's not so much that she 'overpowers' everybody. It's that she 'overpowers' her original characters, people that didn't exist before this fic and no one cared about before this fic. In some ways a giant fic of Mary-Sues.

This is Harry Potter fanfiction. The majority of people read it because they have an interest in Harry Potter and the character's of Harry Potter's world.

This fic and author has stated she hates what JKR has done and is completely remaking things as she would prefer to see them, introducing new species, creatures, people, etc... and placing them on a pedestal while the vast majority from canon are belittled and ridiculed.

It's impressive how well Miranda's done it, but she's basically writing a Harry Potter fan fiction for people who hate Harry Potter's characterizations. It's a dichotomy a lot of people are willing to overlook, but that doesn't change the fact that it's an unashamed bastardization of what brought this fandom together.

 

And I suppose all of us here absolutely adore HP characterization - the way Harry would rather play exploding snap with Ron and just be a kid, instead of training himself; The way he blushes when Ginny walks by; The way his eyes widen with religious reverence at the sight of Dumbledore. etc...

Yes, I agree this setting is heavily out of canon; Most of this story is happening around characters, places and magics that are not a part of HP canon.

But for me, this is still a HP fic, simply because basic groundwork of HP still applies - terminology, hidden wizarding world, philosophy of spells and wands, etc... That's what the core of the 'setting' is all about; not characters, places and characterization, but basic rules of the world the story is set in. This fic simply takes the setting (dismissing almost everything else) and builds up on it.

Personally, I'm OK with that. I'd prefer a bit more HP characters and less OC's and some more balance between Europe and everything else, but that's neither here nor there. Still a solid fic; not as good as when it first started, but enjoyable read for those who appreciate originality.

 

Its not so much that all the vamps are over powered but that compared with other races. From what we have seen they are overpowered. Namach and Cyla are powerful. They are ancient. The headmistress no one really knows how powerful she is. the Fae elders are powerful. The elves, well so far only Namach and the insane thunderbird that is Harry can possibly survive a fight with. Notice a trend? Someone else said she overpowers HER characters and its true. Europe sucks in her fics. No one will mess with Europe. All of Europe is blind? Its just got to the point where its becoming annoying to me.

Yes it is still Harry Potter but its not Harry Potter at the same time.

 

New chapter posted, it's nice she has sped up the rate she's putting these out.

I'm pretty happy with this one, she has gone back to the stuff she was good at mainly the classes/magical explanations and the in school politics. She's pretty much the exact opposite of most other authors out there, her story is dull and boring when there's action and exciting when the characters are just sitting in rooms talking.

We get a glimpse of what Hermione is up to and next chapter we'll probably see the rest of the canon characters. I think her parents reaction to sending her overseas was a bit lacking if it was supposed to be realistic but I'm kind of glad since I don't want to see that and most people probably don't either.

Unfortunately the plague has yet to kill anyone important and only like 5 Akren alumni have died from it so we can't count on it trimming their outrageous numbers. The little death count chart she threw in the middle of the chapter bugged me, as well as the number they were a bit round for a death count.

So besides a few stupid little things this was a good chapter and I'm glad she's done with the summer action. I actually look forward to the next update now.

 

You're right Zield, Miranda does manage to do the reverse of most authors.

The chapter is quite good, the best for a while I think. One thing that is annoying me with the fic is the constant bashing of Britain/Europe. Ok, we have a history of more than a couple hundred years, unlike the US, and we have many cultural traditions that in general we are loathe to do away with, unlike the US, but really, how does that make us backwards? Why does it make us backwards that we founded what is now the US? Why are we backwards because we aren't exactly fond of the US in general?

There were several references to the Dark Age countries, or something similar, which to me, means that the author actually holds a similar opinion on the majority of Europe, perhaps the fic exagerates on it, but it comes off so natural, and basically reads as the authors own opinion, so I'm forced to believe that the author actually believes Britain/France/Germany/Poland/Most of Europe is stuck in the Dark Ages.

Of course, Britain has a history, so a culture that relies on the transfer of specific knowledge, like spells and recipes, from one generation to the next would be disadvantaged to exist in such a country. One would have thought that the proliferation of large libraries, old scholars works, pureblooded families who are taught from a young age, would have made the "Old World" a better, or at the very least equal, atmosphere for magical learning. Sure, perhaps the US and Australia (though the author is forgetting that technically Australia, and I think Canada though I'm not sure, as still ruled by Britain, we just let them govern themselves) have "new" magic, or "new" ways of doing things, but Britain and Europe would have old, tried, tested and true methods of doing the exact same things.

Sorry for the rant, but I got really pissed off with the extent of it in this fic.

 

The way it is written in the books I can't blame her for thinking it. As for how advanced the other countries are thats up for debate. I think it is more of the fact they have less restrictions on what they can use rather than anything else.

The new chapter is good even though there is very little actions in it.

 

New chapter...

The new chapter is all in all a good chapter. It has lots of interesting classes and the thing with professor ahmad (was that is name?) was funny. I wish she would describe this a bit more...

The whole 'we're killing of europe and don't care' thing gets a bit... overboard. I can't help but get the feeling that they're feeling like god in Akren. I hope the elves and demons show them that they're not that good.

A nice twist was the end with the probable problem to his bloodmagic. Personally I think he'll discover a few elven genes in him which he mustn't tell anybody about it.

 

I had the same thought about being part elven. how else do you explain this dyalnos seeds in his vault or the fact that no HUMAN has ever drank dragon blood and lived.

 

I really liked the interlude into Parselmagic this latest chapter; the way he explains how so many of them have turned dark and stigmatized, not to mention the reason he survived the Killing Curse. Superb chapter, and to those who don't like the story, just read the large set of paragraphs in italics in Chapter 10; it's the intro into the 'book' about Parselmagic, and I was extremely impressed with it.

I have to agree, though; The Eurotrash Extermination is going a bit too far. I really want to see the Demons try to invade the school and whip out half of the alums, nearly all of the students, and level the school. They need to be pulled down a bit from their pedestal.

 

Remember this is post HBP he beleives in the prophecy nothing except Tom can kill him.(I think) That means dragons blood wouldnt kill him.

The demons yes. I hope Namach and Cyla get into it with a couple Arch Demons that can show those too what real power is.

Please dont let him be part elven that would be such a cliche that I might have to quit reading it.

 

Nothing really happened in this chapter even though it's good. Seems more like a filler than anything else.

 

For some bizarre reason I enjoy this story, the constant bashing of Britain and Europe drives me insane and half of the time I end up laughing hysterically at some of the ideas (death dragons had me collapsed over my keyboard in tears) the story itself is quite fascinating. The characterisations are consistent and not too frustrating, the magic systems she has devised are excellent and some of the detail on some of the species is exceedingly well done.

I am however quite worried at the levels of power involved and I have quite a strong fear that the characters are going to end up absurdly strong and capable of blowing up entire planets at a glance. I also hope to the gods that she doesn't decide to go and turn him part elf, my current theory is relating to the dragons blood starting to influence him more and more but we will see.

So yeah, interesting story, frustrating as hell at times but a good read.

 

I dunno. Couldn't get into it, even though it looked interesting. May try it again sometime.