Maximilian Wilson wrote: > > On 2/20/06, K Kuhn <kknolte at ecity.net> wrote: > > that something's changed. OTOH, you do have to wonder why it never > > occurred to them that the Lesser Sea of Chaos might be of interest to > > the Jenoine if the bigger one was protected. Although possibly that's > > because the gods follow your model and do need several hits of a > > clue-by-four). > > Sethra: We are expecting an attack from the Jenoine. > Necromancer: Where? > S: The site of Adron's disaster. > N: [eyebrows raised] Is it unprotected? > S: Yes. The other has been protected all along, almost by accident, as > it were. And it never occurred to me to look for an attack that way. > > It sounds to me like the Orb "protecting" the Greater Sea is almost a > side-effect of something else, so perhaps it's not so surprising that > they never thought to protect the Lesser Sea in the same way. > Sorry, that's what I'm wondering about, given that Sethra at least has a reputation for being a very good general, for a Dragaeran. Admittedly, the military mind is often mysterious to me (frex, a recent real-life example of an army that didn't see a pressing need to secure a huge ammo dump of boring old explosives), but I would think that a successful general would pay attention to what the enemy is trying to get, in order to deny them the opportunity. And if Sethra and the Lords of Judgement believe that their duty is to keep the Jenoine from getting access to amorphia, why did they overlook the Lesser Sea as something they need to defend? So, to relate to the subject line - are even very successful and competent Dragaerans rather slow to relate their existing knowledge base to new information, or notice that the context of their life has changed? (although I don't remember any textevd suggesting they're not as creative as Easterners, although I suppose you could _maybe_ argue that Verra trying to keep Easterners static despite her nature of arbitrary just-do-it-ness could be a hint that Dragaerans aren't very good at handling change the first time they encounter it). SKZB hinting that relying on the Powers-That-Be (ie, Lords of Judgement) to be competent might not be a good idea? Or just an example of how even very intelligent people can overlook stuff until it bites them, especially if it makes a good story? Karen