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Post by stef1987 on Aug 22, 2022 14:39:51 GMT
I'm not a fan of this
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Post by Gemminie on Aug 22, 2022 14:43:29 GMT
With Annie's skepticism shut down by Aata's "And yet it works," Kat asks whether the star ocean can really send people into space from Earth, and Aata's response is that the star ocean isn't on Earth and that "we've not been on Earth for some time." This is a marvelously ambiguous statement, because we need definitions for "we," "on Earth," and "some time."
While Kat looks at Annie in amazement and Annie looks back with what may be continued skepticism, Shell takes over from there. The Court (well, the Court's previous location) "extends into a compressed dimension" via partially etheric means, and this is why there's so much space and why etheric creatures are attracted to this area. The dimension is bounded by the star ocean, which is why the weather never changes near the shore.
I have been wondering about these things forever. This raises a lot of questions, like how long it's been this way (was this "compressed dimension" already in existence when the Seed Bismuth was created to make buildings? or did it happen afterward? or did they happen at the same time?). How does Don's rocket work in "Microsat 5" (perhaps the rocket launches by partially etheric means), and is Microsat 5 actually in orbit around the physical Earth or in the compressed dimension (does the rocket cross the boundary from the dimension to normal space, or does Microsat 5 cause the package it delivers to do so)? Where did the Annan Waters come from and go to, when the river existed? Where in the Court are the points where you can enter from and exit to the outside world on Earth (this happens many times during the story, so it must be possible)? The Court doesn't want people to fly above the area – does this mean that there's an interface at some altitude that links back to normal space, or to somewhere etheric? Was the star ocean already there when the dimension was created, or did the Court create it, or was there some kind of raw etheric sea sort of thing out there that the Court formed into the star ocean?
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Post by ctso74 on Aug 22, 2022 14:54:34 GMT
Well, that certainly puts a bow on some things. It also gives a reason for Coyote's fascination, besides simple curiosity.
The Court is a lot bigger than a 30 cubic foot room, so no demiplane spell did that. From past images, the Court seems to have been grown like a crystal. I'm guessing the Seed Bismuth was a literal nucleation seed.
Where on Earth did the Founders find such a thing? Or did they create it through alchemy? Still giving me Sons of Ether vibes.
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Post by linchie on Aug 22, 2022 14:57:44 GMT
I'm thinking of Tea and her friend's pages (which we usually get when each comic volume ends). In every appearance they engage in various activities taking place in the vast deserted areas which seem to be abandoned Court territories. Maybe they were stuck in this pocket dimension when original Court left? Oooo now this is a spicy and fascinating theory. Made me seek out all the end-of-book Tea pages, and there's definitely a case for it - but also some concerning things if that is indeed the case. Book 1 - Tea and her friend in Court school uniforms, looking to the stars (!) with a telescope and seemingly unhurt. Book 2 - Tea and her friend rowing beside what could be the Court with fighter planes coming in overhead. Book 3 - Tea and her friend looking dirty and tired in an open field, something is smoking in the distance. Not a very Court-y landscape but could be an area like where the kids went camping that time. Book 4 - Tea and her friend in an arctic landscape. Definitely not very Court-y or pocket dimension-y, especially with what we have just learned about the weather. Book 5 - Tea and her friend have gone full post-apocalyptic road trip. Looking battered. Again, the landscape is not very Court-like - for one, I don't believe we've ever seen regular cars or roads like that in the Court. Book 6 - Tea and her friend in another open landscape, digging holes in search of something. Book 7 - Tea and her friend in a lighthouse, looking out across an ocean that has been drained of water (!) Book 8 - Tea and her friend back in a place that could be the Court, climbing around the outside of a building. If the Tea story really is a 'glimpse into the future' after the Court's departure, it suggests that what the Court is doing now has ramifications far beyond the 'pocket dimension', since it's especially hard to make a case for the settings of books 4-5 being within the Court. Books 3 and 6 I'm also skeptical of being set there, though they could be places like the park where the kids went camping. If we take it as a story in chronological order, they start out as students in the Court in Book 1, something apocalyptic happens in Books 2 and 3, and then they seem to go off elsewhere in search of something in Books 4-6, before possibly returning to the abandoned Court in book 7 or 8. The book 7 page is particularly interesting now after what we've learned about the star ocean and the plans to "close" it once the Court has departed. Of course, this should probably go in wildspec, because it could equally be a glimpse into an alternate timeline or a story which is only semi-related to this one. Thank you for the recap! I haven't checked all of the pages before writing my comment, and now I see which ones definitely seem to be set outside of Court. Another thought, I always perceived Tea's commentary in bonus pages ( like this one - not the best representative but the first one which popped into my mind) as a sort of documentary-style framing of Annie's story being told in retrospective - hence the comic's start with "My name is Antimony Carver and I'd like to share with you the strange events which happened while I attended school at Gunnerkrigg". As if they are doing a research on what happened in Annie's times and maybe travelling the ex-Court to get the answers? Also if one counts the pages in the current book it seems like we're probably getting a break after this chapter ends. Which means a new Tea page and a new treatise which always have a lot of hints to what happened/will happen in the near future. Sorry for the off topic stuff! |
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Post by Nnelg on Aug 22, 2022 16:45:17 GMT
So what does that make Gillitie wood? The connection point to the rest of the world, the ether, or both? Who wants to bet that it also isn't on Earth? If not naturally as a border to the Ether, then due to Coyote's meddling and and obsession with copying humanity. |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Aug 22, 2022 16:49:59 GMT
The Court being/being in a pocket dimension isn't surprising. The Court not being on earth is a matter of definition or perspective; you can get to Earth from there (and birds can fly in, I think) and from some angles rockets (or Jones) can be fired into space near earth. We knew it was closer to the ether than typical places on Earth so that's not too surprising either. Unless it is actually part of a different planet I guess we can call the Court Earth-adjacent... and I mean a real planet, not an etheric pocket-kingdom planet. The Court being "bounded" by the Star Ocean is a bit surprising but what they actually say is that the Court extends into "a compressed dimension, the bounds of which are the Star Ocean." It was Sprung that some of the trains go in and out of the Court; if the entire Court was bounded by the Star Ocean that implies either a ferry, physical bridge, or some other sort of work-around that would allow a train to pass the Star Ocean... but it may just be the case that the extension of the Court is what's bounded. Gillite Wood may or may not be part of this compressed dimension but it would make more sense if it was an offset reality that was at some point discovered by humans (or alternatively, a pocket kingdom in the ether) where the Seed was planted. Of course the Wood was later divided by Coyote into distinct Court and Wood, then undivided by "Loup." I think the important question is which came first, the Seed or the connection to the Ocean, and the answer may lie in if the Wood is/was also bordered by the Star Ocean and if so, is/was it entirely surrounded. If the Wood is and was completely surrounded by Ocean then the connection came first but since there's trains presumably going to Earth I'll speculate that the Wood wasn't always entirely bounded by the Star Ocean which suggests that the Seed either came first or created the connection. |
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Post by mturtle7 on Aug 22, 2022 18:40:24 GMT
THIS EXPLAINS SO MUCH THAT I NEVER THOUGHT WOULD BE EXPLAINED
HOLY SHIT
After the disappointment that was the resolution to the whole Twin Annies arc, I feel enormously heartened by this, which just feels like a truly classic Top-Tier Gunnerkrigg Revelation, where Tom takes a whole bunch of the background weirdness we always took for granted and reveals an entire world (no pun intended) of plot-relevant stuff behind it.
And I actually really love how Aata just clearly forgot this was something he even needed to explain to Annie and Kat. What's an earth-shattering revelation to our favorite duo (and us, the audience) has just been common knowledge for Aata and many of his peers like Shell, and they've had quite a lot of other stuff on their minds so I can see why they might forget to tell the kids.
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Post by drmemory on Aug 22, 2022 18:41:55 GMT
This sort of explains why everything is made of "Bismuth Goo". The whole place is artificial - court and jungle both I think. Yet, we know it is linked to the actual Earth somewhat, based on Tony's field trips among other things. We've seen other pretty abstract spaces too. Not just the ether, but the place the Norns live, Zimmyland, the city that Zimmy and Gamma were found, RotD, etc. Actually the city Zimmy came from might be more real (traditional?), as most of the really weird things we saw there (in the extra comic) appeared to be Zimmy hallucinations. I figure the jungle was pretty real as well, at least the one where Tony and Surma fell in love, but maybe not the one where Tony interacted with the entities.
Also, the question arises of just where Arthur and Juliette want to go when they leave the Court. Out into the real world?
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Post by bedinsis on Aug 22, 2022 18:58:56 GMT
This was a genuine surprise to me. Kudos to Mr. Siddell.
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manabi
Junior Member
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Post by manabi on Aug 22, 2022 19:22:55 GMT
Yeah. I think this also explains why there are long tracks of the Court that are just unremarkable empty buildings: The Court itself was "procedurally generated" (or rather, "grown"), likely from the Seed Bismuth. It also could explain why Jeanne wasn't supposed to be able to cross the Annan river. The river was probably the demarcation between the real world and the Court's pocket dimension. Loup closing the gorge coule be why he can't control the forest: Doing so linked the Gillitie woods with the court's pocket dimension and the etheric weirdness of that pocket dimension is causing serious problems for the woods. Coyote didn't have to deal with that, as they weren't linked. |
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Post by phantaskippy on Aug 22, 2022 20:30:55 GMT
So much to think about and so many good theories here.
Meanwhile all I really want right now is a scene where the court is leaving the earth and the ether behind only to have Loup decide to go with them.
Because screw all those guys.
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Post by speedwell on Aug 22, 2022 22:10:37 GMT
What? You don't trust the Court to tell the unvarnished truth? I must admit. At this point, if the Court said the sun was shining, I would need independent confirmation from a meteorologist, a lexicographer, an astronomer, a forensic psychologist, and two contextual analysts. A simulation is not not a pocket dimension. Many physicists indeed believe that our universe bears characteristics consistent with a simulation. One of the pieces of evidence they give is the Planck length, which demonstrates that the cosmos has a rather lower resolution than expected. |
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Post by Runningflame on Aug 23, 2022 0:47:41 GMT
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Post by drmemory on Aug 23, 2022 7:03:53 GMT
The 1974 Firesign Theatre version actually seems quite appropriate also. Dog star!
Believe I still have the vinyl out in the garage.  |
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Post by yellowb on Aug 23, 2022 11:13:30 GMT
I've often thought of Jones's remark in chapter 40, "The Stone":
"This is not such an easy place to find by accident."
Well, I guess now we now why!
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anag
New Member
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Post by anag on Aug 23, 2022 12:25:18 GMT
Saddest thing is that we're probably near the end of the comic. Mysteries are revealed and all is made clear.
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Post by Isildur on Aug 23, 2022 21:11:10 GMT
So, all these while, haven't you noticed? Aata and Shell so casual here, XD To the shock of Kat (and presumably Annie too) As I mentioned previously regarding 2654: What if the important part isn't "Ocean" but "an"? As in, this isn't an ocean, but the very idea of the ocean, as humans thought of it for eons, made manifest in the sub-world of Gillitie Forest and the Court much as the creatures of Gillitie were made manifest. It's very curious how Kat previously speculated about it perhaps being the Atlantic. It's almost like there's a mind barrier going on that prevents GC people from thinking too critically about the fact that nothing in GC can really make sense as a direct part of the outer world's geography -- Jones being thrown into orbit, interaction with a satellite (and even the Moon), and vacations in Scotland and Spain notwithstanding. I mean, you could imagine the outside Earth of GC being a very different one from ours, but Tom seems to resist going that route -- outside areas seem to be pretty grounded in our own reality, in glimpses we get of the outside, except for Tony discovering some other hidden mystical pockets. I feel like there should be some addressing of this. Kat and/or Annie: "Oh my gosh, why didn't we ever think of that?!?" Aata: "Ah yes, you recall your friend Ayilu's influence? We've been doing something like that for __ hundred years. Kept things simpler. A bit hard to maintain long-distance, while people were away on trips, but worth the effort. The satellites helped." |
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Post by drmemory on Aug 23, 2022 22:55:00 GMT
I wonder what this means for the moon? You know, the one Annie left a fingerprint on?
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Post by todd on Aug 23, 2022 23:46:21 GMT
Saddest thing is that we're probably near the end of the comic. Mysteries are revealed and all is made clear. There are still some threads to be resolved - such as Loup and the New People project - and those will probably require a few more chapters. I still wonder how Tom will wrap up the Court's thread. It's making a one-way journey to another planet, Annie is not coming with them (and indeed can't), Kat is invited, but is likely by now to refuse - all meaning that what happens to the Court (or those members of it who depart - who'll undoubtedly include the mysterious people at the top who've been pulling strings and determining policy) would have to be kept off-stage. Certainly it would be almost impossible for Annie to find out, and through her, the audience. (Even if Kat went with the Court to provide someone through whom we could see what happens to the Court on the new planet, she'd be permanently severed from the rest of the cast.) So the Court's fate might have to become a mystery - unless Tom's got a really clever twist planned. |
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Post by drmemory on Aug 24, 2022 5:55:52 GMT
Saddest thing is that we're probably near the end of the comic. Mysteries are revealed and all is made clear. There are still some threads to be resolved - such as Loup and the New People project - and those will probably require a few more chapters. I still wonder how Tom will wrap up the Court's thread. It's making a one-way journey to another planet, Annie is not coming with them (and indeed can't), Kat is invited, but is likely by now to refuse - all meaning that what happens to the Court (or those members of it who depart - who'll undoubtedly include the mysterious people at the top who've been pulling strings and determining policy) would have to be kept off-stage. Certainly it would be almost impossible for Annie to find out, and through her, the audience. (Even if Kat went with the Court to provide someone through whom we could see what happens to the Court on the new planet, she'd be permanently severed from the rest of the cast.) So the Court's fate might have to become a mystery - unless Tom's got a really clever twist planned. I'm skeptical about just how much they can separate themselves from the ether. In Tom's world, I wonder what happens to human souls when they die if no psychopomp comes? I seem to vaguely remember that the psychopomps were only needed for confused souls and souls that didn't want to let go, and that the RotD could intervene in some cases. Also, the ones transporting them (the living Court humans) to the new place clearly have some connection to the ether. So even if they leave all those behind that currently are ether-aware, wouldn't they still be adding to the ether as people age and die?
They can run and perhaps they can hide, but I am skeptical whether they will really be able to hide from etheric beings like Coyote, and whether they can stay separate from all things ethereal permanently. Unless they are really dead or eaten or whatever - this whole thing still feels like a trap to me.
Also, there are other beings of great power about, like Arbiter Salsamel and Odin. Some of those, perhaps one we haven't met yet, may have something to say about all of this! And who says the psychopomps are tied to the Earth? Heck, maybe this whole mess is why they wanted Annie to start with!
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Post by Gemini Jim on Aug 24, 2022 6:42:12 GMT
So, last chance to throw some darts before the next page arrives.
The picture we have of the "real" Court is a long tube, structure, or skyscraper tower protruding out from the Earth. Nothing weird about that.
But something which protrudes out has to connect somehow. If we think of the Court as a tower, then it has to have a base.
If the forest is the base, perhaps a large circle surrounding the Court, then anybody who leaves the Court - to go exploring in the jungle, or to go on holiday or for any reason, they would have to go out through the forest. Or, otherwise there would have to be a non-forest exit to the Court on the opposite side from the forest.
I'm guessing there's some neat non-euclidean trick or illusion to keep outsiders from wandering in. Or for Court dwellers on the inside heading out, there has to be a way to disguise the "entrance," since everything looks like Earth from the inside.
Or only trusted Court people like Tony are ever actually allowed to leave; any time a student "leaves," they're actually still inside the Court.
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Post by Timberwere on Aug 24, 2022 7:51:55 GMT
Oh man, I only just now noticed how panel 4 shows that the etheric part of the court is still attached to Earth and then branches out into the star ocean... Blind me.  |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Aug 24, 2022 8:17:26 GMT
Oh man, I only just now noticed how panel 4 shows that the etheric part of the court is still attached to Earth and then branches out into the star ocean... Blind me. The best part is that skyline inside... a symbolic representation inside a figurative depiction of a semi-etheric construction.  |
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Post by speedwell on Aug 24, 2022 8:39:01 GMT
So, last chance to throw some darts before the next page arrives. The picture we have of the "real" Court is a long tube, structure, or skyscraper tower protruding out from the Earth. Nothing weird about that. But something which protrudes out has to connect somehow. If we think of the Court as a tower, then it has to have a base. If the forest is the base, perhaps a large circle surrounding the Court, then anybody who leaves the Court - to go exploring in the jungle, or to go on holiday or for any reason, they would have to go out through the forest. Or, otherwise there would have to be a non-forest exit to the Court on the opposite side from the forest. I'm guessing there's some neat non-euclidean trick or illusion to keep outsiders from wandering in. Or for Court dwellers on the inside heading out, there has to be a way to disguise the "entrance," since everything looks like Earth from the inside. Or only trusted Court people like Tony are ever actually allowed to leave; any time a student "leaves," they're actually still inside the Court. No. I think the picture illustrates Aata's reference to the way in which people would leave Earth if the Court wasn't a thing, rather than an illustration of the pocket dimension itself. |
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Post by stef1987 on Aug 24, 2022 9:02:45 GMT
What? You don't trust the Court to tell the unvarnished truth? That's not what I meant. I mean story wise, I just find it all kinda random |
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heranje
Full Member
Oh super wow!
Posts: 175
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Post by heranje on Aug 24, 2022 9:29:42 GMT
Talk about casual conversation! Well, now I would really want to know when this, uh, tube, was created. Did the Founders do it, was it recently, or somewhen along the way? I was thinking about this while reading the most recent page, and I think we have a suggestion that this at least started happening back at the very beginnings of the Court. Shell says that "so many etheric creatures are attracted here" because of the dimensional weirdness, and in the Coyote extra comic we are shown (in the metaphorical representational nature of that comic) that Coyote follows a "bright light" which draws the dog gang to the Court. I believe something like that is mentioned in the actual comic as well, but I'm not sure of the page. |
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Post by pyradonis on Aug 24, 2022 12:05:39 GMT
Another thought: I wonder how widely known this information that Shell and Aata are so casually dropping is, even among the Court's "inner circle". We've been given indications that Tony is at least put to work for the Court's inner machinations and seems to work for the Shadow Men (Arthur and Juliet refer to him as a "colleague" back when they first approach Kat), he knows about the omega device, and holds some sway with the leadership. But Aata mentioning the weather never changing made me think of these pages and this one. Tony is studying weather data which he collects from the coast and remarks on the fact that "it does not seem to alter much." Is he aware of the fact that they're in another dimension and simply collecting data for the effects that has on the weather, or does he simply suspect it and is conducting his own weather-based investigation to confirm his theory? And: this Casual Exposition of Deep State Secrets is very much giving vibes of "but of course we'll all be blinked out of existence soon, so it doesn't matter what you know - that's why we're here having drinks to enjoy our last moments!" Now I feel really stupid for not having thought of Tony's weather data collection when reading the page for the first time. I guess the casual "we are not on Earth" reveal made many of us miss the significance of the remark about the unchanging weather. Actually the city Zimmy came from might be more real (traditional?), as most of the really weird things we saw there (in the extra comic) appeared to be Zimmy hallucinations.
Yeah. I think this also explains why there are long tracks of the Court that are just unremarkable empty buildings: The Court itself was "procedurally generated" (or rather, "grown"), likely from the Seed Bismuth. It also could explain why Jeanne wasn't supposed to be able to cross the Annan river. The river was probably the demarcation between the real world and the Court's pocket dimension. Loup closing the gorge coule be why he can't control the forest: Doing so linked the Gillitie woods with the court's pocket dimension and the etheric weirdness of that pocket dimension is causing serious problems for the woods. Coyote didn't have to deal with that, as they weren't linked. I like the thought about Jeanne. That's one of the oldest unsolved mysteries now - why did Jeanne cross the river that one time when she wasn't supposed to be able to, and why didn't she kill Annie both times she had the opportunity to? Loup was unable to control the Forest and had stopped time in there even before he closed the gorge though.
In Tom's world, I wonder what happens to human souls when they die if no psychopomp comes? I seem to vaguely remember that the psychopomps were only needed for confused souls and souls that didn't want to let go, and that the RotD could intervene in some cases. I understood it as the confused/unwilling souls were specific tasks for Surma/Annie, and generally all souls had to be guided into the Ether by psychopomps. Unless they stayed with the RotD of course. If no psychopomp comes along to collect them... good question. Perhaps they will just linger forever in the place they died in, like the boy in the hospital did until Annie got through to him. Like invisible ghosts who can't even haunt a place because they are not supplied with the proper equipment by the RotD. Of course this begs the question how the first psychopomps came into being. The psychopomps assigned to humans all seem to be firmly grounded in human myths and stories, but as we know even insects have at least one psychopomp of their own. So maybe they just are created naturally when life arises on a planet? |
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heranje
Full Member
Oh super wow!
Posts: 175
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Post by heranje on Aug 24, 2022 13:12:40 GMT
In Tom's world, I wonder what happens to human souls when they die if no psychopomp comes? I seem to vaguely remember that the psychopomps were only needed for confused souls and souls that didn't want to let go, and that the RotD could intervene in some cases. I understood it as the confused/unwilling souls were specific tasks for Surma/Annie, and generally all souls had to be guided into the Ether by psychopomps. Unless they stayed with the RotD of course. If no psychopomp comes along to collect them... good question. Perhaps they will just linger forever in the place they died in, like the boy in the hospital did until Annie got through to him. Like invisible ghosts who can't even haunt a place because they are not supplied with the proper equipment by the RotD. Of course this begs the question how the first psychopomps came into being. The psychopomps assigned to humans all seem to be firmly grounded in human myths and stories, but as we know even insects have at least one psychopomp of their own. So maybe they just are created naturally when life arises on a planet? There's a bit of a "chicken and the egg" issue with the psychopomps as well, if we assume Coyote's Great Secret is true. According to him, humans have to die for their beliefs to affect the ether - and guiding human souls into the ether is the psychopomps' "important work". So if psychopomps are needed to absorb human souls into the ether, and this is the process by which beliefs are given form in the ether, how can the psychopomps be created by human belief? Of course, it's basically another version of the Jones Paradox, but it has an additional dimension - which is the question of how the first human souls were absorbed into the ether to create the psychopomps in the first place, regardless of whether they were then "backdated" to have always existed. So maybe they are, perhaps among some other beings, entities that were born with the creation of the ether but were shaped and changed by human belief? Or maybe Coyote's theory is wrong, which is always a possibility. I was recently rewatching some of Tom's retrospectives, and in the chapter where Ketrak is introduced he talks about how he chose not to actually depict the insect-psychopomp because any rendition he could draw of what "insects would imagine to be a creature that collects their souls when they die" (paraphrasing) would inevitably be more disappointing than what his readers could imagine. So that statement interestingly suggests that Ketrak's form is actually shaped by insect imagination and belief - and that it's not only humans that can affect the ether, though we perhaps have the greatest capacity for it because of our capacity for imagination. |
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Post by todd on Aug 24, 2022 13:34:35 GMT
I was recently rewatching some of Tom's retrospectives, and in the chapter where Ketrak is introduced he talks about how he chose not to actually depict the insect-psychopomp because any rendition he could draw of what "insects would imagine to be a creature that collects their souls when they die" (paraphrasing) would inevitably be more disappointing than what his readers could imagine. And also, that Kat's horrified response to seeing Ketrak would be more effective if Ketrak's exact appearance was left to the imagination. |
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Post by drmemory on Aug 24, 2022 18:07:21 GMT
I just don't believe the psychopomps are like Santa Claus - many places at once. If nothing else, they seem to have time to leisurely hang out in a hospital chatting with young girls, teaching them languages and such! I just don't get the sense that they can be everywhere at once. Time seems to pass for them, and causality seems to apply (things happen after other things). That's one of the reasons I thought most human souls just went into the ether, and the psychopomps were there to help when things didn't go correctly.
The one who picked up Morty as an unexpectedly dead human boy (Ankou) mentioning that they were in busy times. Why would he say that if time wasn't a factor and they could be everywhere at once, more or less?
My sense is that they are recruited from the ranks of those who already have mystical or mythological powers or are otherwise unusual, to do a job. Being immortal might also be a job requirement, but maybe not? We haven't actually seen any hints that they are given new powers (such as the ability to make instances of themselves) when they get the job. At least not that I can recall. The ones we've actually been introduced to are from a variety of mythological pantheons, mainly.
On the other hand, they do seem to be able to open doors to the ether, literally, at least real enough for souls to pass through. Annie can do this also, as she did with the burned boy in the hospital, with Mort, and with Jean and her love, and she is not (yet) a psychopomp!
Anyway, that's how I interpret things regarding the psychopomps. I could be mistaken, of course, as always.
The one missing piece is that I don't believe we've ever seen what happens to someone that dies and isn't confused or otherwise problematic. Do they just dissolve into or enter the ether? Or does everyone have to wait for an available psychopomp?
Also, if Annie already has the ability to do the job of a psychopomp, which she does, how did that come about? Psychopomp Steering Committee (PSC)? 
I screwed up the quoting somehow, sorry. This was meant to be part of the me/pyradonis/heranje message and I tried to trim out the non-psychopomp parts, but it went bad.
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