On Sun, 2003-11-02 at 21:11, Toubib wrote: > I get the impression that it's impossible to be the > Emperor(ess) and not know how to use the Orb. The Orb > is more then just the conduit to use Chaos, it's the > depository of almost all experiences had by previous > Emperors. An example of this is in Phoenix when Zerika > figured out Aibynn was from Greenare by consulting the > Orb and based memories of his clothes by previous > rulers. Later in the same book, she turns off the > record feature of the Orb, to have a private > conversation with Vlad. So I would think that when the > Heir takes possession of the Orb it tells then all > their is to know, based on the previous Emperors > experiences, to us it. I'm inclined to disagree with that. If that were the case, the new Emperor(ess) would be flooded with those old memories as soon as they gained the Orb, which would probablly cause the Empire to be completely non-functional for at least the following month. And that really wouldn't work well when the Orb is peacefully handed over to deal with problems (ie, end of the 17th Athyra reign, and end of the First Phoenix Reign of the Second Great Cycle). There also happens to be a much nicer solution for why Zerika is so capable with the Orb. First off, in PotD, she spent a lot of time studying under Sethra. I'm sure at least some of that was on how to use the Orb. Second, she is friends with Sethra, who she can just consult on it. However, I'm sure there's a way for Emperor(esse)s who aren't buddy-buddy with Sethra. They probablly know at least some of the Orb's abilities and can just gently probe the Orb with their minds, attempting to do what they want until they get the hang of it. And once they get the memory recall thing down, they can find a lot more of what's possible.