[Dragaera] Breaking the Cycle.

[Scott Schultz]

>> According to the Cycle, Phoenix was still at the top of the karma chain,

>Maybe.

I don't see much room for doubt on this particular fact. Paarfi reports it
on two separate occasions. Once during the debate of the Gods concerning
what was to be done about the Empire, and once when Zerika has acquired the
Orb and has been (more or less) dismissed.

Now, anything Paarfi says that quotes a discussion by the Lords of Judgement
within the Halls of Judgement is clearly open to doubt. However, as has been
pointed out prior, Zerika herself saw the Cycle just as Vlad saw it, and she
witnessed the Phoenix ascendant.

Even if Paarfi made up the debate of the Gods out of whole cloth, Zerika is
very much able to say whether she saw that or not. It would likely be a
matter of some historical record, such that Paarfi wouldn't even need to
interview Zerika herself to find out about it. Certainly, if it was wrong,
then she'd be in a position to criticize him for lying. 

Even if Paarfi's histories have been ghost-written by Someone Else, I can't
see where the fact of the Cycle pointing to Phoenix would need to be
falsified. I'd have to be convinced of the doubtful proposition that The
Cycle is capable of running backwards and/or that it moved to Phoenix simply
by virtue of a Phoenix happening to claim the Orb in the Halls of Judgement.