[Dragaera] it's late and i'm a little punchy

[Jerry Friedman via Dragaera]

> From: Scott Schultz via Dragaera <dragaera at lists.dragaera.info>

...
> However, let's assume that Paarfi really does have inside information and 
> that his version of events is largely correct. How could it have happened that 
> way?

...

As I may have said at some earlier time that we discussed this, one possibility
is that the Cycle turned briefly and then turned back.


> I tend to read a lot into Aliera's remarks in _Taltos_, maybe more than is > intended, but it appears to me that Adron was not attempting to steal the Orb, 
> he was attempting to destroy it, or at least destroy it's link to the Cycle. 
> Paarfi just puts a more genteel polish on things that may actually be what you 
> could call a cover-up of the true events. I wonder what Khaavren would have to 
> say about it?
> 
> For reference: Excerpt from _Taltos_
> ---
> Aliera nodded, and I saw a tear in her eye. She said very quietly, “It is the 
> reign of a reborn Phoenix, isn’t it?”
> Morrolan nodded, seeming to understand.
> “I told him it would be,” she said. “A Great Cycle—seventeen Cycles; it had to 
> be a reborn Phoenix. He wouldn’t listen to me. He thought it was the end of the 
> Cycle, that a new one could be formed. He—”
> “He created a sea of chaos, Aliera.”
> ---


Thanks, that's a helpful reminder for me.

When I read it, I thought it just meant he thought it was the end of that reign
and a new reign could be started, which would make perfect sense and be consistent
with Paarfi, but both "Cycle" and "formed" would have to be errors.

For Adron to think the Cycle was ending is a bit odd, since the Phoenix is
sinking into decay and there Adron is to take over, right on schedule.  As you
say, maybe he knew about a bug.


> What I read into this is that Adron was not merely attempting to hasten the > Cycle into its next phase. He was trying to undo the Cycle entirely.

I don't see any hint of that in what Aliera says.  She seems to be saying the
opposite.  Adron thought Dragaera was about to be liberated from the Cycle, and
he wanted to impose a new one.


> Adron knew
> about the divide-by-zero or Y2K bug in the system and was trying to exploit it > to reset the entire Cycle to something more suited to his purposes. He just
> didn't count on the Orb being in a reboot sequence when he did it. (Assuming 
> that Mario really did hard-crash the Orb.)

Or he didn't count on the Orb thinking that he was the Emperor.



> Maybe he was attempting to destroy
> the Orb and it lashed out in self-defense. It's been compared to a Great > Weapon in that respect.
> 
> Whatever happened, I think that there's far more to the story than what 
> Paarfi would have us believe.


Aliera's account of Adron's motives is consistent with Paarfi's account of
what went wrong.

Jerry Friedman