[Mikey]

Yes, well, you can tell someone what to think or how to think, but you have to pick only one of those.

Unless your name happens to be Ignatius of Loyola.

[Mikey]

I’ve been thinking of the Phoenix Cycle, and how it means that gods really inherit their organizations and bureucracies from their former selves.

It doesn’t really matter much whether they were reborn, or if they just shed a lot of memories over a long time, they still have to manage organizations they – as the personalities they currently are – wouldn’t have created, and take over long-term plans which might conflict with their current values and objectives, but might be hard to repudiate for the sake of organizational credence.

Maybe Tiernon’s insistence on evidence was an affect of recognizing the inherent danger of the apparent self-sabotage that comes from appearing to question your own long-term plans?

He’s hedging against his own changing nature by limiting himself to acting on strict evidence, and not going to look for things he could use to discredit people like Sentir Fallon, which he could easily do as a god. There’s always dirt, or things which could be construed as such, if one is so motivated.

Gods, as depicted in the Astlan series, would really and truly need an effective internal security apparatus to gather real, unfiltered intelligence on their own organizations. They would need to network with each other, as well, to arrange little “accidents” for those of the others’ underlings who might have managed to centralize a little too much power in their hands over too long a time, and thus become a risk for either a de facto, or a policy influence coup.

[Mikey]

It’s all predicated on how much the gods really believe their own press.

All I’ve read so far indicates: very little, if at all.

But for a god who lives surrounded by his adoring people, the ultimate yes-men, perhaps shedding memories means that they are slowly turning themselves into a manifestation of their own public image.

However, all the rest of their organization would really know, is that Sentir Fallon was found dead one morning in his bath tub, the tragic victim of a self-inflicted animus/mana asphyxiation event (of an apparently sexual nature, is the inside scoop.)

[Mikey]

Of course, people who perceive or identify themselves as pursuing their own interests are more likely to honestly consider the ethics of their actions, even if it’s just to dismiss their conclusion as irrelevant, than people who consider themselves to be good, and by proxy, their actions.

But maybe it’s just us monkeys.

It’s too bad that you’ve introduced the concept of the Universal language, or method of communication, but haven’t really fleshed it out yet. The concept of information loss in communication mars the beauty of the ethical concept of honesty, and makes the communication of an accurate depiction of one’s mental state containing the mental model of a particular aspect of reality relevant to the discussion, impossible.

But what if there’s a Universal language which doesn’t have these constraints, and allows for a perfect communication of the mental model of a true, justified belief? That would make one’s word the cornerstone of equitable interaction, and create a great difference in the ethics and morality between parties capable of conversing in Universal, and those who cannot.

[Mikey]

[img]http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/supergameeskimo/images/8/8a/Capture.png[/img]

[Mikey]

Creating the beginnings of an alternative Alvaran value system might be the kind of strategic shot across the bow which might actually force the Alvaran pantheon, whatchamacallit, to reconsider war against the orcs.

Even a half-assed follower grab by an immortal who doesn’t really fear them would be significantly more expensive resource-wise than a few hundred years of total war on a couple worlds.

[Mikey]

Es ist kaputt.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBs2OQeogDo[/youtube]

[Mikey]

Wouldn’t it be funny, if the antimus dagger artifact had slowly infected Talarius, and turned him into a lich or similar, while he’s still alive, which explains his prowress in battle.

Of course, this will only become noticeable once someone accidentally sticks half a meter of steel through his armor, Talarius’ animus suddenly flips into antimus, and everyone becomes very confused.

Except Melissance, of course.

[Mikey]

With a quick smile and a wink at the camera, Tom stated confidently: “I don’t often drink liquefied gas, but when I do, I drink CO^2. Carbon Dioxide, it’s the drink of the working gods and demon princes both on the Outer AND the Lower planes.”

[Mikey]

It’s the MS Phoenix Cycle 2016, Enterprise Edition.

They took that feature from TFS.

[Mikey]

[quote=The Author Guy;3972]it would be pretty stupid for some other author to try to do something with the third book…[/quote]

[Mikey]

OR, it could be that the whole Danu business is just a front, like Exador with Tiernon.

Everybody knows you can’t trust demons, much less their god!

[Mikey]

In book 1, much was made of the mental compulsion Lenamare imposed on Tom.

Later, in The Ripe Young Maiden’s Surprise, the only mention of the wizard-demon link’s nature and Tom’s ability to affect it, was made.

It might be a nifty plot tool to keep in your back pocket, but even with all that’s happened, I find it hard to believe that Tom wouldn’t have asked someone, even Tamarin in book 3, about how to protect himself from compulsion, or even pulse the com back to Lenamare.

[Mikey]

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESSBsta55Rw][img]http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/slavoj-zizek1.jpg[/img]
[/url]
Pale ontologist.

[Mikey]

Jerry. You’re RUINING the genre for me. Now that I know what “good writing” really means, I can’t but expect it from every book I purchase from Amazon.

[Author]

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