> > As it is laid out, what Sethra the Younger wanted was to conquer the > East. OK, it's a goal, everyone has hobbies... but how did she go > about achieving this goal? Well, she apparantly decided that (a) the > Emperor had to be one in favor of conquest, and (b) the Warlord had to > be in favor of conquest. Obviously, the Warlord would preferably be > herself, but it seems likely that she would have accepted an > immediately subordinate rank if she could just be the /de facto/ > leader of the conquering forces. > > And she enlists her friend, a Yendi sorceress, in order to carry this out. > > OK, there's just one wee problem: It's stupid! Or at least, woefully > incomplete. And her Yendi friend should have been able to point out > what was *really* necessary. The first big mistake was involving a Yendi. So the Yendi was involved in a plan that was over-complicated, abstruse, and not remotely the "right" way to go? Imagine my shock and surprise! > In order to launch a conquest, what you need to do is: > > (a) convince those that like to fight that there will be plenty of fighting= > . > (b) convince those that like profit that there will be plenty of loot. > (c) convince anyone not in the above that the target of the conquest > is a terrible threat. > (d) convince everyone that anyone who is skeptical about the venture > is a traitor, or just too weak. > > So given a carefully orchestrated propaganda campaign as events lead > up to the next reign, and maybe a few Easterner attacks (fabricated > from nothing, or real ones exaggerated wildly) it wouldn't *matter* > who the Emperor or Warlord is - the war would be sold, and K'laiyer > e'Lanya (had he become Emperor) would have had to permit the armies to > advance East for purely political reasons, regardless of his own > feelings in the matter. With respect, those ingredients *will* get you a *war* -- but not necessarily a war of *conquest*. That requires positive political will, not simple reluctant acquiescence on the part of the leader. Alexx Opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily those of my employers. alexx at carolingiaSPAMBL@CK.org http://www.panix.com/~alexx "Nobody can be exactly like me. Even I have trouble doing it." -- Tallulah Bankhead