#I've spent all day in vc talking to y'all about this

[gonerbird]

Summary of my thoughts on all the New Stuff after talking about it since I woke up: The new letter is not Clancy at all to me. Sure, a few parts of it SOUND like him, I'll give you that. But what new information have we gained from this letter, really? Not the other pages, not what the Bishops wrote. Just the Clancy letter. Clancy is standing at the edge of the water, thinking about this new power that he now wields. He knows he must cross back over the water and head back to Dema to enact a plan. It is a very watered-down version of the last handwritten letter that we got from Clancy. We know from the Evidence note on the side of the most recent letter that this was a transcription. However, I believe that this is not a one-to-one transcription. They took his words and changed them to suit their own needs. They took out the parts where he was unsure of the power that he now has. His questions, his talks of his experiences- everything that humanizes him is gone, leaving only the sentiment of "I have this power. I'm stronger than them, and I am going to use it." It uses/references old gimmicks- gimmicks that the Bishops would be aware of if they knew of Clancy's letters. The doubling up of the letters to communicate something. "Their compass lies". To me, they are looking back at old letters and trying to copy the style to produce something new. Interestingly enough, it also removes any and all mention of the Banditos. Clancy can outsmart the Bishops. Clancy stands there, at the shore. Clancy's left "embers of inspiration". The difference in the lines "This new power of psychokinesis worked, and I believe it can work again." of this new letter vs. "We both believe that we can use it [psychokinesis] to change the momentum of this war." of the old letter shows this best. The Bishops have removed the Banditos from the narrative entirely, giving the citizens of Dema a singular enemy to fear. They want to point fingers at this singular entity, someone who can harness this new power. They know that people have noticed Clancy. They know that they've read his letters. This is all just more propaganda, created to discredit him. It's a smear campaign.