Hidden Order in Siddarmark

I think that the last book might expose another hidden order in Siddarmark, like Saint Zherneau's and Saint Kohdy's. Protector Stohnar could be in the know. That would make an interesting scene with Cayleb and Greghor confiding in each other. What say you all?

6L6 wrote:I think that the last book might expose another hidden order in Siddarmark, like Saint Zherneau's and Saint Kohdy's. Protector Stohnar could be in the know. That would make an interesting scene with Cayleb and Greghor confiding in each other. What say you all?

I've thought that eventually we could find another order descending from one of Shan-wei's re-educated Adams and Eves. Given it's openness, Siddarmark could be a likely place for it.

But it might be more fun from the standpoint of derring do and intrigue if it were to pop up in...deepest, darkest Harchong and turn out to be a cabal of bureaucrats! Wouldn't that shock the inquisition!

Don

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n7axw wrote:

6L6 wrote:I think that the last book might expose another hidden order in Siddarmark, like Saint Zherneau's and Saint Kohdy's. Protector Stohnar could be in the know. That would make an interesting scene with Cayleb and Greghor confiding in each other. What say you all?

I've thought that eventually we could find another order descending from one of Shan-wei's re-educated Adams and Eves. Given it's openness, Siddarmark could be a likely place for it.

But it might be more fun from the standpoint of derring do and intrigue if it were to pop up in...deepest, darkest Harchong and turn out to be a cabal of bureaucrats! Wouldn't that shock the inquisition!

Don

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One of the things in HFQ that made me smirk was the revelation that one of South Harchong's cities was originally named "New York". That didn't bode well at all for the argument that Siddarmark had a proud democratic/republican tradition going back to the Archangels on the basis of place names like Miami. With enough commitment to that line of thought, someone could just possibly leap up and say that South Harchong too harbors or harbored such a tradition, only it's had to go further underground - perhaps into that cabal of bureaucrats, perhaps into sneaking gunpowder past the Inquisition back when.

I don't rule out the possibility of that secret order in Siddarmark - or Harchong, for that matter. But I do think it's unnecessary for the story at this point and quite unnecessary to account for "Miami" or "New York", or for Siddarmark's political culture.

Gunpowder makes me a lot more suspicious.

I've a vague recollection about something Khody said about one of the last rebel strongholds being in the "something" mountains in Harchong. Might indicate the presence of folks not willing to give up on Shan-Wei. They'd have to be mighty crafty to have survived this long.

Gunpowder suggests a lot of backstory!

For one thing, how did they find out the recipe? Experimentation?! That kind of experimentation is against the spirit if not the letter of the Proscriptions. If they found it written down somewhere, what else is in that source?

EdThomas wrote:I've a vague recollection about something Khody said about one of the last rebel strongholds being in the "something" mountains in Harchong. Might indicate the presence of folks not willing to give up on Shan-Wei. They'd have to be mighty crafty to have survived this long.

Mountains of Desolation...Quite poetic, really. How about a spiritual retreat center in the foothills of the Mountains of Desolation. Talk about a big time warning to put your affairs in order!

Don

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n7axw wrote:

EdThomas wrote:I've a vague recollection about something Khody said about one of the last rebel strongholds being in the "something" mountains in Harchong. Might indicate the presence of folks not willing to give up on Shan-Wei. They'd have to be mighty crafty to have survived this long.

Mountains of Desolation...Quite poetic, really. How about a spiritual retreat center in the foothills of the Mountains of Desolation. Talk about a big time warning to put your affairs in order!

Don

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I'm wondering if maybe some of the industrial modules that were used in the war maybe could still be operational,or would that be wishful thinking? The book did say that they were very hard to find,so maybe this group could have access to at least one,but just not know how to operate it?

Michae wrote:
I'm wondering if maybe some of the industrial modules that were used in the war maybe could still be operational,or would that be wishful thinking? The book did say that they were very hard to find,so maybe this group could have access to at least one,but just not know how to operate it?

Probably wishful thinking, but not an impossible idea. The Peis had considerable time and resourses to set up Nimue's cave that the Fallen probably didn't have. As a consequence the Fallen would have been improvising on a shoe string. I wouldn't be surprised for a module to turn up. But it probably wouldn't be functional.

Don

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A secret cabal intended to foster corruption instead of innovation? Undermine the Church by disrupting their ability to enforce the Proscriptions in face of greed rather than virtue. Considering it got gunpowder accepted, it would have been a good plan.

Michae wrote:I'm wondering if maybe some of the industrial modules that were used in the war maybe could still be operational,or would that be wishful thinking? The book did say that they were very hard to find,so maybe this group could have access to at least one,but just not know how to operate it?

I'd say it's pretty possible. From what we've seen so far, TF tech is Ragnarok-proof to the point of absurd, so I wouldn't be surprised if you could pull a module out of river bottom, wash the mud out of any holes and pipes, leave it in the sun for a few hours and have a perfectly operational everything-maker.

The problem, of course, would be to find one. After a thousand years, the most accessible ones left might be buried under ten metres of earth and dirt on the bottom of a lake.