Earwa > The Judging Eye

The Replacement Witch

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mrganondorf:
The episode where Psatma is meeting with the other high priestesses at the struck table, not too far into chapter 5, US edition pps 113-5:

"Phoracia claimed to see Eleva touch a Chorae not more than three months previous in Carythusal, during the solstice observances.  That mean the witch had replaced her recently, did it not?" (115)

A few thoughts:

- probably the work of gnostic glamour

- possibly something we won't see again in the series, since this seems like a high risk/desperation move (witches are so valuable and so exposed by their mark)

- riffing off that last thought: there must be a whole class of people throughout Earwa who missed being snatched up by schools when they were young, but they can still see the onta--these people would be invaluable as spies!  every great faction has to have some!

- if we do see it again, who will be unmasked? perhaps someone we already think is marked? (click to show/hide)Cleric wasn't Cleric, Mimara takes a wrong turn in the maze, jogs back to be with Akka, he's been *replaced*
- could be Kellhus' dunyain/neuropuncture/skin spy mess?  The passage reads so much like a skin spy substitution, I gotta think Bakker was trying to communicate that vibe.  Kellhus is worse than the Consluts to Psatma.

- chorae: either it is as the priestesses think in the above passage (Eleva is replaced after the touching a chorae) OR Eleva was handling a fake chorae--which got me thinking, there must be a lot of those around.  If you don't have the ability to discern a fake one from a real tear of god, you could be totally tricked into buying one at a bargain rate in the streets of Momen.

 - the whole thing is a set up--Eleva is replaced, but not by a Kellhus operative.  Eleva replaced to condense Psatma's power.  Who stands to gain from this?

Wilshire:
It does seem like a big gamble. The Few may be limited, but those who can see the Onta might not necessarily be. Sending a Witch into such a dangerous scenario seems like a terrible idea.. I wonder what the reward would have been? Maybe pointing to Kellhus knowing the Gods truly hunt him

Fake chorae would have little use. Schoolmen can 'feel' them, so they wouldn't be tricked. The fair market value of a chorae is so immense that I feel like most people wouldn't be duped into buying them. Apparently the marriage of Heirs is the only transaction that might warrant an exchange or purchase of the Trinkets. Non-Great Names will almost never have one unless it was inherited. (I have my own issues with that apparent truth given to use near the beginning, but that's off topic :P).

That is not to say the one she saw the Witch touch wasn't a fake, just that there probably aren't many of them, and more probably one was made specifically for the purpose of securing the Witch-Spy. After all, if it was take, who knows how many months they were infiltrated before she was exposed.

Cüréthañ:
Kellhus would certainly spend a witch in this way if her getting caught served a contingent purpose.
Couple of examples; If she is caught then it helps prompt the cult to do X, or her capture provides deeper cover for a second spy using different covert techniques (e.g. mundane spy, retrofitted skinspy).

mrganondorf:

--- Quote from: Cüréthañ on April 02, 2014, 03:37:57 am ---Kellhus would certainly spend a witch in this way if her getting caught served a contingent purpose.
Couple of examples; If she is caught then it helps prompt the cult to do X, or her capture provides deeper cover for a second spy using different covert techniques (e.g. mundane spy, retrofitted skinspy).

--- End quote ---

*whistle*

I like it, but it's so expensive.  I don't know that a second spy would escape Psatma either.  She seems to know about Meppa and can penetrate mundane minds too.

I bet your right about the other possibility--Kellhus deliberately provoking Yatwer.  Plays into his plan somehow.

Wilshire:
Makes some since, the possiblity is there, but there just aren't many schoolman, and even fewer of the Swayali. Considering Kellhus took very nearly every single ranking sorcerer with im, I have trouble beliving he could so easily 'spend' one like this, even if he didn't expect her to get caught.

 I guess it all depends on how much about the Gods, specifically Yatwer, he knows/expects/guesses. Perhaps he would waste 10 or even 100 schoolmen to know more about the Diety that hunts him.

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