Posted by u/Solitae8 on July 25th 2022

Greetings, miracles and monsters! Today we’re covering most of Act 2, in which time gets a little messy, Harrow nearly dies multiple times, and we learn all about Resurrection Beasts.

For clarity’s sake, when I’m referring to Ortus the First (the Lyctor, Saint of Duty), I’m going to use Saint of Duty or Duty, and for Ortus Nigenad (Harrow’s cavalier), I will use Ortus.

Chapter 12 - Six months before the Emperor’s murder

We get a bit of a time jump, and we find out that Harrow has killed twelve planets in that time with guidance from Mercymorn. While Harrow wears a rapier now at God’s request, she uses her two-hander for killing planets. After a strike at the planet and a perfect thanergy cascade, Harrow drags a projection of herself into the River and hunts the planet’s soul which is at this point a Minor Beast and nothing like a true Resurrection Beast yet. With Mercymorn observing from the bank of the River, Harrow kills the pseudo-Beast then returns to her body, which is suffering from hypothermia. The Body is there waiting for her as she always is after Harrow kills a planet. Mercy acknowledges that Harrow is getting faster at killing planets that it’s not good enough because there is no dead cavalier to keep Harrow’s body going when she’s in the River, and this causes her necromancy and her ability to keep her body functioning to fall apart when she projects.

Chapter 13

Harrow visits Ianthe in her quarters on the Mithraeum, which are apparently ornately decorated and include many nude paintings of the previous Lyctor, Cyrus, and his cavalier, Valancy. Ianthe has taken to wearing Valancy’s old clothes which do not fit her or suit her at all. We also discover that Ianthe’s arm still isn’t working properly, and Harrow, being Harrow, suggests that she cut it off and let it regrow, but apparently God says it would just heal as a stump if Ianthe cut it off. They argue with Ianthe rejecting all the possible fixes: Ianthe can’t make it because she’ll leave something out and it won’t be perfect; she (wisely) doesn’t want Mercymorn messing around with her body; and God keeps encouraging her to heal it herself. All of this leads up to Ianthe asking Harrow to fix her arm, which Harrow refuses, saying she couldn’t do it perfectly and that Ianthe is asking for something she can’t give.

Chapter 14

We find out more about the Mithraeum’s layout and location: forty-billion light years from Dominicus. It is full of bones and bodies, and solely inhabited by God and the Lyctors with no servants. God’s quarters lie at the center of it, and Harrow has only ever seen his sitting room. The rest of his chambers are described as “a forbidden tomb.” Harrow is often summoned to his sitting room for Tea Time with Teacher. God gives her tea and biscuits, and they sit silently watching the asteroids rather than talking as God claims they will. This time, however, God introduces her to the idea of Blood of Eden (BOE), saying that they are the ones who launched the missiles into the ships, and he also thinks that they are behind Cytherea going to Canaan House to lure him there.

God then turns the conversation to Harrow’s family. Turns out, he knows her parents are dead which distresses Harrow since that’s supposed to be a big secret. He asks her how she was conceived, and she tells him, with a little nudging, about her parents killing two hundred children and using the thanergy bloom to conceive Harrow and make sure that she is a necromancer. God is blown away by this and explains to Harrow that conceptually her parents performed a kind of resurrection which is nearly impossible to do. “You are a walking miracle. A unique theorem. A natural wonder.” Rather than being angry about what her parents have done, God says he will take the crime upon himself and mourn the dead children. When she begs him not to tell anyone, he reacts strongly to this and says that no one has the right to know or to blame her.

When they briefly return to the topic of BOE, we get this quote that always stands out to me:

“Harrow, if you bother to remember anything from my ramblings, please remember this: once you turn your back on something, you have no more right to act as though you own it." At the time, this had made perfect sense to you.

Chapter 15

We learn that the Body stays close to Harrow during these months, and that Harrow only dreams of the Body. She dreams of kneeling by her bed in Drearburh, talking with the Body about the things she is afraid of. Fear of death, fear of failure. The Body tells Harrow, “I died, once ... no, twice.” Harrow also worries about her eyes and cannot remember if she has Ortus’s eyes. When she asks the Body, the Body says, “She asked me not to tell you.” And then Harrow wakes up screaming and looks in the mirror. She cannot recall a difference in her eyes which both relieves and frightens her.

Chapter 16

Harrow creates a new cipher and mourns the loss of her Canaan House diary which Ianthe says was burned on Harrow’s own orders. Harrow starts keeping records of the people around her starting with Ianthe:

Ianthe (whilom Tridentarius) the First

Unworthy of trust. Suspects me mad.

Most of this relates to Harrow thinking Cytherea has been moved and that there are noises coming from the chamber where her corpse is. Ianthe dismisses the idea of hearing noises with a “No, I don’t, crazycakes.” Also Ianthe’s eyes have not turned lilac since the River, but apparently Harrow does not include this in her notes.

There is a bit more detail on Augustine:

Augustine (whilom Quinque) the First, Saint of Patience (why?)

Killed own sibling.

Poor relationship with Mercymorn.

Favours Ianthe.

Spirit Magician.

Harrow learns that Augustine’s cavalier was his brother Alfred, and that Augustine considered Alfred his other half. She notes that nothing seems to touch him and even describes him as “human plex”. She also observes a confrontation between Augustine and Mercymorn where he accuses her of being up to old tricks and threatens to kill her. He also tells Mercy to stop messing with Cytherea’s body and to stop playing this dangerous game, which she refuses. Ultimately he calls her unnecessary and says she shouldn’t set herself up to be John’s replacement A.L. When he leaves, Mercy yells after him that she hasn’t touched Cytherea.

Harrow also watches Augustine train Ianthe with the sword where they fight about Ianthe not doing it right. When she talks to Ianthe later about why she fawns over Augustine, Ianthe tells her that they are two injured puppies surrounded by wolves.

Augustine gives both of them lessons about the Resurrection Beasts, and over the course of them, we find out that Augustine created the barriers that contain the River and that he follows energy trails back to their source. We get lots of details on RBs and revenants and learn that RBs have external actors called Heralds. Their fight with Number Seven will be in the River, with the Lyctors projecting themselves while the cavalier protects the body. Once the RB is defeated, it can be forced down into the abyss. (That they hope it can’t return from.) During this, God is described as a “man-shaped eclipse”.

Chapter 17

We continue with Harrow’s notes:

Mercymorn (whilom???) the First, Saint of Joy (Irony?)

Not forthcoming.

Poor relationship with Augustine.

Contentious cavalier.

Anatomist.

Mercy gets annoyed at Harrow for asking for information, and when she asks about Cristabel, it infuriates Mercy. Augustine gives a little information on her, including that she founded the Eighth House. He also calls Cristabel a total delight. God says that he named the saints to reflect their cavaliers, thus “Joy” refers to Cristabel and not Mercy. Harrow discovers that Mercy’s ability with anatomy comes from rote memorization over the last myriad. When she asks Augustine why he hasn’t done the same, he explains he doesn’t see the point and that it has a very narrow application: killing other Lyctors.

On the third original Lyctor, there is only one note.

Ortus??? (Whilom???) the First, Saint of Duty

Wants me dead.

Chapter 18

Third person.

Ortus Nigenad and Magnus tend to the body of Captain Deuteros (Second House necromancer) who was found shot eight times, but killed by the first shot which did massive trauma to her heart. Abigail and Harrow investigate and find an image of the bullet in a book. It apparently comes from a carbine rifle, which can only be fired six times before it needs to be reloaded. With Deuteros already dead, why reload? Marta Dyas (Second House cavalier) keeps saying “I want to know”, but never finishes what she’s saying because Abigail asks questions about what happened. Deuteros was shot while the pair were doing a trial, and Dyas did not hear any shots. The trial just stopped, and when Dyas entered the other room, she found Deuteros dead. She also saw the Sleeper at the end of the corridor in an orange haz suit with a breathing apparatus. Dyas followed and saw the Sleeper climb into her coffin, at which point she attacked the coffin but could do no damage to it. Abigail and Harrow are completely surprised that this did not rouse the Sleeper.

Ortus starts quoting the Noniad, and Dyas focuses on Harrow to ask “Is this really how it happens? You know of no hope for her?” Harrow says Deuteros was shot eight times, so no, but Dyas says that’s not what she meant. Before they can get further into that conversation, Ortus interrupts them, and Harrow regrets not making him take a vow of silence. (“But only a very obedient idiot of a cavalier would have stuck to that.”) We end with Dyas telling them that there is a standard issue infantry sword in the coffin, a two-hander.

Chapter 19 - Ten months before the Emperor’s murder

Second person

We get bounced back in time a bit to learn about the Saint of Duty’s first attempt to kill Harrow. He stabs her from behind while she’s eating in the kitchen. There is lots of blood and guts and bones while they fight, and he does serious damage to Harrow who doesn’t run because she’s trying to figure out if this is a hallucination. Eventually he throws his spear, which is his offhand, through the bones she’s using to protect herself and spears her through her large intestine. Just as Harrow’s vision is going black, Mercy shows up and saves her. Mercy scolds Duty, saying that she has to stop him or God will be upset. Mercy heals Harrow and releases a lot of good hormones for Harrow. While she’s doing this, she tells Duty he could do it more cleanly by dropping her out of an airlock.

Duty demands Harrow’s sword, but Mercy refuses and tells him to leave the baby alone. She also tells him to try at night the next time so she won’t have to intervene. After he leaves, Harrow asks, “But why does Ortus the First want me dead?” and Mercy says “Who?”

Chapter 20

The Saint of Duty tries to kill Harrow fourteen times in the following months, and she still doesn’t know why. She’s usually saved by the other Lyctors, and once by Ianthe, who wrapped her up in fat and rolled her down the hallway. God also saves her once and heals her, during which he tells Duty that his attempts are ham-fisted and generally berates him for doing it badly. Harrow asks God why he does not put a stop to it, and God tells her that the Saint of Duty made a pact “with an authority I have no power to gainsay”. After this, he asks Harrow to wear a rapier just in case, and he informs her that he doesn’t think she misapprehended the process. God tells her that the only time he saw anyone get it really wrong was Anastasia and Samael.

This leads to them talking about the body and the Tomb while the Body listens to them from in front of the plex window. Harrow asks who God buried in the tomb, and he says a monster. “From the glare of the plex window, beside some perfectly ordinary white twill curtains, the buried monster turned herself so that she was lit in the light of the undead stars.” God then quotes from the poem Annabel Lee, and Harrow is still thinking of it when she falls asleep in the Body’s arms.

And we have one final note:

The Emperor of the Nine Houses, The Prince Undying (whilom??? John???)

Who was A.L.?

Bonus link: Full text of Annabel Lee

Questions

1. What is your reaction to Harrow killing a planet? What do you think of the Lyctors going out to actively kill planets at God’s direction? How does this impact your view of the Empire?

2. How do you think Ianthe might fix her arm? Do you agree with Harrow that it’s a psychological issue?

3. Who is moving Cytherea’s body?

4. Do you think Harrow’s parents knew they were committing a kind of resurrection? What might be the unintended consequences of that? Why do you think God reassured Harrow so strongly that no one else needs to know?

5. Why is the Saint of Duty trying to kill Harrow?

6. Who was A.L?

SPOILERS BELIOW

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Re-read Questions

1. What do you think about Ianthe asking Harrow to fix her arm? Is she reaching for more intimacy with her? Harrow says she’s a little disgusted that Ianthe asked, and also says Ianthe is asking for something she can’t give. What do you think of all the layers in this conversation, especially considering the eventual resolution of this arc?

2. What do you think about John’s relationship with Harrow? Why is he so fond of her? Why won’t he protect her? Why did he order the Saint of Duty to kill her since John seems quite fond of Harrow himself?

3. What old tricks is Mercymorn up to that Augustine is so angry about? What is this dangerous game? Do you think it has to do with BOE? Is Augustine right that the only application of her anatomy skills is killing other Lyctors? Or is this cover for her training for her later attack?

4. What’s going on with the line “At the time, this had made perfect sense to you”? When is this being told to Harrow? Is there a point at which it doesn’t make perfect sense?

5. Which “she” does the Body mean when she says “She asked me not to tell you”? The Harrow that wrote the letters? Gideon? What does this imply about previous interactions?

6. What do you think is going on with Anastasia? Is Anastasia still alive? What state would she be in if God killed Samael part way through the Lyctor process?

7. What does the poem Annabel Lee tell us about the nature of A.L.? Are there any lines that jump out at you as relevant?

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END OF SPOILERS

Link to full discussion on Reddit with Comments