Snippet: The life of Merlin Athrawes

n 3249, a young woman named Nimue Alban awakened in a cavern on a planet named Safehold . . . and discovered that she'd been dead for 828 years.

— from The Life of Merlin Athrawes, Zhakleen Wylsynn,
Tellesberg, Royal University Press, 4217.

well - these really struck me and especially the second. for various reasons...
- looks like it's using old earth dates, so the biography would be published nearly 1000 years after Nimue awoke.
- printed in Tellesberg [Safehold] and not some new city like New Moscow/earth 3 or some other planet
- printed by the Royal UP - which seems to suggest that the monarchy has survived.
- I'm guessing that she [author] is a descendant of 'our' Wylsynns

BTW it somehow feels a bit like Asimov's foundation series somehow.

isaac_newton wrote:

n 3249, a young woman named Nimue Alban awakened in a cavern on a planet named Safehold . . . and discovered that she'd been dead for 828 years.

— from The Life of Merlin Athrawes, Zhakleen Wylsynn,
Tellesberg, Royal University Press, 4217.

well - these really struck me and especially the second. for various reasons...
- looks like it's using old earth dates, so the biography would be published nearly 1000 years after Nimue awoke.
- printed in Tellesberg [Safehold] and not some new city like New Moscow/earth 3 or some other planet
- printed by the Royal UP - which seems to suggest that the monarchy has survived.
- I'm guessing that she [author] is a descendant of 'our' Wylsynns

BTW it somehow feels a bit like Asimov's foundation series somehow.

That and they didn't go on a name correction spree, to return to the original spelling and pronunciation of the English language. But I do recall that RFC's original plan for the series was to follow the Foundation template, i.e. decades passing in between one phase of the story and the next. He abandoned this fairly early on though as a result of potential he saw in telling an alternative history of the Thirty Year War had it been fought with 19th century weaponry.

What bugs me a little is that this book starts out little more than a year after the end of Clyntahn's War (as I assume even the CoGA is likely to call it in an effort to separate itself from Clyntahn's actions). I expected this to start off a decade ahead at least, with Alanah Tayt-Ahrmahk being at least a teenager, with Hektor Aplyn-Ahkmahk being a commodore in the ICN, with Staynair being dead or just really old and with Magwair attending the funeral of Rhobair Duchairn and fearing for the future of his reforms. I also expected this to be after a few civil wars and trade disputes in which Charis and Siddarmark would force other realms into submitting their will over the Church's will and with growing resentment of their power and innovations beginning to chip away at the fragile peace accord, with an increasingly vocal minority of the Church becoming counter-reformists and demanding that Mother Church adhere to the Proscriptions even if the heretics do not as a matter of religious principal.

But I guess we'll see how it works out this way.

thanatos wrote:That and they didn't go on a name correction spree, to return to the original spelling and pronunciation of the English language. But I do recall that RFC's original plan for the series was to follow the Foundation template, i.e. decades passing in between one phase of the story and the next. He abandoned this fairly early on though as a result of potential he saw in telling an alternative history of the Thirty Year War had it been fought with 19th century weaponry.

What bugs me a little is that this book starts out little more than a year after the end of Clyntahn's War (as I assume even the CoGA is likely to call it in an effort to separate itself from Clyntahn's actions). I expected this to start off a decade ahead at least, with Alanah Tayt-Ahrmahk being at least a teenager, with Hektor Aplyn-Ahkmahk being a commodore in the ICN, with Staynair being dead or just really old and with Magwair attending the funeral of Rhobair Duchairn and fearing for the future of his reforms. I also expected this to be after a few civil wars and trade disputes in which Charis and Siddarmark would force other realms into submitting their will over the Church's will and with growing resentment of their power and innovations beginning to chip away at the fragile peace accord, with an increasingly vocal minority of the Church becoming counter-reformists and demanding that Mother Church adhere to the Proscriptions even if the heretics do not as a matter of religious principal.

But I guess we'll see how it works out this way.

I'd imagine that the first little bit is just to

1. recap what has happened and

2. hopefully discuss the plans they are making for The Return.

After that, I expect we will get the jump forward.

I think that the title of the history book referenced in the snippet means that Merlin dies in this story arc. I got a dollar and a pack of bubble gum says he dies, and another dollar and an additional pack of gum that says he dies taking out whatever holdover from the Langhorne era before it can destroy Tellesburg and/or the Charisian empire.

Undercover Fat Kid wrote:I think that the title of the history book referenced in the snippet means that Merlin dies in this story arc. I got a dollar and a pack of bubble gum says he dies, and another dollar and an additional pack of gum that says he dies taking out whatever holdover from the Langhorne era before it can destroy Tellesburg and/or the Charisian empire.

Or he shuts down for good after his task his done.

I always imagined that after the gbaba are defeated they will send an expedition to the sol system with Merlin & Nimue aboard. After a while Merlin & Nimue will leave the expedition ship and land on earth where they will shut down.

LadyWhirlwind wrote:

Undercover Fat Kid wrote:I think that the title of the history book referenced in the snippet means that Merlin dies in this story arc. I got a dollar and a pack of bubble gum says he dies, and another dollar and an additional pack of gum that says he dies taking out whatever holdover from the Langhorne era before it can destroy Tellesburg and/or the Charisian empire.

Or he shuts down for good after his task his done.

I always imagined that after the gbaba are defeated they will send an expedition to the sol system with Merlin & Nimue aboard. After a while Merlin & Nimue will leave the expedition ship and land on earth where they will shut down.

Yeah, where their last waking moments are in a deep cave. One deep enough to survive an ELE. Should they be needed, they will walk the Earth once more.

Combined with the chronology in the snippet, it is certainly implied that humanity eventually reverts to the AD/CE dating system, but then I have to ask, why?

It's highly unlikely they'll recolonize Terra given what it likely suffered from the Gbaba. They already have a perfectly serviceable universal calendar defined in terms of Safehold's system, not Dead Terra's.

The only plausible reason I can think of is that Christianity becomes the predominant post-Writ religion.

Also I wouldn't read anything about the political situation from The Life of Merlin Athrawes being published by the Royal University Press. While over here in the colonies, King's College was renamed Columbia and Queen's College was renamed Rutgers, the College of William and Mary wasn't renamed. About the only thing we can be sure of is that the Royal College got renamed the Royal University before any possible change to a republic.

Certainly possible, but it's equally plausible that it was a simple choice to reestablish continuity with the past culture. For all we know, the reckoning is written in full as CE, not AD.

Salisria wrote:Combined with the chronology in the snippet, it is certainly implied that humanity eventually reverts to the AD/CE dating system, but then I have to ask, why?

It's highly unlikely they'll recolonize Terra given what it likely suffered from the Gbaba. They already have a perfectly serviceable universal calendar defined in terms of Safehold's system, not Dead Terra's.

The only plausible reason I can think of is that Christianity becomes the predominant post-Writ religion.

err, where does that snippet comes from ?

I don't remember ever seeing that bit of textev anywhere...