[Dragaera] Gambling/Drug Use in a Jhereg Reign

[Jon Lincicum]

Also Sprach Will Frank:

>Also Sprach Jon Lincicum:
>
>> Well, even after their reign is over, the Jhereg would still be high on
>> the cycle for quite a while.
>
>I have to wonder about that...is it possible that after a House has passed 
>on, it pretty much drops to the bottom of the Cycle? That, despite the 
>image of the stone disc, it's as much a line as anything else, and once a 
>House has finished holding the Orb, it falls back down to the bottom, and 
>has to work its way up?

This seems to be counter-indicated by Vlad's comments in /Teckla/, where 
he's talking with Cawti about Kelly's group. He says that the group's 
chances of success would be realistic if the Teckla weren't "near the 
bottom of the Cycle" (paraphrasing here, since my copy isn't handy).

There are also some comments in /Jhereg/, talking about the possibility
of another Dragon-Jhereg war, that this event would be especially 
disasterous for the Jhereg, since they're at the bottom of the Cycle, while 
the Dragon were near the top.

>I mean, look at our one example: the House of the Phoenix. When Zerika 
>passes the Orb to Norathar, what will the Phoenix be? Exactly one 
>ex-Empress. I can imagine it taking an entire Cycle for the Phoenix to be 
>strong enough to take the Orb again...

Zerika, and the House of Phoenix, are almost by definition a special case.
I would think it would take a pretty good run of good fortune over the next
few thousand years for the House to be able to rebuild itself to the point
where it could survive being at the bottom of the cycle for a while...

>And then, if you imagine the occasional war which occurs when an Emperor 
>doesn't pass the Orb to the next House, then it will presumably end with 
>that House in something of a disadvantageous position. What if it really 
>screwed them over completely, until such time as they were in ascension 
>again?

Well, of course a House getting booted out of leadership when the cycle 
changes is the first step in their fall from grace--the start of their decline in 
prominence. But I don't see strong text evidence that the end of their rule 
means an immediate fall to the bottom.

>I can see the Reign of the Iorich to be the worst possible time for the 
>Jhereg.

Possibly, but I find it more likely that an Iorich reign might be very good to the 
House of Jhereg, given their ability to work around the law, and profit from
overzealous prosecution of criminals who aren't as well connected as the
higher-ups in the criminal underworld.

Majikjon