Peace at last.
And what a short-lived peace it was. Just 26 years went by between Chapter Five of
After Everything and the first Interlude of
Faith in Chaos.
I can't remember if that line about the 100 cycles before was in the original.
It was there the whole time. Back in 2018, the narration referring to "waiting a hundred eternities" was a direct reference to some flavor text in Stellaris that claimed the
End of the Cycle had always been waiting for the player to arrive.
Now, in the aftermath of
Faith in Chaos and
The Stormbreakers, that line has taken on new meaning.
Were there any factions that disagreed with a hereditary monarchy and a government with the Church in control? Partoga was an elective monarchy - was what Queen Kendra II did even legal?
Converting Partoga into a hereditary monarchy would have been an unpopular move. Queen Kendra II had enough of the National Assembly in her pocket to pull off the move, and then make it legal retroactively. But the general populace probably would have protested if she had not been murdered. Since Partoga is an authoritarian state, popular distain for the change would not have mattered.
I said "would not have mattered." By killing off the Queen in a way that he could be tied to, Manaaki turned most average citizens against him and into the arms of the Monarchist faction.
Why was Mira's hair white after her deal with the End of the Cycle? And did it turn silver again after she was exhausted?
The sudden appearance change was a reference to XCOM2. When a soldier becomes Gifted in that game, their customization options are forcibily changed to "white hair, purple eyes" to signify the new status. Over the course of the Stormbreaker series, I made it a rule that hair color would not change, but a persons eyes would always shift to purple, violet, or indigo when they became Gifted. Once their powers were exhausted, their eyes would turn grey.
How much knowledge of their ultimate fate did the End of the Cycle have? And, if they knew about their death occurring before Paradox's, why didn't they try to fight it?
In
All Our Sins Remembered, the narration explicitly refers to the
End of The Cycle as omniscient. It knows everything, which means it knew about things like The Battle at the End of Time and the War in Heaven far in advance.*
The
End of the Cycle knew its part to play in the Galaxy was ending, and that its own vengeful pursuit of Akira was only a part of that path.
*Whether or not Akira successfully hoodwinked it at the end of that book is up to the reader.
Why couldn't the other three Shroud-Beings overpower Manaaki and the Eater of Worlds and escape? Why is there such a great power differential?
That power differential was caused by the Eater of Worlds being bound to Manaaki. The Instrument, Whisperer, and Composer would have had to fight the Eater to break free. Once Manaaki exhausted himself, all four Shroud-Beings were able to break loose simultaneously.
How did Manaaki find out about the Shroud and its inhabitants, anyway? Heck, how did he find out how to use his powers? Trial and error? How long did he have them?
Manaaki had access to his Gift for decades before the start of the story, keeping it a closely guarded secret. His knowledge of Psionics was drawn mostly from Levakian records that survived the Second Hyperspace War. (The Mangaia, Levakia's capital city, was left in ruin during the war, but not totally destroyed)
Why didn't Manaaki attempt to make Mira his apprentice to begin with, making her reliant on him and removing a potential enemy? It would've been the ultimate revenge... was there just not time?
I think the enmity between Mihaka and Ranginui families was so strong at this point that Manaaki would have been confronted by members of his own clan if he attempted to take Mira under his wing. Plus, he would have detected her Psionic Sensitivity while Mira was young. Queen Kendra II would still be alive until Mira was a teen, making her inaccessible anyway.
