HFQ Official Snippet #20

Keith_w wrote:

DrakBibliophile wrote:Having a suspicious mind, I wonder if the Mighty Wizard Weber has another means in mind for "rescuing" Thirsk and his family.

Oh, Nice Snippet.

[quote="runsforcelery" quote="Peter2"

I wonder if there's any chance of Aivah Pahrsahn's organisation getting Thirsk and his family out from under the baleful eyes of their Inquisition guards? /quote


No. /

There is a point in LAMA (if I recall correctly) where Thirsk thinks to himself about his secret plans which I assumed will concern rescuing his family, and may have something to do with the Duke shoot which occurred in a previous snippet

McGuiness wrote:

DrakBibliophile wrote:Having a suspicious mind, I wonder if the Mighty Wizard Weber has another means in mind for "rescuing" Thirsk and his family.

Oh, Nice Snippet. *quote**quote="runsforcelery"**quote="Peter2"*
I wonder if there's any chance of Aivah Pahrsahn's organisation getting Thirsk and his family out from under the baleful eyes of their Inquisition guards? *quote*
No. *quote*Oh dear, the Voice of God on Safehold has spoken!

Those of us who have had the misfortune to have spent far too much time on these forums over the years, and thus have been the victims of RFC's . . . misdirections, know better than to believe him when he makes a clear, direct declaration about anything! So all he said here is that Aivah's organization won't be involved in spiriting Thirsk's family away from the tender guardianship of the Inquisition, not that it won't happen!

Since most readers respect Thirsk and wished he weren't playing for the wrong team, getting him to defect has long been a fond dream of ours. I've postulated that we're more likely to see a seijin involved in spiriting his family away if some sort of derring do is required, although the best sort of derring do is when the inquisitors notice that their charges are missing only after those charges have been missing for some time. Now that there's a female seijin, rescuing Thirsk's family might be a bit easier. Of course Thirsk would have to be at sea so he isn't immediately executed for treason...

Seriously, if his family disappears, he's a dead man. If he's killed in battle or "something" then there's no reason to keep his family under the "protection" of the Inquisition. So if there's some skullduggery afoot, the seijins, Aivah, and the EoC may not have to be involved at all! (Other than the EoC serving as a sanctuary for Thirsk's corpse and his grieving family of course!)

BobG wrote:

McGuiness wrote:I feel a bit less worried about 40,000 (and dwindling) survivors of the Army of Shiloh staggering around behind Hanth's main forces after this snippet. I'd feel even better if Seijin Zhevons showed up, or if Hanth received some clandestine reports of enemy movements penned by OWL...

I think it is to Hanth's advantage to let The Army of Shiloh keep on going toward St. Alek's, for a while, at least. With every mile they go, the more starved they are, and the less prepared for combat they are. With Hanth's ironclads, barges, supplies, and fresh troops, they could choose an ideal location for an ambush, ring it with mines and entrenchments, and when Ahlverez walks into it, oops. For that matter, the impact on morale after they think they might get away would be significant. I don't think he'd even put up much of a fight.

It does occur to me that Hanth's forces may not be the most critical ones to go after. Pushing toward Silk Town, and pushing the Dohlarens back may be more important. They are probably the best price-performace option for removing CoGA troops from the scene, however.

-- Bob G

SighsHeavily wrote:...Since most readers respect Thirsk and wished he weren't playing for the wrong team, getting him to defect has long been a fond dream of ours...

Quite. Many of us DO wish Thirsk would stop musing in cathedrals about how bad the team he is playing for is (Midst Toil Etc.) and figure out a way out. However, getting him out of Dohlar would have been an early to mid-game strategy for the EoC in my opinion...and the game is moving on rapidly. Frankly, while it is easy to get bogged in the details when getting the story in agonizing little snippets, Himself is writing a major story arc and the Empire has to hold and control what it acquires by whatever means...and without consuming too much scarce person-power. In the past, this has meant doing practical deals with conquered princes and/or replacing them (a la Zebediah) with reliable parties like General C. However, soon, at least some on this forum speculate, Charis will be in a position to occupy Dohlar Very good. Who then, however, to have as a tributary prince in Dohlar? Just as Prince Hector appointed a local Zebedian noble as "Grand Duke" after conquering that Princedom, the Empire may well wish a Dohlaran prince of their own choosing but less likely to be seen as a foreign interloper by the locals. At that juncture, one may ask: "Who better than the irritatingly competent, honorable, "knows he has no future," and increasingly Zion-sceptical Thirsk?" Thus, in this scenario, no one spirits out Thirsk or his family. At most a team of scout snipers (or similar) is sent on ahead during the confusion of invasion to take out the temple guards/inquisitors watching Thirsk's family. Once they are safe and the Princedom is held the Empire can negotiate with the Earl - they do not even have to defeat his fleet as a fleet with no home port will soon be no fleet at all.

On the above note, one might speculate that one fine day the King of Delferahk may find a letter on his pillow from his loving niece, now married into the Armahk family, suggesting to her Uncle that it is time to get into the boat with the winners and out of the water with the Temple losers. Again, this is in accordance with the type of realpolitik themes already used by the redoubtable Mr. Weber in this series. Now that might be a real blow to the Grand Inquisitor! Thirsk as Prince followed by Delferahk's change of allegiance. After all, how much territory does the EoC take and how many princedoms does it acquire before there is a rush to the exits by the remaining rulers of Safehold? Hmmmm....?

1. Thirsk gets killed because the enmity from a certain Dohlarian noble which sees his chance to get his revenge.
2. Thirsk gets killed because the inquisition thinks he is of no further use.
3. Thirsk plans his own "death" as a way to defect. See LAMA Aug 896 - Ch IX and his thoughts about Ahlvyn Khapahr and his daugthers.
4. Thirsk plans his own death as a way to save his family from the inquisition.
5. Merlin impersonates Ahlvyn Khapahr and feigns killing Thirsk as a way to help him defect.

SYED wrote:I forget, which kind of guns are these guys carrying. If only a third are armed, that is 13000 guns. so a small force could do untold damage to the armny.

anwi wrote:As I see it, it's rather unlikely that Ahlverez gets suicidal tendencies. He's actually developed a plan that had a small chance of success if he wasn't up against Merlin's intelligence. He should arrive at the Malyktyn - Cheryk road to find some Charisian troops already holding key points. It'll be interesting to see what he does then.
In any case, it'll be interesting to see how far Ahlverez comes. I think it won't be that far actually.
Moreover, I don't think that the Allies have any interest in letting him escape. (Ahlverez might get relevant again in the next books after his release as a POW.)
But perhaps his march will leave a lasting memory like:

Ten little Dohlarans were walking through South March,
one got lost in the Kyplyngyr, nine still on the march;
Nine little Dohlarans arrived at Tairys late,
One fell to Duke Eastshares men and then there were only eight,
Eight little Dohlarans ...

jgnfld wrote:

Keith_w wrote:Thank you very much for the snippet RFC. I am sure that we all hope that things are going well in the household.

I think the best thing for the ICA would be for Ahlvarez's men to become POWs. If the succeed in retuning to Dohlar, they will become the core of a new, experienced fighting force that will like nothing better than to avenge their treatment at the heretics hands. In short, rather than supporting the church, it will have become personal for them, as well as theological.

That's one possibility. Nations, however, have also been known to sequester or otherwise hide totally defeated forces away in some remote deployment rather than use their learning.

That said, I too foresee a mass surrender.

Peter2 I wonder if there's any chance of Aivah Pahrsahn's organisation getting Thirsk and his family out from under the baleful eyes of their Inquisition guards?


RFC No.

Peter2 Shucks! Oh well . . .