[Dragaera] Unstoppable Force vs Immovable Object

[Scott Crain]

Davdi Silverrock <davdisil at gmail.com> wrote:> On 11/17/06, Philip Hart wrote:
> > > > > And is it not the case that murder is usually considered to be a
> > > > > "matter of general importance or appeal"?
> > > > No.
> > > Ah.  Arguing from false premises, I see.
> > You just got the wrong universe, or maybe culture or cycle or house.
> Since a universe where murder is not a matter of general importance or
> appeal is a universe that would rapidly degenerate into a universe of
> slowly cooling corpses, you do indeed seem to have a universe that is
> not only wrong, but logically impossible.

... we seem to have done all right.

Murder is not a universal physical law, like light or gravity.  It's societal.  Whether killing someone is 'murder' or not ('murder', of course, being a loaded word with a general meaning of 'wrongful killing') is adjudicated differently in every society.  Hell, look at the differences between the UK and the US, or the US and Canada -- or even within different states in the US.  The Vikings felt that killing a man because he casually offended you was justified; i.e it wasn't murder.

Vlad killing God-Boss Tawhateverchan got him stuck under the Orb because that's what happens when a Duke gets killed, and Vlad was someone who obviously profited from Duke God-Boss's death.  I don't think you could have prevented the Iorich from being interested in the truth, but don't confuse truth with fact.  

Fact: Vlad killed Tagitchan.
Fact: Vlad was telling the truth.
Fact: The truth that Vlad was telling wasn't the FACTS of the matter, but the truth as he saw it.
Fact: Truth is subjective; fact is not.
Truth: The rest of the world doesn't really care that Tagitchan was killed.

I don't think you could bribe an Imperial Inquisitor to NOT do his job with the Empress looking on; no offense, but that would be, in my mind, something along the lines of a death sentence just for trying, sort of like trying to bribe Bujold's Imperial Auditors -- just to try is treason.  I mean, the Empress has a close, personal stake in making sure her Inquisitors remain unbribeable, you know?

I also can't think of an Imperial Inquisitor as being incompetent; they'd never reach the position if they were.  Were they aware of what Vlad was doing?  Most probably.  Could they have nailed him down if they really wanted to?  Most certainly.  Is Vlad downplaying their role in 'asking me their questions, looked at the Orb, and let me go'?  Very, very likely indeed; it's entirely possible that he did not, at least at the time, understand the full ramifications of his being released.

So.  Did they care?  That's a bit hazier of a judgement.  I think they may have cared personally, but I think they also were looking over Vlad's shoulder at an Empress amused by this Easterner's carefully-worded evasions.  I think they were considering the fact that the Jhereg are at the bottom of the Cycle, and that nobody has honestly EVER cared whether or not the Jhereg kill themselves off.  I think they were looking at an Eastern that'd be dead in another fifty years anyhow, before any of their children had even moved out of the house.

I think that maybe it was an Imperial whitewash, but with the Orb in residence, they could make it stick a lot better and a lot faster than Fyres' death.


S. Thomas Crain
Author-in-Training
 
---------------------------------
Sponsored Link

Mortgage rates near 39yr lows. $420,000 Mortgage for $1,399/mo - Calculate new house payment