On Wed, 17 Mar 2004, Sean Whalen wrote: > > --- Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> wrote: > > > > > > On Tue, 16 Mar 2004, Sean Whalen wrote: > > > > > I definitely believe that there can be multiple > > Emperors during a > > > reign. The orb doesn't prevent all forms of death > > (the Emperor can die > > > of old age, magical trickery, or for all we know > > choking on his dinner). > > > If an Emperor died before 189 years had passed > > we'd definitely need > > > another, and even if more time had passed there's > > no necessary change > > > that's ever been indicated. > > > > Good point. To the left, Vlad might be making up > > the 189 year limit. > > It's always a possibility but I don't think Vlad > makes things up in the stories very often. Even if he > did there's no reason for this I can think of. Messing with us. Trying to make Dragaerans look dumb. > Now, he's mistaken a lot more. However, he first > mentions the limits (as far as I can remember) when he > discusses having a sarcastic conversation with a > Dragaeran about the importance of numbers to > Easterners. When the Dragaeran sneers he just starts > to mention all the examples of 17 he can think of and > the Dragaeran doesn't disagree. The 17**2 (=289, incidentally) might be folk wisdom. The (perhaps less than highly educated) Dragaerans Vlad likes to taunt may believe it (or accept Vlad's assertion as fact), but that doesn't prove anything. > > > To the down, that's not long to a Dragaeran, and the emperor can only > > die a natural death. > > Since the heir isn't chosen for his or her age > (they can never be sure how soon it is until the Cycle > turns) I'm fairly sure some Emperors have died only a > few years into their reigns. I'm fairly sure the Orb > doesn't help longevity. If it did I think there would > have been more time between the beginning of the > Empire and now than 250,000 years. I see no evidence for any of these assertions. Why shouldn't the House Apparent pick a youngish Heir, and if too much time goes by pick a new one? It's in the House's interest to have a long reign. Your "fairly sure some Emperors have died only a few years into their reigns" begs the question. And the Orb might be programmed to prolong natural life in office to 289. The likelihood of handover due to crisis may be high. > > I don't recall any reference to p-E sorcery concerning the goblets in > > question - I imagine that they were made of Phoenix stone. > > Maybe, but Gyorg Lavode was able to detect the > poison. I think the goblets used a specific spell not > powered from the Orb in order to fool it. Maybe he has a sharp sense of smell - it might go with being a Dzur. Maybe the presence of a hunk of Phoenix stone disturbs the psychic or sorceral ambiance enough for an adept to notice and become curious.