Baseless speculation.

Tonto Silerheels wrote:Here goes...we know that Safehold has legends of seijins doing incredible things in the distant past. We know that Merlin latched on to those legends in order to allay surprise regarding his abilities. We also know that many, perhaps all, legends have a kernel of truth to them. We also know that a record of Nimue Alban was kept--a record that could be downloaded into a PICA. Here's where the speculation comes in--what are the chances that the kernel of truth to the seijin legends was a previous instance of Nimue Alban being downloaded into her, or someone's, PICA?

We know that the seijins operated on the side of the light. So suppose after the Rakurai of the Alexandria colony and nuking of the command crew, that the remaining crew fought with each other for religious control of Safehold. Maybe someone put Nimue into her PICA, and had her, in a suitable disguise, participate in the war of the fallen. She might be fighting for the least bad alternative, which ended up putting the current system into power.

Am I completely off my rocker?

~Tonto

And even if Kau-yung had succeeded in his plan to kill Langhorne and his senior followers, someone had clearly survived to take charge of the master plan. The Temple of God and City of Zion were evidence enough of that, she thought grimly, for neither had existed prior to Shan-wei's murder. And the Temple, especially, was the centerpiece of the physical proof of the Holy Writ's accuracy.

Tonto Silerheels wrote:SWM wrote:
What I recall is mention of the fact that it was built on the site of the original Temple.

Not definitive, but highly suggestive is this passage from Off Armageddon Reef, First Edition, Hardcover, p. 68.

And even if Kau-yung had succeeded in his plan to kill Langhorne and his senior followers, someone had clearly survived to take charge of the master plan. The Temple of God and City of Zion were evidence enough of that, she thought grimly, for neither had existed prior to Shan-wei's murder. And the Temple, especially, was the centerpiece of the physical proof of the Holy Writ's accuracy.

First emphasis added.

~Tonto

Tonto Silerheels wrote:Not definitive, but highly suggestive is this passage from Off Armageddon Reef, First Edition, Hardcover, p. 68.

And even if Kau-yung had succeeded in his plan to kill Langhorne and his senior followers, someone had clearly survived to take charge of the master plan. The Temple of God and City of Zion were evidence enough of that, she thought grimly, for neither had existed prior to Shan-wei's murder. And the Temple, especially, was the centerpiece of the physical proof of the Holy Writ's accuracy.

First emphasis added.

~Tonto

Tonto Silerheels wrote:Not definitive, but highly suggestive is this passage from Off Armageddon Reef, First Edition, Hardcover, p. 68.

And even if Kau-yung had succeeded in his plan to kill Langhorne and his senior followers, someone had clearly survived to take charge of the master plan. The Temple of God and City of Zion were evidence enough of that, she thought grimly, for neither had existed prior to Shan-wei's murder. And the Temple, especially, was the centerpiece of the physical proof of the Holy Writ's accuracy.

First emphasis added.

~Tonto

DJMacdonald wrote:Even more suggestive is the name given to the Plaza in front of the Temple, where Clyntahn holds his Punishments -- the Plaza of Martyrs.
I suspect Chihiro of paving over ground-zero and building the Temple right there to further intimidate any of Shan-wei's surviving supporters.

PeterZ wrote:Welcome aboard, DJ! Enjoy the first virtual round on the house.

PeterZ wrote:Could be you are right. I, however, suspect that the Plaza tops whatever is stored to assist the "Sleepers" when they awaken. Can't have superbeing throwing their weight around without suitible toys to impress the rubes, eh?

DJMacdonald wrote:Even more suggestive is the name given to the Plaza in front of the Temple, where Clyntahn holds his Punishments -- the Plaza of Martyrs.
I suspect Chihiro of paving over ground-zero and building the Temple right there to further intimidate any of Shan-wei's surviving supporters.

DJMacdonald wrote:Even more suggestive is the name given to the Plaza in front of the Temple, where Clyntahn holds his Punishments -- the Plaza of Martyrs.
I suspect Chihiro of paving over ground-zero and building the Temple right there to further intimidate any of Shan-wei's surviving supporters.

SWM wrote:

Tonto Silerheels wrote:
Not definitive, but highly suggestive is this passage from Off Armageddon Reef, First Edition, Hardcover, p. 68.



First emphasis added.

~Tonto

That is indeed quite suggestive.

I have got to replace my copy of OAR and re-read it!

Pei Kau-yung sat in the comfortable chair, his face an expressionless mask as he listened to the debate.

The G6 sun they had named Kau-zhi in honor of his brother shone down outside. It was just past local noon, and the northern summer was hot, but a cool breeze off Lake Pei blew in through the open windows, and he grimaced mentally as it breathed gently across him.

keylime314 wrote:

SWM wrote:**quote="Tonto Silerheels"**

Not definitive, but highly suggestive is this passage from Off Armageddon Reef, First Edition, Hardcover, p. 68.



First emphasis added.

~Tonto

That is indeed quite suggestive.

I have got to replace my copy of OAR and re-read it!**quote**

A little earlier there's this, taking place in Langhornes council rooms:

Pei Kau-yung sat in the comfortable chair, his face an expressionless mask as he listened to the debate.

The G6 sun they had named Kau-zhi in honor of his brother shone down outside. It was just past local noon, and the northern summer was hot, but a cool breeze off Lake Pei blew in through the open windows, and he grimaced mentally as it breathed gently across him.

This scene takes place in Langhornes council chambers, and the debate taking place is about getting rid of their last ship. So we have a meeting of Langhorne's council happening on the same lake the current temple is at. Since this is a place that mortals can get to fairly easily (it's across the lake from the settlement at the beginning of OAR), it seems likely it was eventually intended to be a planetary government center to be handed off to mortals over several centuries as the archangels died and mortals increasingly took over the church. Hmm, a central place for the governing and control of a religion and worship within that religion, I know there's a word for that, it's on the tip of my tongue.

It seems likely the current temple was built on top of this site after Kau-yung nuked it. The surviving angels probably built it to be even grander to impress the mortals they had to bring in a couple centuries early to help run things after to losing the vast majority of the angels.