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Spoiler Ridden HFQ guesses

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Re: Spoiler Ridden HFQ guesses
Post by jgnfld   » Thu Feb 20, 2014 8:52 am

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Zulu wars redux? Or Korea redux maybe?

Kufat wrote:I have a nasty suspicion that the Harchongese army might find itself with the dubious and unenviable honor of being the first to face automatic weapons fire. (Well, the original model Gatling gun was cranked, not really automatic as such, but that's a rather academic detail when you're on the wrong end of one.)

I'm not basing this on any one piece of text. It seems appropriate for the level of technology we're seeing out of Charis & co right now. Moreover, I'm guessing it'd be very effective against a large but ill-equipped and poorly-trained army.
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Re: Spoiler Ridden HFQ guesses
Post by Krenn   » Thu Feb 20, 2014 10:28 am

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Michael Everett wrote:
runsforcelery wrote:About Aivah/Nynian, I will say only this. She was born with the primary capability which has made it so difficult for Merlin to figure out how she communicates with her friends back home in the Temple Lands.

...interesting.
Perhaps her mother was injected with specialist nanotech which meant that Aivah was born with the nanotech-assembled Neural Education And Training interface hardware in place...
Such a thing might include a short-range comm system...


That's certainly possible. we'd need to look up the prior text evidence about how nanotech and NEAT installation work, but the simplest explanation is that someone in Shan-Wei's circle installed a customized nanotech suite in one of the original colonists, and programmed it to be inheritable through pregnancy.

Personally, though, I'd skip any possibility of implanted radio, and go straight to physical data mediums. In theory, there should be nanotech method to 'write' data into a vial of blood, and 'read' it with a blood transfusion. but even if the blood memories are encrypted and can only be read by someone with both NEATs and the access code, shipping chilled vials of blood around safehold has obvious risks involved, such as accusations of demon worship.
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Re: Spoiler Ridden HFQ guesses
Post by Rod   » Thu Feb 20, 2014 10:52 am

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I think Aivah is a descendant of the survivors of Armageddon Reef. Some of the survivors were taken around the world so that they could be witnesses to (insert Langhorne’s version of what happened)
And after the command ships destruction, I think those survivors started their own 5th column.
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Re: Spoiler Ridden HFQ guesses
Post by PeterZ   » Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:25 am

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All of these wonderful bits of speculation argue for TF tech surviving in some form. The big question is how? So far we:

1) Shan Wei's arrows. Merlin and the assistance of the Brotherhood of St. Zherneau. There might be other surviving seedlings but that appears unlikely.

2) Scheuler's progeny. This family has been trying to keep the CoGA honest.

3) Siddermark? Why are they so adamantly republican?

4) Nynian's group? She has developed techniques to evade SNARC observation. How could she do that unless she knew such observation was possible? How could she know such observations were possible?

Number 1 might be hiding the purloined letter. We know there are other seeds planted. We don't know if they have taken root and continue to survive. We do know that Shan-wei has thought about combating Langehorn quite thoroughly. Jeremy Knowles might have been a secondary seedling meant to prepare Charis as a secular counter weight to the CoGA. What if her primary seedling (backup to Nimue) was the very first she sent out and equipped? What if they were fully prepared to dive deep and prepare the way for when Nimue would awaken?

Number 4 suggests that some group has gathered iformation either about CoGA/Inquisition surveilance methods or about the War of the Fallen/Succession. Nynian could not have gathered that information through observation/experience alone. There must be some data storage available to her. This suggests at the very least a group with a stored history of how to avoid such surveilance successfully.

If Nynian's group is Shan-wei's primary seedling, they would have some tech. Furthermore, if this group is based out of a convent, they might have a NEAT and a limited medical computer in addition to com gear.

Number 3 is pure speculation based on Siddermark's idiocyncrasy. There might be something there or not.

Number 2 appears to be the obvious attention grabber and likely related to the Awakening.

In any case it appears that many of the story's threads are finally being woven back to the surface. That argues for a conclusion of at least this part of the story soon. Which suggests the next title Hell's Foundation Quivers might conclude this story arc.
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Re: Spoiler Ridden HFQ guesses
Post by ChronicRder   » Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:55 am

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Perhaps I missed it, but what does HFQ stand for?
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Re: Spoiler Ridden HFQ guesses
Post by DrakBibliophile   » Thu Feb 20, 2014 12:01 pm

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Well, the fact that you've done it to us before doesn't matter. :twisted: :twisted:

runsforcelery wrote:
I am shocked --- shocked, I tell you --- that you could even suggest something like that! :lol:
*
Paul Howard (Alias Drak Bibliophile)
*
Sometimes The Dragon Wins! [Polite Dragon Smile]
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Re: Spoiler Ridden HFQ guesses
Post by ksandgren   » Thu Feb 20, 2014 12:55 pm

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ChronicRder wrote:Perhaps I missed it, but what does HFQ stand for?


It has slipped back a couple of pages on this forum, but the preliminary title for the next book is "Hell's Foundations Quiver"
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Re: Spoiler Ridden HFQ guesses
Post by jchilds   » Thu Feb 20, 2014 2:47 pm

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My prediction is that the Charisian mining operations on Silverlode Island will wake a big, fiery demon.
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Re: Spoiler Ridden HFQ guesses
Post by aurabass   » Thu Feb 20, 2014 3:08 pm

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First time poster just completed LAMA via Audible after listening to the entire series 3 times.

I speculate after LAMA that Aivah and Merlin with Nimue's assistance will form a 'special forces' or 'ninja' element trained in the combined Marshal Arts that will be put to use in Zion with Aivah's contacts wreaking havoc on the Inquisition and the CoGA. More of what Merlin or MAB did with on the canal boat with the Inquisitors - on a more massive scale right in the heart of the Temple Lands. Will this lead to the Group of Four attempting to distance themselves from the Grand Inquisitor?
I'm a bit surprised that Merlin hasn't done this with Caleb before now other than the guilt trip Nimue/Merlin lays on him/herself too often for "starting" the war in the first place.
It seems like a natural progression to go'guerrilla' against the army of the CoGA/Inquisition with the tactics of raiders and snipers as a reasonable response to the Rakuri*(sic?) that's adopted terrorist bombings.

Are Hektor and Irys being groomed as the successors to Caleb/Sharlyan or will they add a son to their family? We know Nimue/Merlin will survive them all but it seems unlikely that PICA can generate offspring.

I have a lot to think about with Aivah - that story line has a plethora of possibilities.
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Re: Spoiler Ridden HFQ guesses
Post by peke   » Thu Feb 20, 2014 4:12 pm

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Ok, my two cents...

First, recall the scene when the inquisitors were sent to take the Wylsyn brothers into custody. One of the brothers (can't recall which one) locked the door, but the inquisitors outside had a "wand" that could "override" the lock. Sounds like the door has a high-tech lock, and the inquisitors have some way of defeating it. Technology disguised as divine artifacts, but in the hands of people, not impersonal like the unbreakable windows of the Temple.

Second, in LaMA, the chat between Maigwair and Duchairn, where the latter muses about the persistent rumors about the Inquisitors being able to eavesdrop to any conversation that takes place within the Temple. Probably a rumor, but it's likely to have a kernel of truth somewhere (maybe the system developed a bug a couple of generations ago, or the system supervisor died without passing down the system password, or whatever).

Speculation number one: I think there's some technology in place, and that vanilla people have access to it. If it's placed close enough to the temple, it could be considered "legit" by the OBS. Or maybe the OBS has some kind of "white list" of locations that are considered "legit".

Speculation number two: Again, Nynian's convent. It's in Zion, and close to the temple. Maybe it was at some point a subsidiary facility to the Temple itself, perhaps a temporary facility while the Temple proper was constructed. If the builders were lazy, they might have opted to simply lock the door and cover it before leaving, and decades later, some adventurous nun found the door.

Opinions, anyone?
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There is no problem so complex that it cannot be solved through the judicious application of high-power explosives.
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