@Havenstone I do not recall seeing the following already mentioned so I thought I would ask about it.
We are told that the main purpose of the Xaos Wards is to keep the Xaos Storms out and we are told by Yed Gaverne that there are caves not touched by Xaos Storms, so I had assumed that the Xaos Wards might not go that deep into the ground to reduce Aetherial blood cost meaning that the way to smuggle something past a Xaos Ward would be either using a natural cave network under the Ward or an artificial tunnel. How far down into the ground do the Xaos Wards extend?
On a different note, from the XOR 1 WIP thread by @Havenstone:
No one’s purpose (in the telos sense) is betrayal or espionage. No one is by their very nature a traitor or spy. And seeing the intent behind a specific willed action is beyond any Theurge’s telos-vision.
and also from the XOR 1 WIP thread by @Havenstone:
The telos of a decoy – something made to deceive – would be more noticeable to them than the blur of whatever life you packed into it. And if they’re close enough, the greater complexity of human telos vis-a-vis animal telos (let alone plant telos) would be visible. (This is also a problem with traps, to varying degrees).
So I was wondering, how would Theurge Telos-vision impact the effectiveness of steganography (hiding a message in plain sight)? Would Telos-vision allow Theurges to realize a hidden message was present even if they could not decipher it? Regarding codes in general, how much of the message’s purpose would Theurges using Telos-vision understand without deciphering the message?