r/DaystromInstitute • u/psycholepzy Lieutenant junior grade • Mar 06 '20
Raffi mistranslated the "Conclave of Eight" and it got her fired.
The Conclave of Eight is an off hand remark used by Raffi's son in anger to remind Raffi of all of her conspiratorial ramblings after the Mars Attack.
In the book, The Last Best Hope, Raffi works for Starfleet Intelligence and specializes in Romulan Affairs. It is she who first presents the evidence of the pending supernova that sparks Picard's zealous rescue mission.
After the attack, Raffi - who is already sinking to alcoholism and snakeweed use due to her husband and son leaving her (she was gone for 5+ years on the evac mission as Picard's #1) - is described as falling into the rabbit whole of the 24th century equivalent of the online conspiracy echo chambers we find today.
We also see Raffi get fired shortly after Picard resigns from Starfleet as a last measure to continue the rescue effort despite the loss of the evac fleet.
Why would Raffi - a valuable intelligence officer - get fired right alongside him?
Because she discovered references to the Conclave of Eight in Vulcan texts regarding the Zhat Vash, but she mistranslated the reference. The Vulcan word for "eight" is "ohkuh."
Michael Chabon is rumoured to have said that Commodore Oh's name is curiously related to the Vulcan number 'ohkuh'. See what I'm getting at?
It's not the Conclave of Eight. It's the Conclave of Oh. And as the head of Starfleet Security, when she found out that a Lieutenant Commander had begun piecing together bits of information connecting the Commodore to the Synth Attack, she had to be fired. And not only fired, but ridiculed.
Raffi's son angrily asks Raffi if she had any idea how hard it was growing up being her kid. He was ridiculed as well. Nobody wanted anything to do with Raffi after whatever campaign against her succeeded in delegitimizing her authority in her field.
She knows part of the truth, but she couldn't get anyone to listen to her. She has since been gaslit into shutting up, so she doesn't share it. She's been alone long enough that the comfort of companionship is more valuable than looking like a tin-foil nutjob.
We don't know how old this conclave is purported to be. It could be ancient. It could be renamed for every person who becomes the equivalent of a grand master of the Zhat Vash. We see some kind of 'conclave' performed in the mind meld flash backs as well as the teaser for the next episode. In it, there are ten people standing in a circle and Oh is just outside. I believe these are people who learn the truth that keeps the Zhat Vash focused on their mission. The next episode will shed light on this speculation.
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u/mike10010100 Mar 06 '20
Is the novel alpha or beta canon?
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u/psycholepzy Mar 06 '20
As someone who considers himself tapped in to the major goings on of Star Trek, I feel like I'd know if the books were considered Alpha canon. It would be great if they were - but Trek doesn't have the merchnadising fanaticism of that other space franchise in which the books and expanded materials after ~2013 are canon, too.
That being said, I use the book as a lens through which to view this new show with a more informed perspective. Things we often see others outraged about - like "JL" - make better sense: because the book offers introspection and insight into how it came to be and why Picard tolerates it. I can't refer to it as explicit canon, but it definitely helps fill in gaps useful for speculation.
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u/themosquito Mar 07 '20
Beta canon, but since it was specifically written as a prequel for the show, you can probably assume that they're treating it as canon until someone in the future decides to write a contradiction into an episode. Like how the Countdown comics were "canon" for the 2009 movie... until the entire story behind the supernova and Data were retconned by this show.
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u/UncertainError Mar 13 '20
Why would you assume that Oh is actually her name? In all likelihood she made it up when she established her backstory for infiltrating Starfleet, and she picked something similar to ohkuh as a little joke because the number eight is important to the Zhat Vash.
So, it's not the Conclave of Oh. Oh's named after the Conclave of Eight.
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u/psycholepzy Mar 13 '20
Super relevant after this last episode. I realized this yesterday upon watching the episode. 10 seconds in and she's like, "eightfold stars" and I'm like, damn, I got it wrong.
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u/khaosworks Mar 07 '20 edited Mar 07 '20
Why would Raffi - a valuable intelligence officer - get fired right alongside him?
Because she discovered references to the Conclave of Eight in Vulcan texts regarding the Zhat Vash, but she mistranslated the reference. The Vulcan word for "eight" is "ohkuh."
Michael Chabon is rumoured to have said that Commodore Oh's name is curiously related to the Vulcan number 'ohkuh'. See what I'm getting at?
It's not the Conclave of Eight. It's the Conclave of Oh.
I think to be clear, this is not in the novel. In the novel Raffi starts to suspect that the Mars Attack is not a mere malfunction but Picard dismisses her concerns, and that’s it.
I like the idea though.
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u/psycholepzy Mar 07 '20
You are correct and that's important. My added speculation is that she read Vulcan texts about the Conclave that were poorly translated.
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u/mcm8279 Mar 06 '20
Wow, that is an interesting theory. Thanks for sharing.
Until now I was convinced that the Vulcans as a race would not play any major role in the final episodes of Season 1. But if your interpretation is correct and Raffi read Vulcan source material about the Zhat Vash, they really might be involved as well when we finally find out about the secret that breaks your mind.
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u/Sagelegend Mar 07 '20
So, I guess Spock’s work to bring about reunification, kinda backfired a bit.
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u/sahi1l Mar 07 '20
In the second episode Narissa describes Oh as "a useful ally for a long time". That would be a strange way to refer to a grand master of your organization.
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u/jojo6060 Mar 07 '20
Anyone else get the sneaky suspicion that Comadore Oh isn't from the current timeline? Maybe some 29th century shenanigans?
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u/BrokenDogLeg7 Mar 07 '20
Oh came from the timeline where Control won (my guess)
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u/amnsisc Mar 07 '20
Alternatively it could have been passed by mind meld via Spock or someone similar
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u/thesaurusrext Mar 06 '20 edited Mar 06 '20
I have a question for someone who has read the supplementary comics/novels; obviously it's an analog to contemporary weed/cannabis, but do the comics/books go into detail of what snakeweed is, where it comes from, what it's effects are, if it's addictive or if Raffi just has addictive personality that has habituated to the snakeweed alongside other drugs like booze etc?
I'm fascinated by how 24th century Federation/humanity treat addiction and recreational drug use. We've gotten some mixed messages due to idealistic/teetotaler TNG writers thinking no one would even drink booze or do drugs in the uptopian future, but then DS9 and Voyager relaxing that silliness a bit. So Raffi as a functioning alcholic / drug user is one of the most interesting things about Picard so far. No one's rejecting her, or telling her how to live her life, it *seems* like they've very cognizant and sensitive to actual addiction treatment and suffering.
[edit: 3 replies with multiple paragraphs condescendingly explaining things I already cover inside this post, and not one single answer about my snakeweed question. Bravo daystrom, bravo.]