[Dragaera] States and violence (was Re: OT: Ray Bradbury)

[Davdi Silverrock]

On 7/21/07, Jerry Friedman wrote:
>
> I don't remember anyone in /Dragon/ even imagining that the
> Empire might have anything to say about the war.  According
> to the "monopoly" definition, that means the Empire is not
> a state.

Yet an alternate interpretation is that the Empire, with its monopoly
on violence, granted a (temporary) license to Morrolan and Fornia to
wage their little war (and they had to petition the Empire to receive
this license), and this was so obvious to all involved that no-one
thought to even bother mentioning it.

I am trying to recall the state of the fields that Vlad marched
through.  I seem to recall that they were empty, meaning after the
harvest or before planting of crops.  This would imply that the timing
of the war was critical so as not to damage food generation.

Note that Morrolan's army may very well have had the Warlord at the
time on their side, assuming that Sethra the Younger had not already
been removed from that position.  Again, this would certainly imply
Imperial sanction for the war.