u/saintmagician

Towards the end of TFoB, we see a transition of power from one Sovran to another. The spy tells us that there are private creches on hundreds of planets.

>When the Epikainot destroyed the first world and the voice of the Sovran went silent, the creche on this world opened, and the Sovran emerged. The librarians here became the librarians that had been. The empire shifted its attention a few degrees, and all carried on as it had.

What exactly is the 'voice' of the Sovran? I guess it's the system by which the Sovran issues her commands, which get passed librarian to librarian (via reports in the archival system?).

When Epikainot was destroyed, this 'voice' went silent, which triggered a daughter to transform into the new Sovran.

If there are private caches all over the empire, how did this result in only a single new Sovran? Is it a race where as soon as one daughter transforms, her voice reaches every other private creche and prevents other daughters from transforming?

It sounds like the process was fast and seamless: Sovren on old world goes silent, Sovren on this world emerges.

Towards the end of the book, Dafyd wonders what would happen if there was a second Sovren. But why stop at two?

If the lack of a signal ("the voice of the Sovran went silent") causes daughters to transform, and this happens quickly, could a temporary disruption to the Carryx comms network cause every single private creche to cough up a new Sovren?

I've read some previous threads on this topic and I have two questions:

1. People say that flights booked through the amex portal can be cancelled within 24 hours. I looked at the Fare Rules and the general T&C (https://www.americanexpress.com/au/travel/terms-and-conditions/) and I can't find anything about this rule. The only website I can find that mentions this rule seems to be for US amex (https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/travel/faq/travel-documents-payments/)

2. If I book a flight that is already fully refundable, and I cancel, do I still get the travel credit back? Just wondering if this trick only works if you cancel as part of the 24-hour cancellation period that Amex gives you. If I book a fully refundable business class flight, and then cancel after a week, would that still work?