Krenn wrote:Thinking about this... these are all the quotes I could find about Nahrmahn's second-phase plan....
Nothing could be allowed to interfere with that process, and that was the reason, more even than the staggering potential casualties of a renewed Jihad, why any headlong assault on the Church of God Awaiting’s fundamental doctrine had to be avoided … or at least postponed. Nahrmahn was right about what looked like firing up in Harchong, no matter what else happened, but he was also right about the need to keep any doctrinal conflict out of the equation. They couldn’t afford to reawaken the charge that all of these innovations were the handiwork of Shan-wei, spreading her evil among humankind. If 915 came and went without any angelic reappearance, they’d have another eighty-five years to work on doctrinal revolutions.
I wonder what would happen if they deviated from the choreography? The question passed through Karstayrs’ mind. The ceremony for the investiture of a Grand Vicar’s never changed since the day Chihiro himself instituted it. How completely are the Temple’s computers locked into observing it? Would that spotlight even be able to find the new Grand Vicar if he wasn’t exactly where the ceremony laid down by Chihiro puts him? It was an intriguing thought. And if it were to happen, how would Safeholdians react? If the very things which made this so effective at maintaining their faith and their awareness of the sanctity of Mother Church and the Grand Vicar were suddenly out of sequence— if that circle of light followed someone else, instead of the Council of Vicars’ chosen successor to Langhorne— how would that set with Safehold?
Too bad we won’t have the chance to find out, he reflected. Talk about the Nahrmahn Plan! If I thought Owl could hack the Temple, break into the system and reprogram all this … pageantry and turn it around on them.… He put the temptation behind him and focused on the ceremony unfolding all around him.
“You’re right,” Nahrmahn agreed. “And, speaking of archangels that haven’t turned up yet, Owl and I would like to show you what we’ve been working on with Paityr and Nynian to kick off the final phase of the ‘Nahrmahn Plan.’” His avatar’s smile was remarkably broad … and evil. “Somehow, I think the real Schueler’s going to be spinning in his grave.”
“So I suppose it’s time to initiate the second stage of the nefarious Nahrmahn Plan?” he said out loud.
“You suppose correctly,” Cayleb said, and he and Sharleyan both looked at Nahrmahn. “You and Owl are cleared for Operation Androcles.”
“Oh goody!” Nahrmahn replied with a huge smile, and punched Owl on the shoulder. “I told you they’d let us!”
“And I did not dispute your prediction,” the AI pointed out. “I simply fail to share your indecent pleasure and anticipation.”
Now, admittedly, those quotes COULD be read as implying that the Lost Testament of Schueler may have been Nahrmahn's work. However, if we're assuming that Nahrmahn's plan is something ELSE, I can think of a few possibilities...
Plan A: Just Like the Lost Testament of Schueler, only different.
Do whatever it takes to 'discover' 'lost' evidence of what the original archangels were thinking, how they acted, what their goals were, how 'human' they could be... without TECHNICALLY proposing that the Archangels were, in fact, human. Merely provide evidence indirectly suggesting that each Archangel may have been subject to certain slight human foibles.
The Argument here would be something like : We have been told that Shan-Wei and other (Arch)Angels Fell, because she was not a perfect Arch-Angel, took too much pride in her own goals versus God's Vision, etc....
What if that means that ALL Angels and Arch-Angels are hypothetically subject to certain limited human foibles, such as pride, laziness, misdirection, bad puns... and Shan-Wei just happens to have been the only one who let her minor flaws get so out of hand as to provoke a civil war?
If, say, a miniature shrine-bunker, extremely similar to a smaller, hidden version of the Temple in Zion, were to be discovered somewhere in the middle of nowhere...
And If, say, that shrine-bunker contained highly plausible, historically accurate, 'lost' video records from around the time of the War of the Fallen, showing things like Archangels in boring committee meetings, Archangel's picking their noses or telling really bad puns, Archangels discussing the pros and cons of certain enclave placements, or discussing how MANY tips and tricks for designing good sailing vessels they want to leave with the Adams and Eves...
Those records, while not DIRECTLY contradicting anything the Archangels had ever said or done, and which might even be presented as "miraculous gifts repeating the Archangel's messages..."
Would also have the various interesting side-effect of subtly humanizing the Arch-Angels, and getting people to quietly start questioning why the Arch-Angels chose to leave exactly the messages they did, and not to leave other, different messages.
The problem with this plan is that it's actually awfully close to what just happened with the Lost Testament of Schueler, and it seems really odd that there would be TWO such plans, from two different factions, being trigger at the same time, using much the same methods.
