[Dragaera] OT: Ray Bradbury

[Jon Lincicum]

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Maximilian Wilson" <wilson.max at gmail.com>
> 
> 
> That's close enough to what I intended to say. I was actually trying to
> point out that some things (many things) are prohibited by custom, or
> manners, rather than by law. Rather than jail-time, the punishment for
> violating these prohibitions may include things like not getting invited
> back to Morrolan's never-ending party. There, back on topic. :)
> 

Or get you beaten up by the Phoenix Guards, despite the fact you've done nothing illegal (see /Yendi/).

But then, this sort of proves Davdi's point, doesn't it? 

Once a group of people is large enough to impose a prejudice or custom on society with its own extralegal enforcement, they have, essentially, become a de facto state unto themselves. 

Say, the way the Jhereg Organization operates with its own "laws" (never kill a man in his own house, don't steal from the organization, etc) despite the fact that all the members of the organization are also members of the larger "state" of the Dragaeran Empire as a whole, which has remarkably different rules about everything. 

Breaking the Jhereg "laws" will still yield unpleasant consequences from the enforcement arm of the Jhereg--which makes it almost as much of a state as the Empress and all her cronies.

Is the objection here to the use of the word "state"? If so, please feel free to replace it with another words that more closely suits your preferences. 

Majikjon