[Dragaera] Is Kelly foolish?

[Scott Schultz]

>with numbers? Did the Guard get caught off Guard? Did they have the aid of
trained fighters? 
>I think the most likely reason is that Zerika hesitated to crush them and
if the sailors 
>hadn't changed sides, the Cycle would've changed and Norathar would've
crushed them. 
>All that aside, Zerika wasn't willing to use the Orb. If she had, battle
over, game Imperium.

Given that the Orb can be used as a weapon but practically speaking is
rarely used as such, it raises the question "Why?".  Maybe the use of the
Orb in such a fashion has consequences that are harmful, undesirable, or
otherwise unpalatable. As you rightfully point out, Tortaalik had a
full-blown revolution on his hands and he didn't burn out Adron's brain with
the Orb.

It might be argued that Mario iced him before he had a chance to act. The
problem is that it's all supposition and we don't really know the whole
story anyway. To hear Aliera tell things, Adron wasn't trying to grab
control of the Orb, he was trying to break the Cycle, which probably means
that he was attempting to destroy it. The description of what happened
vis-à-vis the consequences of Mario's assassination of Tortaalik could very
well be true, just the same. That's the kernel of truth at the core of
Paarfi's colorful and genteel prose. Khaavren might know, but we don't get
to hear the story directly from him and it seems likely that it's a story he
doesn't relate to anyone who can't command him to relate it.

I think, in any case, that it's incorrect to assume that the Orb gives it's
wielder much in the way of omniscience. It's a tool and in some cases, a
weapon. It's probably a weapon similar to the way that a flail or a scythe
are weapons, in that you can hurt or kill someone effectively with them but
their primary purpose is an agricultural labor-saving device.

There's no indication that the Emperor even has the ability to sever
someone's link to the Orb. When the Orb reappears at the end of the
Interregnum, it effectively touches the minds of everyone who ever had a
link to it and that link is re-established as a simple decision on the part
of the individual who had the link. The establishment of a new link doesn't
seem to be any particularly big deal, aside from following House protocols,
and it had nothing at all to do with Zerika or her desires in the matter of
who or who should not be allowed to establish a link.

My point being that the Emperor doesn't appear to have any particular
involvement in these affairs just by virtue of being the Emperor. The orb is
not a genie's lamp that lets him do whatever he wishes at his mere whim. The
Athyra Emperor may be able to perform miracles with it, but your typical
Emperor may be able to use it primarily to detect lies and tell time and not
much else. Kana wasn't so much worried about being killed by Zerika if he
accepted a link, as he was concerned that his intentions would then be
discernable to her. 

Imagine if the Emperor COULD burn out everyone's brain, but that he had to
do it one person at a time, and he had to overcome each individual's mental
defenses in the process. That makes it potentially very dangerous on a small
scale but basically useless on a large scale. It also implies a command of
sorcery that your average Emperor may not actually possess.

Tortaalik, a decadent Phoenix, may have avoided burning out Adron's brain
simply because he was incapable, either of the spell itself  or, more
likely, simply lacking the power for battering down the defenses of a master
sorcerer who is prepared for such an eventuality and is also armed with
pre-Empire sorcery.