tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-540840190634112721.post4985447349497294816..comments2024-01-19T08:23:25.128-05:00Comments on thrall (a. regina cantatis): A Peek Beneath the Duct Tape: Sleepwalkers, Chapter 5thrallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01228794853493421326noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-540840190634112721.post-47075089192153631822013-08-01T06:59:10.755-04:002013-08-01T06:59:10.755-04:00I hope I didn't offend you, and I'm sorry ...I hope I didn't offend you, and I'm sorry if I did. As a matter of fact, I have Asperger's too (This is the first time I've mentioned it to the EMC community), so I know Aspies can feel emotions just as strongly as neurotypicals.<br /><br />What I meant in my blog entry was that I took Asperger's as a *starting point* for Wizard's state of mind. I didn't mean to imply that she's functioning exactly like an Aspie would. She has some of the symptoms, but some of her neurological changes are nothing like what Asperger's produces.<br /><br />Thanks for giving me the chance to clarify that. I would never want anyone to feel like I was stereotyping or mischaracterizing them.thrallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01228794853493421326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-540840190634112721.post-76901139286138473482013-07-31T22:46:03.505-04:002013-07-31T22:46:03.505-04:00"but my frame of reference for Wizard as a Le..."but my frame of reference for Wizard as a Level Two was Asperger's Syndrome. She still knows what emotions are, but she doesn't get them. Her world has been reduced to black and white, correct and incorrect. It's all binary, computer-like."<br /><br />:S<br /><br />Um. Well. How to put this. ...I have Asperger's, and you've missed the mark a little here. We do still get strong emotions, just not necessarily from the same things. What we don't "get" is <i>other people's reasons</i> for feeling those same emotions.magic9mushroomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17258030737562545216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-540840190634112721.post-60046854422897291372013-07-29T07:01:31.816-04:002013-07-29T07:01:31.816-04:00Thanks, Lygah! I'm always glad to see a lurker...Thanks, Lygah! I'm always glad to see a lurker de-lurk, and I'm glad you appreciated that passage.thrallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01228794853493421326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-540840190634112721.post-24628715520823415502013-07-29T01:32:22.020-04:002013-07-29T01:32:22.020-04:00Long time reader, first time commenter.
I just h...Long time reader, first time commenter.<br /><br /> I just had to say that for me Wizards imprinting blew Shara's out of the water for impact. With Shara I was intrigued at how far Paolo would go. With Wizard it was a sense of horror to read, even knowing Shara was controlled, I despised her for what she did.<br /><br />I can not think of any "erotica" that has given me that feeling before, so I must thank you.Lygahnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-540840190634112721.post-21931159080714621462013-07-28T20:47:32.436-04:002013-07-28T20:47:32.436-04:00I know I've set up a pretty detailed system, s...I know I've set up a pretty detailed system, so I don't mind laying it out in shorthand form; but you'll find full explanations of how the levels work in Chapters 1 and 2. Reread the opening scene with the Peacekeeper private, where I describe the meaning behind her tattoo; and reread the bits in Chapter 2 where Paolo muses about what will happen when he imprints Shara.<br /><br />Anyway, here it is in a nutshell: the imprintee is always subservient to the imprinter. That's why Hawthorne, being free, turned Paolo into a Zero; why he turned Shara a One; and why she turned Wizard into a Two. It's not the interaction between imprinter and imprintee that makes the difference; rather it's the imprintee's subconscious understanding of how far down in the chain s/he is from the free person who started that chain. They sense the hierarchy.thrallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01228794853493421326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-540840190634112721.post-8665552067139592282013-07-28T20:06:14.747-04:002013-07-28T20:06:14.747-04:00Thank you so much for the answer :).
Hate to bug ...Thank you so much for the answer :).<br /><br />Hate to bug :p but that's also *another* question, what exactly determines what level a sleepwalker becomes? <br /><br />You mentioned a level 1 imprinting someone would make a level 2 (Shara to Wizard) *but* what goes on there? <br /><br />There didn't seem to be *too* much of a contrast between Wizard and Shara's imprintings but I'm guessing it's in the interaction between the imprinter and the victim? <br /><br />Uzobononoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-540840190634112721.post-51923511285095085062013-07-28T19:58:50.977-04:002013-07-28T19:58:50.977-04:001. Hawthorne puts on a good front, but she's d...1. Hawthorne puts on a good front, but she's definitely not omnipotent. ;-)<br /><br />2. Chips were an existing technology before the Dreamer Project ever got started. By themselves, they're neither good nor bad; they just store data (which is why Paul and Shara had commercial-grade chips before they were ever captured). Chips aren't powerful enough to override a person's will, but Hawthorne can use them to control sleepwalkers because sleepwalkers <i>have</i> no wills. She and her more tech-oriented allies created chips that could serve as mental pacemakers, motivating catatonic sleepwalkers to serve...which actually raises an important plot point: can you program a sleepwalker to serve someone other than Hawthorne?<br /><br />3. Don't forget what Hawthorne said in Chapter 1 about needing <i>three</i> ingredients to make a sleepwalker. There's Dreamer, plus the chip, plus and imprinter.thrallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01228794853493421326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-540840190634112721.post-88924506864248452882013-07-28T17:30:32.035-04:002013-07-28T17:30:32.035-04:00A mention!
I do have a *bit* of an addendum to m...A mention! <br /><br />I do have a *bit* of an addendum to my musings about the story and that's Hawthorne. <br /><br />I *really* dislike omnipotent villains for the most part, I feel that if they *are* omnipotent, they've earned that somehow. <br /><br />At least from Hawthorne's brief scene and from *others* description of her, she seems like an opportunist at best but not at all someone *worthy* to be worshipped at all (well hence the mc then :p).<br /><br />I guess what it boils down to for me is, I don't know her...soft spot or weakness, whether it's hubris or just plain ignorance (she *is* a soldier so definitely *not* smarter than Paul) hasn't been hinted at yet. <br /><br />Also, it just dawned on me that Dreamer *isn't* the problem per se, it's the cause ya, but it seems that the chip in the sleepwalkers is the main culprit in all of this.<br /><br />So the question being...who's putting these chips into people..?Uzobononoreply@blogger.com