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(SPOILERS) Rampant Speculation Based on "What If"

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Re: Rampant Speculation Based on "What If"
Post by Duckk   » Sun Aug 23, 2015 6:57 am

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David's words, emphasis mine.

And, third, the notion of lightning as sacred and not, under any circumstances, to be profaned by mortal hands provides the permanent remembrance of not just Langhorne's existence but of the consequences of Langhorne's wrath.

Also:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4821&p=116198
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Re: Rampant Speculation Based on "What If"
Post by Expert snuggler   » Sun Aug 23, 2015 12:49 pm

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Good link! Thank you.

So what happens when someone jostles the decayed insulation on the wiring to an old church building's angel indicator lamp, and discovers it was running on Rakurai all along, and still is even with no angels around?
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Re: Rampant Speculation Based on "What If"
Post by evilauthor   » Sun Aug 23, 2015 3:26 pm

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Expert snuggler wrote:Good link! Thank you.

So what happens when someone jostles the decayed insulation on the wiring to an old church building's angel indicator lamp, and discovers it was running on Rakurai all along, and still is even with no angels around?


You mean what happens if they get shocked by messing with a holy artifact? Obviously they're being punished/warned off from messing with said holy artifact.

Although I got the impression that those indicator lamps are no longer around, likely policed up by the angels before they were all gone. After all, why leave them around when they're not going to be used.

After all, there's been more than one church in the series being described as dating to Creation. But the way they're described is that there's no physical proof of such age. If they still had the angel lamps, that'd be incontrovertible proof of their age.
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Re: Rampant Speculation Based on "What If"
Post by Expert snuggler   » Sun Aug 23, 2015 9:04 pm

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I was imagining getting a flash and a spark.

If Merlin's sensors can map the Temple's power, could a low-tech passive device (e.g. antenna, transformer, gas discharge tube) detect that the Temple is using electricity?

Anyone at all qualified to be a priest could then explain it away, but that explanation would open doors and break the "under any circumstances" rule.

Agreed, though, our host seems to be setting the stage for a non-electric civilization until it becomes possible to challenge the Writ itself. In that case the next technology might be fluidic computers. Imagine Howsmynn with CNC equipment.
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Re: Rampant Speculation Based on "What If"
Post by SWM   » Sun Aug 23, 2015 10:14 pm

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Kakai wrote:Regarding all the above mentions about the Proscriptions, if I may... taking aside people's conviction for a moment, isn't the major part of power behind the Proscriptions the threat behind them? I always thought there's a simple rule at the base of it all: If you dare do this, you'll soon become the centre of the biggest lightning strike in the world.

If Merlin/Charis do introduce eletricity, then, the people will expect the divine intervention soon. When it doesn't come... well, turns out lightning isn't as forbidden as they've thought, now is it? The Writ, then, turns out to be making threats it can't act upon, and that means it has less power than people thought. And that means that archangels, who are the guarantor of Writ's truth, are less powerful than people thought. Perhaps they are even wrong.

That's one excellent way to break Church's hold on people, I think.

No. David has been very clear about this. The strength of the Proscriptions is not the threat of Angelic Wrath. It is plain ordinary belief. The people believe in the Writ as handed down by the Archangels. The OBS has not been used in centuries; it is not the OBS which is maintaining the Proscriptions. If someone in Charis announced a device using electricity, the mobs would swarm and kill him. And that's in Charis!
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Re: Rampant Speculation Based on "What If"
Post by Expert snuggler   » Sun Aug 23, 2015 11:11 pm

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Which makes Merlin and the whole Inner Circle dangerously vulnerable.
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Re: Rampant Speculation Based on "What If"
Post by schoeffelk   » Mon Aug 24, 2015 7:25 am

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Here is another thought concerning the Temple. "What If" what is under the Temple is Scheuler's AI hologram similar to Nahrman's and 'he' instructs the 'faithful in the Plaza of Martyrs that the Proscriptions are not complete. He then goes on to educate the masses on the Church's true foundation, Pei Wei, Langhorne, Chihiro, ... and the history of the Federation and the GBABA. The hologram is projected and can't be destroyed and the Go4 would have no knowledge how to stop it.
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Re: Rampant Speculation Based on "What If"
Post by SWM   » Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:01 am

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Expert snuggler wrote:Good link! Thank you.

So what happens when someone jostles the decayed insulation on the wiring to an old church building's angel indicator lamp, and discovers it was running on Rakurai all along, and still is even with no angels around?

It really doesn't matter if anyone discovers that the Temple is using electricity. The Writ says that use of the Rakurai is restricted to the Archangels, and the Temple was built by the Archangels. Lightning and static electricity are merely reminders of Langhorne's power. The Temple is another example of the Archangel's power--of course it uses electricity. The Temple cannot violate the Writ because it was built directly by the power of the Angels, and the Rakurai is part of their power.
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Re: Rampant Speculation Based on "What If"
Post by Kakai   » Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:40 am

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SWM wrote:No. David has been very clear about this. The strength of the Proscriptions is not the threat of Angelic Wrath. It is plain ordinary belief. The people believe in the Writ as handed down by the Archangels. The OBS has not been used in centuries; it is not the OBS which is maintaining the Proscriptions. If someone in Charis announced a device using electricity, the mobs would swarm and kill him. And that's in Charis!

A valid point. :?

The one other plus of no OBS I can see is that Merlin would no longer have to hide his skimmer trips from watchful eyes in orbit - simply keeping high enough altitude for people not to see the thing should be enough. This means that Merlin can break all the speed limits and go places faster. Not sure if that helps a lot, but it's always something.
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Re: Rampant Speculation Based on "What If"
Post by cralkhi   » Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:48 pm

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n7axw wrote:Yeah, but if the OBS smacks the power sourse and wakes up whatever is under the Temple, it turns into something that has Merlin thinking, "Golly Gee, I wish I hadn't done that!"

Don


This was assuming the OBS disabled, and without the OBS, the Temple Sleeper is no threat - Merlin has the TF military hardware to take out anything that could be fit in the temple basement.

Expert snuggler wrote:Which makes Merlin and the whole Inner Circle dangerously vulnerable.


Well, the Inner Circle yes, not so much Merlin himself. With the current tech level, an assassin or mob couldn't do much to his ultra-tough PICA body.
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