Is Elder sorcery always "one step removed" from direct manipulation of Amorphia?
Certainly this is how Adron used it in trying to take control of the orb, (FHYA, Ch 33), but in Phoenix, (Ch 4) We see Aliera melt down a wall, with no apparent use of Amorphia stones. When Vlad quizzes her about it (Ch 5) she calls this "Pre-Empire Sorcery". It would appear, then, that Elder Sorcery includes both varieties of non-orb controlled sorcery.
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Or maybe they are just both before-the-Empire or pre-Empire. I do not think we know the name for "the ability to use, in fact, the ability to create amorphia". Jhereg, Ch 9. I bet Verra knows.
When Adron created the purple stones, he was using the e'Kieron ability to create Amorphia. When Adron used the purple stones to create the spell to take the orb, he was using Elder or pre-empire sorcery.
Also Aliera may be using Pathfinder to channel Amorphia energy and not any purple stones. "a Serioli named Cly!ng Fr'ngtha that made the Elder Sorcery tangible by embodying it in objects blurring the distinction between animate and inanimate;" Issola Ch. 2
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Does Pre-Empire Sorcery need a separate entry, then? Or maybe this article could simply be expanded to explain both flavors?
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Morrolan's mother was of the e'Kieron line (being Adron's youngest sister. Taltos, Ch 14). This means he IS INDEED of e'Kieron ancestry, just not through a straight male lineage.