I have to admit I draw a lot of inspiration from other deeply philosophical fantasists. In particular, Phillip Pulman, author of the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy (the first book of which was made into the movie 'The Golden Compass') and american author Madeleine L'Engle. I originally called the corrupting, annihilating force introduced here 'entropy', but it's not really entropy as we know it. [less]