(SPOILERS) Rampant Speculation Based on "What If"

SWM wrote:The Temple cannot violate the Writ because it was built directly by the power of the Angels, and the Rakurai is part of their power.

All true, but the light switches are being turned on by mortals for often secular purposes.

The deck is really stacked against the good guys here!

Expert snuggler wrote:

SWM wrote:The Temple cannot violate the Writ because it was built directly by the power of the Angels, and the Rakurai is part of their power.

All true, but the light switches are being turned on by mortals for often secular purposes.

The deck is really stacked against the good guys here!

The Temple has meter-thick armorplast over a solid gold dome. The temperature never varies inside. The floors never get scratched despite 800 years of pilgrims. The very architecture is a testament to supernatural powers.

The entire Temple was deliberately designed to show off the power of the Archangels in the most blatant way possible. It is supposed to be awe-inspiring and even frightening in its splendor and raw power. We have no textev that there is any obvious use of electricity in the Temple, but if there were, it is simply another testament. It really doesn't matter what purpose that electricity is being put to.

Understood. Notice where that leads, though. By using a holy artifact for frivolous or immoral purposes, Temple personnel are profaning Langhorne's Holy Rakurai. That could be used against them for propaganda.

Expert snuggler wrote:Understood. Notice where that leads, though. By using a holy artifact for frivolous or immoral purposes, Temple personnel are profaning Langhorne's Holy Rakurai. That could be used against them for propaganda.

No more so than anything else the Reformers have been complaining about. The Temple was turned over to the Church for its needs. If you believe that the Church is fulfilling Langhorne's desires, then whatever use they are making of the Temple is good. If you think the Church has become corrupt, then it is bad.

The Temple is just as holy whether or not it uses the Rakurai. If they are profaning the Temple, then they are profaning the Temple. The presence of the Rakurai would not make it any more holy; it is already holy in its own right.

The problem is not that they are using the Temple for frivolous or immoral purposes--the problem is that they are engaging or frivolous or immoral purposes. If you are a Reformer, you are already against those purposes. If you are a Temple Loyalist, then you disagree that there are frivolous or immoral activities going on.

Kakai wrote:
The one other plus of no OBS I can see is that Merlin would no longer have to hide his skimmer trips from watchful eyes in orbit - simply keeping high enough altitude for people not to see the thing should be enough. This means that Merlin can break all the speed limits and go places faster. Not sure if that helps a lot, but it's always something.

he already doesn't hide from watchful eyes in orbit - and if you think that the trip to the Abbey to rescue Sharley wasn't done at skin scorching temps, you should re-read the book. What he recognized early was that the skimmers were angelically permitted to flit around Safehold without raising the ire of anything. He only has to hide from watchful eyes on the ground.

As I remember the book, Merlin was worried that he was taking a horrible chance doing something as un-stealthy as Mach 5.

Duckk wrote:David's words, emphasis mine.

And, third, the notion of lightning as sacred and not, under any circumstances, to be profaned by mortal hands provides the permanent remembrance of not just Langhorne's existence but of the consequences of Langhorne's wrath.

Also:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4821&p=116198

There has to be an electric revolution at some point. If it has to wait until people stop believing the Writ, it might never happen.

Here's another camel-nose idea. Mortals can't _use_ the power of Langhorne's Holy Electromotive Force, but can they reverently contemplate and study it? Could they deepen their understanding of Langhorne's will by prayerfully observing that current is proportional to voltage? Wonder at the miraculous ability of a coil to move a compass needle?

Confine that to a monastery attached to the Royal College at first, maybe delay it until there's an industry of competing interpretations of Writ. Once the basics of E&M are known, every nerd who learns about them will desperately look for loopholes to do more and more with it. Heck, take over the primary schools and introduce electromagnetism in the curriculum.

Expert snuggler wrote:As I remember the book, Merlin was worried that he was taking a horrible chance doing something as un-stealthy as Mach 5.

You are correct, he was, and nothing bad came of it, so I would presume that the next time he desired to exceed the Mach speed limit, he would be comfortable doing so. I expect the angels and archangels exceeded Mach 5 on a regular basis. Perhaps even the fallen did.

Expert snuggler wrote:There has to be an electric revolution at some point. If it has to wait until people stop believing the Writ, it might never happen.

Here's another camel-nose idea. Mortals can't _use_ the power of Langhorne's Holy Electromotive Force, but can they reverently contemplate and study it? Could they deepen their understanding of Langhorne's will by prayerfully observing that current is proportional to voltage? Wonder at the miraculous ability of a coil to move a compass needle?

Confine that to a monastery attached to the Royal College at first, maybe delay it until there's an industry of competing interpretations of Writ. Once the basics of E&M are known, every nerd who learns about them will desperately look for loopholes to do more and more with it. Heck, take over the primary schools and introduce electromagnetism in the curriculum.

I thought David's post was pretty clear. Until the Writ has been nullified, any attempt to mess with electricity is a violation of the Proscriptions. The Writ goes into exacting detail as to what electricity appears to be, so Safeholdians definitely will know when they've crossed the line.

Charis has already done significant work in breaking down the Writ, having thrown out the sections on the Punishment of Schueler. There's no point in trying to hasten the process when they don't need to, especially when it has a very high possibility of blowing up in their face.

You want rampant speculation? Try this:
What if all the snippets that RFC has given us aren't part of the final book at all!!! What if he's just playing with our heads, and wrote all those snippets just to jerk us around, and none of them have anything to do with the actual plot and action in HFQ?
How's that for rampant?
Philip Stanley