Unsounded/WMG

Elka has one of the pymaric simulcrums.
The one she's looking at in the last panel we see her with the catalogue. She appears to be looking at her hand in that panel, as if she's comparing it to the one in the catalogue, and if you look closely, it looks like her palm is glowing blue, just like a pymaric. It could just be the lighting, though. Of course, this means that simulcrums must be capable of looking like ordinary limbs, but surely, in a world with healing magic, it would be easy to graft skin over the metal or some such thing?

Either that, or she's thinking about getting one.

The real reason for Sette's mission is to get Duane into Cresce
Lord Winalils mentions the Ilganyag, so he is almost certainly a member of the Black Tongues. He also looks similar to the Black-Tongue doctor that Cara describes. He probably convinced Sette's father to send Sette to Cresce with Duane. They used Sette because they knew that Duane felt protective of children. And apparently Starfish is being threatened by Frummagem to get his job done. Matty suggests that Starfish is smuggling something that likes pain, but maybe he is actually luring Duane by hurting children (although there seem to be some magical reasons as well).

Sette and Duane are Decoy Protagonists. The real story is going to revolve around Murkoph.
Ashley pretty much says it outright here.

Murkoph's body is made out of First Materials.
Murkoph is a roleplaying character of Ashley's who will be appearing in the story eventually. He's apparently a zombie who has maintained sentience, like Duane. We don't know much about him other than that -- all we have to go on is a short comic on Ashley's deviantArt page. That comic (assuming it's canon) is pretty enlightening, though. In it, not only is Murkoph surprisingly well-preserved (unlike Duane, who is a skeleton), he's standing over water. Pymary doesn't work over water, and since zombies are held together purely through pymary, they just collapse if they go over water. But Murkoph is just fine. The only things that can maintain magical properties over water are enchanted First Materials, so it's probable Murkoph made a body for himself out of some. (This would also explain why he doesn't decay, since the enchantment preserving him would be permanent.)
 * A possible problem with this theory -- in the comic, there's another wright who uses pymary, even when he's out as far as Murkoph. It's possible that he just wasn't out far enough for the Anti Magic to take effect, though the fact that he was willing to get that close to something that should be fatally dangerous to him still lends credence to this theory.
 * Most likely Jossed. Ashley says that docks and the like can be "grounded" by filling them with earth -- this allows the khert to move over them unhindered. The dock Murkoph was standing on was one such object, so even if the comic is canon, it can't be used to prove anything.

Duane will become Murkoph.
Murkoph is very similar to Duane -- a plod that has maintained sentience. He also likes to ramble a lot about existential weirdness, something that isn't entirely uncharacteristic of Duane. Murk's psychopathy should disqualify him, but Duane is already displaying Sanity Slippage...if he snaps, Murkoph could be what he becomes. Furthermore, assuming the above-mentioned comic is canon, he's a tacit caster as well...
 * A kink in this theory -- Murkoph has hair. Duane is bald. Although, Murkoph is also not a skeleton, so if Duane does become Murkoph, he would have to make a completely new body...which could tie into the above theory, if he makes it out of First Materials.
 * Jossed. Murkoph is from Sharteshane: http://fav.me/d1ahaoq

Quigley is doomed.
Even setting aside the fact that he's entering the threshold for keeling over from old age at any moment, he can't stay alive if the plot is to be kept intact. Quigley wants to save the children from Starfish's operation, which will derail that major plot thread. It's too early for that plot to be solved, even partially. There's also another problem that decreases his survivability: whatever wants those slaves isn't going to be happy if Quigley comes up and goes "So hey I'm taking these kids with me bye~", especially if they're the main course. As if that wasn't enough, Ashley says there's going to be a Wizard Duel in the next chapter -- almost certainly between Quigley and Duane, which would be a perfect chance to off him.

As a corollary to this, Matty may be doomed as well without his father to help him...

Bastion had something to do with Duane's reanimation.
We haven't seen much of Bastion so far -- however, in the one scene we've seen him in so far, he places great emphasis on Duane's condition, insinuating that calling him a mere plod is not at all accurate. Alone, this wouldn't be too suspicious...except that Ashley has also said on her Formspring that he's an exceptionally knowledgeable gruftgrammer who knows a lot of weird, unknown magic. Most notably, he's practically the only wright on the continent who can reliably teleport, a skill that requires a strong sense of self. Duane's enchantment seems to use a similar function -- his self is persisting even after his death. These facts seem to point to one of two things: Either Bastion reanimated Duane himself, or knows a great deal about how he was reanimated.

The reason pymary fails over large expanses of water is because...
(Post your own theories here!)


 * Blank ocean is like a void in the khert, or there are no Ley Lines over it or whatever. Perhaps magical energy is attracted to land, so there's nothing to tap into if you go out too far.
 * This theory is impossible -- the khert is required for life. There's life in the ocean, so there must be a khert (or something very similar) over it.
 * Water is Anti Magic for some reason, though only in large quantities.
 * Vengeful water spirits. They were apparently trapped and controlled by wrights earlier in history in an attempt to stop natural disasters, so perhaps those that remain have learned to stifle pymary.
 * There's a competing force that bonds to water and water animals to contrast with the khert that bonds to land and land animals. They're not compatible and wrights haven't had the means or maybe even the chance to develop something like pymary to control the water-khert.
 * The khert is attached to land for some reason. There is a khert in the ocean, but only on the ocean floor -- thus, people on boats can't access it.
 * The khert's powers fade with distance. If you were to travel by airplane, the same effect would occur. Since the khert is bound to the land, the farther you are away from it, the weaker it is. Just like magnetism and gravity. Water has nothing to do with it beyond acting as a physical barrier between you and the khert.