After the war (or sooner)--electricity, Rakuri, and spoilers

The other nations starting to innovate is a good thing overall for Merlin's goals--but I see a few serious problems, especially since they're coming up with developments completely on their own, rather than just trying to match what the empire's done...

Right now, anything resembling electricity in the Empire of Charsis can be declared contrary to the proscriptions...but elsewhere, a desperate inquisitor might not make such a declaration in light of the needs of the jihad--or in light of large amounts of gold being transferred. This threat will only grow with time--and then Rakuri may strike...

Even worse--if someone develops even primitive radio,it could attract the Gababa--and the people doing the development in foreign lands know nothing about these threats...

I don't know why this idea that electricity is something that can be wiggled out of with a wink and a nod keeps coming up. This isn't like gunpowder, which had no explicit injunction against use. Electricity has its own little dedicated part in the Writ that specifically tells you that, no, you never, ever can touch Langhorne's holy lightning under any circumstances. It goes out of its way to explain what electricity looks like just so people know not to mess with it, ever.

Duckk wrote:I don't know why this idea that electricity is something that can be wiggled out of with a wink and a nod keeps coming up. This isn't like gunpowder, which had no explicit injunction against use. Electricity has its own little dedicated part in the Writ that specifically tells you that, no, you never, ever can touch Langhorne's holy lightning under any circumstances. It goes out of its way to explain what electricity looks like just so people know not to mess with it, ever.

while i agree electricity was setup as a major no-no and gunpowder wasn't as the idiots seem to have forgotten what can be invented once can be invented again, the church is getting DESPERATE.

with already seen clynthan let things he would have never allowed to pass before the war, through without blinking an eye.

maybe not yet, but I could see a desperate clynthan setting aside the injunction against elec if it was proven that it would a crucial tool in the defeat of the heretic of charis. that fact that it makes him just as dammed would be irrelevant. becuase he works for god and anything he does to combat heretics is right.

Dauntless wrote:

Duckk wrote:I don't know why this idea that electricity is something that can be wiggled out of with a wink and a nod keeps coming up. This isn't like gunpowder, which had no explicit injunction against use. Electricity has its own little dedicated part in the Writ that specifically tells you that, no, you never, ever can touch Langhorne's holy lightning under any circumstances. It goes out of its way to explain what electricity looks like just so people know not to mess with it, ever.

while i agree electricity was setup as a major no-no and gunpowder wasn't as the idiots seem to have forgotten what can be invented once can be invented again, the church is getting DESPERATE.

with already seen clynthan let things he would have never allowed to pass before the war, through without blinking an eye.

maybe not yet, but I could see a desperate clynthan setting aside the injunction against elec if it was proven that it would a crucial tool in the defeat of the heretic of charis. that fact that it makes him just as dammed would be irrelevant. becuase he works for god and anything he does to combat heretics is right.

Clyntahn is not the issue here. The OBS is. Of course it would be humorous if the inquisition started experimenting with juice and called down an Rakurai strike on themselves, wouldn't it?

Don

The Writ's an immovable object.

Desperate people's urge to rationalize is an irresistible force.

n7axw wrote:[quote="Dauntless"

while i agree electricity was setup as a major no-no and gunpowder wasn't as the idiots seem to have forgotten what can be invented once can be invented again, the church is getting DESPERATE.

with already seen clynthan let things he would have never allowed to pass before the war, through without blinking an eye.

maybe not yet, but I could see a desperate clynthan setting aside the injunction against elec if it was proven that it would a crucial tool in the defeat of the heretic of charis. that fact that it makes him just as dammed would be irrelevant. becuase he works for god and anything he does to combat heretics is right.

Clyntahn is not the issue here. The OBS is. Of course it would be humorous if the inquisition started experimenting with juice and called down an Rakurai strike on themselves, wouldn't it?

Don[/quote]

point is Clynthan doesn't know about the OBS plus he would never believe GOD would strike at his most loyal and devoted.

though if not for the collateral damage it would be interesting to see. plus the PR bonus for the EoC.

"God has struck down that liar etc who called himself man of god. The church must give up the punishment and return to its roots" kind of thing.

Dauntless wrote:
point is Clynthan doesn't know about the OBS plus he would never believe GOD would strike at his most loyal and devoted.

though if not for the collateral damage it would be interesting to see. plus the PR bonus for the EoC.

"God has struck down that liar etc who called himself man of god. The church must give up the punishment and return to its roots" kind of thing.

No. But Clyntahn does know about the rakurai. He does not know what it really is, but does know that it smites those who violate the proscriptions by playing with God's holy fire. That is pretty much the same thing dressed up in religious language.

Don

Duckk wrote:I don't know why this idea that electricity is something that can be wiggled out of with a wink and a nod keeps coming up.

I'd like to tackle this argument from another direction: exactly what practical use would early electrical tech provide that would be so valuable, that someone IGNORANT of electricity's full potential would be willing to violate the Proscriptions and all the nasty political and religious fighting that would entail in order to use it?

Yes, the Proscriptions include a somewhat detailed description of what electricity is, but somehow I doubt that description includes something along the lines of, "Hey, this stuff can be used for instant long distance communications!"

Is something like an early telegraph system REALLY worth a religious war and potential civil war? Especially when continent spanning semaphore nets already exist? Somehow I don't think so.

Frankly, I can't think of any early electrical tech that would be worth the resulting hullabaloo over it. And that's before you factor in the belief that "God" might strike such any such blatant violation of the Proscriptions.

A telegraph has way lower latency than a semaphore chain and is weather-independent. Those are compelling advantages for military use.

By "early", do you mean prior to vacuum tubes? Radio's compelling but does require amplifiers.

Telegraphs are strategic, field telephones are tactical, and they're golden too.

The hullabaloo is already happening and Clyntahn has overplayed his hand. His enemies have nothing to lose if they outrage him further, except maybe their internal cohesion. At this point I wouldn't bet either way about how the Charisian on the street would react.