--- Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> wrote: > > > On Wed, 17 Mar 2004, Sean Whalen wrote: > > > 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? Well, all we've seen of a House that chooses the Heir to some degree is the Dragon. They decided during the Phoenix Reign that the E'Lanya Line would have the next Heir. Already they have to depend (assuming there's only one Emperor per reign) that the E'Lanya Heir isn't too old whenever the cycle changes or has a relative who isn't. This leaves a lot to chance. Maybe they plan to reverse their decision if it looks like the Phoenix Reign is ending, but if it's too close to a time of crisis this could create bad feelings in the aged Heir and his supporters who might prefer to become Emperor even if he can only reign for a few hundred years. It seems to me that it makes more sense that since they chose the Heir early they just wanted someone of that line, and if an old member was Heir when the cycle turned he's become Emperor and be able to pass it on to another during the Dragon Reign. Of course, none of this is definite. > It's in the House's interest to have a long > reign. Yes, and if they can have several Emperors per reign there's no problem. > 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. If this is so, it's even more support for the idea that the Heir isn't picked for his youth. > > > 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. I don't know. I suppose there's not enough evidence to decide exactly what happened. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam http://mail.yahoo.com