>Yep, it appears that we understand Paarfi's motivations. Do we >understand Vlad's motivations for being truthful? At its very simplest, Paari is pandering to an audience while Vlad is simply a businessman fulfilling a contract, and one that he thinks to be a rather silly one at that. (Think like a Jhereg.) His motivation to be truthful? Easy money. His motivations to lie? Cover his operations and/or make himself look good. Considering all of the intimate details that he's told the "metal box with presumed ears at both ends" that are both incriminating and self-effacing, we've got no reason to believe that he's telling those sorts of lies. We do, however, have the issue of faulty memory when we look at things that Vlad has dictated so we can't be 100% sure that we have all of the facts, nor can be we 100% sure that HE has all the facts to begin with.