For posterity: I’ve read much further in planecrash, and it has gradually become clear that this no-giving-in-to-threats thing is a considered philosophical position (not a throwaway giving color on dath ilan), and in fact is rather important to the overarching plot, but (as of now) still hasn’t been explained in full detail.
There’s now a reserved threadspace here where the authors promise to explain this “eventually”, asynchronously with the main story, but that discussion has not yet begun.
For posterity: I’ve read much further in planecrash, and it has gradually become clear that this no-giving-in-to-threats thing is a considered philosophical position (not a throwaway giving color on dath ilan), and in fact is rather important to the overarching plot, but (as of now) still hasn’t been explained in full detail.
There’s now a reserved threadspace here where the authors promise to explain this “eventually”, asynchronously with the main story, but that discussion has not yet begun.