Bakker XXIV: To Be Human is to Be Damned

[unJon]

I dunno if Inchie's want a bunch of human sorceror erratics running around.

ETA: I think reasonably likely that there is a pretty large human population living in the shadow of Golgerattrath. Maybe enough to spin off a consistent stream of sorcerors. Especially if it's genetic and the sorcerors up there are hedonists unlike the Schoolmen of the Three Seas seem to be.

[Sci-2]

I doubt Shae and co were in Synthese while fighting during the apocalypse.

Well Serwa says that she had dreams of Seswatha fighting Shae, Aurax, and Aurang. But Shae lived a few centuries before Seswatha so I'd presume the amputee soul catcher was set up long before the Sohonc grandmaster was born.

[Castel]

Can the Consult be stupid enough to fight in their actual bodies when they have an army of Tekne-monsters? Surely not. That would almost be as dumb as having a game-ending weapon that was a win by default and just sending it- oh.

The Inchoroi already achieved bodily immortality both for themselves and the Nonmen, so I don't see why the Consult couldn't have unlocked the human Bios and cooked up something for the Mangaecca as well.

The Inchoroi did this at their height though. IIRC it was said that multiple Inchies essentially played doctor to all the Non-men, they probably lost that ability.

[Callan S.]

Still think the no-god just does what it wants, that's why it came out onto the field.

There's some bit about the consult making themselves slaves to better control the world. They don't necessarily have much control over NG.

[Darth Richard II]

Ok, stupid Dick is dumb and can't remember shit question. Which one was Shae again? All i can think about when I read that is the GRRM character. :/

[Kalbear]

We've brought up before that it's not that the gods are blind to what the no god is - that it's better to say that the gods are blinded when the no god exists. Right?

[Castel]

We've brought up before that it's not that the gods are blind to what the no god is - that it's better to say that the gods are blinded when the no god exists. Right?

Kinda? IIRC they still can't imagine him even though he's dead. I thought they were simply blind to it's very possibility. So in times when it has little to no effect on the timeline this doesn't matter, but later on when it's around things get messy. This raises the obvious question of how they can reconcile their mental narrative with the "true" timeline.

[Kalbear]

Well,

To the gods there isn't imagining. They experience all things at all times. They need to imagine nothing. So to them, when they can't see through the pinpricks in the outside that are souls it's as if nothing is happening. It's a discontinuity. But to them, it appears like nothing occurred. And they wouldn't even question it. To question the idea that something exists outside their perception is entirely absurd.

Ties in well to the bbt.

[Darth Richard II]

Right Right, that guy. I need to do a reread soon.

[Anatúrinbor]

How does the No-God 'walk' if he's trapped in the carapace? And why did the Consult give him that ability?

Right Right, that guy. I need to do a reread soon.

You should read the The False Sun in case you haven't already. Also, Shaeönanra's soul trapping mechanism is from the preview chapter for the next book IIRC.

[Sci-2]

Still think the no-god just does what it wants, that's why it came out onto the field.

There's some bit about the consult making themselves slaves to better control the world. They don't necessarily have much control over NG.

I'm still going with the idea that it takes a lot of resources (energy, souls, fuel, something) to keep the No God running.

The Consult couldn't afford to lose that day as it would've meant either the No God devours them or It just powers down and dies off.

[Anatúrinbor]

I'm still going with the idea that it takes a lot of resources (energy, souls, fuel, something) to keep the No God running.

The Consult couldn't afford to lose that day as it would've meant either the No God devours them or It just powers down and dies off.

I thought he came out because he wanted to know the answer to his question so bad that he couldn't remain in hiding.

[jurble]

To question the idea that something exists outside their perception is entirely absurd.

Dunno, they do seem to be kinda stupid. Surely they noticed a good portion of their vision disappear when the Ancient North was destroyed? Ajokli seems to know what's up.

[Kalbear]

I wouldn't call them stupid; I would call them convinced.

[Sci-2]

I'm not convinced all this stuff about the gods looking down from outside of time even makes sense or will contribute to the story.

It feels grafted on, at least so far. Maybe it ultimately matters but I don't see how beings who see Earwa's timeline as completed can interact with time in ways that can be challenged by anyone within the timeline.

Basically if the gods look in from outside of time, how can they be shut out?

[Francis Buck]

I'm not convinced all this stuff about the gods looking down from outside of time even makes sense or will contribute to the story.

It feels grafted on, at least so far. Maybe it ultimately matters but I don't see how beings who see Earwa's timeline as completed can interact with time in ways that can be challenged by anyone within the timeline.

Basically if the gods look in from outside of time, how can they be shut out?

I semi-agree with the stuff about the gods and time and all. I do think it'll be important in some way (and already is), but I don't think we'll get any kind of totally satisfying explanations of what exactly's going on that we don't make up ourselves.

As for the answer to your final question, there are two responses, but they kinda fit together:

1. No-God creates blindness, and so they can't see what's happening.

2. Everything in the Bakkerverse has already happened, always was going to happen, etc. So the Gods being shut out is like "a part of reality" that not even they can change. It ties in with comments in the series about Fate and how "there are grooves cut so deep into the World that not even the Gods can change them".

[jurble]

Thoughts on Bakkerworld genetics: All of Esmenet's children by Kellhus have 100% Norsirai features, right? White, blond hair, blue eyes. That would imply those traits are dominant in Bakkerworld, because why not? But then Achamian describes Mimara as having lighter skin than her mother, and green eyes. Mimara definitely seems to be the result of miscegnation. Does that mean Sorweel's seemingly ignorant observation that strong fathers lead to clone-children is actually correct, that Bakkerworld doesn't actually follow our world's laws or rules of hereditary?

[Sci-2]

Does that mean Sorweel's seemingly ignorant observation that strong fathers lead to clone-children is actually correct, that Bakkerworld doesn't actually follow our world's laws or rules of hereditary?

I'd say yes.

Biology seems to guided by certain magical rules in the Bakkerverse. Or at least in Earwa, which might help explain why Aurang and Aurax aren't as good at using the Tekne there.

[Wise Fool]

Thoughts on Bakkerworld genetics: All of Esmenet's children by Kellhus have 100% Norsirai features, right? White, blond hair, blue eyes. That would imply those traits are dominant in Bakkerworld, because why not? But then Achamian describes Mimara as having lighter skin than her mother, and green eyes. Mimara definitely seems to be the result of miscegnation. Does that mean Sorweel's seemingly ignorant observation that strong fathers lead to clone-children is actually correct, that Bakkerworld doesn't actually follow our world's laws or rules of hereditary?

I think it just means that, well, the seed is strong.

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

Quick question. What do you guys think the tekne actually is? A supercomputer? I have no idea as to what exactly it is, can somebody give me your ideas?