Dr. James Fitzsimmons

We tend to think of this sort of thing as like, oh, there's folks and they're doing witchcraft or sorcery or what have you, and that's somehow not sanctioned, not part of the normal society and such.

Or they're somehow set apart, right?

Or there's a priest class.

Yeah, that's our society, right?

This is a separate class.

Um, for these guys, no, um, for these guys, uh, the rulers are the primary, they're like the heads of the religious, it's a religious, it's, it's a theocracy on some level.

So they're, they're actually the ones that are the prime movers and shakers in a lot of this.

Um, are there priests?

Yes.

Um, are there folks that are, that are, um,

that are sort of engaged in this kind of activities.

Yes.

But, but the leaders of them are the, are the, are the rulers and their wives and, and, and that's that they're doing all of this themselves.

Wow.

So the leaders themselves are actually invoking this.

Oh yes.

Oh yes.

Um, one of the characters in that book, uh,

she has a really sort of strange career trajectory.

She goes from being a little girl who is basically being pursued from city to city, because basically her relatives are trying to kill her.