Coldfire reread: Black Sun Rising - Chapters 13&14

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

We've completed the first book! It's chapters 13 and 14 today - time to collect blessed fae weaponry and pack the bags for the great adventure. And a second mysterious stranger, this time of the female persuasion, joins our characters.


Plot summary

Chapter 13

Damien sees the Patriarch to request a leave of absence and explains the situation with Ciani to him. In response, the Patriarch leads him down into the cathedral's catacombs, where relics of the war against the Forest are stored. The Patriarch lets Damien have a good look, then gives him a bottle of water-bound solar fae in support of his mission.

Chapter 14
Our intrepid travelers check one last time that they've brought everything they wanted to bring, and that they have made all possible preparations. At the same time, a nonhuman stranger picks up on Senzei's Calling and, after hours of deliberation, decides to follow it.



Quotes

• “I swore an oath, your Holiness. To give the Prophet’s dream precedence over my own life. To serve the patterns which he declared were necessary . . . in¬cluding the hierarchy of my Church. If you’re asking me if I understand my duty, that’s my answer. If you mean to use this situation to test me . . .” He felt his hands tighten on the chair’s wooden arms, forced them to relax. Forced the anger out of his voice. It is his right. In some ways, his duty. “Please don’t. I implore you. As a man, and as your servant.”


• “Light was, of course, their primary weapon. Their tool of invasion. There are other things bound into each item here . . . but always light. They thought they could conquer the Forest with it.” The Patriarch reached out to the wall beside him, fingered the edge of a rotting tapestry. “Sometimes, I think, that’s what was responsi¬ble for our defeat. When we play by the rules of the enemy, we inherit his weaknesses.”


• . “Solar fae,” he explained. “Bound well enough to survive even in this place, where no sun ever shines. No single adept could have managed it; only the prayer of thousands has that kind of power. Imagine a time when that kind of unity was possible . . .” His voice trailed off into silence, but Damien continued the thought: When our dream was that close to completion. When consummation of our Purpose was still within sight.


• “They meant to seed the Forest with it. They meant to give it to the ground and let every living thing that took root there suck it up for nourishment. In time, it would have infected the entire ecosystem. In time, it might have defeated even that great Darkness.”


• “Who knows? No one ever returned from that expedition. In the battle that followed, our armies were slaughtered. The tide of the War turned against us.” He looked at the priest, his eyes feline-green in the golden light. “God alone knows what happened to the rest of it. This is all that remains.”


• In the foothills of the Worldsend Mountains, a figure stood very still. She had been still like that for hours since the call had first come to her. Since her sleep had first been disturbed by human sorcery, in a manner un¬precedented among her kind.

Thoughts

• Time to surrender my protests about the Holy War having been fought against the Forest, it seems. :-)


• The Church's history when it comes to fae use is becoming murkier and murkier. They used fae-enforced weapons during the Holy War, and were, at the very least, pragmatically enough to reason that fae is needed to fight against an enemy wielding that power. From what the Church still has stored and from what the Patriarch says, they relied on sorcery to a degree that is far larger than what even the Western Autarchy allows at present time. But after their defeat, the official line seems to have become "we lost because we used the tools of the enemy".


• The idea of using fae-containing water to bring down the Forest - Erna's variation of salting enemy land? And while we're at it, just why is the Patriarch giving something like the Fire to Damien? Shouldn't this be absolutely anathema to him?


• I'm having difficulties to decide how much time has passed since Damien's arrival in Jaggonath. A few days, a week, a month, more than that? What puzzles me is that we get the first Tarrant chapter almost immediately after Damien's arrival chapter, and he's still in the city when Ciani is attacked. Would he have left the Forest for so long?


• I wish we knew more about Damien's background. Just how much time has he spent on the road? And what, exactly, is his role in the Western Autarchy? We're getting hints again, but I'm missing actual answers.


• Was Hesseth the only rakh to respond to Senzei's Calling in any way? And if so, why her?

You know what comes now - enjoy yourselves! And on Monday we'll look back at book 1 of BSR, so there's no reading homework for you this time. ;-)

Comments

[alice_montrose]

My theory about the Holy War and using the fae for Church purposes pretty much follows prettyarbitrary's, so I won't repeat that, except perhaps to emphasise that Gannon "outlawed private sorcery", and that fae bound by faith of the masses of followers was by no means private. Therefore, the Church's ban on using the fae as a tool must have happened after the war, and in the east especially since they were closer to the Forest.

(I still wish we knew what kind of creatures the Forest unleashed upon those poor soldiers, though. It wouldn't have been too long after Gerald took over the place and began creating his safe haven... and Gerald would have become what those people feared most.)

just why is the Patriarch giving something like the Fire to Damien? Shouldn't this be absolutely anathema to him?

Perhaps because, while he had it, it was just another relic of the past. Whereas Damien would have no issues using it. And perhaps the Patriarch gave it to Damien as a symbol and a reminder of what their faith is all about. After all, Jaxom doesn't seem to actually be as heartless as he appears.

I'm having difficulties to decide how much time has passed since Damien's arrival in Jaggonath.

I'm thinking about a month, maybe a month and a few weeks. The chapter arrangement is a bit deceiving; a rough timeline would go like this:

- prologue: 900+ years ago
- chapters 1-2: Damien's arrival (one day)
- chapters 3-4: Narilka; evil creatures (probably happening at the same time)
- chapters 5-6: shopping, ship chapter (likely takes place a week, two most after that)
- chapter 7: Patriarch flashback
- chapters 8-14: explosion, evil creatures, Senzei's home, Karril and Gerald, Church library, Patriarch and travel plans (a week at most)

So what we must determine is 1) the time difference between Damien's arrival and Narilka's chapter, and 2) how long a trip between humanlands and rakhlands will take. It can't be more than a few weeks, but the ship chapter is deceptive because there are months mentioned in it. Bad chapter!

IMO, Damien can't have been in Jagonnath more than a month or two. Enough to get settled, and he made his interest in Ciani known pretty soon after his arrival. And it's not entirely inaccurate to say Gerald has been around for at least two weeks; he probably needed to resume his "search for beauty" after being uncharacteristically generous with Narilka.

I wish we knew more about Damien's background. Just how much time has he spent on the road? And what, exactly, is his role in the Western Autarchy? We're getting hints again, but I'm missing actual answers.

Damien's past is a mystery, which is part of his charm I suppose. we get lots of scattered information about Gerald's past, but that's in order to make us like him in spite of him being "evil". Damien, on the other hand, is created as a "good" character, so we don't get much. me, I think he occupies one of the highest positions in the Order, and it's plain he has the Matriarch's ear.

Was Hesseth the only rakh to respond to Senzei's Calling in any way? And if so, why her?

Her, because she is a khrast and thus one of the few rakh to be willing to interact with humans. She was probably the closest interested rakh? Wasn't she already in the human lands? I can't remember, but I believe this is explained later on.

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't the Forest have created whatever the soldiers feared most? I doubt Gerald got around to his genetic experiments already by that time.

After all, Jaxom doesn't seem to actually be as heartless as he appears.

Still, handing Damien something that is currently against Church policy? That's like the Pope starting to hand out condoms. And in Damien's case, it's not for a Church reason, but it is private, so that's been banned since Gerald's time.

Wouldn't Gerald take any additional beauties back to the Forest, though?

I think he occupies one of the highest positions in the Order, and it's plain he has the Matriarch's ear.

Which is quite an achievement at his age. But it also explains why Gerald gives him so much respect. In this, they're quite similar, and who knows where Damien might have ended up if he'd had Gerald's opportunities, or vice versa.

She was probably the closest interested rakh? Wasn't she already in the human lands? I can't remember, but I believe this is explained later on.

I hope it is. Those rakh chapters are still a bit off in the future...