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The old beacon lights from the tiome of angles--do they stil

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The old beacon lights from the tiome of angles--do they stil
Post by NHBL   » Tue Jul 07, 2015 3:33 pm

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I was rereading "Off Armageddon Reef" and noticed something. The churches in the old days had a light that would illuminate when an angel or archangel was coming, AND a special platform near the church that was only used by angels, and ritually cleaned by the appropriate people.

I wonder if old churches still have these fixtures--surely they wouldn't be removed. With the longevity of Federation technology, the lights might even still work.

And would new churches have the platforms for angels, even if the angles are long gone? They certainly wouldn't have functioning beacons...

Is this a dangling plot hook for sometime in the future? Even if not, the lights would certainly be a clear indication of how old a church is.
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Re: The old beacon lights from the tiome of angles--do they
Post by SWM   » Tue Jul 07, 2015 10:53 pm

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Interesting question!

And Tellesburg dates back to those times. Are these features on the Tellesburg cathedral?
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Re: The old beacon lights from the tiome of angles--do they
Post by RogueWarrior   » Tue Jul 07, 2015 11:24 pm

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You were so excited to be able to post a great question, you typed too fast... :lol: when you made the thread title.
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Re: The old beacon lights from the tiome of angles--do they
Post by isaac_newton   » Wed Jul 08, 2015 2:28 am

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Good question - I had wondered that myself.

I'm guessing that the platforms were only built in those early days when the angels were visiting - there is no mention of them in 'modern' times, as being part of village/town/city landscape, but no definite textev either way that I can remember.
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Still there?
Post by NHBL   » Wed Jul 08, 2015 9:55 am

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If I had to guess without Text Evidence, I would expect that the ones with the beacons would keep them polished and maintained, and the platforms ready, as there is occasional mention of "Langhorne returning in glory," and the place should be rady for him. Not to mention the platforms--in the USA, they keep places where Washington stood or slept as significant--so places where a manifestation of a god stood to address the people should still be there, IMVHO.

That is, unless one of the last of the angels ordered them stored for future need0 or dismantled, as a sign that the angels were with their god now. The beacon lights should still be SOMEWHERE, though...
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Re: Still there?
Post by evilauthor   » Wed Jul 08, 2015 9:00 pm

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NHBL wrote:That is, unless one of the last of the angels ordered them stored for future need0 or dismantled, as a sign that the angels were with their god now. The beacon lights should still be SOMEWHERE, though...


I would expect the angels to collect the beacons once their numbers dwindled below a certain point. After all, they're technology that people aren't supposed to have and they'll be of no use once the angels are gone.
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Re: Still there?
Post by Dilandu   » Thu Jul 09, 2015 2:24 am

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evilauthor wrote:
I would expect the angels to collect the beacons once their numbers dwindled below a certain point. After all, they're technology that people aren't supposed to have and they'll be of no use once the angels are gone.


Well, they could just left them stand. After all, there was a pretty low probability that any Safeholdian ever tried to dismantle one (it's sacred artifact, after all!) and the probability that he would understand anything exept "Angels artifacts are truly build the mysterious way!" is enormously less.

Which may mean the interesting probability... Would the lights react on Merlin skimmer if it assidently go near some of the old churches, that may still have a working one? Of course, the skimmer is generally well cloaked, but some primitive extremly short-range proximity sensor may still react.
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Re: Still there?
Post by McGuiness   » Thu Jul 09, 2015 5:19 am

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Since the beacons could have been used by either side during the War of the Fallen, I suspect they were probably removed. No sense in letting the other side turn the locals against you by using the beacons to pose as Angels fighting for Langhorne, while painting you as fighting for Shan-wei.

I also suspect that a specific activation code had to be sent to the beacons to activate them, so even if there are still a few functional ones around, they wouldn't light up just because Merlin's skimmer flew nearby.

Interesting subject, and one we should have discussed long ago. I suppose it proves that there are all sorts of jewels in the earlier books that we've overlooked.

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Re: Still there?
Post by Sounour   » Thu Jul 09, 2015 8:16 am

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McGuiness wrote:Since the beacons could have been used by either side during the War of the Fallen, I suspect they were probably removed. No sense in letting the other side turn the locals against you by using the beacons to pose as Angels fighting for Langhorne, while painting you as fighting for Shan-wei.

I also suspect that a specific activation code had to be sent to the beacons to activate them, so even if there are still a few functional ones around, they wouldn't light up just because Merlin's skimmer flew nearby.

Interesting subject, and one we should have discussed long ago. I suppose it proves that there are all sorts of jewels in the earlier books that we've overlooked.


I always thought them to be something like a helicopter landing pad next to the church, but for shuttles. A raised platform to park the shuttle with radio activated landing lights and illumination.
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Re: The old beacon lights from the tiome of angles--do they
Post by NHBL   » Thu Jul 09, 2015 8:27 am

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Since the beacons were color coded for the type of angel, they wouldn't activate on the mere presence of an aircar/skimmer/whatever.

I was rereading the descriptions--the aircar doesn't land, so the platform need only be sufficient to support the person, not the vehicle--a good thing, if the locals built the platforms.
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