Wow, I go to work and my comment sparks a huge debate.
Well it's a good healthy debate.
Oh, I would point out that the success of Bosch's ETAK project is... questionable at best. Certainly he caused something, but god (Volition) only knows what it actually was.
ETAK might not be effective, but as the prose section tells us, those with the natural ability to sense Shivan activity (sensitives) would probably be able to communicate to a much greater degree. The Vishnans were clearly able to communicate to the Terrans through people like Samuel Bei. It's a distinct possibility that the Shivans have the same ability, but choose not to use it.
Aye, perhaps it is the Vishnans influencing the Ubuntu, but that, in my opinion, is even more reason to purge that government. Humanity should be free to choose and if needs be carve it's own path, not forced by some wishy-washy mystical xenos.
You're forgetting the fact that as far as we know, the only force capable of opposing the Shivans on equal terms are the Vishnans. Wouldn't it be wise to seek the protection of this race, instead of shooting everything that we don't understand?
And if the Vishnans are psychic beings (And all the proof suggests this) then that's even less reason for them to be allowed to get away with influencing us. Where do you demark the line from 'guidance' to outright control?
Yeah, it's true that while AoA paints the Vishnans as being a benevolent race, we can't forget the possibility that they too can be destructive... After all, they have in the past shown no will to help the Terrans and Vasudans, allowing both of their planets to be exterminated (in the alternate universe) and allowing the Shivans to take billions of lives. It's possible the Vishnans have some ulterior motive, or are bound by the rules of the shattered triumvirate between the Shivans, Vishnans and Brahmans, or something like that. I hope this all gets explained in BP3....
And considering how AoA managed to surprise me several times during my first playthrough, I'd say nothing in WiH is a given, except the high quality.
Yeah, the Elders
could just be a bunch of mad old men on acid, but I really doubt that.
I still think we don't have enough information available to jump to conclusions. On some parts we hardly have enough to make an educated guess, so saying something is like that for sure seems pretty premature for me.
The BP team are dropping hints. Some may well be red-herrings, but I really do think a lot of them are true.
Besides, if there is contact between the Elders and the Vishnans, I think you might mistake the cause and the effect here. You seem to think that the UEF is like it is, because of the Vishnans influence. I think it is more likely that the Vishnans are interested in the UEF, because it's the way it is, and became that way by itself.
Worth reading:
Neither Khonsu II nor Aken Bosch (who first replicated this natural communication ability in artificial form via Project ETAK) were aware that other sensitives had played, or would soon play, a critical role in Terran-Vasudan history. Two already mentioned here were Samuel Bei and his father. Another, lesser known, was the pilot who destroyed the Lucifer, who received not only a sense of the purpose of the Shivans, but in fact later reported full-length audiovisual hallucinations of an Ancient narrating the rise and fall of their empire at the hands of the Shivans. Although this pilot was trapped in Sol, and so never came into contact with Project Nagari, he was debriefed extensively. These reported visions were discovered to align perfectly with the myths and legends that the pilot’s Vasudan comrades (also trapped after the node collapse) remembered about the ancient race that had once visited Vasuda Prime.
It is not entirely possible to confirm the notion that this pilot’s visions served as one of the focal points of the Ubuntu Party’s rise to power.
Besides, if they were in such close communications with Humans before, how could they learn so much (including the full meaning of time to us) from Samuel Bei? Shouldn't they have picked up all those things form the Elders, if they were in their heads before?
Iunno.
