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Passover seder at UC Berkeley’s Gaza solidarity encampment (via twitter)

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Spoilers for the most recent episode (3x01)

Something I ponder quietly at times during certain scenes and especially at the end of the most recent episode:

Why did the wizards of the Kehmsarazan Empire need to create a completely sterile desert for their seat of power? What about nature itself is a threat to them? They built a fortress for magic and kept nature out.

I increasingly pair that with:

What has happened to all of the witches? Who have been diminishing in number just as the Citadel has been establishing new depths or magic?

And now that we know Eursulon is one of many waygated spirits:

Why is the Kehmsarazan Empire hostile to spirits?

There are the expected physical wars of an empire, but this Empire seems to really be about claiming all magic by removing all other magical parties from the map (witches, spirits, the sorcerors of Goathmai).

There’s also the constraint the Citadel has taught their own wizards to limit the number of times they write any spell down, and an unnecessary practice they all seem to be taught for casting? The indicative reflexive, from Soft’s research.

And then there’s Stone’s letter and her accusations that the Wizard Sleep committed “treason against magic itself”.

Of the three metaphysical axioms put forward to the mages of this Citadel, the Axiom of Interpolation, the Axiom of Mediation, and the Axiom of Proliferation, this third axiom does not describe any actual truth of the lingua arcana, nor does it more broadly describe any facet of the greater binding. Rather, this axiom is pure intellectual technology that serves a political purpose within the Citadel. Given as magical writ for the expedition of a Citadel convenience, the ramifications of this being made magical law sully every instance of the lingua arcana that it touches. Its danger to the future of wizardry, when the convenience of its acceptance has long since passed, the ripples of its effect on magic itself will still be felt. Should the Archmagi see it in their wisdom to reverse my dismissal, I will be happy to walk them through how I discovered this stain on the face of magic itself. Good day. The wizard Chandri.

Monopolizing magic seems to be the end goal of everything. Possibly destroying magic altogether.

And now the Sword of the Citadel has sent Suvi into a witch’s stronghold to do… something. It sounds like the magic box either activates and leaves something there. Or captures something and brings it back.

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The use of the Geas spell was WILD ooooo I love how badweirdwrong that felt I love how far Suvi is willing to go for Steel and the Citadel I love the fact that she won't even remember that she's essentially going behind Ame's back to do this secret mission this is so MESSY and I'm OBSESSED

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A reminder, once again, that Grandma Wren warned Ame that for Steel, the Citadel comes first

And a second reminder that people can do terrible things if they believe in a cause. They will make sacrifices, of themselves and of others, if they think the goal is worth it and consider that price just and honorable, regardless of who is paying

"...at any cost."

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"AT ANY COST" ????????

My distrust of Steel has been super vindicated ohhoHO man.

Like, on the surface it SEEMS that everything is on the up and up. Steel is telling Suvi exactly how the plan will work. She's recording their conversation. She's praising Suvi by calling her "brilliant" over and over.

But that's what makes the Geas even more sinister, imo. Not only does Suvi not have the option of saying "no" -- but it's arguably one of the worst things that could be done to her specifically. Yes, Steel is laying out the plan step-by-step. But she's not telling Suvi exactly what hiding this music box is supposed to do. She left that very crucial detail out.

Aabria has said before that Suvi can handle just about anything as long as she has all the information. In this very episode, as Suvi struggles to remember the compulsion being cast on her, she says: "I know, and that makes it okay" before surrendering.

But she doesn't know, does she? Not really -- not the knowing that truly matters. It was stolen from her. Aabria literally describes the whole process as "an obliteration of agency and understanding." And worst of all, Steel tells Suvi she must follow the orders she'll have no memory of receiving "at any cost".

Not only does Suvi risk running afoul of the witches, she also may be harmed by the very spell her beloved guardian put on her. There is a chance, however slight, that Suvi could die.

And she would die without truly understanding why.

I have no doubt that Steel loves Suvi deeply. But she is, first and foremost, the Sword of the Citadel. Before Steel and Suvi are mother and daughter, they are soldier and commander.

"You will do this. And it will work."

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The words "at any cost" really changed how I felt about that compulsion. Like yes, you asked for consent, but??? THERE COULD BE A LOT OF COST

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"brilliant minds find justifications for things"

is a line that goes so hard

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It’s so interesting and tragic that it is the violation of her mind- the memory wiping, the compulsion, the enchantment- that Suvi wants to (but chooses not to) resist. The plan is incredibly risky, insanely dangerous, and could easily result in Suvi’s violent death (or worse) at the hands of the most powerful witches in the world of it were to be found out by their divinations, but that does not bother Suvi. Laying down her life, her body, putting herself in harm’s way for the Empire, it comes naturally to her now. She has risked herself before and she will do it again. But her mind, her thoughts, her calculations, this is something most sacred to her, the thing she prides herself on. It’s what connects her to her parents, it’s what proves that she is a Citadel Wizard by merit rather than name. I really think that losing herself, losing a piece of her mind in this way, to memory loss, to compulsion, is the only thing (besides maybe Ame and Eursulon) that she finds hard to give up to the Imperium. So she resists, pulls back a slight bit, but not enough to be caught disobeying. And I wonder how she will feel about this event if she finds out prior to the planned explanation with Steel, like if young Yulia calls back to explain she sent a letter that Suvi has no recollection of requesting

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Eursulon surrounded by family 🥺🥺🥺🥺 he hasn't had family in So long

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He had a baby crawl into his lap and fall asleep 🥺😭🥺 this is the most beautiful family scene I've ever heard I love Eursulons family so much

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After the whole geas/music box shenanigans, can I just say that I still think (and hope) that Steel isn't up to any like ~great evil plan~ that goes way beyond the pale of anything we currently understand about her. I don't think she's some secret villain; she's just Suvi! She's Suvi if Suvi continues down her current Citadel path and doesn't step off it. Steel is kind, just, well-intentioned, open-minded as any Citadel wizard can be. It's also very likely that she's condoned, participated in, or even orchestrated atrocities.

I think it's important to see that these things can coexist. That the justification machine could work on anyone. No matter how kind you think you are, any of us given the right circumstances could probably fall victim to propaganda or indoctrination. You don't have to be finger-steepleingly evil or monstrous, just a person. Especially if the system in question has granted you privilege or comfort.

Steel has thrived in the citadel/empire, and that makes it especially easy for the justification to work, for her to not question too fundamentally the place that has given her privilege and power (though interesting that wizards like Stone have fundamentally questioned the Citadel and come back to it. I can't wait to find out more about why). Plus we know almost nothing about Gaothmai or Rhuv, and I suspect there are things that further explain how the justification machine is able to succeed.

We know she is extremely committed to the Citadel at the moment, but it isn't blindly. As she says in ep. 23, "It feels like every inch I move within this Citadel, someone has a great reason to protect people from accountability, from knowledge, and from clarity. Everybody's got a vested interest in putting up walls and fog in a place whose sole purpose is to bring light to the world." I think she's at the point that many many people are at IRL where they separate an institution's or structure's stated intent from its actual impact.

I think it would be very compelling to see that Steel is what you can get when you take someone like Suvi and not have the connections to others with very different lived experiences and have many difficult conversations and do a lot of self- and world-interrogation. I think we all want that for Suvi, and I think it's quite possible that rather than being a big bad, that's an option for Steel as well.

However, I have every confidence that these people will create an extremely compelling story no matter what happens.

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I think that the Steel moment from this first episode of Arc 3 is so juicy.

There's some thread about trust and family and how it intersects with the machinery of Empire.

Sort of like, Steel is Suvi's mom, but also her boss commanding officer. And when you work with/for family, there are some lines that can get blurred. We've already seen how this has some benefit to Suvi. In the leeway she has for messing up. But now we see how it cuts the other way when Steel is using the trust she has as her mom to get Suvi to comply with her orders for her job.

Aabria played it brilliantly, sort of noting that she's having this moment where her friends have damaged her trust in them (and Steel really made a hard case to her last arc about trusting anyone but her... like trust me, trust us, maybe don't trust whoever gave you that prophecy tho... oh how sad everyone is too wrapped up in secrets to trust. >.>) and needing fundamentally someone to trust in, so in a situation where she wants to push back, she feels cornered by this need and her need for acceptance and love.

And as I've seen others note, Steel setting the scene super casually as to invoke her family tie rather than her official tie is epic manipulation tactics.

I love the way Aabria and Brennan are building this world together.

And I think it's the tension in Steel's character that Wren observed, that Steel is of the Citadel first and everything else second. Which is why she didn't refer to Steel as someone to be implicitly trusted.

And someone who belongs to an institution first, particularly an imperial institution, can be a lovely person who is nice and who loves their family and who also turns around and does fully horrific acts for their institution. Steel could have been responsible for Suvi's parents' demise and still sleep decently at night if she took those actions for the good of The Citadel/Empire.

Brennan: let's explore how the doers of evil deeds are sometimes nice people interpersonally. An excellent nuance to learn.

Yeah some bad guys are mustache twirling bastards who are rotten to their core. And some bad guys are nice normal seeming folks just doing banality of evil stuff as part of a system.

It's like in real life you have your active pursuit of bigoted behavior folks, full blown fascists, costumes and all. And then you have your folks who are perpetrating the violence of the established imperialist system on folks. And the "if they weren't guilty, why didn't they do thing that wouldn't have stopped or helped the situation" folks.

Brennan:

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Ame rn: scaring me

Suvi rn: scaring me!!!!

Eursulon: yo he with his sister

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working on character explorations for a worlds beyond number animatic - didn't get too far on Eursulon yet, need to try some more head angles and expressions, and do his glamoured self too, but I'm feeling decent about Ame and Suvi! I'll get a better shorthand designed for the girls once I start drawing them in storyboard pro. Fox is still a lil too realistic hehehe. VERY!! Excited to explore how magic is cast! Still need to sort out how I want to handle the audio for the animatic though

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putting them back in panama for this

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Saw a bottle of wine and had to stop to take a picture of the label. This is the Fox. This is his vibe. Whenever Brennan describes the Fox, this is now forever what I’ll see. That’s what his face looked like after what happened at the Citadel. This is the face of a Fox Suvi wants to yell at. I love him.

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Ahhh Grandma Ren would give Steel SUCH a talking to for this. I don’t know if their friendship could have survived Suvi’s adolescence if Steel and Ren had kept in close contact.

Imagine loving Suvi and seeing her come back to the cottage summer after summer as this little tiny child soldier who dosent understand her own boundaries and thinks obedience is love and safety. I know maybe there wouldn’t be consequences for Suvi if she had refused the mission at the North Pole, but idk I just don’t think it matters if Suvi doesn’t act like she has a choice. I feel so sad for her and I’m so sad that Steel loves Suvi so hard, but their love can’t shield either of them from what it means to be an Empire Wizard.

I wonder if Grandma Ren pulled back from Steel and the citadel after Soft and Stone died. I wonder if it was all grief or in part a way to avoid looking at the evil machine Steel was building of the citadel.