43 - The Reason for the Ban
Sunrise Citly
raw, so detailed in all it's horror - for you truly show their
feelings of fear, grief, and pain. You not only describe but reproduce
the shock of losing all control over every impulse, even the most
terrible.
Murder. Rape. Words that cut worse than any number of knives. How much
will they go through, knowing there's no return, knowing they've done
terrible things and will likely do more? That they do great things I
know - but what else must they go through? Horrible as they are, I
would like to know...
Accelerated inteligence (and accelerated reflexes) seem wonderful on
paper - but the price is terrible. And yet it must be done. It's not
just Archives, is it? It's the flawed ideals of Til Institute, and the
weaknesses of each member of Fireheart friendclan combined with a
power too great and terrible... and the need for them to be sacrificed
'for the greater good' along with goodness knows how many others.
I know this is just the beginning of many dark, winding tales
following Fireheart, and I know how it scared youto shock your
readers. Yet the fact remains that there are such things as light and
color even in the deepest darkness. For Merrill's daring shows just
how creative desperation can be - but not without it's fair warning.
How much are we willing to give for a dream?
You're the one who taught me that fantasy is a good way to experiment
with a variety of solutions to find the good and bad in them - if
you're willing to be honest with yourself. This is a huge part of how
you've learned. Someone once said we must learn from the mistakes of
others because we haven't time enough to make all mistakes ourselves.
There are things worth learning, sacrifices worth making, ideals
worthy of upkeeping... But no one said it would be easy. I feel this
is an important pivot point, and I do hope you'll go ahead.
-Citlalli
Dolores J. Nurss
it can get for any writer to bare her soul, it hits double when the stories
come from dreams, and one cannot escape the immediacy of the tale.
No, you're right, it's not just Archives. Archives merely personifies a
reflection. She takes her identity from all who feed information into her.
Including Fireheart Friendclan themselves. (In a sense, including me.) And
of course agents constantly input information from the rest of the world,
too.
And the magentine itself connects with the very planet. Jay brought up some
points that led me to realize this, that whatever energy magentine emanates
or focuses or conducts transcends barriers and forms a natural worldwide
web. Until the arrival of human colonists, carrying sentient mental energy
on the same wavelength, it remained dormant. But human thought activated
its potential and so now, in a sense, Novatierre herself has become aware.
The Tili`an actually don't understand this. They use magentine technology,
but have not grasped that they--all human beings--shape the planet's
thinking. The only person to grasp it, I can see now, was Consuelo Tercos,
whom the planet absorbed. And the only one with a clue that could have
unraveled the secret was her brother, who died looking for her, having told
nobody of his discoveries.
This puts together a lot of puzzling dreams that I didn't understand before,
still in my notes!
Hints come through, myths, legends, and folklore about planetary awareness,
genus loci, deities of the land, memories in the rock, ghosts and demons and
angels and ambiguous manifestations, all over the world. And everyone knows
that things happen on Novatierre that didn't used to happen on Earth--at
least not so obviously. But no one has really had a chance to put it all
together.
So add to the mix the nightmares of a dreaming planet. For though humankind
and nature have often been at odds, if humanity perished on Novatierre,
Novatierre would lose awareness. She would, in her own perceptions, die.
In terms of experimentation through fantasy, now that you mention it, I
guess a theme about the Tili`an is where to draw the line between dedication
and fanaticism. Sometimes Fireheart gets it right. Sometimes they don't.
Sometimes it's anybody's guess. And, like you say, I learn from their
experiments.
I love your quote about learning from other people's mistakes because you
don't have time to make all mistakes yourself!