Safehold astronomy

Michael Everett wrote:

runsforcelery wrote:The Holy Writ uses Ptolemey's deferents, epicycles, and equants but with the Writ supplying the "official" distances to the other system bodies in order to ensure that all the epicycles work out to the same distance as the sun's apparent orbit around Safehold. The other planets aren't planets like Safehold; instead, they are worlds which might have become other homes for Man, as Safehold did, if only Shan-wei hadn't fallen and led the rebellion against God's plan. Had Shan-wei not rebelled, those additional inhabited worlds would have orbited in Safehold's heavens against the magnificent backdrop of the stars forever.

Bolding mine.

Ouch! That is just kicking the enemy when they are down! Think about it, in addition to Armageddon Reef being evidence of Shan-Wei's treachery, the planets themselves act as reinforcement of her evil because her actions prevented those planets being turned into more worlds, thus dooming millions to never having existed!

Yet more reason for the locals to hate Shan-Wei.

Oh, that is just sooooooo evil.
I'm impressed. Nay, awed by it.
Wow.

runsforcelery wrote:

runsforcelery wrote:The Holy Writ uses Ptolemey's deferents, epicycles, and equants but with the Writ supplying the "official" distances to the other system bodies in order to ensure that all the epicycles work out to the same distance as the sun's apparent orbit around Safehold. The other planets aren't planets like Safehold; instead, they are worlds which might have become other homes for Man, as Safehold did, if only Shan-wei hadn't fallen and led the rebellion against God's plan. Had Shan-wei not rebelled, those additional inhabited worlds would have orbited in Safehold's heavens against the magnificent backdrop of the stars forever.

Michael Everett wrote:Bolding mine.
Ouch! That is just kicking the enemy when they are down! Think about it, in addition to Armageddon Reef being evidence of Shan-Wei's treachery, the planets themselves act as reinforcement of her evil because her actions prevented those planets being turned into more worlds, thus dooming millions to never having existed!

Yet more reason for the locals to hate Shan-Wei.

Oh, that is just sooooooo evil.
I'm impressed. Nay, awed by it.
Wow.

Thank you [he said modestly].

One always wishes to give one's rotters at least a few moments of triumph.

PeterZ wrote:

runsforcelery wrote:The Holy Writ uses Ptolemey's deferents, epicycles, and equants but with the Writ supplying the "official" distances to the other system bodies in order to ensure that all the epicycles work out to the same distance as the sun's apparent orbit around Safehold. The other planets aren't planets like Safehold; instead, they are worlds which might have become other homes for Man, as Safehold did, if only Shan-wei hadn't fallen and led the rebellion against God's plan. Had Shan-wei not rebelled, those additional inhabited worlds would have orbited in Safehold's heavens against the magnificent backdrop of the stars forever.

Michael Everett wrote:Bolding mine.
Ouch! That is just kicking the enemy when they are down! Think about it, in addition to Armageddon Reef being evidence of Shan-Wei's treachery, the planets themselves act as reinforcement of her evil because her actions prevented those planets being turned into more worlds, thus dooming millions to never having existed!

Yet more reason for the locals to hate Shan-Wei.

Oh, that is just sooooooo evil.
I'm impressed. Nay, awed by it.
Wow.

runsforcelery wrote:Thank you [he said modestly].

One always wishes to give one's rotters at least a few moments of triumph.

One wonders how this will bite Langhorne in the posterior for it surely will. When the truth comes out, it is Langhorne's deviation from the Plan (of operation Ark) that doomed those other planets to be without human habitation. This bit of planned gratuitous curb stomping on Langhorne's part will be just another factoid that convinces Safeholdians that he and his cohorts lied.

runsforcelery wrote:Actually, the planets in question wouldn't have been habitable anyway. Not without the very sort of artificial life support (and high-tech infrastructure) Operation Ark was specifically intended to avoid, at any rate.

runsforcelery wrote:
The Holy Writ uses Ptolemey's deferents, epicycles, and equants but with the Writ supplying the "official" distances to the other system bodies in order to ensure that all the epicycles work out to the same distance as the sun's apparent orbit around Safehold. The other planets aren't planets like Safehold; instead, they are worlds which might have become other homes for Man, as Safehold did, if only Shan-wei hadn't fallen and led the rebellion against God's plan. Had Shan-wei not rebelled, those additional inhabited worlds would have orbited in Safehold's heavens against the magnificent backdrop of the stars forever.

keylime314 wrote:

runsforcelery wrote:
The Holy Writ uses Ptolemey's deferents, epicycles, and equants but with the Writ supplying the "official" distances to the other system bodies in order to ensure that all the epicycles work out to the same distance as the sun's apparent orbit around Safehold. The other planets aren't planets like Safehold; instead, they are worlds which might have become other homes for Man, as Safehold did, if only Shan-wei hadn't fallen and led the rebellion against God's plan. Had Shan-wei not rebelled, those additional inhabited worlds would have orbited in Safehold's heavens against the magnificent backdrop of the stars forever.

Out of curiosity, was this added to the Writ during or after the War of the Fallen? That bit of theology doesn't make much sense if it was put in before Langhorne died.

DrakBibliophile wrote:David Weber has already said that there was a version of the Writ written prior to the "Day of Creation" and a version of the Writ written after the "War against the Fallen".

keylime314 wrote:Out of curiosity, was this added to the Writ during or after the War of the Fallen? That bit of theology doesn't make much sense if it was put in before Langhorne died.

keylime314 wrote:

DrakBibliophile wrote:David Weber has already said that there was a version of the Writ written prior to the "Day of Creation" and a version of the Writ written after the "War against the Fallen".

I know, I was more interested in whether the Ptolemaic theory had been added later by someone else, or if the theological argument was the only thing added on. Having the Ptolemaic theory added on later would represent and interesting break with Langhorne's plan from the surviving command staff.

runsforcelery wrote:The Holy Writ uses Ptolemey's deferents, epicycles, and equants but with the Writ supplying the "official" distances to the other system bodies in order to ensure that all the epicycles work out to the same distance as the sun's apparent orbit around Safehold. The other planets aren't planets like Safehold; instead, they are worlds which might have become other homes for Man, as Safehold did, if only Shan-wei hadn't fallen and led the rebellion against God's plan. Had Shan-wei not rebelled, those additional inhabited worlds would have orbited in Safehold's heavens against the magnificent backdrop of the stars forever.

As for the apparent motion of the stars, that, too, is a deliberate gift from God, a vast tapestry set to change forever in Safehold's heavens.

No telescope which can be fabricated without first violating the Proscriptions is going to disprove any of the above. People asking the right questions even without telescopes could undoubtedly unravel it, but first they'd have to have a reason to ask the questions in the first place. The model they have works; this is a society which absolutely accepts the accuracy of the Writ and all of the firsthand accounts left by 8,000,000 Adams and Eves; and there is very little likelihood that anyone would ask those questions under those circumstances. There is even less likelihood that he would ask them twice once the Inqusition had a word with him.

The system isn't perfect or infallible, but, then, Langhorne's entire plan assumed a degree of infallibility that was inherently unobtainable. It is pretty well thought out, however, and the Church was instituted as the checking mechanism intended to keep his intellectual dykes from sprouting leaks.

DrakBibliophile wrote:The part were it is said that the other planets in the Safehold system were intended to be settled by mortals but Shan-wei's Fall ruined that part of Langhorne's plans is likely an addition.