[Dragaera] The New Palace

[Michael Wojcik]

Jon%20Lincicum wrote:
> 
> If a highwayman is clever, he never has to fire his weapon, anyway.
> It's used as a threat, so I don't know that this is as big a drawback.

This is an interesting point. Is a flashstone useful as a threat? If a
random tough steps into the road holding a small rock, and claims it's
a flashstone, would the fat[1] merchant in question believe it? It
seems like obvious threats would work better than ones the victim has
to take on faith.

Reminds me a bit of that classic SF story where the protagonist
discovers his silent disintegrator gun has no deterrent effect on
hostile alien wildlife, because they don't even realize he's using it
on his attackers.

Or the bit in _Cryptonomicon_ where Bobby Steptoe explains to Ronald
Reagan why the marines would kill the Japanese officers first -
because they come charging at you waving a sword. "You ever have
someone come charging at you waving a fucking sword?"


[1] Merchants being robbed by highwaymen are traditionally fat. For
Dragaerans, I suppose we can read that as "not quite as thin as most".

-- 
Michael Wojcik
Micro Focus
Rhetoric & Writing, Michigan State University