[Dragaera] Tiassa [nothing but spoilers]

[Alexx Kay]

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> Some random number of random comments: another strong Text, if more a
> story cycle than a novel.

Some random number of comments on the comments :-)

> I think the early Paarfiad is great, but I like everything in the Vladiad
> far more than the Piroiad (and now I have a simple explanation - he
> didn't have the tiassa for the latter volumes),

Huh, that interpretation had not occurred to me.  It seems, based on a
simple reading, that Paarfi had possession of the ST for about 350 years. 
We don't now exactly how long he took to write the five volumes we have,
but that period encompasses at least 200 years, and probably longer.

> Yeah, so it's totally clear Sethra's not Paarfi,

Unpack?  I didn't see anything in the text that made that clear.

>the Orb location stuff
> was another (because why not kill Kana that way),

Mmmmmaybe.  There seems to have been a non-zero number of successful
Imperial coups in the past, so there must be *some* extremely strong
mechanism that prevents the sitting Emperor from directly killing a
Pretender.

>and I guess we've argued
> about how Vlad would trust anyone with his deepest secrets (we didn't
> think of trinkets, probably).

The trinkets were previously mentioned on p.15 of _Dragon_.

> (I've been wondering for a while how Piro is still the Viscount - I would
> think that House Tiassa would refuse to allow him to retain the title.)

We don't know much about either the specifics of that title, or about
House Tiassa politics.  It may be that the title has requirements that
only Piro fills (e.g. "Must be a child of the Count/ess of Whitecrest"). 
And/or, the House leadership doesn't want to antagonize Daro and Khaavren,
who are two of their most prominent and powerful members.

> I
> don't understand "turn my bait".

Maybe Brust didn't either, and just gave us a literal translation of the
cant idiom :-)

> Does Vlad kill H'noc for betraying him (haven't we seen him keep his word
> in some similar situation - I'm not recalling off-hand) or for treating
> Neritha viciously?

I doubt that the Neritha thing entered into it; the Vlad of this period
was pretty vicious himself.  On the other hand, he tends to take betrayal
very personally, and making an example out of H'noc might help discourage
others.

> So Pel is still PM.  I'm a bit surprised - in discussing _Iorich_ here I
> said I didn't think he would have let things get so out of hand there (and
> in _Orca_ and even _Teckla_/_Phoenix_

Pel is skilled, but he's far from omnipotent or even omniscient.  We don't
know much of what he's been doing, or what other crises he's been
averting.  Well, we have a small inference from the fact that (so far as
we know) there still hasn't been a massive economic meltdown due to the
events of _Orca_.

>- oh, no mention of the first time
> we and I guess Vlad saw Khaavren?).

There's a good chance that Vlad first saw Khaavren either during an
Imperial arrest early in his career (not yet fully documented), or at
Morrolan's party.

> I found the "Jhereg fake Jenoine invasion to get Vlad" idea hard to
> believe

It was certainly a risky maneuver, but it didn't strike me as completely
implausible.  Perhaps Dathaani, while researching Vlad's history to try
and figure out an angle to get to him, found out about the Silver Tiassa,
and managed to get a true (or at least partial) account of its history and
properties (we know he knew enough to be aware that Mafenyi had made it). 
Further speculating, perhaps Dathaani stole it *before* coming up with his
subsequent plan, and possession of it gave him sufficient inspiration to
come up with the rest of the plot.

> Zerika could have just said to the Jhereg Council, "You've got a rogue
> guy playing Jenoine, clean up this mess or I'll have the five of you
> stacked up on a star to save the executioner trouble, and the top guy
> goes on bottom".

People on this list keep over-estimating the amount of raw power Zerika
can exert against the Jhereg (or any large political bloc).  She's been
quite clear, ever since way back in _Phoenix_, that she is constrained by
lots of political factors.  And at the period when this plot takes place
(post-_Orca_), the Jhereg have a substantial threat hanging over her head,
that would get used if she took any large-scale action against their
House.

> I quite liked the Cawti/Daro scenes.  I have to wonder if Daro will be
> moved to learn a bit more than nothing (maybe that's unfair, but I'm with
> Cawti here) about what's going on in the parts of the city where she
> doesn't spend much time.  I'm a little surprised actually that she is
> apparently so unfamiliar with such a large group of inhabitants of her
> county (and presumably Teckla issues as well), given the very recent
> upsets -

Such ignorance is sad, but not really surprising.  The ruling classes
rarely know much about the peasantry.  While Daro has shown herself to
possess many admirable qualities, class-consciousness has never been one
of them.

>and also Cawti herself has been at a lot of Morrolan's parties
> not to mention being best friends with the Heir, which would one might
> think make her known to Whitecrest.

It's true that they *might* have met, but there's no necessity that they
did.  Cawti went to Morrolan's party at least a few times when she and
Vlad were together -- but there's no reason to think that she's been back
since she went revolutionary.

> The stuff about the Warlock was very interesting.  He and Vlad have a
> whole lot to talk about, I wonder why they haven't.

Vlad doesn't hang out at court much.  There's no obvious reason why the
Warlock would want to approach him.

> I was confused about Vlad losing Lady Teldra - somehow I would have
> thought that wouldn't happen.  I'm a bit surprised she didn't kill all
> the ones she wounded - did I miss a clue showing him using plain steel?
> (Does he get healed midfight if he's holding her?) Obviously one would
> guess she'd be less likely to eat the souls of Issolas.

Was Vlad fighting with Lady Teldra?  He knew that he was facing Sara's
family, and he clearly wanted Sara to think better of him.  One might
understand him being reluctant to destroy the souls of her relatives.

> I wonder if "Issola bard" in Athyra is now a bit of a crack.

Probably a bit, but not a major one.  I suspect that *most* Issola bards
are relatively low on the (Issola) social scale.  Younger children of
impoverished families, or something of the sort.


Alexx

You can't teach people to be lazy.  Either they have it or they don't.
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