BY SCHISM RENT ASUNDER – snippet 125:
Clyntahn's jowls had darkened, and he'd opened his mouth to retort angrily, but Trynair's slow, calm, reasonable tone had stopped him. Now he glowered at the Chancellor for another few heartbeats, then shrugged.
"Oh, very well," he growled.
Duchairn simply folded his hands in front of him on the table and waited patiently. He remained wary of the Grand Inquisitor's power and increasingly irascible temper, but he no longer feared Clyntahn. Which was probably at least a little unreasonable of him, given what Clyntahn had already done to Erayk Dynnys. And, he realized as he sat waiting, the fact that he was no longer afraid of the Grand Inquisitor quite probably explained Clyntahn's increasing impatience with him. Zhaspahr Clyntahn didn't like the thought of not being feared.
There's something I need to consider more deeply in that, the Church's treasurer thought. It says something about him, but it says something about me, too.
"At any rate, we are all here now," Trynair continued. "And since you were the one who requested this meeting, Zhaspahr, why don't you go ahead and tell us why?"
"Two things, really," Clyntahn replied. The Grand Inquisitor's irritation remained evident, but he straightened in his chair and some of the petulance faded from his expression. "One is a message from Bishop Executor Wyllys, and the other is a message from Father Styvyn in Delferahk."
"Father Styvyn?" Allayn Maigwair repeated the name, then grimaced. "Which 'Father Styvyn,' Zhaspahr?"
"He's Bishop Ernyst's intendant in Ferayd," Clyntahn said, and Duchairn's weren't the only eyebrows which rose in surprise.
"And what exactly makes this message from . . . Father Styvyn, was it?" Trynair looked at Clyntahn, who bobbed his head in a curt nod. "Well, what makes this message from him so important?"
"I'll get to that in a moment." Clyntahn waved his right hand as if he were pushing something aside on the table in front of him. "It's important, but I think we need to look at the Bishop Executor's message first."
Trynair nodded, and Duchairn braced himself. He had no illusions about any message Wyllys Graisyn might have sent. Given the tenor of the Emeraldian bishop executor's recent correspondence, it was obvious Emerald's military position was about as close to hopeless as mere mortals could expect to come. And Graisyn's more recent analyses of Prince Nahrmahn's options — and inclinations — hadn't exactly provided cheerful bedtime reading.
"Well, it isn't official yet — or, at least, it wasn't when Graisyn composed his message — but there's not much question that Nahrmahn's turning his coat," Clyntahn growled. All of his listeners sat up in their chairs, eyes narrowing, and he shrugged heavy shoulders. "I know Graisyn's been telling us for months that Emerald wouldn't be able to hold out long once Cayleb put his troops ashore, but I don't think even he saw this coming."
"How good is his information?" Maigwair asked.
"That's always the question, isn't it?" Clyntahn showed his teeth in a tight grin. "Apparently, neither he nor his intendant could confirm or deny the rumors swirling around Eraystor, but they were able to confirm that Pine Hollow's been sent off somewhere. And most of the rumors agree that there's only one logical place for Nahrmahn to be sending him. And now, apparently, Nahrmahn himself has sailed off somewhere, as well. Would any of you care to place a small wager on what his destination might have been?"
Duchairn's face tightened in dismay. As Clyntahn said, there'd been little doubt the Charisians could conquer Emerald anytime they got around to it. But having Emerald conquered, bad as it might have been, was a very different prospect from having Emerald voluntarily align itself with the House of Ahrmahk's defiance of Mother Church's authority.
"I can't believe Nahrmahn would do such a thing," Maigwair said, but his tone was that of a man trying to convince himself, and Clyntahn snorted again.
"I can." The Grand Inquisitor's eyes glowed with anger. "Why shouldn't Nahrmahn follow Charis' example? They're right next to each other; they're both halfway around the world from Zion, which leaves them ripe for any heresy that comes along; and Nahrmahn's always had the moral character of a dockside whore."
It was typical of Clyntahn, Duchairn reflected sourly, that he could condemn someone else's moral character with absolutely no sense of hypocrisy.
"I'm afraid Zhaspahr has a point," Trynair said. "And, in some ways, it's probably difficult to blame Nahrmahn if he has sought an accommodation with Cayleb."
"I can damned well blame him," Clyntahn retorted.
"I didn't say he shouldn't be condemned for it, Zhaspahr," Trynair pointed out. "What I said was that it's difficult to blame him, and on a purely secular level, that's nothing but the simple truth. In fact, that's what's truly dangerous about this."
"The fact that it neatly removes one distraction we were counting on to keep Charis occupied is scarcely a minor consideration, I'd think," Maigwair put in.
"Actually, it is," Trynair disagreed coolly. Maigwair bristled, but the Chancellor shook his head. "Think it through, Allayn," he said. "Emerald was never going to be a serious 'distraction' for Charis without a navy to prevent its invasion. Not really, or not for very long, at least. But now Nahrmahn — assuming Graisyn's suspicions prove accurate — has made a political accommodation with Cayleb. I'm not sure how well it's going to work out for him, but I'm assuming that since he sent Pine Hollow ahead, and then followed himself, the terms have to be at least livable. As a matter of fact, if Cayleb is as clever as his father was, he'll probably have offered Nahrmahn remarkably generous terms. He's got a big enough stick in this new navy of his that he can afford to offer some very juicy carrots with his other hand. And if he does, then he's going to make it increasingly tempting for other potential Nahrmahns to reach understandings with him instead of trying to fight him."
"Zahmsyn has a point," Duchairn said unhappily. The other three turned to look at him, and he shrugged. "If Nahrmahn's really done this, then it strikes directly at the reliability of all of the secular lords. He's made a political calculation and acted upon it in what can only be construed as deliberate, open defiance of Mother Church. He's put politics and his own personal survival in front of his overriding duty to protect Mother Church's sanctity and authority. Don't think for a moment that there aren't other secular rulers who'd feel exactly the same way in his place. And now they're going to have an example of someone who actually did jettison his loyalty and responsibilities to the Church out of pure political expediency. Do you truly think, assuming he gets away with it, that his example's going to be lost on the next 'Nahrmahn' on Charis' list?"
"Exactly." Trynair nodded vigorously. "This is something which was probably going to rear its head inevitably, whatever happened. Given all the reasons for bad blood between Charis and Emerald, I didn't expect to see it quite this soon, but that only makes the example even worse. If Nahrmahn does this successfully, especially when all the world knows Haarahld and Cayleb both held him responsible for attempting Cayleb's assassination, it's going to tell everyone that Cayleb is willing to be 'reasonable.' And if we can't punish Nahrmahn effectively for it, that example is going to generate a lot of temptation to do exactly the same thing when the Royal Charisian Navy comes calling on other princes and kings."
"Then stop it in its tracks," Clyntahn growled.
"And precisely how do you propose to do that, Zhaspahr?" Trynair asked, and his tone was rather more tart then he normally used when addressing the Grand Inquisitor. "If Graisyn's correct, and Nahrmahn's already sailed, he's already accepted Cayleb's terms. He'd hardly sail off to Tellesberg while he's still at war with Charis if he hadn't already accepted them, now would he? And do you truly believe he wouldn't have taken precautions against anything Graisyn might do in his absence? In fact, I'm astonished Graisyn got a message off to us at all."
"Don't be too astonished," Clyntahn told him. "The despatch boat from Emerald to Hammer Island left from Shalmar Keep, not Eraystor."
The Grand Inquisitor grimaced, and Duchairn knew why. Shalmar Keep, the capital of the Duchy of Shalmar, was at the extreme northern end of Emerald Island, more than nine hundred miles from Nahrmahn's capital.
"And Graisyn's message wasn't even complete," Clyntahn continued in a harsh voice. "The transmission was interupted somewhere between Eraystor and Shalmar . . . assuming it wasn't cut off in Eraystor itself."
"Wonderful." Maigwair expression could have been used to ferment beer, Duchairn thought. "So now you're telling us Nahrmahn's seized the semaphore in Emerald."
"At the very least," Clyntahn agreed. "And I think we can safely assume he wouldn't have seized just the semaphore towers, now can't we?"
"I'm sure you're right about that, too, Zhaspahr," Trynair said. "Which makes my own point even more urgent."
"Agreed." Duchairn nodded. "On the other hand, Zhaspahr, you said you had two messages — one from Emerald and one from Delferahk. Why don't we set Nahrmahn aside for the moment? We're going to have to make some hard decisions in his case, but it might be as well to let that pot simmer away in the backs of our brains for a few minutes. Besides, if these messages are going to have an impact on one another, we probably need to hear both of them before we get too deeply involved with figuring out what to do about one of them."
"That makes sense," Trynair agreed, and turned back to Clyntahn. "What about this message from Ferayd, Zhaspahr?"
"I'm not sure it has any bearing at all on Nahrmahn and Emerald." Clyntahn sounded irritated all over again, as if he resented having his ire redirected.
"Perhaps not," Trynair said patiently. "On the other hand, we have to hear it sooner or later, so we might as well go ahead and hear it now."
"Oh, very well." Clyntahn leaned back in his chair. "According to Father Styvyn, the seizure of the Charisian merchant ships in Ferayd didn't go what one might call smoothly."
"What does that mean, exactly?" Duchairn asked, feeling a familiar unpleasant tightening sensation in his stomach muscles.
"It means the frigging heretics were too fucking stupid to do the smart thing," Clyntahn grunted. "When the Delferahkan troops tried to board their ships, they resisted. Which was stupid of them. Terminally stupid, as a matter of fact."
"Some of them were killed, you mean?" Duchairn pressed.
"No, I don't mean 'some of them' were killed," Clyntahn half-sneered. "I mean all of them were."
"What?" The one-word question came from Trynair, not Duchairn, and Clyntahn looked at the Chancellor.
"I mean that once they started killing Delferahkans, the gloves came off," he said, and shrugged. "That's the sort of thing that happens when you're stupid enough to piss off armed troops in someone else's port."
"Are you saying there were no Charisian survivors at all?" Duchairn demanded.
"There may have been a handful." Clyntahn shrugged again. "According to Father Styvyn, there couldn't have been any more than that. Not aboard the ships the Delferahkans managed to keep from leaving port, at any rate."
"You mean some of them got away?" Trynair sounded even unhappier than he had a moment before.
"A half-dozen or so," Clyntahn confirmed. "Apparently, they were the ships anchored too far out to be boarded directly from dockside. And at least one of them was apparently one of the Charisians' damned privateers, presumably in disguise. At any rate, it was heavily armed with the new artillery, and it covered the others while they ran for it."
Hmmm.. What is going on in Chisholm that has prevented the information re Sharleyan’s marriage from getting to Zion?? She left well before Pine Hollow.
Herewith most likely the last snippet. With luck, my local B&N will put out the book a day early as it tends to do and I’ll be able to read the rest of the book today!
On the topic of this snippet – I’m wondering what plans are in store to respond to the slaughter of the sailors on the merchant ships. I can’t see Cayleb leaving this for long.
So, the wedding is still a secret and they don’t know about the ships that were warned.
I don’t think anything is ‘going on in Chisholm’ really. I think these four have just totally dismissed her as a non-enity. Idiots.
Well tomorrow we can buy the book and find out.
These snippets have consumed an inordinate amount of my time. I see I’m not the only one who waits until any hour just for the next one. The Chisholm revelation will come, but will it be in this book or the next.
Ooooh! There’s quite a few survivors out of Ferayd but “the Ferayd Massacre ” gonna ring especially loud.
And the especially generous terms of Charis-Emerald Treaty gonna hit all the worse.
And anywhere the seizure of Charisian merchant fleet fizzle due to unofficial help the gorvernment can clap themselves on the back for the foresight to stay out of that debacle. And stay out of Charisian embargo or boycott.
Either that, or Sharleyan took the wise precaution of quietly imprisoning the top-level church officials in her kingdom, and was able to get away with it because everyone’s eyes were fixed on Charis. That’s my guess at any rate.
Since they didn’t treat Sharleyan/Chisholm as a non-entity when they ordered the attack on Charis, they would have to be bothered by her being a turncoat. That would be too important a scene for it to have been skipped over so imho it is more likely to be something stopping the information flow. After all, the orders would have gotten to Emerald, Chisholm and Corisande at the same time except for that storm that destroyed the ship to Emerald.
or Charisian punative expedition. VEG But that’s another book. ;-)
My reading of OAR is that Clyntahn included Sharleyan and Chisholm in the attack on almost as an afterthought. I’m not saying they won’t be bothered by Chisholm going over to the other side; I’m saying they haven’t even considered the possibility that she =would=. They’ve dismissed Sharleyan as a threat or serious player – probably because she’s woman – and it bit them on the ass.
Not long now!
Just had a thought
Looking back at OAR Father Paiyr Dad is a big wig on the council according OAR he lost only by a slim margin the role that Clyntahn has chief inquisitor so he the Wylsynns have a huge power base on the council ( and the group of four only a slim Majority)
Father Paiyr is now on Charis’ side (well almost) and his Dad is what passes for leader of the opposition somehow in some way this Father Paiyr and his Dad are going to play a huge role later on.
I mean how is the Dad going to respond to his son first being shunted off to Charis as punishment for the father losing and secondly for him now being almost apart of Church of Charis.
My guess is that the plot will work it’s way out both in the internal politics and war just like that Havenites with it’s internal goings on and the war.
Possibly Duchairns will eventually see the light and Join sides with they Wyslins and that will be interesting he certainly is the least reliable of the G.O.F
Anyway Just a thought
Oh yes, I forgot the father, and the family. Indeed, it’s quite an important factor dividing and influence the course of politics in the Church.
Mind you, we have to see how the father play out, as we only have the sight on his son so far.
Alistair suggests “Possibly Duchairns will eventually see the light and Join sides with they Wyslins and that will be interesting he certainly is the least reliable of the G.O.F”
It all depends on how you read Duchairn. Certainly, Duchairn has concluded Clyntahn is the nut job he so obviously is. But, considering his musings before this meeting, I read Duchairn as Safehold’s equivalent of Pope Paul III – who instituted the Council of Trent, cleaned up the worst excesses that caused the reformation, and set the Counter-Reformation in motion. In the long-term, Duchairn may well be the most dangerous of the Go4. A church led by Clyntahn might well be brittle. A church revitalised by Duchairn could lead another 30 years war.
Given the history of bad blood referred to in OAR between Clyntahn and the Wylsynn clan, I suspect that at some point Clyntahn will try to secure his back (and the position of the GO4) by arresting the Wylsynns left in Zion – probably on the grounds that their objections to the Inquisition’s excesses constitute a danger to the Church. ALso of course Father Paityr’s “complicity” in working under the Church of Charis. If that happens, I can see Paityr Wylsynn (who knows firsthand the tolerence and faith of the Church of Charis) finally jumping off the fence and leading an “internal” resistance to the Church, sort of a Church in Exile. That in turn will give the mainlanders an excuse to jump ship on Clyntahn. Just speculating, of course, as Weber will always manage to turn in a direction few can anticipate…which is why he is always such a good read…
msj, there will be a snippet Wednesday.
Duchairne seems to have a VERY clear track of thinking of Momma Church first & foremost. Maybe he’s just dedicated enough to decide that Clyntahn is to much of a risk to a coming Crusade/Jihad/Purification. Maybe Gang O’Four will become Gang O’Three. I’m not convinced that Duchairne is ready to let go of existing church doctine.
Agree, Duchairne would be more interested in reforming Mother Church by ridding it of corruption. There is some text evidence of an “anti-corruption reform group” within Mother Church. Not a strong one yet, but a ‘former’ Gof4 member might strenghten it.
At this time IMO Duchairne has decided that fighting corruption is secondary to fighting the Schim.
He may decide otherwise sometime in the future.
The book went on sale at all B&N’s last Thursday. Both Irving and Grapevine B&N’s had it on the shelf. Tor didn’t seem to insist on any kind of formal street date, so they put them out as soon as they got the boxes in.
Since this book is “out” (mine shipped today), when will we see the first snippet of By Heresies Distressed?? These snippets have guaranteed that I will buy the hardbound and this is the first such I’ve ever preordered!
I think anyone that is frightened by electronic distribution of books, legal or otherwise, needs to take a close look at the initial sales of Flint & Webber comared to before they went whole hog internet a few years ago. Thy may be surprised. Of course Sci-Fi readers are more likely to be computer literate than most genres, but that gap is fast disappearing-computers are everywhere now and the computer illiteracy is disappearing faster than smoking in restaurants.
CS
It will either be a snippet shortly, or more likely, as scene after the snippets, but a reform group headed by Papa Wylsynn is on stage. Problem is that sort of reform group would actually be a detriment for the quick development of technology on Safehold and thus a roadblock for Nimue. Reforming the Church and getting all the corruption out might make everybody’s lives better in the short run, but it doesn’t do anything about allowing the advance of technology.
In regards to reforming the church – removing corruption only will help the church but hurt Nimue. What she / Merlin needs is questions raised on doctrine and a change in thinking so that people no longer follow leaders blindly. If the chruch reforms and miraculously somehow makes peace with Charis so that the schism is healed, She’ll have to let the situation in Charis to ‘cook’ awhile with the reforms she’s put into place and let them spread.
You can only change things so far so fast before people revolt against it.
The next area to influence might be trying to rid slavery in those kingdoms that have it.
Oh yeah – last I checked Amazon’s not shipping mine until the 28th.
I’m pretty sure that the reform group will be pulling up dogma from the Writ, as will the Church group. With two groups interpreting the Writ to suit their needs, the infallibility of Church interpretation will be destroyed amongst a larger number of the mainland populous. It is likely that the reformers will inspire the same apprehension as the Church of Charis has, most people would view them as a breaking away from the Church. Thus, it is likely that a reform movement would inspire greater chaos upon the mainland as opposed to the “orderly” messes of other methods like internal assassination (which could be blamed on Charis). I could see Charis becoming a sort of immigrant safe haven if the Mainland kingdoms are driven into constant strife between reformers and… conservatives. A reform movement arising while someone like Clyntahn is in charge can only help Merlin at this point by adding to the chaos, and giving the Empire longer to get things in order. The fun is only beginning.
Arghhhh amazon has shipped my book and now I wait….
By Wednesday I’ll be in need of a “By Heresies Distressed” fix and none is forth coming until….2009
In my waiting for the BSRA I am reading OAR and have just come across a discussion where they are saying that all the new ships they are building will last 5 years only because the wood is green and easily rots.
I wonder what effect that will have down the track?
One possible outcome will be that the ships will last long enough to take out the all the galleys being built now then the Church will realise that it needs the new model and will start building 100s of new model ships while some of Charis’ ships will be ready for the scap yards. meaning that Charis will NOT be as far ahead as raw numbers would suggest.
Interesting point Alistair. Britain had far and away the biggest fleet of battleships in 1905 and thought that building the Dreadnaught (launched Feb 1906) would take them even further ahead. What it did was render their fleet obsolete so the other powers went from having many less to being just one behind in numbers of ships of the line.
Ship design will continue to evolve. The ships of 5 yrs from now will likely be very different (somehow). This will continue to mean that performance and not sheer numbers are the key issue in sea battles. That will be one source of the pressure for change.
I’m sure that by the time the Church gets around to building galleons, Charis will have sufficient excess steel from its eastern development areas to produce a few ironclads. I wouldn’t be too surprised if the Empire let the Church come close enough for them to demonstrate the power of the ironclad.
Only issue is getting steam power past Wylsyn.
Even on even technological footing (as far as ships go) Charis has better application of military sciences; drill, discipline, and marksmanship will be more important for fleets than the capabilities of the ships themselves when everyone finally starts building the same ships.
*Goes back to imagining epic fleet battles*
Good point on the dreadnaughts! By 1825 the wooden ship was known to be vulnerable to explosive shells, producing the first iron armored warships in the 1840s, just before the American civil war. The only advances in sail power possible over what Charis has now are minor modifications to sails, material and hull design. The problem is that there is no way to armor sails and rigging. The only significant improvement will involve a steam power, which poses big time proscription problems! How DW handles that one is going to very interesting. It is the first real break in the dam-everything up to now has been minor cracking. To go to steam power Charis will have to accept a fundamental change in their religious values.
As a point of interpretation, it can be argued that steam falls into the water category of the proscriptions allowances for wind, water, and muscle. The proscriptions seem to focus on preventing the development of electricity. Steam would blur the line, but it wouldn’t outright break it; steam also wouldn’t put out the kind of emissions that the Gbaba or Angels would watch out for.
In terms of use, Charis seems fine on the use of water to industrialize on the mainland. The new factories using water wheels would be much, much cleaner than steam powered factories and wouldn’t paint cities black. So the real question is how the Empire will have to justify the need for steam powered navies when they could simply produce more wooden navies without breaking proscriptions. Since the topography of Chisholm and Emerald has yet to be detailed, it could be that those countries won’t have the rivers to compete with Charisian factories, thus justifying steam based industrialization (and through it, steam boats).
Lastly, if the Empire is going to start industrializing, they’re going to need a lot more clocks.
If I understand the proscriptions correctly, anything developed must be based upon it being just an improvement upon something already existing. Well, you have devices powered by water. You have steam produced in tea pots and other cooking. Steam is water in a different form. Pushing the logic, but it all depends on your interpretations. That’s where the snag comes in. Look at all the different interpretations there exists for every one of todays holy books and how much trouble that causes.
While we’re discussing the proscriptions, how would anyone feel about Merlin dropping some hints to develop a ship launched version of the “bouncing betty” used in Operation Chastise during WWII? It would be a way to increase range without additional fire power.I read somewhere that the idea came from Nelsons’ use of bouncing cannonballs during the Battle of the Nile. Apparently he retired the French with a googly!
Steam seems like less of a violation than say gunpowder?
I’m still wondering if somewhere in the temple there is an SOS button that wakes up a frozen archangel.
It will also be really interesting to see how Webber handles the technology transition from just before current
modern levels out through interstellar “GABA” killing levels….
How do you realistically transition “through” the current state of the art?
I finished SRA last night and I realize that this series is going to take a long time to resolve…. its not a trilogy its going to either be cut off before the logical conclusion or its going to be 6 or 10 books.
What can be said… political power grows from the barrel of a gun.
This series should be at least as long as the Belisarius series.
Considering the mind set of the “Archangels” Steam Power would be defined as Prohibited.
“It will also be really interesting to see how Webber handles the [resolution of the Gabba plotline]”
I predict it will be symmetric with the opening of the first book. That is to say, there will be a one or two chapter epilogue that takes place several hundred years after the end of the Charis/Church storyline.
I have the book and finished off the remaining…. 100 pages. Out of a 500 page book, 400 have been snippeted so far. Now I have to go back and start again… and wait patiently for snippeting to start again on the third bood.
got it today and finished it. IMO this book not as good as the first one, it’s seems more like DW used this book to just setup the stage for all the action that will take place in the next one.
I agree with Thaile.
BSRA is more akin to Book 4 (or was it Book 5?) in the Wheel of Time series… a lot of middle ground for future development. Still, the book has allowed Weber to flesh out his soon-to-be-monumental list of politicals to watch. I’m reminded of George R.R. Martin’s work in the Game of Thrones series (forthcoming… still) only Weber doesn’t seem to kill of his cast like Martin does.
(Exception: Some of Martin’s characters don’t stay dead.)
I look forward to the next book’s snippets, until then, farewell.
TO: Mr. David Weber
I’m drawing to the close of the 2nd book in this new series, and am enthralled! A mixture of Sci Fi and 17th century navel action couldn’t be better. Keep up the good work! Do I see an armored ship in the next novel? How are you going to get around the proscriptions when you add steam power? As a note, I’m building a 1/96 scale R.C. model of the USS Texas ‘as-built”.