[Dragaera] Jhereg genetics

[John Dallman]

In article <20100128210400.GB18907 at ofb.net>, phoenix at ugcs.caltech.edu 
(Damien Sullivan) wrote:

> ... the Council is willing to keep going after someone who has
> friends in the highest reaches of the Empire -- Heirs, Great Weapon
> holders, the Empress and Sethra Lavode -- and now has a Great Weapon 
> of his own, when someone more selfishly inclined to value their own 
> skin might declare that good reason for letting well enough alone.

I think they fear that if they let Vlad go, other Jhereg will start 
bending and breaking the rules, and their authority will vanish. They 
are very low on the cycle at present, so they are probably afraid that - 
while responsible people wouldn't seriously try to destroy House Jhereg 
- other forces might succeed in gaining control of it, possibly for 
several reigns. 

Being an effective criminal boss seems to have a lot to do with image 
and making sure that people understand you could do awful things to 
them. Their failure to kill Vlad, so far, is explainable in terms of his 
powerful friends and his Great Weapon, but those aren't good enough 
reasons for giving up. Having him in the city and doing things is far 
more annoying to them than him being absent in the hinterlands of the 
Empire. I'm a bit surprised that Vlad hasn't tried to fake his own 
death; perhaps he is too proud? 

-- 
John Dallman, jgd at cix.co.uk, HTML mail is treated as probable spam.