HFQ Official Snippet #3 (sort of)

=2014/08/23=
Hi Guys

It seems to me that this snippet #3 is not a that smooth a continuation of the previous one.

??Is it a true snippet, or is it simply paragraphs taken out of sequence ??

??What do you think ??

R
.

IMO it's a snippet if The Mighty Majestic Wizard Weber says it is.

Seriously, this is obviously a "bit" taken from larger conversation in the book.

kbus888 wrote:=2014/08/23=
Hi Guys

It seems to me that this snippet #3 is not a that smooth a continuation of the previous one.

??Is it a true snippet, or is it simply paragraphs taken out of sequence ??

??What do you think ??

R
.

What we have here is a wonderful little bit of what we've all been obsessing about.

It tells us huge amounts - we have the name and recruiting methods of the organization along with the reason why they're not happy with the COGA.

What we don't have, however, are answers. We can infer that the Sisters of Saint Kohdy still (somewhat) believe in the 'angels' and 'saints'. We do not, however, know much else.

And while we're at it, it's the perfect fourth column for Safehold as it is. The men ignore women - as is common in a lot of less enlightened areas. And women talking to each other? Just gossip. Ignoring women is stupid, especially from an intelligence point of view. But it happens all the time, even in places you'd think were way past that 'barefoot in the kitchen' outlook.

What do you want to bet that Kohdy's great sin was women's rights? I can imagine a man who loves women - not a player, but the hopeless romantic that crashes from romance to romance while the women in his life despair of ever catching him but never tire of trying - pressing the COGA to name a woman to the Orange of a Vicar.

And like the man of La Mancha, continuing to tilt at that particular four-armed giant long after it was wise or safe. Nations like Harchong cannot endure with a serf (slave)-type economy if there is any recourse to equality. It makes it easier to oppress people if there is someone lower than they on the totem pole - and women are generally the easiest target because of their size, nature, and comparative physical strength. (I'm not trying to be sexist, just honest. While some women my age are far stronger than I, most women in a particular group are, on average and in the mean, weaker than their male counterparts. They are also less likely to seek physical confrontation and respond more readily to threats against their offspring and family. Quite a few 'uncultured' types (see the Gaza strip) are just fine with the concept of 'kill all the youngsters you want, we have plenty of women and we'll make more.' End Rant, sorry)

Someone in the COGA made Kohdy a non-person - but someone else remembered. And that first seed of doubt is the source of her belief that Merlin comes from 'somewhere else; just like all the Adams and Eves.' (paraphrase) Doubt is often like faith - it can begin as a small thing, like a mustard seed, and grow into a huge bush that shelters all sorts of things from the storms.

And thank you, if I had not before, for the snippet, sir. I sometimes miss speculative analysis and trend identification. This stuff keeps me from driving the wife nuts by doing things like picking up the milk, eggs, and bread on the way home when she's waiting at the door with a list for me because she forgot to tell me and wants me to go back out and get them...

Just my two cents.
Dave

Snippet 2 sounded like it ended as Merlin was having a flashback, which snippet 3 could be from.

kbus888 wrote:=2014/08/23=
Hi Guys

It seems to me that this snippet #3 is not a that smooth a continuation of the previous one.

??Is it a true snippet, or is it simply paragraphs taken out of sequence ??

??What do you think ??

R
.

It's words from the book so it's certainly a snippet! But it probably doesn't follow on from where the last one left off.

Notice that we are now talking about Saint Kohdy and the Testimonies not Seijin Kohdy. There is no evidence any of the crew were known to the population as anything but Angels or Archangels, so it seems likely Kohdy was a Safeholdian. He flourished in the time of the Adams, and may have been one. He was certainly officially lauded as a shining example in the church at one time to the point the Sisters of Saint Kohdy were established before the Adams and Eves died out. So it was a source of embarrassment to have to make him a non-person, which is why it was delayed and probably mainly done by passive rather than active measures.

Why it was done we wait to hear. Lazalarlives may be right, of course, but there is no scrap of evidence in that direction. After all, in RL there are lots of female religious orders named for people who had nothing whatever to do with women's rights. (and now that I remember it, there is a sister abbey connected with St Zherneau's) Checking the story hasn't come up yet because the repository of 'the journals' has yet to be identified 'on screen'. (If, indeed Nynian does reveal it at this stage.) The SSK obviously have some presence in the CSA but it needn't be their main base.

What chutzpah calling herself Ahnzhelyk Phonda when she went left the convent and went into the sex trade - talk about rebellious young ladies!

pokermind wrote:Ah, the mysterious organization is the Sisters of Saint Kohdy and, they hunt for new recruits in “the Convent of Saint Ahnzhelyk, but it’s the sort of place parents and families send young ladies with rebellious streaks. It has a reputation for turning them around, and a remarkable number of them end up as sisters of Saint Ahnzhelyk’s order.”

We can speculate that the Sisters of Saint Kohdy is either within the recruiting Convent of Saint Ahnzhelyk probably the librarians, or in another Convent of Saint Ahnzhelyk to hide in plain sight as members of that order, but a Sisters of Saint Kohdy. In either place are kept the papers of Saint Kohdy. We can speculate further that Saint Kohdy was a disaffected member of the command crew who knew the truth and passed on some of it in his writings. Cody ‘X’ was not Kau-Young’s spy among the command crew or Merlin would know of him, known not to be totally committed to Langhorne’s plan thus his purging after his death.

Poker

How long before Merlin has SNARKs insert bugs in the Convent? At least he should soon have a copy of the original testimonies, at least about Seijin and/or Saint Kohdy.

-- Bob G

Maybe Kody learned more than Safehold humans were supposed to know about their origins from overhearing a conversation between "archangels" during the time he fought alongside them and they wanted to discredit any record he may have kept of what he learned.

Thank you, RFC.

Now, if you would just tell us how Siddarmark wound up a "Republic"?

Lazalarlives wrote:What we have here is a wonderful little bit of what we've all been obsessing about.

It tells us huge amounts - we have the name and recruiting methods of the organization along with the reason why they're not happy with the COGA.

What we don't have, however, are answers. We can infer that the Sisters of Saint Kohdy still (somewhat) believe in the 'angels' and 'saints'. We do not, however, know much else.

And while we're at it, it's the perfect fourth column for Safehold as it is. The men ignore women - as is common in a lot of less enlightened areas. And women talking to each other? Just gossip. Ignoring women is stupid, especially from an intelligence point of view. But it happens all the time, even in places you'd think were way past that 'barefoot in the kitchen' outlook.

Perfect fourth colummn yes indeed. And the Brothels cover is even better.

But a bit dangerous for a totally secret org to recruit wayward girls in their teens, so almost sure to be in the rebellious phase against the world.

And that covers only the spy bureau side. Despite Safehold being not too oppressive in terms of women rights, I dont see young girls for the action side of things. So they need to recruit men too, and either train them or get trained guys. However with the brothels cover, maybe it is simple comprehensive arrangements with local mobs and mafias.

What do you want to bet that Kohdy's great sin was women's rights? I can imagine a man who loves women - not a player, but the hopeless romantic that crashes from romance to romance while the women in his life despair of ever catching him but never tire of trying - pressing the COGA to name a woman to the Orange of a Vicar.
...

Unlikely imo, do not fit in the general canvas. Kohdy was probably part of the command crew, as no Adam or Eve would have been in position to keep documents and/or artifacts, and his simple disparition impossible so probably known from a lot of Adams and Eves. But he was not a fallen himself and opposed the winning faction, hence the subtle rewrite of history when COGA became much more dogmatic and rigid at the time when the newer theological books were added.

As USSR history teach us, such rewrites are quite possible, even over a short period of time as long as the authorities are in control of books and press.

Still that dont solve the major mystery : How this super secret org managed to survive that many centuries without deviating of its goal or experimenting splinters and infights. It is especially true if they, as I suppose here, have links with the criminal part of the population.

Kody could be a re-educated (via NEAT) Adam that took a different path setting up his legacy. My question is how many more Kody's or Zherneau's there are out there and how many of them have been discovered by the inquisition.