@Havenstone Is this just a reference to volcanic debris reaching the thermosphere?
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Theurges who have observed that (or something similar) believe that to be the source of meteorites, and the primary way that non-organic aether is brought to earth.
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On one hand, rebel leaders able to induce a sufficient degree of fanaticism could get a lot of mileage out of theurgic suicide bombers.
On the other hand, there’s no stuffing the jinni back in the bottle.
I think my intellect-focused guy will elect to not go this route.
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It’s not just blood, it’s also money, which is earned by blood.
Part of the problem the Hegemony is suffering is that its various control mechanisms are seizing up and becoming corrupt. A generation ago, an Alastor who tried that shit with Jongleur Carles to seize a tavern’s revenue for himself would be facing the Harrower himself. Now almost every Alastor is doing it.
Part of the reason behind the Fourth Harrowing was because the Keriatou’s income was being chewed on both upstream by their Alastors’ corruption and downstream by the Leilatou’s taxes, and they needed a seventh harvest to make economic ends meet.
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Just wondering , what do you think if MC “compromise” with Hegemony ? in the sense that MC be given the main role in governing position in an attempt to eradicate corruption , so that less people need to be sacrifice for Harrowing ? Will such MC be consider a “Hero” then ? 
I was just thinking of the Matrix Trilogy in which Neo and the Oracle decided to compromise and negotiate with the Machine Empire instead , Neo didn’t manage to free human kind from the machine ( who use human body like a battery to fuse electricity ) , however the Machine agree to allow human who “wake up” from their dream a choice to live in the real world or go back to sleep in their dream world … Well, although i think the Machine Empire in Matrix is more generous in the sense that they allow humans to live in “good” dream the whole life …
It would require abandoning the religious power I’ve already claimed. Also, the Thaumatarch might object.
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Odds are that you’d be arrested as soon as you showed up to take on your new position, and then publicly executed by harrowing to both prove the hegemony’s continued strength and to serve as an example of what happens to rebels. The kryptast who talked you into their hands would likely be highly rewarded too.
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That’s not what happen in the Matrix ending, the Machine King kept his words … The Hegemony has no honour ? Lol 
Of course they do.
Rebels are enemies of That Which Is and the order decreed by the Compassionate Angels. Anything done in the name of bringing them to the Harrower is honorable!
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If he’s still with us. His heir might be more receptive.
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And among my MCs, Alya is very much planning for a meet-the-new-boss revolution, with limited (extensive) changes to the blood economy and a massive Harrowing of the existing leadership, but essentially keeping most of the Thaumatarchic structure intact. Hm, maybe it might be a good idea for her to marry the princess…
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That…my friend, look set to be the similar downfall of King Louis XVI and the French Monarchy .
The cause looks identical , following the Seven Years’ War and the American Revolution, the French government was deeply in debt. It attempted to restore its financial status through unpopular taxation schemes, which were heavily regressive. The next few years featured political struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the monarchy intent on thwarting major reforms. Any right-wing supporters of the Hegemony who are intend to oppose reformation attempt by civilised liberals will eventually bring down the same conclusion as the French Revolution … Most likely it will eventually give rise to the Rebels " Reign of Terror " if a blood thirsty rebel alliance win the war … 
Luckily for the Aristocrats, in this world there is still chance that my pro-Aristocrat Rebel Alliance might win the war instead , so that the Aristocrat won’t suffer the same fate as those Nobles in the French Revolution 
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Indeed. Wonder what’ll happen if we go for a ruthless, bloody-handed aristocratic rebellion…
@Havenstone has created quite the moral quandary here. My initial reaction is to abandon all therugy that isn’t fueled by self sacrifice. The major problem of course is that your enemies will exploit that vulnerability and simply make helots of you and your followers.
There are obviously ways to economize the system on the expense/demand side. More economical use and widespread practice of self-sacrificing therugy. Additionally, some IRL equivalent energy source as a substitute for mundane agriculture and industry like coal or oil. That obviously would be a lengthy conversion might not even be possible given the in-world cognitive frame.
You could make some changes to the supply side. Executions for certain crimes (likely already happening and then some), volunteers (chronic pain, terminal illness etc.), people in a vegetative state. Then it gets darker, harvesting one or both eyes as punishment for less serious crimes, full harrowing for even minor offenses (probably already the case…), some kind of lottery system, or exploiting some other class or nation the MC finds more agreeable.
Ultimately (at least to the extent I have tortured my mind to this point), barring some windfall/miracle/technological revolution like obtaining a new and substantial source of non-organic aether, I feel like Halassur is probably on to the most equitable way to run a blood economy. The franchise of sacrificing your first born would have to be extended to everyone, but the very horror of such a system should result in as economized a blood market as possible. The biggest issue is that any such system requires state administration. People will inevitably try to cheat, and powerful people successfully cheating leads to corruption and grievance.
One possible enforcement mechanism I thought of was that access to therugic public goods like miraculous healing or tax free food etc would be restricted to those who made the sacrifice after a certain age. You could also make hiding a first born a harrowable offense. I can see how this would lead to a horrifically gendered society. It’s definitely a tough nut.
@Havenstone I presume the harvesting and then regrowing of eyes will not balance the aether sheets? Is it possible for a theruge to use the living sacrifice of someone else’s blood if they cut themselves in proximity? Also is there a finite amount of aether in each person? Is that why the MC starts passing out? Is this permanent or do you “recharge?”
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For Suzanne’s sake, i will work hard with Liberal minded Aristocrats so that the rebellion will become a more peaceful reformation instead of a violent revolution 
It’s clear that people recharge (this can be inferred from the fact that you recover in between winter and spring), which means that there might be a way to farm people for renewable aether, albeit very inefficiently.
Aetherize the eyes. Regrow them through palmcutting. Repeat.
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Maybe I’m missing something, but can theurgy regrow lost organs and appendages? I assume theurgic healing works by enhancing the human body’s telos to right itself over time, but the human body’s natural capabilities don’t include wholesale regeneration of lost organs starfish-style.
So far the limits of therugy seem to be largely just blood quantities (thin air can serve as a barrier for only weapons???) though this logic would certainly work to explain why Ramidel’s blood hack won’t work…
Most theurgy apparently works by supercharging an object’s natural tendency to do a certain thing - walls to keep things out, clothes to protect the wearer, blades to cut or sever. Even air technically constitutes a barrier, no matter how tenuous. But rocks aren’t known for defying gravity and there’s a mountain floating in Aekos, so I’d say you’re right. With enough magic fuel, you could probably do just about anything.
I’m willing to bet sucking the magic juice out of an eyeball isn’t going to cover the cost of growing it back and then some, though.
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Yes, but while it won’t cover the cost, consider that you can pay in a different currency. The payout is in refined aether, which can be stored, while the cost is in wisard blood, which can’t be stored but is self-renewing. It’s an indirect means of storing the latter
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