[Dragaera] Iorich ***SPOILERS**** First impressions

[Jon%20Lincicum]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Philip Hart" <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> 
To: "Dragaera" <dragaera at dragaera.info> 
Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 10:05:40 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific 
Subject: Re: [Dragaera] Iorich ***SPOILERS**** First impressions 



On Mon, 11 Jan 2010, Alexx Kay wrote: 

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> 
> and a bit more spoiler space... 
> 
> 

>Incidentally, no doubt well-merited acknowledgement, even if I'm not 
>clear how much timeline crosschecking was needed in this case. 

I'd like to second this. I have no doubts that the Dragaera timeline has helped SKZB enormously in keeping the continuity of various story threads in much better shape than they would be otherwise. 

>> 
>>> Are the Jhereg actually useful to the Empire at the moment? 
>> 
>> There are many ways to parse this question. Are they performing more good 
>> than evil? Dubious. Are they *necessary* to maintain the Empire. 
>> Arguably yes. 

>What is that argument again? 

I think it goes something like: 

Crime is always going to exist, and it's far better to have criminals in an organization that is subject to some degree of control than one that is completely unrestrained. You can argue the relative effectiveness of the degree to which this control has been exercised by the Empire, but the alternatives to the existence of the Jhereg appear to be far less pleasant ones. 

>> Would any attempt to dismantle them have huge negative consequences? 
>> Absolutely. 
> 
>Straw/begs the question. 

I don't know. Seems pretty obvious to me. Straw man argument it may be, but it seems like a logical enough fact that attempting to dismantle a large, powerful criminal organization would result in many deaths, increased political instability, destruction of property, &c &c. Espcially since this would apparently run counter to the incluence of the Cycle. 


>> At the moment, our central Federal 
>> government is extremely strong, and the relative power of the State 
>> governments are weaker than ever. In Dragaera, the situation is very 
>> different. The Houses appear to have (collectively) more power than the 
>> Imperium. This is probably even more true than usual during Zerika's 
>> reign, since she doesn't really *have* a House to back her up. 
> 
>Zerika has the gods, Sethra Lavode and all of the top Dragons, and the 
>traditional hatred of the Jhereg on her side. I can well imagine her 
>asking Khaavren to bring in the Tiassa representative and ask her how the 
>prophets in the house feel about allowing Vlad to be killed. Ditto the 
>Lyorn representative, who she put in place if I recall - how is he going 
>to react to the Empire not allowing the Jhereg to use an illegal weapon on 
>someone with an Imperial title (ok, he's an Easterner, but at least he's 
>not sleeping with one)? Are the Dzur going to back the Jhereg 
>against a lone hero, who they hate preciesly for his heroism? They're 
>going to screw the person who rode off a cliff for her convictions (on 
>behalf of someone who climbed down that cliff to help save someone he had 
>never met)? And is now going up against the CW? And perhaps you've 
>forgotten Mellar, but they surely haven't. 

There's all kinds of spin to this. Certainly, the House of Dragon would be more likely to support Vlad than the other Houses, and being near the top of the Cycle, they are powerful right now. But so are the Athyra, Lyorn, Jhegaala, Hawk, and Tiassa. Why should those Houses be behind a single Jhereg assassin (who also happens to be an Easterner) who has done nothing but stir up trouble? Sure, it's bad what the Jhereg want to do to Vlad, but it's also likely to seem like he's done plenty to deserve it. The Jhereg do bad things to people every day. Why should the Great Houses worry themselves over this one little man, who's only earned his position through murder, running illegal gambling, prostitution, and other nasty things? Sure, he helped avert a war--but it *was* a war that he himself started. 

The Jhereg may be a hated House; but they *are* a House. Any move against them by the Empire, or by any small plurality of other Houses, is likely to be seen as a political threat to the remaining ones. 

I can't imagine that Vlad is held in very high regard, outside his small group of friends. As powerful as those friends may be, there aren't really that many of them compared to the rest of the population of The Empire. 


>> and they would probably get support from several other Houses. Lyorn 
>> and Dzur for sure, possibly even Iorich (since this would be a big 
>> breach of normal applications of justice). 
> 
>Whereas allowing the Jhereg to use an illegal weapon with impunity on 
>someone with an Imperial title is normal justice? 

Perhaps not normal justice; but likely less objectionable than the alternative of allowing the Houses of Dragon, Dzur, Lyorn and Phoenix to run roughshod over the interests of the other Houses. 

Majikjon