[Dragaera] Unstoppable Force vs Immovable Object

[Scott Schultz]

On 11/14/06, Jon Lincicum <lincicum at comcast.net> wrote:
> After all, it is pretty heavily implied by Zerika in /Phoenix/ that she
> knew exactly what Vlad had done at the investigation... And if she cared
> she could have just arrested him then and there. I doubt the Empire has
> laws about double jeopardy, or a statute of limitations.

I've always figured that testifying "under the orb" pretty much put a person
beyond reproach. Barring new evidence, arresting someone despite their
apparent innocence would be the work of a despot. Testifying under the Orb
isn't just a means of getting to the heart of a matter. It's also a last
ditch means of proving your innocence without question. It's a kind of
insurance for every citizen that, no matter how awful the evidence arrayed
against you, that you can't be falsely condemned if you're really innocent.

In practice, we've seen the Orb abused from both sides, of course. You just
have to be selective about the questions you ask and/or the answers that you
give. Regardless, an Emperor who violated the sanctity of the Orb's
"blessing", since no better word comes to mind, is an Emperor who (no matter
how well justified in his own mind) has put himself and his own interests
above that of neutral justice and "incontrovertible" truth. Such an Emperor
would find himself having to deal with a lot of flak from the Houses, I'd
think, because allowing him to get away with it would be to set some unhappy
precedents.