Unsolicited Locked Tomb thoughts

We do get repeated discussions about what does or doesn't qualify as a sin, or a "necromantic sin" specifically, but no firm conclusions about what those sins might actually be (making a beguiling corpse? Siphoning? Making eyes at your cav outside of the niche jurisdiction of Fifth House canon law? Engineering a necromancer out of 200 infants?).

Silas seems to suggest that there's some kind of practice of confession. But given that the Eighth regard the Ninth as heretical, I can't imagine they're sending people off to do penance on the Ninth when 10 King Undyings and a donation to the Cohort Orphans and Widows Fund just won't cut it. And what is penance understood to do, spiritually, in House religion anyway?

The other question is whether they're in penance for their own specific sins, or whether there's a more general sense that the orders of the Ninth House are doing penance simply to keep the Tomb shut.

i'm so obsessed and there's not enough merch for me so i made some myself

Tommy Arnold, artist for the book covers, just posted this on Instagram:

Seven for beauty that blossoms and dies;

Eight for salvation no matter the cost;

Nine for the Tomb, and for all that was lost.

“I cupped your soul in my hands.”

Finished my reread of Nona the Ninth, fuuuck that book /pos. Nona alt, close ups, and more below the cut:p

ianthe tridentarius - canonic lover of frilly shirts and salty soup

——