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Post by blahzor on Jun 4, 2024 2:47:40 GMT
More food for thought, there's a mouse or a rat depicted in the last panel depicting the small animals she can control. No rats in the Court though? Edit: She's drawn on this page in a lot of traditional villain poses isn't she? Probably is really really thrilled to be animate again though. No rats in the court, but Zimmey mentions talking to rats, much like Omega controls them here. More hints that Zimmy is another version of Omega perhaps? Or the rats aren't in the dimension of the court. Like Kat's mini zone isn't in the court |
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Post by madjack on Jun 4, 2024 3:08:05 GMT
Doesn't mean she didn't control rats before being brought to the Court. Mmm, it's starting to get me wondering if the 'short range' part of the animal control was as a human, not a machine. Is the absence of rats something she made happen due to perhaps how much she dislikes them, or just for the health reasons? etc. Which leads to a wildspec... |
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Post by pyradonis on Jun 4, 2024 9:42:07 GMT
"The court did nothing I didn't want." Boy that's a mindf*ck for anyone who isn't in Omega's shoes. I think that's probably true for most Court personnel, actually--most human personnel, at least. We're always seeing the Court from the PoV of its most marginalized members: robots, etherics, former fairies and animals, etherically sensitive humans, and those who love them. For everyone else, it's a pretty nice place to live. Think of it this way: in however many centuries, the worst human rights violation we've ever heard of in the Court is what they did to Jeanne, and that was so unacceptable that the Founders had to orchestrate a massive cover-up. Public health is fantastic (barring mental health for the severely afflicted), everyone has food and shelter and quality education and fulfilling employment, there are no jails, there's no capital punishment. For the normal human, the Court is a utopia. |
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hoob
Junior Member
Tony appreciator
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Post by hoob on Jun 4, 2024 9:45:37 GMT
Doesn't mean she didn't control rats before being brought to the Court. Mmm, it's starting to get me wondering if the 'short range' part of the animal control was as a human, not a machine. Is the absence of rats something she made happen due to perhaps how much she dislikes them, or just for the health reasons? etc. Which leads to a wildspec... Meg now lives in ALBERTA! |
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tibert
Junior Member
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Post by tibert on Jun 4, 2024 11:34:06 GMT
No rats in the court, but Zimmey mentions talking to rats, much like Omega controls them here. More hints that Zimmy is another version of Omega perhaps? Frankly, I don't think that Zimmy is a "version" of anyone or anything, nor a "creation" of anyone but her biological parents (who, btw, don't even remember her - Word of Tom). I'll go out on a limb and say all similarities between Omega and Zeta are coincidental. If, by the end of this chapter, no character has mentioned the naming pattern, I'll seriously consider that having three persons called Omega, Zeta and Gamma in the Court is like having a few persons called Crystal, Ruby, Esmeralda, Amber or Jade in the same school: no reason to think they are otherwise related. |
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tibert
Junior Member
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Post by tibert on Jun 4, 2024 12:02:08 GMT
I like you, Omega. For both our sake, please tone down the villain face. Medical warning: Thoughts implying fooling the Court may induce mischievous smiles. |
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Post by justcurious on Jun 4, 2024 13:03:36 GMT
Like Zimmy Omega appears to be a human with some god-like abilities that overwhelmed them and caused them great suffering in doing so.
Omega has been able to foresee the future but intervention from the future appears to disrupt this. I think we can see how the time loop involving Annie would do this. Zimmy has claimed to foresee events, but we do not know how reliable these claims are or what the mechanism of this claimed foresight is. Is it anything like what Omega does or is it something different and possibly distorted?
And yes, ending the distortion would help Zimmy but might harm Omega. How is this going to work out?
Zimmy predicted that Kat would kill her and that this would involve Omega. Could this have something to do with the ending of the distortion? Could the prediction that Annie would kill Loup have something to do with the return of Ysengrin?
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Post by gpvos on Jun 4, 2024 14:56:17 GMT
I think Zeta, Gamma and Omega all have been at some moment of their lives part of the same programme or project of the Court. Or it is just a naming scheme the Court uses for people brought into the Court without names. Or the rats aren't in the dimension of the court. Clearly the rats are superintelligent pandimensional beings. |
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Post by Gemini Jim on Jun 4, 2024 16:05:22 GMT
Or the rats aren't in the dimension of the court. Clearly the rats are superintelligent pandimensional beings. 42 of them. And they control Meg... the Universe and Everything. Or, there are rats in Birmingham. Zimmy could probably incorporate rats into Zimmingham if she wanted to. |
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Post by blahzor on Jun 4, 2024 21:41:02 GMT
Clearly the rats are superintelligent pandimensional beings. 42 of them. And they control Meg... the Universe and Everything. Or, there are rats in Birmingham. Zimmy could probably incorporate rats into Zimmingham if she wanted to. hey the shipping of your girls love manga are in but there's a couple of rats in the container what to do with them? rats!? are the books fine? oh just give them to zeta she always talkking about them anyway |
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Post by silicondream on Jun 5, 2024 0:23:49 GMT
I can't figure out how the ability to control animals could come from seeing the movements and reactions of atoms. Does anyone else understand it? The operation of neurons that control the movements of animals is based on chemistry, which is atoms reacting with each other. Much like those fungi that infect ants and force them to climb high on a plant and then clamp down with their jaws to hold them in place. Reading thoughts would be too complicated, since thinking relies on previous chemical reactions. An analogy would be a computer and the difference between hardware and software. Operating the hard drive, CD reader tray, lights, etc., would be fairly simple, but trying to change how Windows runs? Or figuring out what Windows is even doing? Even if you could see the interactions of millions of transistors, there would be no way you could analyze them faster than they would be changing. That said, I would not expect those abilities alone to allow her to see the future. Nature might be deterministic, but humans are not 100% predictable; there will always be a certain amount of unpredictability. And I have no idea how the Ether would affect the world. Or how much effect the Ether has on the world outside of the Court. I think batsugars was more asking how Omega's ability to observe and predict the behavior of animal brains would allow her to control them. Does it just make her a really good trainer, or can she take actions that somehow butterfly-effect into the crows saying what she wants them to say? Even as an invalid? I think that's probably true for most Court personnel, actually--most human personnel, at least. We're always seeing the Court from the PoV of its most marginalized members: robots, etherics, former fairies and animals, etherically sensitive humans, and those who love them. For everyone else, it's a pretty nice place to live. Think of it this way: in however many centuries, the worst human rights violation we've ever heard of in the Court is what they did to Jeanne, and that was so unacceptable that the Founders had to orchestrate a massive cover-up. Public health is fantastic (barring mental health for the severely afflicted), everyone has food and shelter and quality education and fulfilling employment, there are no jails, there's no capital punishment. For the normal human, the Court is a utopia. Again, for the normal human. Renard was a murderous demon in a dragon's body who could kill you with a look; imprisoning him was a public service, and more merciful than what he'd face in most human societies. |
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Post by TBeholder on Jun 5, 2024 6:36:41 GMT
Think of it this way: in however many centuries, the worst human rights violation we've ever heard of in the Court is what they did to Jeanne, and that was so unacceptable that the Founders had to orchestrate a massive cover-up. Public health is fantastic (barring mental health for the severely afflicted), everyone has food and shelter and quality education and fulfilling employment, there are no jails, there's no capital punishment. And nobody has to go to the toilet, either!  Also, even if that’s true? What do you think happens when a member of the Court not in the top tier of its ruling oligarchy does something too out of it? Not some student who can spout things that will sound like a sci-fi soap opera, but someone who knows far too much to simply exile, yet cannot be allowed to roam around free either? Consider that the Court is essentially a sovereign small town full of mad scientists. So, uh, we could guess. For the normal human, the Court is a utopia. Your idea of a “normal human” may or may not be a little off. Doesn't mean she didn't control rats before being brought to the Court. Mmm, it's starting to get me wondering if the 'short range' part of the animal control was as a human, not a machine. Is the absence of rats something she made happen due to perhaps how much she dislikes them, or just for the health reasons? etc. Which leads to a wildspec... The Court has magic-users. And robots. Not all of whom were clumsy tin cans even before Kat began her experiments. «And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.» |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Jun 5, 2024 7:32:48 GMT
The Court does appear to be an attempt at a utopia. In practice it often operates like a bureaucracy or a company, or perhaps a commune. It also shares some of the characteristics of a cult, though a sort of agnostic one. I'll admit that it has many things going for it but it should be remembered that it is a surveillance state and even though people seem free to leave there's an excellent chance they're still monitored after they do. We're limited to a view of the Court largely through the eyes of legacy students which may not be typical, and though I/we've engaged in a lot of speculation over the years we don't really know what happens to people who don't follow the Court's rules.
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Post by silicondream on Jun 5, 2024 9:00:53 GMT
Think of it this way: in however many centuries, the worst human rights violation we've ever heard of in the Court is what they did to Jeanne, and that was so unacceptable that the Founders had to orchestrate a massive cover-up. Public health is fantastic (barring mental health for the severely afflicted), everyone has food and shelter and quality education and fulfilling employment, there are no jails, there's no capital punishment. And nobody has to go to the toilet, either! Presumably they do, if only so their tracking devices can be serviced.... What, like Tony and Surma? They lived off-site for ten years, and after Surma died Tony roamed around for a couple more years talking to "all kinds of people." And he traveled around the world on various research expeditions before that. The Court may have been monitoring him throughout, but it didn't actually show up to get him until he was dying in the wilderness. And even then the Court didn't just kidnap him back; it offered him a deal involving some grace for Annie and he took it voluntarily. Presumably if he started leaking a bunch of classified information to the wrong people the Court would have done something more forceful, but so would any real-world government; would-be defectors are rarely treated kindly. Also, Court residents like Alistair's family are permitted to emigrate to the Forest, where they're completely beyond Court control. They have to change species to do that, but that was Ysengrin's demand, not the Court's. Remember that the Court's location may be a well-kept secret, but its existence is not. It openly recruits students like Paz and Eglamore from the outside, with the consent of their families, and students and staff regularly take vacations abroad. Whether it's because of its hyper-advanced technological countermeasures, or simply because very few baseline humans who work at the Court are dissatisfied enough to try to undermine it, the Court doesn't have to keep its personnel on a very tight leash. Eh, Sparks are real heavy on the "mad" part. The Court's researchers are more just...scientists, although you've got some weirdos like Diego at the top. They're idealistic, but not unstable. And they don't have to use regular people for nasty experiments because, well, they have animals. And robots, and captured etherics, and people with superpowers. Again, most of the cast falls into these categories so we often see them experiencing the dark side of the Court, but the baseline humans benefit accordingly. I'm just using "normal" to mean "not etherically sensitive." |
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Post by TBeholder on Jun 5, 2024 10:34:45 GMT
And nobody has to go to the toilet, either! Presumably they do, if only so their tracking devices can be serviced.... Well, if you proclaim some things don’t exist without any better reason that we did not see them in such and such panel on a page, why not other? Could at least be consistent?  What, like Tony and Surma? What did these two do do? Squabbled with some of the others a little and left in a huff, as a side effect of something the high-ups themselves suggested? Why should it be a big deal? In the end, we know they did not even completely turn away from the Court as a whole, seeing how Annie was sent there. That is, he wasted his own time chasing his own obsession, but did nothing to jeopardize any of their goal in the slightest. Why would they care? Also, Court residents like Alistair's family are permitted to emigrate to the Forest, where they're completely beyond Court control. They have to change species to do that, but that was Ysengrin's demand, not the Court's. Again, why exactly would they care about those specific people? Besides, it’s two-sided: lose some unimportant co-workers who lost motivation, gain some Fooleys (we have seen there is some odd use for them, beside the hypothetical future one). Not a bad deal. Location, nature, goals, most likely a lot of know-how that could actually be reproduced outside… So does Mr. Allard, and he's merely a cover identity (mostly abandoned one, at that) of some vigilante. He simply looks respectable and waves boring credentials that also look respectable. Much like with those lab coats. The Shadow Men outside don’t really need much more than this, and they presumably have an actual mail address with which the local government does not have problems (we know they occasionally offer favours). This does not mean it would be hard to hinder or endanger them a lot, if someone really wanted. For this purpose being unstable is not required. Merely having a demand and not having compelling reasons to worry. Being idealistic… actually could be conducive to that. It’s a win/win. |
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Post by pyradonis on Jun 5, 2024 15:09:01 GMT
I think Zeta, Gamma and Omega all have been at some moment of their lives part of the same programme or project of the Court. Or it is just a naming scheme the Court uses for people brought into the Court without names. As far as we know, Zeta and Gamma had these names before the Court found them. And even then the Court didn't just kidnap him back; it offered him a deal involving some grace for Annie and he took it voluntarily. No, they blackmailed him. He said they wanted him to come back and he declined, and then they blackmailed him with the threat to expel banish Annie. Again, for the normal human. Renard was a murderous demon in a dragon's body who could kill you with a look; imprisoning him was a public service, and more merciful than what he'd face in most human societies. He's still a sentient being. What do you think the Court would do with a human resident who murdered another? We haven't seen prisons for human Court residents because we haven't seen human Court residents who did anything that warranted prison, I'm not sure why anyone should infer that there are no prisons at all within the Court. The Court tracks its residents through their food without their consent, has its own secret police, apparently hates having any patch of real nature within its borders - this last part alone would be enough for me personally for never wanting to live in this godforsaken place - continues to track former residents who have left the place and blackmails them if they want them back, experiments on its students without their knowledge or consent, ignores the blatantly obvious fact that the robots are obviously sentient and exploits them to the point of forcibly reprogramming and destroying them if they want to leave, exploits its Forest immigrants for cheap labor without holidays... Maybe the day to day life for baseline humans there is enjoyable, but for the price of the Court itself being a fascist surveillance state. A nice place to live for baseline humans... if you choose to ignore all the rest. And definitely not a place that I would expect to not have a prison. |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Jun 5, 2024 17:17:37 GMT
We haven't seen prisons for human Court residents because we haven't seen human Court residents who did anything that warranted prison, I'm not sure why anyone should infer that there are no prisons at all within the Court. It may well be that there aren't prisons in the Court (as such) because of Omega and NIMBYism. Omega's predictions should have prevented the humans on this side of the once-existent Annan gap from successfully doing any serious crimes. NIMBYism ( Not In My Back Yard if anyone's not familiar with the term) would suggest that the Court wouldn't want to have a prison even if they have infinite space just so they can feel good about not having a prison. If someone needs imprisonment they probably just punt them to the UK justice system with an email about how many years they want them to serve and if they are to come back or get turned loose after. They probably have some sort of secure room where they can stick people short-term while the Court makes up its mind and I suspect that it looks nothing like a secure room. It's probably comfortable and maybe even a bit posh... but once inside a normal human wouldn't be able to get out whatever they do. And yeah, they have the large animal holding pens if they need something bigger. |
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Post by Hatredman on Jun 7, 2024 14:04:38 GMT
They probably have some sort of secure room where they can stick people short-term while the Court makes up its mind and I suspect that it looks nothing like a secure room. Yes, they have. www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2067I would not call that posh. In fact it looks dusty and crummy (as are Aata's and Lanwellyn's offices). |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Jun 7, 2024 15:04:29 GMT
They probably have some sort of secure room where they can stick people short-term while the Court makes up its mind and I suspect that it looks nothing like a secure room. Yes, they have. www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2067I would not call that posh. In fact it looks dusty and crummy (as are Aata's and Lanwellyn's offices). I think that's an interrogation room. There's space enough for a big table that a whole bunch of guys can lean over. I speculate that elsewhere (somewhere around where the offices are) there's a holding room that doesn't look like one. It probably has comfortable chairs and a neutral color scheme, maybe even an expresso bar. It'd be a place where people who are awaiting the Court's judgement can chill or maybe take breaks in between struggle sessions. A lot of government buildings, particularly courthouses, have them though in big buildings even some people who work there might not know about them and even should they get put inside one they may not even realize they can't get out on their own. |
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Post by wynne on Jun 7, 2024 16:24:33 GMT
One last thing: without ever able to explain it, I always had the inkling that the Court sent Surma and Tonny in that forest specifically to check if they would fall in love (it was the parallel between watching the snails go at it heh. I always thought the couple bonding was the actual "event" the Court wanted to check). Which didn't make ANY sense... ...but it makes A LOT MORE SENSE if it was Omega pulling the strings because she was able to predict that The Girl Who Should Not Be would be born from this relationship. Idk if Omega would be pulling the strings or not, bc I think Donny was supposed to go on that trip instead of Surma, but it *absolutely* seems like they were there to test the accuracy of Omega's predictions before relying on them for the new world. But that's a good point, about her wanting Annie to come about. |
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Post by silicondream on Jun 8, 2024 5:15:48 GMT
Presumably they do, if only so their tracking devices can be serviced.... Well, if you proclaim some things don’t exist without any better reason that we did not see them in such and such panel on a page, why not other? I think it's fair to say that there generally isn't a lot of on-panel pooping in this comic.  On the other hand, GC is not shy about depicting or mentioning the dark side of society. We've seen Zimmy living rough in Birmingham, and we know that she was assaulted to the point of trauma by a group of older kids. We've seen people try to kill Jones for being a witch, and we've seen Omega ostracized for the same charge. We've seen imprisoned robots and etherics. I think it's significant, therefore, that we don't see humans doing any of that nasty stuff to each other in the Court—except for Jeanne, and that was the officially unmentionable Worst Thing Ever. And our main characters should be aware of that stuff by now if it's out there, since most of them are sneaky, curious, rebellious, and/or marginalized themselves. Instead, the worst things they've found out about the Court are that 1) it exploits the heck out of non-humans and 2) it may be planning something vague and big and dangerous in the future. Because they were depriving the Court of their services for that time? Because resentful emigrants with classified knowledge are a security risk? Authoritarian governments—and mad scientists, for that matter—are generally known for their paranoia. You said that the Court wouldn't let people leave if they "knew too much." Tony and Surma knew too much, and the Court let them leave, trusting that they wouldn't cause too much trouble for their former compatriots. That suggests that the folks running the Court are, in some ways, reasonable people. He wasted their time, delayed the progress of the Omega project, and almost killed himself in the process. If they had no respect for his choices, that would be more than enough to care about. They could have picked him up the day Surma died. They could have thrown him on a stretcher and brought him back to the Court after his adventure with the demons, no questions asked. They could have confined or tortured him until he agreed to work again. They could have threatened him with much nastier things than Annie's expulsion after graduation. These are all fairly common tactics in police states. But they didn't. Or take Annie's ownership of Renard. The Court wanted Renard back in their possession, we know that—Llanwellyn tried to bargain with Annie by offering the medium job in return for him. But there are many other ways it could have coerced a child to give Renard up if its masters didn't have, y'know, scruples when dealing with humans. Again, if they were mad scientists or paranoid dictators, they wouldn't care about those specific people--but they also wouldn't be extending them any grace. It's not as if you were allowed to cross the Berlin Wall as long as you were unimportant. That's not what blackmail means, or even what extortion means, except to an anarchist. Annie had done plenty of things which would justify the Court banishing her upon graduation—trespassing, theft, years of cheating, colluding with the Court's political enemies, starting multiple diplomatic incidents. Her crimes were already known to the state, so Tony couldn't be blackmailed with them. And offering to show her mercy in return for Tony's cooperation was not extortion, especially because (as the Court probably anticipated) Annie's behavior improved dramatically once Tony returned. I don't know, but I think it would be less brutal than what they did to Renard. The Court doesn't care about "sentient," it cares about "human." The authorities were already planning to capture and neutralize Renard even before he killed Daniel; I don't think the possibility of rehabilitation was ever on the table. Well, that's my point. Court residents are extremely well-behaved, they have few material reasons to commit serious crimes (against humans), and if they start to go off the rails in any noticeable way, the surveillance culture makes them easy to track and correct. Heck, even sudden crimes of passion may be predictable by Omega. I'm sure the Court would incarcerate someone whose behavior left no other option, but it generally seems to have other options. And I'd say we've seen both Jack and Annie, maybe Zimmy and Gamma too, engaging in behavior that would get them incarcerated in many countries—not prison, but juvenile detention or an involuntary psych hold. The Court takes a more enlightened approach. Oh whatever, Jeanne. Dryad-managed parks and pretty grassy cliffs and an ocean aren't enough for you? They have pigeons and laser cows and sentient space lobsters! And if you want you can go do research in the Amazon like Tony! You just have to come back to your lovely planned community in the end. (Honestly, speaking as an American, the Court's version of "nature" isn't that much worse than, say, England's. If there aren't lethal crevasses and large animals that can eat you any time they feel like it, why even bother hiking?) But yes, of course, if you don't wish to live in a totalitarian society, then the Court's not going to work for you. Individual privacy and government transparency are not options there, because they would reduce the effectiveness of state control. You can, however, leave. Emigrate to the Forest like Aly's family, or go back to normal human society like Paz, Tony and Surma. There is no Iron Curtain. And again, I'm sure that if the Court specifically needed you to stay, it would make you stay. But it usually doesn't need to, because you don't actually escape its control by leaving, you just notice it less. It's kind of like living in the developing world—you may not be a citizen of any of the great global powers, but that doesn't mean you're no longer subject to their influence. If the US, China, Russia, etc. decide they really want something from you, they can usually still get it. Which they themselves do not consider exploitation, and since they're enjoying a constant holiday in the Ether with half their consciousnesses, this kind of makes sense. Annie and Smitty are uncomfortable with it because it wouldn't be enjoyable for the average human, but there's no question that the Foley students themselves feel happy and fulfilled. (And fairies are not shy about expressing their own desires.) As do most of the robots, it seems, except for troublemakers like S13 and Arthur. The Court is not unique in having slavery, but it is unique in having slaves who are mostly fine with servitude. In a lot of ways, the Court is a modernized version of Plato's Republic. Citizens are selected, educated or created so that they will freely choose to do what the state needs them to do anyway. It's ruled by benevolent philosopher-kings and if you prefer a liberal democracy with individual civil rights, well, too bad—but if the philosopher-kings really do know better than you about almost everything, what's the problem? Civil rights only ever last until the next pogrom or conquest anyway. (And yes, somebody already wrote Brave New World. But the Court doesn't have to rely on prenatal brain damage and euphoric drugs to make its citizens happy, so yay for progress.) And they do! Human supremacism is at the core of the modern Court. If you can't get behind that, then of course you're going to have issues. That said, I think it's important to remember that everywhere is a fascist surveillance state in this world. The Court aren't the only ones who can see everything you do and imprison, kill, or cripple you at will; so can Arbiter Saslamel, and Coyote, and other gods on his level, and probably the psychopomps, and Zimmy, and even low-tier supernatural entities like the Wisps. Hell, Annie could spy on and untraceably murder any individual human if she felt like it. So could Kat. Jones can't turn invisible or anything, but if she wants to chase you down and kill you, she's unstoppable. And there are other secret organizations like the Court, already alluded to. So any freedom you believe yourself to have is already an illusion. You always live at the whim of greater powers, and the most you can hope for is that the local power will be somewhat benign and will protect you from all the other ones. In which case, why not commit to a power that is at least human, and claims to care about human welfare, rather than a bunch of gods and monsters that see humans purely as food, spiritual fuel or entertainment? (This argument brought to you by Warhammer 40K. The Imperium of Man: better than the alternatives! Probably! On average!) |
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Post by TBeholder on Jun 13, 2024 21:47:42 GMT
I think it's significant, therefore, that we don't see humans doing any of that nasty stuff to each other in the Court—except for Jeanne, and that was the officially unmentionable Worst Thing Ever. It was just something swept under the carpet centuries ago that Annie happened to find out. No more, no less. Authoritarian governments—and mad scientists, for that matter—are generally known for their paranoia. Odd theology is odd. (shrug) Because they were depriving the Court of their services for that time? An odd idea. Most people don’t work for them at all. So? Because resentful emigrants with classified knowledge are a security risk? Did they actually have any? You said that the Court wouldn't let people leave if they "knew too much." No. Tony and Surma knew too much, and the Court let them leave, trusting that they wouldn't cause too much trouble for their former compatriots. That suggests that the folks running the Court are, in some ways, reasonable people. This suggests they are capable of basic predictions regarding behaviour of the people they observed for years. That’s all. He wasted their time, delayed the progress of the Omega project, and almost killed himself in the process. If they had no respect for his choices, that would be more than enough to care about. . . . It's not as if you were allowed to cross the Berlin Wall as long as you were unimportant. Again, most people don’t work for them at all. This only suggests their form of mania is not of all-consuming «worm dieth not, and the fire never goeth out» type. Which is indeed not something every other megalomanic conspiracy must aspire to. But, uh, a pretty low benchmark in itself. They could have picked him up the day Surma died. They could have thrown him on a stretcher and brought him back to the Court after his adventure with the demons, no questions asked. Why would they want to get this deranged dude back? He became mostly useless for anyone. An obsessed hobo chatting with hermits and backwater shamans. Or take Annie's ownership of Renard. The Court wanted Renard back in their possession, we know that—Llanwellyn tried to bargain with Annie by offering the medium job in return for him. But there are many other ways it could have coerced a child to give Renard up if its masters didn't have, y'know, scruples when dealing with humans. Or if they didn’t have some caution when dealing with this magic nonsense (and Tony indeed was tricked with this contract thing, but then it was his problem). Or didn’t ask Omega and get response to the effect of “the situation is stable now, don’t mess with it”. Or if they really cared much about Renard at all, as long as he is around and mostly on a leash. And so on. Again, if they were mad scientists or paranoid dictators, they wouldn't care about those specific people--but they also wouldn't be extending them any grace. Odd theology is odd. (shrug) |
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Post by silicondream on Jul 1, 2024 5:53:31 GMT
Because resentful emigrants with classified knowledge are a security risk? Did they actually have any? . Omega-related information is so highly classified that he won't even mention it without purging Court surveillance first. I'm not sure what you meant by— —in that case. If the Court can let high-level defectors roam around free as long as they aren't actively planning to leak sensitive information, then what's the problem? That's at least as much freedom as any liberal democracy would provide in the same situation. They tracked him across the globe for a couple of years, sent a medical team out to him exactly when he was about to die, nursed him back to health for months in situ, and then bargained with him to return. Clearly they did want him back…but they wanted him to come back voluntarily. As for why, he's been a major player in the Omega project for over a decade. I don't think the Court cares much about your personal derangement as long as you do good work. Same reason he could talk them out of quarantining Forest Annie. If any of those were true, Llanwellyn wouldn't have made the offer to Annie at all. As with Tony, there was definitely something the Court wanted from her, but it wanted to her to choose to provide it. The Court cares about freedom of choice for its human residents. It's not its only or highest value, but it's up there, which is part of what makes it a nice place to live for said humans. That's all I'm saying. And arguably, even the omnipresent surveillance is in service to this value. Precisely because the Court tracks everyone all the time and is very good at predicting their behavior, it can afford to let people like Annie and Tony and Jack run around doing whatever the hell they want, only intervening when serious harm is imminent. |
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On the other hand, GC is not shy about depicting or mentioning the dark side of society. We've seen Zimmy living rough in Birmingham, and we know that she was assaulted to the point of trauma by a group of older kids. We've seen people try to kill Jones for being a witch, and we've seen Omega ostracized for the same charge. We've seen imprisoned robots and etherics. I think it's significant, therefore, that we don't see humans doing any of that nasty stuff to each other in the Court—except for Jeanne, and that was the officially unmentionable Worst Thing Ever. And our main characters should be aware of that stuff by now if it's out there, since most of them are sneaky, curious, rebellious, and/or marginalized themselves. Instead, the worst things they've found out about the Court are that 1) it exploits the heck out of non-humans and 2) it may be planning something vague and big and dangerous in the future.