Traal Anno 7
Okay, okay, okay. I know, I know. But I can’t help but love the line, “He’s an intelligent being, so yes.”
The self-satisfied smugness of it. You can settle a lot of religious questions– “Does God really want me to keep all my wealth?” “Does God smile on our faith above all others?” “Was God really cool with me killing that dude?”– with “He’s an intelligent being, so yes.” At least, you can do that if you have unshakable confidence that anyone but an idiot would believe what you believe. Which works out pretty well for Iver!
But that’s the only thing working out for him here, as he runs smack into the brick wall of his own limitations. We’ve already seen Magda pay respect to what she thought was a homosexual relationship, and that was a relationship between her enemies. Gondolessa and Harky are her mentors…better mentors, she is realizing, than her own people’s leader. And that’s before we even get to her relationships with Gravedust and her uncle.
Iver’s pretty good at manipulating people en masse, but that’s spoiled him into overestimating his ability to manipulate individuals. He sees Magda as a young, naïve creature, clay to be molded as he sees fit. So why not use her connection to Penk and simply sever any more inconvenient bonds she might have? That’s a decent idea as long as you assume he’ll be successful. But as is painfully obvious, the bonds Magda forms are far too strong to be sundered by the contempt of her warlord. All he’s done by opposing those bonds is enter a contest he’s bound to lose. And thus he’s reducing, not increasing, any influence he has on her.
So what would have happened had Tectonicus decided Iver’s immediate future was best served by becoming a roman candle?
He’d probably work through Magda to achieve that, since she has the skill already and is in the right place for it.
That’s the problem with believing that the gods uze their followers to do their will: it can become hard to tell the difference between defending oneself against an attacker and actively oppozing the Will of God.
“it can become hard to tell the difference between defending oneself against an attacker and actively oppozing the Will of God.”
Oh no, that’s really easy: If you’re a True Believer, then of course you are enacting the will of God. If not, then you’re at best accidentally aiding it, but you won’t know, and likely won’t care, unless you’re consciously and actively opposing Gods will, in which case you absolutely know, of course. The True Believer will know which of these apply.
Not sure if you’re a True Believer? Then you’re probably not a True Believer. If you were, you would know, God would make sure of that. In all other matters of uncertainty, ask a True Believer to obtain a definite answer.
There, problem solved :)
Magda’s expressions are interesting. Her feelings are obvious to the reader, yet Iver will have a completely opposite interpretation of them.
I find it odd to see Magda -someone who actually channels the power of Tectonicus- second guessing her grasp of her deity’s ethos because some guy -someone she knows is not a shaman or priest- can’t picture Tectonicus approving of a same-sex union
She already knows the answers.
It’s a bit like a Grand Jury : They will ask questions they already know the answers to.
What really happens here is that Iver is confirming Gravedust’s accusations, just as certainly as someone pleading the fifth. First about his own character, and then about his own hand in removing the mystics.
Magda openly questioning Iver’s understanding of the intelligent being her faith is bound to is a great double-check on gauging where his own motives are regarding the leadership team of the World’s Rebellion. Her anger at Iver’s attempt at undermining that leadership is very righteous!