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Another out of order snippet

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Another out of order snippet
Post by runsforcelery   » Fri Aug 26, 2016 3:30 pm

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All right, I've edited this very slightly by changing three pronouns and removing a total of eight words to file off serial numbers.

Otherwise . . . . . :twisted: :twisted:

_______________________________________________________

How did they do it? Rayno’s brain demanded of itself. How could they do it?

He never doubted that it had to have been the false seijins — no, the demons who pretended to be seijins! — but how?

There’s nothing like this in the records — not in The Testimonies, not in the Book of Chihiro, and not in the Inquisition’s secret files. Nothing! Never. Not at Shan-wei’s hands or during the War Against the Fallen. Not even they accomplished anything like this after their fall!

He tried to push that thought from him, to concentrate on how the Inquisition must deal with this. At least it had happened at St. Thyrmyn’s. With only a little good fortune, they could conceal it from the rest of Mother Church and her children, at least for a time. Pretend it had never happened — deny it had, if the false seijins and their allies spread the story. But he knew, and the Grand Inquisitor knew, and eventually more and more of their inquisitors would hear whispers, rumors, about what had truly happened. St. Thyrmyn’s was too central to the Inquisition, too vital a nexus for its operations, for the secret not to leak at least among the senior members of their own order. And once that happened, it would inevitably spread still farther. When it did, when they could no longer simply deny it, how did they address it, explain it?

He had no idea, but worrying about that was vastly preferable to facing the far more terrifying question beating in the back of his brain.

If the heretics’ demon allies could do this, what else could they do?


"Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as Piglet came back from the dead.
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Re: Another out of order snippet
Post by NervousEnergy   » Fri Aug 26, 2016 3:34 pm

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Wow... and the testimonies hold a lot. Servitors, etc. And whatever it was they did at the prison, it's way beyond that.

Couldn't just be an explosion... could it? Even a spectacular one wouldn't bring that kind of reaction.

Thanks for the snippet! Any news from Tor on how the publication process is going to work out?

Edit: changed three pronouns... could two of them be 'How did SHE do it?'
Last edited by NervousEnergy on Fri Aug 26, 2016 3:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Another out of order snippet
Post by blackjack217   » Fri Aug 26, 2016 3:35 pm

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You enjoy this too much. You're only doing this to tease us and distract us from SoF's late arrival, aren't you?
...On second thought, excellent work, keep doing what you're doing. :D
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Re: Another out of order snippet
Post by Tanstaafl   » Fri Aug 26, 2016 3:40 pm

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If Rayno thinks he can conceal and deny that it happened, it is not something obvious. No big explosions or piles of bodies.

Just open doors and missing prisoners and a few dead torturers without any explanation how they did it?
...
The abstinents are right,
but only the drinkers know why
― Simon Carmiggelt
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Re: Another out of order snippet
Post by BobG   » Fri Aug 26, 2016 3:40 pm

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runsforcelery wrote:All right, I've edited this very slightly by changing three pronouns and removing a total of eight words to file off serial numbers.

Otherwise . . . . . :twisted: :twisted:

I will assume this has to do with the previous snippets about blowing something up, and it certainly seems to indicate what was destroyed... But what did they do? A kinetic strike? A vest-pocket nuke? A 2000 lb bomb?

I suspect the first 2 would be noticed by the orbital bombardment system, although I have no idea what its reaction would be.

Yes, we're curiouser and curiouser, David :D

-- Bob G
SF & Fantasy: The only things better than Chocolate.
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Re: Another out of order snippet
Post by PeterZ   » Fri Aug 26, 2016 3:42 pm

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Let's see now...spirit out the prisoners without anyone knowing or infil and exfil quietly but leave lots of bodies behind. Which one will it be?
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Re: Another out of order snippet
Post by Duckk   » Fri Aug 26, 2016 3:49 pm

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I think the last bit is the most salient part. Rayno isn't just panicking - he's freaking out. Simply chopping everyone up into bits, blowing up a bomb, or unleashing a disease wouldn't cause this. All of those are understandable to some degree to Safehold, even though the exact methodology might not be known. But whatever this is appears to be completely outside their experience - a classic case of the Outside Context Problem.
-------------------------
Shields at 50%, taunting at 100%! - Tom Pope
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Re: Another out of order snippet
Post by Direwolf18   » Fri Aug 26, 2016 3:55 pm

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Duckk wrote:I think the last bit is the most salient part. Rayno isn't just panicking - he's freaking out. Simply chopping everyone up into bits, blowing up a bomb, or unleashing a disease wouldn't cause this. All of those are understandable to some degree to Safehold, even though the exact methodology might not be known. But whatever this is appears to be completely outside their experience - a classic case of the Outside Context Problem.



Duckk hit the nail on the head. Something happened. Some peice of federation tech got used to REALLY make a statement. This isn't something that could be misconstrued as anything other then something completely out of the norm. Rayno is strait up panicking!
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Re: Another out of order snippet
Post by PeterZ   » Fri Aug 26, 2016 3:56 pm

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Tanstaafl wrote:If Rayno thinks he can conceal and deny that it happened, it is not something obvious. No big explosions or piles of bodies.

Just open doors and missing prisoners and a few dead torturers without any explanation how they did it?


Time to parse RFC's language. He writes that in time more and more inquisitors will know about this. The wording suggests that some number already knows and that number will grow unpleasantly large with time.

If many bodies were left at St. Thyrmyn, only those that cleaned up the mess would know what happened. This assumes no survivors.

If no bodies were left, the entire facility would know what happened if not how. This is likely a larger number than had the Siblings of Vengeance simply killed all the Inquisitors they found in the building.

So, ether is equally likely in my view.
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Re: Another out of order snippet
Post by ksandgren   » Fri Aug 26, 2016 3:58 pm

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I love it! Thank you, rfc!
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