jeff G. wrote: <snip> > This is probably the most acute observation yet. During the change of the > cycle the only positions that alter would be the most obvious ones, > (Emperor, Warlord, maybe the Prime Minister) with most being political > favors, or to gain leverage in the Empire for the current reigning House. > But with all the House having a built in inclination for particular > positions (Dragons as Warlord, Athyra as Judges, Lyorn Recordkeepers, Yendi > Prime Ministers, to name the most obvious), the people that run the empire > on a day to day basis would remain in their positions for some time, > irregardless of the Cycle. Although the fact that apparently a Dragon Emperor can't name herself as warlord, even though that's apparently the position all Dragonlords want, makes me wonder about how much leeway the Emperor actually has in appointing positions. Perhaps it's more like each House has its own area of interest, and the Emperor can only select a candidate from the slate the House offers him? If nothing else, if each House tends to fill up the lesser ranks of their favorite interest bureaucracy as well as the top ones, anyone who doesn't have the approval of the House is in for a rough time, no matter their titular authority, and presumably firing everyone wholesale and replacing with your own loyalists would result in a bureaucracy that didn't know what they were doing and cause even more problems. Karen