[Dragaera] _Iorich_ plot criticism (spoilers!)

[Maximilian Wilson]

On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 3:22 PM, Alexx Kay <alexx at panix.com> wrote:
> loads of spoilers below
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> As far as we know, this economic instability is still not public knowledge
> (thanks partially to Vlad's efforts.)  The J/O alliance could plausibly
> threaten Zerika with an economic meltdown.  "We're too big to fail."

[snip]

If I follow your logic correctly, Zerika wants to tell them "No" all
along but the House organizations want to go along with the Jhereg
because they're aware of the Empire's fiscal situation. Aliera
escaping/investigating/etc., and an investigation in Tirma, and both
intended to make it impossible for the Jhereg rumors to be believed,
thus forcing an automatic "Nay" that Zerika doesn't have the political
capital to assert directly. Is that right?

Here's my reading of the events in /Iorich/, stripping out the things
which Vlad supposes along the way but turn out not to be true:

The Jhereg are planning to frame a sergeant from Tirma as a druggie in
order to inflame popular opinion against drugs so they can be
outlawed. The empress is aware that the Jhereg are planning this, and
wants to resist politically because she fears the long-term
consequences. Right, okay so far. Instead of doing something
relatively sensible such as, I don't know, expediting the
court-martial and/or execution of the aforementioned sergeant before
the framing occurs (presumably this is what the "investigation" is
for), Zerika instead chooses to arrest the Warlord as proof to the hoi
polloi that the Empress is tough on crime. That way when the framing
occurs she will have enough political capital to get away with not
passing a law against drugs. Vlad is incorrect that the Jhereg planned
this to get him, they just saw the opportunity either when she was
first arrested or when he was spotted back in Adrilankha. (Judging by
how ineffectual they are it is mostly the latter, or else everyone
competent is scared of what happened to the last Left Hand assassin to
go after him.) It is unclear why Zerika thinks this complicated
misdirection scheme is better than a straightforward political attack
on a bad idea, but she's ambivalent about it and feels guilty about
smearing a friend's good name for short-term political advantage. When
it becomes clear to Zerika that the cost would be higher than she
anticipated, in that she would have to actually *execute* her friend
(and possibly stir up trouble with Dragon House, possibly hastening a
coup), she switches back to the riskier-in-her-eyes-but-less-painful
tactic of trying to preemptively expose the true events in Tirma
before the Jhereg can spread their rumors.

/Phoenix/ is all about what happens when Verra makes a bad decision to
start a war with Greenaere, IIRC for political reasons. /Iorich/ is
all about what happens when Zerika makes a bad decision to essentially
frame Aliera, again for political reasons. In neither is Vlad
particularly strategically brilliant in piecing together WHY things
are happening, but at least in /Iorich/ his final, tactical, deduction
makes up for it. If you want to draw a moral from either it would
probably be that power corrupts, and that goddesses and empresses
don't stop to count the cost when they're in the mood to sacrifice
some pawns. (Or at least, not in the Dragaeran Empire they don't.)

I bet Devera would never do something like that.

-Max

-- 
If you're so evil, eat this kitten!

"The presentation or 'gift' of the Holy Ghost simply confers upon a
man the right to receive at any time, when he is worthy of it and
desires it, the power and light of truth of the Holy Ghost, although
he may often be left to his own spirit and judgment." --Joseph F.
Smith (manual, p. 69)