Toby's Gambit

Toby's Gambit is an epistolary novel by Isolda Stringer in which a level two Fox student, Tobias Wilson sees a future in which his people are destroyed. But when he tells the Fox Masters, they do not believe him, as they are unable to see the same thing.

Document Structure

Publication Status

The original historical text was published within the Fox community in 1465, under the title The Stratagem of Tobias Wilson. A century later, a copy of the manuscript was mysteriously delivered to a publisher, who assumed it was a novel. Intrigued by both the unique story and style of writing, it was published under the title Toby's Gambit and remained popular enough that it is still republished and read.

Historical Details

History

Though considered a novel outside of the Fox community, this book was written to document an important event for Foxes. In 1182, Tobias Wilson, a level 2 Fox, while practicing scrying, saw a massive storm on the horizon, which he suspected would destroy his entire city. Upon warning the Fox Masters, they searched for this future in their scrying glasses, but were unable to see it. Without support from the Fox Masters, Tobias sought help from other Foxes, and even other outsiders, going so far as break Fox law to do so. Nevertheless, he was able to save most of the people in the town when the storm did, in fact, hit, and he was absolved of his crimes for doing so. Three hundred years later, historian Isolda Stringer, one of the few women who has been allowed to freely roam the fhalls of Fox schools, collected the documents on the event and compiled them into a historical text. The story of Tobias Wilson continues to serve as a reminder that though rank is important, Fox Masters should not discount the abilities of lower Fox students. The original manuscript is housed in the library at the Fox school in Seretrene.

Public Reaction

When it was first widely published, it had above average popularity, though it was not an extreme hit. Now, it is less popular, mostly due to the old fashioned writing style, but the story remains familiar, and has been adapted and repurposed for other stories. It is usually an assigned text in Fox magic schools, where it is considered an important history text and often those who do not study Fox magic, but live within the communities have read it.

Read the Document

Toby's Gambit

The novel is 501 pages long, divided into 53 chapters. Each chapter consists of a letter or diary entry, followed by a historical narration to provide context and detail to the events mentioned in the epistolary passages.
The book opens with Tobias's diary, in which he documents his first few days as a level two Fox. In chapter 3, he explains that he was up late scrying and saw a horrific storm in his scrying glass. He scrys for the same thing again the next morning, before alerting his teacher. The next chapter is a letter from the teacher to one of the Fox Masters, explaining his concern for the coming storm which "young Toby Wilson" has foreseen, though he has been unable to see it himself. The Fox Master responds that he has searched for it, and seen nothing, meaning that Toby is either making the story up, or does not fully understand what he sees, as he has only started his level two studies.
Chapters eight through eleven detail Toby's search for the answer to what he in seeing, in which he searches through history texts for a possible storm from the past, knowing that scrying can show images from the past as well as the future. When he finds no evidence of such as storm in the past, Toby tries to improve his scrying abilities to get a better picture of the storm, and is rewarded with the vision of his own Fox school, as it stood at the time, being destroyed in the storm. In chapter fifteen, he again petitions the Fox Masters about the oncoming storm, with the same result as before. Chapters sixteen through twenty are diary entries from Toby's teacher and the Fox Masters at his school, which reveal their opinions of the discrepancy, considering everything from Toby's lack of skill to being put up to a prank by another student. One of the Fox Masters even considers that Toby may be particularly gifted at scrying, and that what he is seeing is real. Chapter twenty-one contains an ancient myth about a man with an innate gift to see things others couldn't, and the narrator speculates on this possibility that Toby had the same gift.
Chapters twenty-two through forty-five consist primarily of letters between Toby and others, in which he develops a plan to save his town from the coming storm. In this plan, many people come together during the night to build a wall to help keep out the water. Though the Fox Masters see the wall slowly going up, and try to stop it, no one speaks out against Toby, and the continue to build. Next, Toby convinces several high-leveled Foxes, who have mastered the skill of transportation to be on hand to quickly get people out of the city, as well as a group of lower-leveled Foxes who have mastered the skill of wind to battle the storm, pushing it back, and stalling it. This group agrees, despite the fact that fighting a storm is very dangerous and likely to result in death. Toby is able to build this secret force through word of mouth, by telling a handful of trusted people, who then draw others into the campaign. Several of the letters speak to Toby's character and charisma or tell stories of his uncanny ability to predict events before they happen. The narrator uses this as an explanation of how Toby was able to get so many people to follow him, even when the Fox Masters refused, as well as further evidence of Toby's unique ability to see the future, though this ability is never confirmed. Furthermore, in chapters twenty-seven and thirty-six, the narrator points out the particular efforts of women, who formed a larger percentage of the force than did men.
In chapters forty-six through fifty, the Fox Masters discover their folly and must add their efforts into what has already occurred in a last ditch to save the town as the storm approaches the horizon. The last three chapters cover the fallout after the storm, and Toby's reward for trusting his knowledge, as without him, the damage to the town would likely have been much greater.

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Type

Manuscript, Literature

Medium

Paper

Authoring Date

1465

Authors

• Isolda Stringer