Michae wrote:I think the Punishment of Schueler was an after the fact addition to the Book of Schueler written and inserted by Chihiro, who had edit access to the master copies of the Writ in the Temple.
If that is the case I'd very like to know how Chihiro got edit access to begin with,as if this was my document I'd lock down editing privileges for anyone but myself. If it does need to be edited I'd have to approve the edit myself,after viewing the material that would be added,or removed via said edit.
Chihiro was the one who actually
composed the Holy Writ, under Langhorne's direction. He interviewed the Archangels whose Books became part of the Writ to get the content that would go into their Books, but how much of any book the Archangel whose Book it was actually
wrote is a good question. Presumably, they reviewed the content for accuracy, since it would be instructions for the colonists in the future, and signed off on what Chihiro wrote, but he was the one who composed it.
And given his position, he would have edit access to the master copies of the Writ, and would be in a position to
make after the fact changes. Note, for example, that the Books of Chihiro and Schueler were not
in the pre-Armageddon Reef copy of the Writ in Commodore Pei's downloads for Nimue, that Langhorne had ordered produced and signed off on. Those Books were added
after the Rakurai strike that killed Shan Wei and her folks, and turned the Alexandria enclave into Armageddon Reef.
In an exercise like that,
someone would have final oversight and approval over just what got published, with the ability to edit the final published work. Originally, that would be Langhorne, who ordered the creation of the Holy Writ in the first place as part of his plan to lock Safehold into a permanent pre-industrial state. After Langhorne's death, it became Chihiro, as Assistant Administrator and legal successor to Langhorne. The various Archangels would
not have the power to lock down their Books and prevent after the fact edits. (And they would likely see no reason they would need to do so.)
If my suspicion is correct, and Schueler did
not write the Punishment that became part of his Book, he can't have been happy about it, but what could he actually
do? We don't know precisely when the Punishment got added to his book, but Chihiro was in firm control at that point, and opposing him would have been a good way to get dead too. He'd have to play a longer game which wouldn't end till after he and Chihiro were both dead of natural causes. I think the Testimony of Schueler was part of Schueler's longer game.
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Dennis