Overall Series Plot Spoilers

Use of Theurgy?
In response to a query on whether all protagonists would ultimately need to resort to Theurgy, the author wrote: "If you want to end up as the leader of one of the major continent-spanning factions, on a par with the biggest internal and external actors, you need to have Theurges. But that’s not going to be the only way to 'win'.

"You may choose to be one of the smaller factions, and consider victory to be surviving and establishing stable relations of one kind or another with the other successor states. You may choose to not consolidate your rebellion in any one bit of territory, but remain a permanent rebel challenging the status quo, either violently or non-violently.

"The 'choice of rebels' shouldn’t be limited to creating a new empire or major nation, with all the compromises that that would inevitably entail. A purist rebel will have other choices." (source)