Philip Hart <philiph at SLAC.Stanford.EDU> writes: > You've snipped the gist of my argument, which is that > you've conflated "being chosen by the Orb" and "being > Emperor". You were arguing about the former and here argue > about the latter. Sorry, I didn't read that part very closely. However, I think you're misinterpretting that scene. Aerich and Adron are talking about how to tell if the Cycle has turned (since they can't see the big wheel themselves) and the only way they come up with for testing this is to try to kill the Emperor. If the Orb lets you, then the Cycle has turned and you're the new Emperor; if the Orb defends the Emperor, then the Cycle hasn't turned and you're a traitor (and likely dead). Compare to the Chinese(?) concept of Divine Mandate and the death magic in Bujold's _Curse of Chalion_. There was no indication that the Orb would try to choose a new Emperor without checking the Cycle first. Pure speculation: I believe that the Cycle (big wheel with animals in the Halls of Judgement) is just a projection of the Orb so that the Lords of Judgement can see the current state of the Empire. To me, this makes more sense than having the Orb controlled by it. > - Where does Paarfi contradict himself in Khaavren's > interrogation? He says that the duel that killed the Warlord's brother was caused by him interrupting a meeting between Seodra and the Warlord (which, if true, would make the Warlord a complete idiot for bringing up the matter). That meeting was between Gyorg and Seodra. --KG