Comments on: “Torch”– part III, page 41

By: Carapace

Carapace — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:48:42 +0000

I think the Ascian gods are largely a result of self hypnotism, more or less- there’s been nothing in Finder to suggest that this really is a god-infested fantasy world. Even if it is , the gods choose their hosts, right? So either hosts are going to be prone to saying stuff that they might not be consciously accepting or even aware of once they’ve tranced out, or the gods are picking hosts who are inclined to say something they want said.

Either way, Rachel doesn’t have to be faking this, and I don’t think she is; Coward obviously has a real hold on her, and anything he says, she’s likely to resonate with on some level, if only because she wants to. I’d bet he DID talk to her about this, but that doesn’t mean she sat down and thought about how to help the idea get acceptance.

Gah. Even braingods are hard to talk about without sounding bent.

By: Oneiros

Oneiros — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:22:08 +0000

True, Rachel says she can’t remember what Oriana says when she’s channeling Oriana. But she’s aware enough of Oriana to give her a name, and aware enough of Oriana’s questionable origins to say that Oriana was the cartoon character from some Jemworld cartoon from Rachel’s childhood. So does Oriana really exist as a separate entity? Or is Oriana just what happens when you shut off most of Rachel’s brain and let things flow?

By: Des

Des — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:17:10 +0000

HANG on – we’ve no evidence Rae can influence or even remember her Oriana moments, and it at least doesn’t seem in character for her to fake it (even if her special effects skills are up to it) so whoever’s up to no good, shouldn’t we suspect it’s Oriana? A goddess isn’t going to take orders from a chief unless it serves her interests anyway, couldn’t it be _her_ and _not_ Coward trying to goad Jack into rebelling and getting a headjack? She is Goddess of wealth after all, and maybe not as concerned for Jack’s interests as one would hope Coward is. She does imply that they’ll find out what you lose when you get a headjack – is she expecting one of them to be her object lesson, and is she maybe working -independently of Rachel OR Coward – to make sure it’s Jack?

By: Oneiros

Oneiros — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:00:29 +0000

He’s not out yet. But he does seem to be on the path out. If he makes trouble by revealing her own tech, that might be what starts the dominoes tumbling.

By: Lethe

Lethe — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:17:44 +0000

I thought they had been at one point, but maybe her hair (and moving around a lot) covers them.

But by that same token – Jack might be the only one to recognize them for what they are. And if HE does, that doesn’t mean that everyone else will even care a whit, because HE’s the one that is being all “outside the tribe” experience…

By: Oneiros

Oneiros — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:28:45 +0000

Lethe, here on out, Rachel might have to use her hand-phone in the privacy of her own room if she has to make a call in the house.

And aren’t her head-jacks visible…?

By: Oneiros

Oneiros — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:52:56 +0000

Hehe! Yeah, that’s a good point. She does have a lot of implanted technology.

She does say, though that “I know what it is [that "they" take out when they put in implants]!” implying that she has knowledge that they don’t. They might be ok that her knowledge comes from experience.

But supposedly, Rachel is channeling Oriana, so it’s the goddess speaking, not Rachel. And even if it’s interpreted that Oriana herself has the technology, maybe gods are exceptions to the rules they give? The rules are for the Ascian tribe to live by, not for Oriana.

But if the rules are for the tribe to know how to live in the city, it is strange that the rules basically tell them to stay away from what makes the city the city.

By: Lethe

Lethe — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:24:34 +0000

But doesn’t Rachel have implanted tech? I mean, a LOT of it? She talks on the hand-phone, etc… Someone’s gonna be mighty pissed when they learn this…

By: Oneiros

Oneiros — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:35:45 +0000

The dance floor didn’t look electronic to me. It looked like they replaced the regular floor with metal plates, so their dance steps would resonate, sound-wise.

But the drills used to put the floor in place was electric (motor), but not electronic. They don’t go “beep”.

And generally, only the things that go “beep”, using circuitry, and such, are the machines that can only be made by other machines. Electric motors, I suppose, can be made by hand. All Jack’s devices are made by hand, but he did use scavenged parts that were made by machines…

A perfect venue for what seems to be Carla’s steampunk passion.

But I wonder how much Rachel’s Llaverac tendency for drama is overdoing the abominating, so that Oriana will be forbidding far more than what Coward intended? But with his calculating mind, he might have planned for it.

By: Peter Tupper

Peter Tupper — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:23:51 +0000

But what about the dance floor the Ascians were using before? That looked electronic. Does that mean they’ll start using even less electronics than they did before Oriana started throwing out new taboos?