On 6/22/06, Jon_Lincicum wrote: > "Davdi Silverrock" wrote: > > > > >Perhaps there might have been sufficient question over Aliera's > >legitimacy as a proper Dragon, shortly after she was born, to cast a > >shadow over Adron. There's a bit of a kerfluffle as the Dragon > >Council tries to cope with this completely unprecedented situation. > >Even if Adron testifies under the Orb; even if the genescans all check > >out; even if Verra gives direct testimony to the Council as to > >Aliera's provenance; the situation is so unusual that it becomes > >desireable to find someone a little less controversial to be Heir. > >Thus, the e'Lanya line is chosen instead. > > Given the way Dragaerans view gods, I just don't see Aliera's parentage as > being that big of a deal. > > It's not like her mother was a Dzur, or a Tiassa, or (god forbid) a > Teckla. Yet I am of exactly the opposite opinion precisely because of the pragmatic way that Dragaerans view gods. Dragaerans think that the gods are those who have learned certain skills. Thus, they are worthy of respect, because they have power. But Dragaerans don't have a superstitious acceptance that everything that the gods are and do is automatically right and correct and automatically "good". The Dragon Council, being concerned about the purity of the Dragon lineages, might well have reason to doubt Verra's contributions to Aliera's genes, at least, as I am arguing, provisionally. > I find it much more likely that Adron would have been replaced as heir for > one of the following reasons: > > 3. Tortaalik felt threatened by him. (The emperor, even one as inept as > Tortaalik, does have considerable pull with the leaders of the other > Houses) Does he? Remember, Tortaalik couldn't even get all of the House representatives together. And Tortaalik didn't even pay attention to politics, allowing Jurabin to pretty much run things. Remember the headache? I suspect that each House has full autonomy in choosing its own Heir, and would not welcome meddling by outsiders in their internal affairs. In fact, if Tortaalik *had* expressed an objection to Adron, the Dragon Council might have been inclined to view that as being an incentive to choose (or keep) Adron, so as not to be seen to give in to external pressure. > 4. The Dragon Council was scared by Adron's experimentations with Elder > Sorcery. (It was outlawed for a reason, after all.) Perhaps. Yet those experiments came after he was chosen as Heir the second time, or so I recall. > > >However, some indeterminate period of time later, K'laiyer's politics > >turn out to be unacceptable to Sethra Junior. When she discusses it > >with her friends the SiG and Baritt, several options for discrediting > >K'laiyer might have been discussed, but the whole "legitimacy casting > >a shadow over the parent" from the Aliera issue might well have > >inspired them to take the course of action they did. > > Interesting idea. However, I can't believe that there was really any other > plan than to have Norathar's parents murdered, under cover of a battle > with Sethra. Whatever "discrediting" was done was simply to rouse the > e'Lanyas to get angry enough to attack Dzur Mountain. Yet how could the conspirators have been certain that K'laiyer and Miera would declare war, rather than a personal duel with Sethra Lavode, or for that matter, keeping their cool and demanding a full investigation into the allegations? The Dragaerans have a truth verification tool. If K'laiyer and Miera testify under the Orb that Norathar is the natural offspring of the both of them, that might then lead to a third, genuinely impartial sorcerer performs a validating genescan, and then Sethra Jr & the SiG have to suddenly get out of town fast. I suspect that the SiG may have used her sneaky Yendi manipulation skills to goad and insult K'laiyer into intemperate action, perhaps by intercepting messengers and rewriting their messages. > >An uglier possibility is that Adron, holding himself insulted by > >having Aliera's legitimacy questioned, was more involved with the > >choice of accusations against K'laiyer and Miera than the text of > >/Yendi/ makes it appear. This sort of mean-spirited, spiteful revenge > >would make Adron a rather petty (and evil) person, but I think it > >could be argued that the escalating conflict between Adron and > >Tortaalik leading up to the Disaster was an exercise in mutual > >pettiness. > > This is entirely consistent with events... Just don't let Aliera hear you > talking this way. ;-) Or Morrolan, since he seems to have a case of hero-worship for Adron. > >At any rate, after K'laiyer & wife are safely dead, Aliera would > >therefore have been provisionally accepted for long enough (a few > >centuries, perhaps?) that she would have been a very attractive young > >woman that the Council had had time to become accustomed to, and there > >would thus have been no objection to making Adron the Heir again. > > Perhaps. But if this was even an issue, why couldn't they have just found > another Dragonlord without a "bastard" child at all? Say, Rollondar > e'Drien? Or Barrit? Shrug. Who can say? Politics. Go figure. > >Of course, the internal politics of the Dragon Council will never be > >revealed, so it is rather useless to speculate. But nevertheless. > > "Useless" is a term that is only applicable if it's a subject you don't > enjoy discussing, in which case, why are you even here? :-) "Well, to begin with, then, the world was made when the gods created a ball of amorphia to hang-"