[Dragaera] Vlad's passivity--getting long

[Jerry Friedman]

--- On Tue, 10/21/08, Alexx Kay <alexx at panix.com> wrote:
> Jerry Friedman:
> > --- On Sun, 10/19/08, Philip Hart
> <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
> >> On Sat, 18 Oct 2008, Jerry Friedman wrote:
> >> > --- On Thu, 10/16/08, Philip Hart
> >> <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > On Thu, 16 Oct 2008, Jerry Friedman wrote:
...

> > Morrolan and Aliera must be as
> > famous as Kobe Bryant and Madonna.  Why doesn't
> > their celebrity ever rate a mention?  And after
> > /Taltos/, more so after /Phoenix/, even more after
> > /Issola/, Vlad must be pretty famous too.  Are the
> > events of /Taltos/ and /Issola/ secret?
> >
> > Of course the "psapparazzi" wouldn't
> dare take
> > psiprints of any of these three without permission,
> 
> We haven't heard of anything like a First Amendment in
> the Empire.  And I
> *think* we haven't heard of any 'respectable'
> newspapers.  Kelly's people
> produce pamphlets about the news, and there's the
> underground newspaper in
> _Orca_.  But neither of those seem to expect that they have
> any legal
> standing whatsoever.

It's true we haven't seen any mass media, but we know
there are ballads, and /Taltos/ and /Issola/ seem
perfect for that.  There are also books.

> Given what we've seen of the
> culture, I daresay that
> the response of 'celebrities' to scandal is likely
> to be, not lawsuits,
> but, at best, duels; at worst, hiring thugs to burn down
> the press and beat up/kill the owner.

I didn't say scandal.  Aliera and Morrolan should be
among the "beautiful people".  They should be
described admiringly in the sort of magazines I
was trying to find an example of just now, but
couldn't.  Maybe I want /Town and Country/?

> > but still, I'd expect something.  Vlad meets Ric
> > in /Dzur/: "Greetings, my lord Count!  I hear
> > you've saved the Empire twice since I saw you
> > last!"
> 
> Ric might conceivably have heard that Vlad got awarded an
> Imperial Title. 
> But I'm pretty sure the ceremony didn't specify
> what, precisely, he got it *for* :-)

Well, not precisely, but as you say, people probably
know it had to do with ending the war.

> And I expect that the events of _Issola_ are as
> Top Secret as it is possible to make them.

Why?  I'd expect the government to proclaim this
glorious victory in every village.  I'd expect the
Jenoine to be the Empire's Communists or al-Qaida,
the reason the Empire and nobility are needed and
shouldn't be disturbed.

> >> If Sethra cares, why doesn't she know?  (Ditto
> >> Aliera et al.)
> >> Loraan hasn't I suspect made any efforts to
> >> disguise the fact
> >> that he's still around (in whatever sense that
> is).
> >> It's been
> >> a few years and nobody bothered to tell A, M, or S
> >> that L, who's
> >> a leading Athyra and as you note of interest to
> them,
> >> managed to survive a pretty high-profile attack?
> >
> > That's a very interesting question, which I'd
> been
> > wondering about from a slightly different point of
> > view.  M. might think Loraan's heirs would be
> > interested in revenge and might want to keep an eye
> > on who moves into his manor and keep.  All three might
> > have various ways of knowing.  If they do know, they
> > might be safe (certainly Sethra) or think it beneath
> > their dignity to worry, but why haven't they
> warned
> > Vlad?  He doesn't have a GW.  And Loraan might very
> > well want revenge on Vlad and want Spellbreaker back
> > (as we find out he does).
> 
> By the end of _Taltos_, M, A, and S all owe Vlad a big
> favor, but they're
> not exactly 'friends' yet.
...

But there's plenty of time after that for them to warn
him.  Also, Vlad becomes Morrolan's security consultant,
and I'd think Loraan's continued existence would be a
matter of security concern to Morrolan and Fentor.

More later, I hope.

Jerry Friedman