SilverbladeTE wrote:From topic that's come up in several threads, it seems possible Chihiro was behind much or even ALL the violence, Kinetic strike on Alexandria, maybe even letting Kau-Yung nuke the other leaders"
I've assumed this for a while.
It's been made clear that Chihiro had been working behind the scenes to supplant Langhorne. Kau Yung's nuking of Langhorne's HQ, killing Langhorne and Bedard as well as himself and his companion provided a perfect opportunity. He had already been promoted from Chief of Staff to Assistant Administrator by Langhorne in a reorganization when preparation of Safehold for the colonists had proceeded far enough that the colonists could be awakened from cryonic suspension in the original enclaves as Adams and Eves. When Langhorne was killed, he was the designated successor.
RFC also stated in a post here a while back the the OBS had been manufactured aboard Hamilcar by Angels loyal to
Chihiro. and deployed just before use on the Alexandria Enclave to give Kau Yung no opportunity to intervene. He called Shan Wei the first victim, who was still loyal to Langhorne despite their disagreements right up to the point where the kinetic strike on the Alexandria Enclve killed her.
(And this provides the extreme irony that when Commodore Pei nuked Langhorne for killing his wife, he was killing the wrong guy.)
We don't know exactly what the Fallen who defeated Kohdy told him, but we do know he indicated it was
Chihiro who had turned to evil. My guess is that he told Kohdy it was
Chihiro who performed the Rakurai strike on the Alexandria Enclave,
without Langhorne's authorization.
Langhorne, as colony Administrator, might have been considered to have the authority to order the strike.
Chihiro, without explicit authorization from Langhorne, did
not.
We know from textev that the War Against the Fallen did not begin till a couple of years
after the Rakurai strike that produced Armageddon Reef. We also know the core of the Fallen were "those who looked to Kau Yung before his fall" - IE, naval and marine personnel Commodore Pei commanded as part of the naval squadron escorting the Operation Ark colony fleet, who served as planetary police force and SAR team after their warships were discarded.
I suspect there was disagreement among that group, but if verifiable evidence appeared that
Chihiro had carried out the Rakurai strike
without Langhorne's explicit authorization,
and was busy making changes to Langhorne's original plan that they supported, a strong faction may have decided that Chihiro had become evil and needed to be opposed.
The Fallen were rebelling against
Chihiro, who usurped Langhorne's authority and was making changes they could not support.
One question I've asked since OAR was "What would the Fallen have done if they had
won?" Safehold is in part all about motivations, and we don't know Chihiro's or theirs.
______
Dennis
