>I'm not certain where you get the idea that there's more than one emperor
>per reign, but let me forward the hypothesis nonentheless that this may
>occur when certain houses are in power. Can you really imagine anything
>but a democratic government when the Teckla are in power? Would not the
>orb be under the command and at the use of many men/women at once?
Serial, not parallel, emperors. Which I'd certainly believe. The Cycle has
been known to turn prior to the death of an Emperor; it would make sense
that the death of an Emperor wouldn't necessarily signal the turning of the
Cycle.
Plus in I believe _Taltos_, in the course of Vlad's mocking of the
Dragaeran's insistence that 'seventeen is the mystic number,' he mentions
that the longest amount of time a House can hold the Orb is seventeen-cubed
years. This works out to 4913, rather longer than the lifespan of even the
more ancient Dragareans (Sethra notwithstanding).
Oh, and if David S. Cargo ('who tried to help me with palace architecture'
according to the Acknowledgements) isn't the Lord of Snails (maker of
'certain comments' regarding forts/fortresses), I will eat my copy of
_Phoenix Guards_.
----
"I can't think of much worse than spending a lifetime doing something that
isn't what you want to do."
--Neil Gaiman, 2003-05-18