HFQ Official Snippet #5

Potato wrote:So an enemy seijin whips Kohdy...but then half-asses revealing the truth to him? If said enemy seijin had a NEAT, he could have completely reeducated Khody and definitively proven how there is nothing magical about the Archangels or any of the implements Kohdy himself wields. The enemy seijin could have made his own version of the Brethren, hiding in the very forces the Archangels used. Instead, it is described that while Kohdy's faith was shaken, it was not broken, at least in so far as his general belief of the Church of God. That strikes me that Kohdy does not have significant knowledge of the real nature of what was happening on Safehold.

phillies wrote:We learn that the rakurai device can do high precision attacks and also that it was used more than once.

"When the Sisters proved . . . intransigent, the abbey — and everyone in it — was destroyed in the middle of the night in a ‘blast of holy fury,’ the last Rakurai of the War Against the Fallen."

Potato wrote:One of the earliest scenes in OAR is Pei Kau-Yang reflecting on how much fiddling Langhorne and Bedard did to the colonists in cryo. The psychological templates and memories are specifically pointed out as being modified. So yes, NEATs are by definition brainwashing machines.

tootall wrote:A most interesting way of writing-

She approaches Merlin- They have their long conversation. Merlin reports to his own "inner circle". Then the whole of it is played back to us- mostly in first person narrative- via Merlin's memory.

Why not just have the conversation?
Not that I object to the writing style- It's just a very interesting way of going about it.

kbus888 wrote:=2014/09/09=

I suspect the Sisterhood's long term plan is to "go public" when eventually that plan has a reasonable chance of success.

??Comments??

R
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evilauthor wrote:Who says Bedard used NEATs to reprogram the colonists? If anything, the changes they did require more than just NEATs.

DrakBibliophile wrote:It was apparently a "dead and forgotten" language on Safehold.

alj_sf wrote:Snip
Now, why he knew a dead and forgotten language is the first mistery, protection from whom being the second.

SNIP.

PeterZ wrote:I wonder who fought and then freed Khody? That seems important but elegantly not emphasized.

If Khody was a low level crew member who chose to live simply as a colonist, he might have received a less severe re-education program. IIRC, RFC mentioned that choice was available for crew that wished to live outside the tech enclaves. He might still have kept skills like martial arts and modern weapons knowledge. It is unlikely that he was given Spanish by those that re-educated him. How did he learn/retain Spanish?

If Khdoy was an Adam, he might have received NEAT training for combat. He still would not have been given Spanish. I doubt Sphanish was a combat language because it would have been referenced reverantly as some sot of holy tounge. Nynina never did that. She referenced Espanol as some sort of curiousity not an awe inspiring gift.

Also, Spanish would have raised many questions regarding the central genesis of man. If God created man, then surely He would have given man the optimal means of cimmunication? If there are more than one equally good means of communication, would that not imply that man was created to live in many diverse ways and think many diverse thoughts? Such beliefs would weaken the CoGA position that there is one true plan and way to live.

The notion that Khody was given Spanish by the demon that beat him and then spared him seems more and more likely, if Khody had no memory of his life prior to Safehold. Let us suppose for this post that Khody's demon knew him in his prior life. This works whether Khody remembers his prior life or not.

The demon might have had his memories returned to him or was part of the crew and kept his/her memories. For most colonists, their memories were lost. Suppose Dr. Proctor or someone else copied selected personalities of the colonists and saved them. Maybe that individual had all the colonists memories, but could not give them to all the colonists. It suffices that some memories were saved and returned to their owners. How selective this process is was open to speculation.

Now, let us suppose that Khody's demon knew him from pre-Safehold. Let us further suppose that Khody was related to this individual. It is through that relationship that this demon spent the time and effort trying to reach his/her lost friend/family member. So, if Khody was an Adam or crew that was re-educated, this demon gave him back some skills of his prior life including Spanish. If Khody was crew trying to live as a colonists, the individual he was defeated by offered arguments that persuaded him away from Scheuler and Chihiro and might well have planted fast growing seeds of doubt.

What matters most is that along with Spanish, Khody's demon planted supporting evidence that the SSK revere highly. If they learned to read Spnaish or believe Merlin's translation, even the most pro Writ will have their faith shaken to the core. Whatever Khody's demon told him will be as perusasive to the Sisterhood as it was to him, expecially after Jeremy Knowles letter and the documents he saved is revealed to the SSK leadership.

That's why I emphasize the verifier. It is essential for these characters to consider the facts available to them as truth and then to make heir minds about what to do about that truth. Presented any other way will turn the process of the Great Reveal into an argument by authority writ large. The archangels infallibility or that perception must be severely degraded and the ideas must be cosidered in their merrits. That's the potential Khody's diary represents.