Hmmmm...
Had to reread to see exactly what you were getting at - and it's certainly a possibility.
Not a lot of evidence for it. Except for the fact that the then leadership of the SSK clearly had reason to believe that extreme action against them was likely. And to believe that they were right to think that it would be unjustified. Which in the religious climate of the time is... odd. I really can't see anybody who knew the full story trying to conceal themselves in that way, and I _can_ see them making sure that the knowledge wasn't lost. As with the Brethren, there should have been a kernel of sisters who knew the full truth, and who could ensure that the Mother Superior was always one of their number. Still, your notion, if I'm reading you correctly, does cover the bases - and it is not impossible for the full story to be corrupted into 'Chihiro lied' if the right people die off in short order.
So it seems more likely that the founders were believers in the CoGA, but thought of Chihiro's teaching as 'lies' [hmmmm...], although even that position doesn't seem to have been propagated through the centuries.
Anyway, my first thought was that it needn't have been command crew, since Mother was very, very well connected in the Church. And I can't see that the "clean up" could have been accomplished without the assistance of 'mortals' in the hierarchy. One of them could have decided that blood was thicker than water and let the SSK know that they were to be included in the process. From the history Nynian gave us, that decision was actually made quite early. Was it also leaked early, or was it actually clear even then that the Angels weren't entirely trustworthy? The Sisterhood seems to have started squirreling away resources very early on, at any rate.
Joat42 wrote:Just to play the devils advocate here I have to draw your attention to rfc's penchant for dangling "obvious things" in front of the reader and much later add a context that totally changes the situation.
Remember the whole thing about "Nimue being just one arrow"?
Remember that the sisterhood quietly relocated BEFORE the strike on their convent and Kohdy's tomb - why did they do that? The explanation given doesn't necessarily include the whole truth.
What if they where warned by someone from the command crew? Someone that was in on the whole thing? Just because we know that Pei was still on Shan-Wei's side it doesn't preclude he had accomplices from the beginning or that he won some over - especially in light of the OBS attack on Shan-Wei.
That could mean that the destruction of the convent and Kohdy's tomb was a way to protect the sisterhood.