- So they dusted off the "serve humanity" command and repurposed it. Humans would serve them with the promised carrot that maybe, after thousands of years of reincarnation, become their equals. This would never happen. As seen in Wizard's Holiday, any sentients who get close are shoved out of reality. At great cost to themselves, they also captured Lucifer. (Many of the angels that "fell" with Lucifer were more open to ruling Heaven and the Physical Plane instead of serving an Omnicidal Maniac in Hell; and turned against him in exchange for clemency and a piece of the pie.) They didn't erase him, no. They needed a Great Enemy.
- The Ordeal was created. Through their manipulation of the old prophet system and a captured Lucifer (now a shadow of Himself, the "Lone Power") humans with the life spark that the old God loved were chosen and given a Geas; the Wizard's Oath. Serve the Powers eternally, owe them eternally, get to use magic as long as they approve of it. The Ordeal was a two-edged sword. If the child dies; their Life Energy would serve as Human Sacrifice to keep the universe running. If they survived, the Geas (the Wizard's Oath) would siphon their potential soul spark until as adults they couldn't do anything.
- When scouting children to turn into Wizards; the Book/Powers give a kind of Godly Sidestep that transforms as they get older. All Myths Are True, the Powers are the same things as angels and gods; wizards aren't defying God; God is "The One" above all. The really bright children; the ones who might change the status quo, are given lethal Ordeals. And lethal Ordeals after that. If that doesn't work; they allow the Lone Power to break their support network and have family members and loved ones get killed off. Despite what the Ordeal Scenarios seem to indicate, nothing is really at risk. No matter how many times a wizard might "save the world" or "save the universe" it doesn't mean anything because had the child failed the Powers can command the Lone Power to stand down, and the Powers would write in the rule book that the child had died to stop It.
- When Dairine converted the Lone Power; this wasn't a victory for the Powers. It was a threat. The Powers used the Lone Power as a stick to keep Wizards in line. Thinking the wrong way? BAM, you're a tool of the Lone Power and he takes over. With him surrendered, they had to either create a new one; or repurpose the old one to go back to doing his job. (With a Timey-Wimey Ball explaination on why the redemption didn't stick.) Then they dealt with Dairine and Nita by letting their mother die. Nope. Magic can't cure brain cancer. Although a human can bring back a celebrity singer eaten by a dinosaur by dipping into a parallel universe if it threatens The Masquerade. Also, it is taught to Wizards that prayer is useless because the One cannot intervene. Kit was given a similar Heroic BSoD by revealing his dog was an Aspect of God and then killing him too.
- As of Wizard of Mars we have everyone as perfect Wizards. Beaten into submission by the contradictory rules; allowing other wizards to look down on their accomplishments, and while saying they're working to make things better; just following the status quo.
- The twin Apotheosis and The Incubators' Fall that was the result of this have the other Powers putting aside humanities extinction as an option for now. They're scared. Likewise, neither the Goddess or the Devil have noticed them. For now.
- There was a Very Suspicous Encounter between Dairine and a human looking alien at the Crossroads in High Wizardry. She was running from enemies and happened to bump into someone that revolved the issue with guile. He could be have been the Fifth Doctor.
- Word of Duane is that it is indeed the Doctor. A Wizard Alone also establishes that there are many different kinds of beings out there who serve the One (even if they don't realize it themselves), some of whom aren't wizards. Also, his description of Old High Gallifreyan ("the lost language of the Time Lords...there were days, many days, when these words could burn stars and raise up empires and topple gods") does sound remarkably like the Speech, doesn't it?
- Let's see here, both have been redeemed once (Discord's only friend he ever had is Fluttershy), represent disorder and chaos, and can never be truly defeated.
- Lets see, the Lone Power is sometimes call the One Power. Entropy allows for time and motion. The One is The Prime Mover, Ergo, The Lone Power is a Corrupted One.
- Possibly confirmed with the redemption of The Lone Power, and the explanation that aspects of it which have not yet been redeemed still exist out there, meaning that The One may be the aspects of it which were not yet corrupted.
Many years later, DD wrote this passage for the Young Wizards "30 Day OTP Challenge" - Kit and Nita have gotten themselves genderswapped and unable to change back without Tom and Carl's help.
So "Schenectady" (as in the city in upstate New York) is obviously the source of some kind of Noodle Incident with Tom and Carl. It is now known that Tom and Carl are canonicaly a gay couple (blogged about by Duane, canonized officially in the 2020 Christmas short Owl Be Home For Christmas), but Duane couldn't discuss it publicly until the real life friends that Tom and Carl had been based on had passed away as they were not universaly out.
Here's the lynchpin of the theory: Schenectady has a famous adult book store. It used to be a very prominent landmark in the city's downtown (It's since been forced to move to another neighborhood). It's called "Another World".
So at some point early in their wizardly career, Tom and Carl met and had a misadventure, possibly a worldgating mishap, that put them in Schenectady, in the vicinity of that bookshop, hijinks ensued, and likely they learned a bit more about each other than they were expecting.
- Alternatively/additionally, the power levels may well make a difference here. If a normal person says "Let there be light," in the Speech, no big deal. But if a wizard with a strong enough power level and the absolute belief that the spell will work says it...