[Dragaera] Breaking the Cycle.

[Scott]

>All things consider, didn't Adron break the Cycle, just not 
>indefinitely. Afterall the Cycle tells who reign it is and during the 
>Interregnum, no one ruled all. Was the Cycle mid-truning and stop, or 
>was it b/c it was the 17th cycle and time for that whole Phoenix riesing 
>from the ashes thing? 

The Cycle, as in the mystical object in the Halls of Judgement that Vlad and
Morrolan visited in _Taltos_, was never affected at all by Adron's Disaster.
Over and above all of the political intrigue, treason, misunderstanding and
murder that led to Adron's rebellion, he failed in the end because the Cycle
had NOT turned. It was still on the reign of the Phoenix. The Empire ceased
to exist for awhile, but there was never a time before, during, or after the
Interregnum when the Cycle was not pointing to the House of the Phoenix as
the current reigning House.

Now, given that Zerika has nobody to mate with in order to produce a Phoenix
Heir and that a certain amount of incest would currently be required to
rebuild the House if she DID manage to begat a child, it's certainly valid
to wonder, as Aliera did, whether Adron DID manage to break the cycle in an
unintended fashion by obliterating one House. When Zerika dies, there's
nobody around to assume the Orb the next time the Cycle points to Phoenix. 

Paarfi offers the opinion that the Gods will fix things, or at least he
pretends that Verra knows some way that Phoenix, the House of Rebirth in
particular, can or will rejuvenate and restore itself. Whatever the
mechanism, it's unlikely that we'll ever see it happen in Vlad's lifetime.