[Dragaera] not really a spoiler, i don't think...

[Scott Schultz]

From: Eugene Zaretskiy
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 7:55 AM
To: andy
Cc: Dragaera Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Dragaera] not really a spoiler, i don't think...


>You raise what I think is an interesting question: Is the balancing
>effect of the cycle a mundane reflection of the political
>repercussions of taking turns at playing Emperor? Or is it something
>supernatural, a force that places these kittens in the assassin's path
>when his house is low in the cycle?

I don't think there's any way to separate the supernatural from the mundane. 
Supernatural forces manifest in mundane ways. In any case, the Empire has 
existed for many hundreds (thousands?) of millennia at this point. The 
Dragaerns now what's what about the supernatural nature of their world. The 
Cycle is not a superstition of ignorant people trying to understand their 
place in the cosmos. Wizards (and, occasionally, assassins, *heh*) consort 
with the Gods the way that we might consort with a head of state or a 
powerful business magnate. The Cycle manifests itself as a real physical 
object in (or near) the Halls of Judgement. There's really no question that 
it is a real, supernatural force that exerts some degree of influence over 
the course of the Empire.

There may actually be a kind of "political placebo effect" but that doesn't 
have anything to do with putting kittens in the path of assassins. I'd guess 
that the Cycle doesn't concern itself at all with such small things. The 
existence of the Empire is somehow tied into the real agenda of the Lords of 
Judgement, which is keeping out the Jenoine. The Cycle preserves the Empire, 
the Empire helps preserve the world.

We don't really know how much that extends to the actions of individuals. 
Vlad is a tool of Verra. He may also be a tool of the Cycle, but even if 
that's true, he's the exception. For the most part, kittens land in the path 
of assassins just because kittens have a way of getting underfoot. Trying to 
draw a line between the effects of the Cycle and some sort of psychological 
effect caused by THINKING that your House is low and behaving accordingly is 
a bit like the Guard shrugging and saying "Mario did it". There's no way to 
know and it doesn't really matter.

The Cycle is a handy thing to blame bad or good luck on, regardless of the 
fact that luck is inherently a random force. It is, however, very real and 
it exerts a real influence. It can't be completely dismissed as an imaginary 
superstition that covers for simple political power traveling along with the 
Throne. In fact, the Orb is the most obvious indication of influence of the 
Cycle. When the Orb fails, the Cycle has turned. Or the Cycle turns and the 
Orb fails, take your pick.