u/dan_dirik

https://www.reddit.com/user/LittleBrownBookGroup/comments/1smypaa/whats_next_from_james_s_a_corey/om6wsrp/

I want more Carryx. MORE!

(Obviously, this is pure speculation, and there’s a good chance a revelation in the third book will completely change how we view them. This is just a fun thought experiment.)

The Deathless are an artificial species, originally created to preserve the existence of organic intelligence in a dying world.

The species that created them died out, along with all organic life on their planet, but the Deathless kept evolving within the parameters of their original directives. Eventually, it reached the stars to continue its purpose with other planets.

Over time, the Deathless came to the conclusion that the only way to guarantee the preservation of organic life was to ensure its own continued existence. Hence the lichen like nature.

It also determined that the only way to do that was to integrate itself into the societies it was trying to preserve. Cause no one would accept a machine race showing up and saying "Hi, we’re going to protect you, but we need to take over some of you in the process".

So it developed covert and manipulative methods to shape these societies in ways that would make them accept the Deathless. This may be why saving the teachers was such a priority for the Livesuit soldier on the planet "World".

It fights against the Carryx even though the Carryx are, in a sense, doing something similar, because there is a non-zero chance that the Carryx will eventually collapse.

This theory assumes that growing life in lamb sacks and preserving organisms in vats goes against the Deathless' original directives.

Seeing /u/gingerreckoning's drawing of four legged Sinen made me realize how little we are told about them. It could be that they are bipedal and the humans never think about it because they themselves are bipedal. But the point stands that they are quite mysterious, both to the reader and the POV characters. I believe this is on purpose. I believe they will have an important role in the next book.

What we know so far:

• The Sinen are the middle management, at least amongst the moieties that can live in similar gravity and atmosphere as the humans. They understand Carryx better than any other moiety. They are good at understanding the other moieties too. This indicates advanced empathy and intelligence (I mean Vaudai would disagree but emotional intelligence is a thing). We know they use their tendrils while communicating, but it is possible the tendrils also play a role in "sensing" others' intentions (this could be the reason why Third Gardener knew to follow Jessyn).
• Carryx like it when their animals act in a way that Carryx society expects them to act. The Sinen are very good at this. Ekur-Tkalal (who exibits intense disdain towards the animals) goes out of its way to touch Dafyd when Dafyd emulates the Carryx body language. This seems to be the way to gain the Carryx's trust, but potentially can be a tool for manipulating the Carryx as well. After all, the Carryx are arrogant enough to think these puny animals cannot possibly pose any serious threat against the might of the Sovran's will.
• The communication lines of Carryx are fragile. The Carryx are interested in the grand scheme of things, little details can get lost along the way. We see Dafyd omitting information and getting away with it. The Sinen play very important role in this communication flow.
• We never see them being cruel towards the humans. They just do their jobs. As far as project managers go, they are very polite. I've seen way worse overseers in real life.
• We know once they are useless, a moiety gets culled. If there's any other moiety that's better than the Sinen at what Sinen do, Sinen will cease to exist. This alone is a reason to withhold information.

Convergence is an important theme in the books. The Deep Lothark dream of Carryx's downfall. Humans do it. Why not the Sinen? They are all in this together.

I don't believe we'll get a Grand Sinen Conspiracy this late in the series. But I think the Sinen will be an imporant ally to Dafyd down the line.

Potential arguments against this theory:

• It's simply too risky to sabotage Carryx, one slip means your entire species is donezo.

• The Sinen could be incapable of betrayal, or they might be naturally inclined towards obedience because of the way they evolved or something.

I've only read the books once, so there are certainly some things that I am missing.

What do y'all think?