ok i might be talking complete nonsense here, but. the Strict Order as a metaphor for an author facing writer's block.

"the Strict Order abandoned the world," yeah if i wrote a sweet potato story where the main character just keeps suffering with no sign of resolution, i'd drop the story too (<- has actually done this with a tesilid fanfic orz)

"The world rejected the Strict Order's abandonment, so to keep the world going the Strict Order made Tesilid keep rewinding time." That's just like when you get stuck at a certain point in the plot and keep rewriting the events leading up to that moment to try to make it work. nods sagely i understand. i too make my OCs go through scenarios lots of times until we get it right. sometimes it takes months. sometimes it never works.

"The saintess only exists in timeline ~86," oh yes, the classic 'idk how to solve this problem so i'll introduce a new character' trick. i'm familiar

"okay but if time looping is the Strict Order rewriting the story, then why can Tesilid remember it" because the author already wrote those scenes and it'll be sad to throw them all out. and also it's a cool gimmick to have a regressor story. (<- has drastically changed the premise and worldbuilding of a story just to make an alternate timeline relevant before)

"what about ailette's existence--" same as muriel, where you insert a new character in hopes of solving a plot problem. except this time the characters write the plot themselves, because just this once you give priority to their character traits & goals rather than where you thought you wanted the plot to go. (tesilid has someone he can be himself around and who can do certain things on his behalf, instead of being fully constrained by his obligations. ailette gets insane buffs instead of being restricted by the world's difficulty.) therefore the chars now have more agency and are not only solving problems, but also taking the story in a direction you never would have thought of before. (whatever the hell tesilid and ailette are cooking rn, separately, which is surely going to result in interesting developments later on)

tldr; the strict order as a metaphor for an author who hit writer's block. their friend World Shaper inserts their OC Ailette in and their writing style is to let the characters run away with the plot. it works. world shaper and all their friends are co-writers working on the story together and reacting to it in real time.

Just voicing some thoughts I had before I keep reading and discover what the deal with 49 is in the newest chapters bc. you know. This might Break me

I can't assure you that this will make any sense

THING IS I am ALWAYS thinking about 49 kdj. Because orv always makes it clear that these alternate versions of the characters are still THEM. If you were to meet your friend as someone they remember differently they wont be the same. But it's still them.

If you were to travel back in time and meet your friend, who now has less memories than they do in your time then they'd be different but, again, it's STILL them

And one thing I love is just how much we look at 1863 vs 1864 hsy for example and treat them as separates but never doubt that they are BOTH her. And the story does too

And I already adore how biased our view is. We don't have a neutral, objective view on the story, because the narration will always draw you back into it's subjective viewpoint (heh) while you read (sidenote - One thing Im doing while rereading orv is to always try to remember that kdj is an unreliable narrator and I keep catching myself forgetting about that fact and getting wrapped up in it again as I read)

And the change in perspective really shows that too. The way that we're alienated from 49 through the switch to 3rd person, just through words alone! GOD!! And the way we don't get to see how he feels, what he's thinking, what he was DOING during the 1865th turn, it's like they almost forgot he was even there

And orv was written by hsy. Her view is biased, the way she views 49, the way kdj and kimcom all viewed 49 is so clear. They talk about wanting all of him back, they say things like "If theres even 1% left in that subway we're getting him back", they grieve over the idea that they will never get 100% of him, but they have so much of him already and can't take the time to write his story

I can't remember the name of it, but there's a theory in psychology that I have to think of- Where you push someone to do something, and the more you try to get them to do it, the more they retreat, the less effective your efforts become, the more you get frustrated and push more and so on and so forth. It's something I have to think of with hsy right now. What if she doesnt come to accept that she cant have 100%? What if she pushes further and further and loses more of kdj in the process?

49 deserves to be acknowledged by the story. I want to know how it felt to be told by the novel written about YOU that you are not considered as you, just because the readers have been made to view you that way

so yeah cant wait to find out why 49 is being brought up in the side stories