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Post by garyshots on Nov 4, 2022 13:43:57 GMT
Clever, although we did say relying on information from parts of the Book we haven't got to yet was poor form. Obviously there is something there, but that still doesn't seem like it clinches the case for "One is the designation of a specific intelligent agent who is the same entity as the Mother of Timeships". For… er… one thing, " as a matter of fact, I think you can answer it yourself quite easily. You know where to look" suggests to me that the 'one thing' is something the War King already knows about; something, then, which is consistent with the War King's beliefs about the Enemy, as much as with Compassion's. So perhaps Compassion believes ‘One’ to be something to do with the Lolita masterplan, but surely the War King believes it to be something else. For another, if 'One' is a sentient entity and kin to timeships, would Compassion refer to it as, well, a thing? That doesn't sound like her! Being that I still don't agree that Umbaste's One and the Rivera Manuscript One are the same thing, I remain of the opinion that ‘One’ refers to some sort of mind-bending vision related to the nature of the Enemy, but is not a name for the Enemy itself, whether it be the Mother of Timeships or anything else. Surely we read Appendix III in Week 6?
I definitely think there's more going on in Compassion's two showdowns with the War King than I understand yet, both around the death of "Percy" at the hands of the Enemy (is he conning her? is she playing along?), and the way she threatens him with the spectre of One/the Matrix (what assurances?).
Praxis is what we were meant to become. But "mind-bending vision" does sound a lot like the Matrix. What if praxis is to the Enemy what the Matrix is to the Time Lords: their soul, in a way? What if they've got One each? What if the two different Ones merge or connect somehow at the end of the Book?
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leahhh
Little Sibling
Posts: 36
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Post by leahhh on Nov 13, 2022 16:21:25 GMT
Yup, that sure sounds like the enemy! Let's talk about the Immaculata Formosii. (An interesting name/title, by the way - it appears Latin, and Immaculata translates straightforwardly to 'immaculate' as you might expect, but Formosii is trickier. It looks like a form of formosus, 'beautiful', but there's no form of that word that ends in -ii. But maybe this is just posthuman weirdness with no significance.) Anyway. The Immaculata is one of the topics linked in the entry for the enemy, so we can assume there's something to learn here. If her new allies are the enemy, we should ask why they wanted to set up this whole business with Devonire's arm. The whole situation appears have been a setup by the enemy to remind the Timelords of their abilities, (driving a Timelord insane with paradox anxiety and somehow taking his freshly severed arm from Gallifrey 1 without being noticed) while removing a very capable senior official who had effectively strengthened the Timelord's hand This seems like a pretty good explanation. But I wonder - if you want to give Devonire paradox anxiety, it's crucial that the arm you give him is paradoxical - achieved by him not cutting off his own arm. So then why does it seem like his refusal to do so is what triggers the blindspot/enemy/thing to step out of the corner, which Formosii's reaction suggests is a deviation from the plan. Was she not informed of the whole plan (indicating that their alliance is not as close as we might have thought), or are the enemy after something else here? |
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Anastasia
Cousin
Liberating the oppressed of the Houses and toppling regimes.
Posts: 154
Preferred Pronouns: She/They
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Post by Anastasia on Nov 13, 2022 17:26:21 GMT
Yup, that sure sounds like the enemy! Let's talk about the Immaculata Formosii. (An interesting name/title, by the way - it appears Latin, and Immaculata translates straightforwardly to 'immaculate' as you might expect, but Formosii is trickier. It looks like a form of formosus, 'beautiful', but there's no form of that word that ends in -ii. But maybe this is just posthuman weirdness with no significance.) Anyway. The Immaculata is one of the topics linked in the entry for the enemy, so we can assume there's something to learn here. If her new allies are the enemy, we should ask why they wanted to set up this whole business with Devonire's arm. The whole situation appears have been a setup by the enemy to remind the Timelords of their abilities, (driving a Timelord insane with paradox anxiety and somehow taking his freshly severed arm from Gallifrey 1 without being noticed) while removing a very capable senior official who had effectively strengthened the Timelord's hand This seems like a pretty good explanation. But I wonder - if you want to give Devonire paradox anxiety, it's crucial that the arm you give him is paradoxical - achieved by him not cutting off his own arm. So then why does it seem like his refusal to do so is what triggers the blindspot/enemy/thing to step out of the corner, which Formosii's reaction suggests is a deviation from the plan. Was she not informed of the whole plan (indicating that their alliance is not as close as we might have thought), or are the enemy after something else here? Formasii was temporarily an ally to the Enemy as indicated by her Image in the Posthuman Article which shows her before her alliance with the enemy. |
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Post by garyshots on Nov 13, 2022 22:37:02 GMT
An interesting name/title, by the way - it appears Latin, and Immaculata translates straightforwardly to 'immaculate' as you might expect, but Formosii is trickier. It looks like a form of formosus, 'beautiful', but there's no form of that word that ends in -ii. But maybe this is just posthuman weirdness with no significance.) I've always wondered whether it's an anagram of something. But if so, I've never worked it out. Iris Foom! |
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Post by doctornolonger on Nov 14, 2022 15:52:22 GMT
Reading things in this order clarified a few things that had been been unclear to me. For instance, in earlier, more disjointed reads I'd taken seriously the suggestion in "Paradox Anxiety" that after Devonire flung his freshly severed arm from his balcony, it was destroyed by a street-cleaner. But the "Devonire" entry specifically mentions that his balcony overlooks the caldera site. Similarly, I'd noticed that the Book can't seem to make up its mind as to whether Kaiwar is called "Kaiwar" or "Kaiwur". I always assumed this was a typo and contemplated whether the Ebook of the War should correct it. But maybe this is just a facet of the uncertainty that surrounds each of the scarred worlds. Clearly I've been spending too much time with online fandom, since Devonire's gathering of lost bloodlines made me think of Tardis Wiki editors' efforts to shoehorn more and more obscure spin-offs and side-steps into their coverage. Incidentally, "attack of ignorance" also aptly describes how the PageRank algorithm would treat any separatist upstart wiki! Morlock being the only one who's able to make out the details on the Empire's statue of the Grandfather reminds me of the 1930 statue of Ceres on top of the Chicago Board of Trade building. The sculptor didn't bother to carve her face, since he was certain that the 45-story building would be the tallest in the city, so no one would ever be able to see it. Of course, now visitors to the Sears Tower can get a nice up-close view. You can imagine a similar dynamic with Morlock standing in Big Ben's clocktower, peering down at the city below. Spoilers for the Faction Paradox Protocols audios below the cut. All gone because of House Tracolix's attack with a Sontaran mercenary army. Is this what the "Ninth Wave" section is about? Hiring Sontarans as the Ninth Wave would certainly be a "surprise", and it would allow Tracolix to maintain its lack of "any real interest in the breeding programme".
But maybe House Lolita is just using Tracolix as a puppet here. More to discuss when we cover those Houses' entries in the Coda; and on that note, let me put a pin in this line from Appendix I: "Perhaps this entire War can best be seen as a struggle between one kind of history and another."
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Post by mbrookhaven on Nov 16, 2022 6:18:41 GMT
Similarly, I'd noticed that the Book can't seem to make up its mind as to whether Kaiwar is called "Kaiwar" or "Kaiwur". I always assumed this was a typo and contemplated whether the Ebook of the War should correct it. But maybe this is just a facet of the uncertainty that surrounds each of the scarred worlds. At the risk of making it all mundane. The name Kaiwar came from the director Wong Kar-Wai. So in theory Kaiwar is the "correct" term. But the timeline is corrupt, especially on those battlefields. |
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