On Thu, 14 Aug 2003, Philip Hart wrote: >For what it's worth, I find Paresh's account highly implausible, and >the identification with T/A even more so. That P would have solitary >unfettered access for so long to a library, especially if that's >Tazendra's library (surely Khaavren would have overseen the disbursal >of the estate even if everybody else is dead), seems unlikely. You are assuming that Khaavren, or anyone else who knew her, would know that she was dead. Although I admit that it is odd that her absence could go for so long without any investigation (tax collectors & other auditors, at least, might well show up). But perhaps the explosion was part of an attack on the entire region, and the Duke himself was a casualty. A minor Baroness might not have warranted further note than "She got hit too". Although that doesn't make sense since the Lyorn doesn't seem to know that the attack took place. Hm. >That a Lyorn would (deign to) attack him with sorcery seems further >unlikely. Why? You are perhaps assuming that all Lyorns are of impeccable character. As we see with Shaltre, this is not the case. > That a Lyorn would physically show up in person to find someone >(especially post-interregnum, when he could use the Orb to phone >ahead, or have a servant phone ahead) I consider absolutely >impossible. But if this Lyorn is the heir of Temma, rather than being Temma himself, he wouldn't know who the Baroness was, and thus would not be able to contact her psionically. Ditto regarding servants - all of the servants of the Baron might well be dead and thus unable to respond. In fact, I can see this situation as follows: the young Lyorn is the *new* Duke of Arylle, and he's wondering why the Barony's tax rolls have not arrived. He tells his servants to contact anyone in the Barony that they know, and receive no response. He wonders if perhaps the Baron is in rebellion, and decides to go and check things out for himself, perhaps in order to assert his authority. There's things wrong with that scenario as well - why would none of the Teckla of the Duke's lands tell the Duke about the incident? Unless he really is so new on the scene that he has no contacts among the locals at all. Hm. That does kind of make sense. >That P would escape unpursued and unexecuted still more unlikely (I >think the nobles would restrict access to such power and go to some >trouble to track him down - say, call up all his chattels and have >them grab any odd Tecklas they see - or use some sorcerous tracking >method. Though presumably P could teleport after a year's >concentrated study - well, there's an arms race in assumptions which >I assert the superior sorcerer Arylle would win.) I do find it odd that his teleports were not traced. He - Paresh - was the most likely suspect for having caused the death of the Baron, and thus at the very least might well have been tracked down, imprisoned, and interrogated. But perhaps the young Lyorn is less good at the forensic aspects of sorcery. > >It's possible that Aerich doesn't make it out of the Viscountiad and >Arylle is not a Lyorn and that Paresh and Vlad are accurate in their >account and I'm entirely deluded, As already suggested, it appears all too likely that the young Lyorn cannot possibly be Aerich, which indicates that Aerich is, during Vlad's time, defunct. Regardless of whether the young Lyorn is a usurper or legitimate heir, he would not have *called* himself the Duke of Arylle unless the former Duke was no longer around to dispute the claim. > >On Wed, 13 Aug 2003, Alexx S Kay wrote: > >> > I don't see Aerich dying off--I am in the process of reading _Teckla_ and >> > Paresh, a Teckla, is recounting his history to Vlad--he mentions Aerich, or >> > at least, the Duke of Arylle, coming to the door and asking for his Master, >> > presumably about why he wasn't receiving his tribute/tithe whatever. (Cause >> > of a massive fire that killed everyone but Paresh). It was interesting to >> > see how the character changes when it's not Paarfi recounting the history. >> > But then, Paresh is Dragaeran, and so the story he tells might well have >> > been before the Duke of Arylle is presumably killed in _Sethra_. >> >> Paresh's story doesn't actually bode well for our Aerich. Quoting my >> timeline again: >> >> ??? PI >> [Miscellaneous events that aren't exactly dated, but are Post-Interregnum >> and Pre-Vlad.] >> >> Paresh grows up in a Dzurlord's home (Tk 27). >> At 60, Paresh gets land (Tk 28). >> At 80, Paresh's loans are paid off (Tk 28). >> At 81, Paresh's home burns down (Tk 28-29). [This implies subtly that >> his master is Tazendra, who has some history of exploding experiments (FH >> 52, 434-435). Her literary model, Porthos, was also noted for his >> extensive (if largely unread) library.] >> Paresh spends "most of a year" learning sorcery (Tk 30). >> Paresh fights Aerich's son(?) (Tk 31-32). [Paresh was almost certainly >> born after the Interregnum, since sorcery figures highly in his biography, >> and he makes no mention of any interruption of it. He battles "The Duke >> of Arylle", who is "about my age" (in Dragaaeran terms, quite a young man). >> We can infer that Aerich has either died or retired. His literary model, >> Athos, died and left his estate to an adopted son in _The Man in the Iron >> Mask_. The Duke refers to Paresh's master as "him", but this is probably >> a mistranslation of the genderless Dragaeran pronoun on Brust's part (it >> being unlikely that Aerich's heir would be either misinformed or rude).] >>