[Dragaera] Liberals

[Jerry Friedman via Dragaera]

> From: Jon Lincicum <lincicum at comcast.net>

> From: "Jerry Friedman" <jerry_friedman at yahoo.com> 
> 
>>  But if we're to believe FHYA, nobody thought of outlawing drugs till 
>>  Greycat. What you outline would make a lot of sense for the Jhereg 
>>  (if the rest of the Empire could stand the hypocrisy), but I doubt 
>>  they actually do it. 
> 
> If we're to believe /FHYA/, then yes, Greycat was the first individual to 
> put this concept together with certain specific intoxicating recreational 
> substances. That anyone remembers. This cycle. That Paarfi knows of. In that 
> part of the Empire.  


The Orb remembers everything.  I can hardly imagine Jhereg emperors don't
look for things that worked well in the past and pass them on to fellow
Jhereg who can use them.  If it's worked before, it would only have to
be remembered for eight reigns for Dunaan to know about it.  And why would
anything that works well be forgotten anyway?  There should be legends
of the Jhereg Golden Age when drugs were illegal.  Unless, I suppose, it
doesn't work as well as Dunaan expects.

As for Paarfi's knowledge, it seems to be pretty extensive, and he doesn't
seem to be worried about being contradicted.  And if you start doubting him
without a specific reason, you'll have to doubt a lot.  As for putting that
concept together with drugs, if the Jhereg Emperors had outlawed other
things (books, music, fancy clothes, whatever), why wouldn't drugs have
occurred to them?

>> I wonder how the Dragons feel about their required service in the Jhereg 
>> Guard. Their House should really give them a waiver during that reign. 
>> I suppose as things start to fall apart, some Dragons might want to 
>> enlist to help the Iorich arrest the Emperor or whatever happens. 
> 
> When the scoundrels write the law, then it's lawful to be a scoundrel. Who 
> said that? Oh crap, it might have just been me. 


You might become famous.
> Dragon aversion to working with or for Jhereg during Vlad's time appears to 

> be a moral objection to breaking the law; thus incurring a loss of honor.

See Alexx's post about corrupt Dragon Guardsmen.


> Since > even during a Jhereg reign, the Guard is presumably still used as a tool to 
> enforce the law, whatever that law may be, then it seems likely the moral 
> objection is no greater during a Jhereg reign than at any other time. The 
> 'dishonorable' (i.e. illicit) part of the Jhereg operations are still 
> going to be handled by someone other than the Jhereg Guard.


But I should have been more explicit (again).  First, I think the Dragons will
hate being part of something called the Jhereg Guard and wearing Jhereg colors.
Second, I think they'll hate enforcing laws that were passed only to increase
the Jhereg's income.  Third, I think they'll have to leave Jhereg businesses
mostly alone, and bribes from others will largely go to Jhereg commanders,
leaving less for the Dragon rank and file.
> Certainly, individual Dragonlords within the guard may not have much respect for 
> their political leadership. However, I suspect that's probably true most of 
> the rest of the time, also. With possible exceptions at /certain times/ during 
> /some/ Dragon reigns, perhaps. 


I suspect there's more disrespect when the leadership is Jhereg.
> It's also important to remember that at the time of a Jhereg reign, the 
> House of Dragon is very low on the cycle itself, and not likely to be in much of 
> a position to be choosy. 


So they could at least spare themselves the humiliation and limited rewards
of mandatory service in the Guard.


Jerry Friedman