On Thu, 18 Mar 2004, Sean Whalen wrote: > Illista's plan was to get Allistar as Noima's lover > and then get rid of Tortaalik through a crisis he > couldn't handle. Allistar would be able to deal with > it, marry Noima, and continue the Phoenix Reign. I don't know of any textev for this. As I believe I explained earlier in this thread, it was perfectly sensible for the conspirators to seek influence at court and to increase that influence by weakening T, none of which depends on his death. > Tortaalik's sister was the prime mover in the plot to poison him > (White Goblets). It seems unlikely that it would be meant to keep him > comatose and rule as regent (especially in Dragaera where someone who > controls the Orb is a necessity). Who knows? Note for example a recent example in our history - President Reagan was grievously wounded in his first term of office, and even his supporters agree that the stress and, possibly, oxygen deprivation led to a loss of acuity and control of the reins of power. > > 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. > > Rereading, the goblets had been specially prepared to be immune to > the Orb's abilities but not Gyorg's. This may mean his sense of smell > or psychic senses, but it doesn't seem likely. It may seem unlikely to you. > Preparing goblets with black and gold phoenixstone seems almost > impossible. The Serioli managed to make a chain. Hell, they may have made the goblets. > In _Phoenix_ the Orb detected the invisible area created by Aibyn's > phoenixstone. In _Phoenix_ the Empress finds Aibynn "psychically blank." She may well have been curious about a friend of Vlad's who he thought might be an assassin. We have no indication of an Orb warning or that Z didn't try to scan him out of curiosity and failed. > If the goblets just blocked the area around them the poison would be > detectable as soon as it left the goblets (and into the Emperor). What > would the Orb normally do when it detected poison nearby? Even if it > just informed and took no action others could cast spells to get rid of > the poison. The Orb probably just destroys the poison (or else the > Emperor would be extremely vulnerable to Elder Sorcery that did nothing > but shoot a poisoned arrow at him). If you're going to posit a new magical "Orb-dampening effect" then all bets are off - hiding the object in the room would be sufficient. I suspect the emperor is as safe from ES-powered poisoned arrows as he is >from plain-old arrows. Also note that there are two-step poisons that, ingested in bulk, would be sufficient to cause irreperable damage before a sorcerer could be summoned - remember this is pre-Interregnum. Also note that you seem to be arguing against the idea of the plot.