Talla's Frontier Temple: Chapter 11
Added 2023-09-14 17:02:18 +0000 UTCComments
If Abundance increases math, I wonder what Point does. Does point only control the physical rate/flow of lactation or is there also some subtle mental element, like with most of the other disciplines. How will Del proceed with the experiment, who will she confide in to test the experiment. At first I assumed she would want Zhairlo to participate, but that would probably eventually give it away to Talla, besides Zhai is clearly not totally normal himself so maybe he is not the ideal control participant. I imagine Del might also speak to Tina for potential confirmation or potential information and if they talk to her she will probably want to be included and tell the other pilgrims. After all Del wouldn’t want the Experiment to go sideways for lack of data, after all, even attempting this might be viewed by some as subversive to the temple. Del would would probably want to make it count, and she strikes me as someone who will not leave alot of stuff to chance. What would Tara think. That will be an interesting conversation.
Stephen
2023-12-20 11:25:44 +0000 UTCAbsolutely loved chapter 11, yup we see a town where every-bodies just passing through to someplace more important, every countries got them. This is the type of backdrop that Gygax and Tolkien made famous, for a moment I even got a “Village of Homlet,” Vibe. Or at least she thinks she is walking into a sleepy little town. In nearly record time she manages to run into a sorceress, who surprisingly seems to know all about Talla, or at least we would be surprised if not for the fact we know from prior chapters of this tale that Just about every sorceress of this particular house from Breshenna to Gern heads their towns conspirator faction and they are intensely interested in Talla’s health, welfare, upgrading and eventual breeding. We also know that sweetness and the conspirators in particular are passing information ahead. If Talla wants an iron upgrade she can expect to hear a lot of smack while she waits (and she better like it), but here she likely just walked into this towns head conspirator, and she want’s an upgrade from her house. I think part of the fun here is that Talla, is oblivious to what is really going on and with her past experience doesn’t think much of “Del’s Plan,” and is fully expecting blow-back. As much flak as Talla has taken from certain elements of Temple society, it was a bit refreshing to see a lack of resistance for once. Did I say lack of resistance? Would you like one lump or two? For your tea of course, whatever else could you think I was implying? She literally walks Talla to the Officer in charge of arranging Division upgrades, (without even bothering to slow down and put clothes on) and makes sure it happens-that night-on her watch-even offering to be the Source. We don’t know if Talla was hit with a double, only she had difficulty walking afterwords and that the attending physician said she was “Hit hard.” and that the conspirators seem to be highly motivated and have a mandate to produce ever stronger goddess born as fast as feasible, before the end of the civilization as we know it. So again - no pressure. We knew Talla had wanted “Within,” but mainly because everyone kept telling her it was important, once they set an unreasonable condition; ie she would have to sacrifice an additional upgrade to pick it- She chose Pussy, thus the Temple effectively influenced Talla away from acquiring the leadership talent. Memory actually sounds like it is a better choice for Talla, but when she confides her choice (and reasoning) to Del, Del frowns. I don’t think The Temple forced Del make that choice, but what does she do about it? I think Del was initially choosing Within for the same reasons Talla would have – she thinks she want’s to be a leader. It’s telling that the temple is ok with freely granting Del Within, probably because-to date-she has a great track record of following the rules. Del likes rules, and The Temple likes girls who follow rules. Clearly a match made in heaven. Talla on the other hand, was once on the road to hosting Gern’s first ever (and maybe last ever) Official Pyromaniac’s Guild weenie roast. Actually, I think taking logic (Lips) was better for Del too. Here in America, we celebrate George Washington as a great leader, but from a purely historical perspective, he did a lot of losing before he finally won. Good old George got really good at retreating, he had to learn tactics (including when not to fight) and learn from his mistakes before he was experienced enough to be considered a truly good leader. If I had the ability to magically give a potential leader abilities, I think I would start with Logic and Memory, before entrusting them with actual leadership. But, not the Temple, they got a whole division that picks leadership first as their primary discipline and all the other stuff can just happens when it happens. From the temples perspective, Del would seem be a much safer choice for leader, they will expect her to do things according to code. If fact her failures might not even be viewed as failures if she followed procedure properly, fortunately for us it looks like theres a bit more depth to Del, than the temple might like. Del wants to write the Manual on “How thing ought to be done,” and you can’t do that if you don’t understand what IS ACTUALLY going on. Looking forward to see what she’s formulating with her “experiment.” The Sorceress, did say that logic/intuition? and memory work well together and we see a bit of a heartbreaking example of just how well they work together, and just how truly broken the girls are due to temple practices. Talla always had the clues and at times even asked the right questions, but when she needed answers the most she was betrayed by her own mind, stunted by the drugs the Temple inflicts on women to arrest their growth and development. I have to admit, there were times I got a bit frustrated that Talla would just let important clues go after a while and not pursue them more actively, now I realize she might have been hindered by an inability to hang onto memories or form long term goals, with the possible exception of destroying the synergist with was an obsession triggered by extreme abuse. She definitely seems to be one of the most intelligent girls of her age, and yet I finally realize that despite this, she too suffers with the same handicaps as the other girls. Talla felt what Forms enforcers did was wrong, violating her in her own room for no apparent or credible reason, but without developed logic and intuition she simply could not make the connections and her stunted short term memory couldn’t juggle them anyhow with all the stress and abuse of that night, until those questions finally, inexorably slipped away from her neglected long term memory, leaving only vague, but very real and very justified, feelings of violation and anger. I doubt the temple completely understands what Talla could become. Yes, mathematics is important in engineering, but it has other uses as well. “Amateurs talk strategy and professionals talk logistics.” – Omar Bradley – a widely respected World War II General. And math is absolutely, positively fundamental to logistics. You did a great job of letting us re-experience her trauma and using it to remind us why we care. Loved the Chapter, can’t wait to see what comes next.
Stephen
2023-09-16 09:59:52 +0000 UTC
