Off Armageddon Reef 6: I Had to Rant Again
We see a bit of fall-out after Duke Traitor's death. A minor guy stabs another minor guy to cover Prince Nahrmahn's tracks, then flees, showing that Nahrmahn was definitely a better schemer and would've double-crossed Duke Traitor to get him killed off even if he had succeeded. Villainy won't pay out, ultimately; it's only morally upright people who are allowed to succeed long-term.
We finally see Duke Traitor's wife and kids, and get the sort of scene that you
have to enjoy if you're going to enjoy reading Weber's work yourself: there's an emotional scene where King Haarahld meets with a young boy, telling him what he will and won't have to deal with given the fall-out of Duke Traitor's treachery, both "we are family" and "you are one of my dukes, now, which means you have to act like it." We don't know half of these characters; it's people we're only just now meeting. If it clicks with you, it can be emotionally resonant in a very good way, expressing a faith in human nature: 'this is how people normally are, even the young and innocent'. If it doesn't, it's unsupported melodrama. I have to be in the right mood for it to work for me, personally, but you can fall on either side or find something in-between-ish, like I do.
We go from there into Maikel giving a sermon while Duke Traitor is buried in unconsecrated ground (his punishment for traitor-ing). Maikel's sermon is about how important it is to be good and moral and to stand up for what's right, so naturally he's called into Ahdymsyn's office. I haven't mentioned Ahdymsyn before, but in brief there's four primary church officers for Charis: one is a very trusting Inquisitor I won't introduce for a few more updates; skipping him, Archbishop Erayk is the distant lord, who spends most of the year in the Temple proper, skimming money instead of doing useful things. Maikel, the good bishop, ranks third. Ahdymsyn, Bishop Executor, is in-between, and he's really evil and has been not reporting on exactly how bad sentiment is getting in Charis. We see him sweat about how much he could get in trouble and see him internally monologue about how awful it is that most of Charis' clergy are Charisian, instead of the church's usual policy of sending clergy to distant lands. This is "New World Order"-flavored conspiracy shit, basically, where (((they))) want to suppress all our cultures to render us easier to control. Sometimes, including I believe with Weber, the 'they' isn't even intentionally anti-Semitic—these people just hear "there is a cabal of evil actors who want to ruin all that is good and right in the world" and nod along, tuning out before they hear "...and those people are Jews!" I wish Weber hadn't used the name "Zion" for the evil Temple if I'm going to be giving out even this level of tepid defense of the man, though. Wait, I didn't mention that before, did I?
I didn't. Yeah, the city around the Temple of God is called Zion. Which is a fucking bad look here. But for people like some of my extended family and I
think also David Weber, they feel like the bad actors aren't Jews but are 'just' environmentalists and communists and other people who know that their ideologies would only result in destroying civilization instead of advancing their stated aims. That's why Clyntahn and company are purely evil and nakedly corrupt with no redeeming qualities but aren't notably more Jewish-coded than the rest of the world. Unless I missed that coding. God I hope it's not there for me to miss.
This is turning into a Hard Drive/Onion-style joke:
Glowing David Weber Recommendation Only 70% Caveats!
I'm having to veer off course from the plot to give context like this. Back to the eulogy/preaching. This sermon is supposed to be seen as a catalyst. The beloved and righteous Bishop Maikel has given an inspiring speech at a key moment. Because it's putting the responsibilities to act righteously and bear responsibility on the individual, it downplays the role of the Church of God Awaiting as the one who makes moral judgment. It's also very Protestant.
Sprinkled through the last several sections, including here, we get a clearer look at what the signs of Shan-wei are supposed to be, and I'm going to collect it now just so I can point back here later. So, Shan-wei is Satan: fallen Archangel, nearly the greatest of God's agents before her fall, the fountainhead of evil and architect of all horrible things in the world. Shan-wei's greatest crime is that she appealed to men's better natures to trick them. Shan-wei wanted to raise men to be equal to the Archangels, which is an unholy aim, as it will necessarily give mankind access to angelic powers (synonymous with 'higher technology') which they cannot comprehend or hope to use properly. It will always,
always, corrupt the user because these powers are inimical to human moral development. So, like, this is the foundational tenet of Safeholdian theology: Shan-wei sends people to appeal to your better nature and offers evil knowledge, which necessarily harms God's Church and leads to strife and horror. This is exactly what has been prophesied as the temptation to watch out for since time began and the world was first created in God's designs through his Archangel Langhorne, an Archangel whose miracles are unquestionably and directly visible in some areas and whom hundreds of disparate people-groups all across Safehold met in person, as their oldest written records can attest.
Keep this in mind. This is what people know is true and how they know it's true. We'll talk at length about how many people are outright eager to pitch the only framing that they've ever heard about, and willing to do so the moment an agent of Shan-wei begins to offer a temptation that they know an agent of Shan-wei will offer to tempt people, with only some of that being later this update.
Back to Erayk and the Temple crew. Erayk is a little outside of the Temple proper, visiting a brothel run by a woman named "Ahnzelyk", which is kind of frustrating to me. The language they're speaking is at least derived from English, possibly still recognizably English, and
angel is a very common term, so any names where the meaning is clearly 'angel' shouldn't be morphing separate from the term 'angel'. She'll become important later on and anyway Weber thankfully isn't actually opposed to
sex workers, it seems. Erayk is married and it's a moral failing on his part that he isn't faithful, despite the Archangels' rules forbidding 'fornication and adultery'—not a failing on the part of prostitutes that they do skilled labor for money. Also, all priests are required to be married so that they know what their parishioners' lives are like. Also also, Erayk married his wife when she was
TWELVE, because Weber isn't subtle. It's implied that they had two sons in a perfunctory manner once she was old enough and now she's off enjoying one of his estates while they ignore each other, but still. Merlin flew over here in his 'recon skimmer' and uses a tech toy to knock Erayk over and break his leg and shoulder badly, so Erayk won't be able to come back to Charis like he was scheduled to do and then send a "holy shit, you guys, Charis has gone off the rails" message.
Then Merlin flies back to Charis and starts handing out some dev kits he's been working on prepping, which, I have to stress, is
literally what Safehold natives know the servants of Shan-wei will do. This is a pretty close analogy for a guy with goat hooves, red skin, and a pitchfork showing up in front of a Christian in a flash of burning sulfur and saying "I have been sent by the Father of Lies to ensure that your soul is thrown into the Lake of Eternal Fire, but hang on it's really for the best."
Anyway, Merlin introduces Arabic numerals (instead of the Roman numerals the rest of Safehold uses) and the abacus to Cayleb, who gets to at least feel like he's paying attention to things by trying to call Merlin on his BS a little bit before the story moves on. It's... a lot more than nothing. The intent here is that Merlin has proven his
motives, and since his motives are known pure, people will give him leeway while not being too stupid about not
noticing when things are wacky with his half-explanations, misleading answers, mysterious temporary disappearances, etc. It's still something we've spent the last 250+ pages explaining why this shouldn't be enough, which is frustrating to me. This is how an agent of Shan-wei is expected to act, though other Good People shrug off Merlin's foibles. It means that the remaining explanation is just people doing a 'judge of character' thing and putting that above their theology. Is this pretty good, or definitely bad? I'm not actually sure on this one.
Moving on from Good Royalty, we get to the Good Capitalists. As you might recall, Charis has de-serfed its serfs, allowed people who are good enough at capitalism to become lords, and has let its sea traders make money for themselves and the nation by showing up in other ports and saying "hey, I'm a Charisian trader", which axiomatically causes money to occur.
Howsmyn is, if I recall, the most important of the Good Capitalists going forward, but there's a number of them here. Merlin gives them each an individual chunk of things and lets them take credit, so things like better gunpowder and spinning jennies and how to make copper-bottomed boats and similar tech is handed to them for them to make money off of by turning the concepts into actual innovative items. Because they're all Good, they instantly realize realize that the galleys of current Safehold naval warfare are obsolete: these improvements will revolutionize sea cannons and make them incredibly important instead of a novelty. Now, a trireme can't mount a broadside, because the rowing team is in the way. Galleys are the main current tech, though, so it'll take time to redesign and rebuild navies to make galleons that can make use of guns that can fire more often, more powerfully, safer, and be aimed better, thanks to all of Merlin's goody bags.
Join me next time for me to bitch about Charis' sea-going traditions again.
