"Scott Schultz" <scott at cjhunter.com> Sent by: dragaera-bounces at dragaera.info 01/09/06 01:16 PM To "'Dragaera List'" <dragaera at dragaera.info> cc Subject RE: the honing of Vlad (Some Issola spoilers) >I don't know that it's a question of choice in this case. There was never >any question of Vlad going back. He'd gone to a fair amount of trouble to >reach Morollan and Alieara in the first place. His visit with Verra happened >as a way to both warn her and to get some advice on how to handle the >situation. It wasn't an attempt to escape it. Exactly. Vlad didn't really have a choice, because choosing to just abandon his friends ran contrary to who he was as a person. He could no more choose to do that than he could choose to have blonde hair, or a charming personality. But I think he *was* maybe expecting a little more help from his goddess. Vlad: "What's our secret weapon?" Verra: "Your ability to improvise." Vlad: "You're joking." Verra: "Nope." Sounds like he's being used as a tool to me... But perhaps not especially unwillingly. Verra was, after all, hoping he could rescue his friends, which is certainly something he wanted to have happen. He just didn't have as much confidence in his abilities as Verra did. Of course, Verra knowing what Spellbreaker was, and what it was likely to become in the near-future, may have had something to do with this. >In Verra's case, she's influenced by her Aspect as the goddess of, hmm, >"arbitrariness" or "capriciousness" isn't right but I don't remember exactly >how Teldra characterized her. In any case, her basic nature would be >"chaotic" compared to most of the Lords we've been introduced to. Her >strength is that she acts when others are paralyzed by their indecision and >formality. Her weakness is that her actions are seldom as well-formulated as >they should be and can appear to the uninitiated as being entirely random or >even malicious. I imagine that she's pretty much always making it up as she >goes along. She likes getting her own way, and doing things the way she wants. That doesn't mean she hasn't thought things through and considered repercussions. I think I like the idea that she's simply delegated many of these problems to Sethra. Majikjon