Has anyone ever addressed just how Gideon got her dirty mags and pin-up rags? Was there a subscription service? Did they just get delivered to all the Houses, like “here you go, your monthly smut delivery is here”? Did a pilgrim to the Ninth leave them behind, back when the Ninth still accepted pilgrims, and poor Gideon has been reading the same mags for years, over and over again?
Like how?
Keep in mind, the Ninth we see is not how the Ninth has always been. It's dark, it's creepy, it's occult, but the limited culture we see is a result of it actively dying.
The last active Ninth soldiers and battle-priests in the Cohort died only FIVE years before GtN, which is also when the House was fully closed to pilgrims. Harrow's parents died SEVEN years before, so even after that there were two years with some comings and goings (and having to make excuses for why the Reverend Mother and Father were never available, until Harrow learned to puppet them). And there were exactly 201 children before Harrow was conceived, which was already the result of a slow and steady decline.
But the House had survived 9,000-some years before that. In a singular tiny city-state that runs on oxygen tanks and imports in a canyon on Pluto. You gotta understand: earth's real life written history spans back 5,500 years. A civilization doesn't survive nearly twice that long without developing culture, without that culture constantly changing over time, without arts and literature and so-on. Even in the dying throes, look at Ortus, how snarky he can be, how silly and passionate a nerd. Look at Aiglamene and how sharply she contrasts the gloomy priest vibes. They're not unique exceptions, they're lasting remnants. Plus, Anastasia herself was a scientist. The House hasn't always been pure religious repression.
All that said, I'm sure the Ninth produced it's own scandalous materials over the years, any of which might be dug up from random places, and I'm sure getting such things alongside a vast array of supply imports wouldn't be that strange.
...But also, yeah, wherever they originally came from, she's almost certainly been reading the same mags over and over for years now. 😔
This is the explanation I wanted thank you so much for taking the time to write this out, May your socks never go missing and your pillows forever be comfy
Also yes someone please get my girl some variety in her smut diet
