Only by proscribing science as heretical, Langhorne believes, can humanity's safety be assured. Beyond opposing his madness on moral grounds, Pei Shan-Wei holds that eventually Langhorne's religion will collapse, leaving humanity defenseless as it returns to the stars with no memory of the past. Defying Langhorne, she sets up Alexandria, a refuge for knowledge on Safehold's southernmost continent. Tensions rise, before Alexandria is destroyed from space by a hidden kinetic bombardment platform. A retaliatory strike kills Langhorne and many of his followers, but the church remains.