Week 11: The Thirteen-Day Republic

I like it. The Grandfather is referred to as "him" in the bit of Christmas on a Rational Planet quoted in Week Eight. But presumably he could regenerate. (Would his arm not grow back? Maybe not. It's a symbolic severance, deeper than flesh and bone, and his severedness might be a far more fundamental part of his self-image than mere pronouns.)

While "Behind every great Grandfather is a great Grandmother." has an undeniable ring to it, in the sober light of day I'm not convinced that it means anything. Looking again at Westminster and House of Lords, both mention the axes (land to river, Speaker's Chair to Lord Chancellor's Woolsack), and the latter specifies that whatever sits in the Lords should be the balance, the opposite, of the Faction elders, and have the power to overrule them.

The subsequent paragraph about the loa is an alternative speculation, and indeed it doesn't make a lot of sense that the Grandfather apparently represents both the Commons and half of the Lords. I wonder if "Temporal and Spiritual Lords" is just a weak joke about Time Lords. But what would Spirit Lords be? The Faction's equivalent of Matrix Lords? Or the Celestis?

When Anastasia comes out, she's soaked in blood, though she's only missing one finger. Where did all that blood come from? ("Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?")

This set of entries were pretty interesting.

I also noticed this. It was quite fun to notice and try and piece together.

The Thirteen-Day Republic seems to me like a bit of a commentary on communism. The fact that the Republic was supposed to have a flat structure but ended up with Anastasia as an undeniable leader seems to echo the way a lot of communist regimes have gone. I find it ironic how the leader of this communist-esque revolution was someone who almost died (if it wasn't for the Faction) at the hands of one.

The entry on removal of members mentions that those who are twice and thrice removed are often punished by "bizare self-murders". Moreover, the end of the entry on the Battle of Valentine's Day mentions how the Faction "usually encourages its members to punish themselves". What would either of these entail? How do you encourage someone to muder themselves? Does it mean driving them to suicide? The use of "encourages" in the second quote suggests to me that members are at least somewhat willingly punishing themselves. The only thing I can think of is that the Faction leaders have some form of control over the lower members. While a bit different, the entry on witch-blood mentions that the Faction sculpt recruits to their requirements. This certainly suggests to me some form of control. However, if the Faction leaders do have control over their members, surely they'd be able to prevent scenarios such as the Thirteen-Day Republic before they even occur? Is this explained or elaborated on anywhere else?

The only thing I could think of regarding the occupents of the House of Lords feels to me that it is not the intention, but the Celestis, who refer to themselves as Lords, were previously members of the Great Houses. The Celestis having the power to overule the Empire's House of Commons doesn't feel right to me, though, so it's probably just coincidental.

The entry on the Thirteen-Day Republic talks about how the change in calender happened all over the world. This means that there are tons of presumably unclaimed missing days. I feel like there has to be some potential here. Another thing to note is that the Faction bought their missing 11 days off George II via the Greogorian Compact. However, no equivelant process for the Republic is mentioned. This could be representative of the more anarchic nature of the Republic.

Finally, the end of the entry on witch-blood mentions that "it has nothing to do with actual witchcraft whatsoever". This implies the existance of actual witchcraft. What could this be refering to? Is it something we've seen so far? I personally feel that the type of stuff witch-bloods can do is exactly the sort of thing that could be interpreted as witchcraft. Is this a case of the Book dropping a small red herring to through us off the trail? If so, for what gain?

Labyrinths looks pretty interesting and I look forawrd to starting on it soon.

Strictly speaking, this might simply mean that most people who claim to practice witchcraft (as they do in the real world) are not witch-blood-holders, and vice versa that most witch-blood-holders do not call themselves witches. It does not necessarily mean that "actual witchcraft" works. Either way, I am inclined to think that the intended distinction is between witch-blood, which is simply something you're born with, and the idea of witchcraft, i.e. a set of practices and rituals which anyone could theoretically pick up and use effectively. Note how the opening of the Witch-Blood entry insists on the fact that people with witch-blood have “a natural, untrained ability” for temporal manipulation, a “raw instinct”: the very opposite of a “craft”.

In this sense, the Faction's own rituals are arguably “witchcraft”, even though, of course, not all Faction recruits have witch-blood — we learn here that the Faction are actually wary of recruiting people with witch-blood, and Justine is specifically pointed out as mildly special for possessing it in the opening two-parter of the Season 1 audios. If so, we should still understand the claim that it has “nothing to do with actual witchcraft whatsoever” as somewhat hyperbolic snobbery on the part of those who see themselves as 'real' witches: natural instinct or not, witch-blood-holders' abilities do tap into the same forces as rituals, and as Justine demonstrates, give them an edge if they do attempt the rituals on top of it, so it doesn't exactly have “nothing whatsoever” to do with witchcraft, even if it's not precisely the same thing.