David Silberstein wrote: > Definitely weak. I re-read some of the Vlad books, and it turns out > Vlad has in fact testified under the Orb for the murder of a Jhereg > Duke! The thing is, he twisted his testimony (so much so that I find > it hard to believe the Imperial interrogators let him get away with > it) so that he was not convicted. You can say pretty much anything > you want under the Orb as long as it has *some* truth value... As long as you are not telling a falsehood. Vlad said something to the effect of 'he killed himself' and comments to the reader that the Duke's death was a natural consequence of his own actions. In other words, it's basically the magical equivalent of a lie detector. Also note that based on Vlad's conversations with Zerika, it is clear that Zerika might well know that a person testifying under the Orb is lying and allow them to get away with it to serve the political needs of the Empire. > Now I'm curious - does anyone who has read "Les Trois Mousquetaires" > et "Vingt Ans après" know if there is anything similar in those tales? Vague recollections - it's been at least 15 years - Yes. I'll probably be getting back to them either just before or or just after Paths comes out.