>> What makes you think that Tatius is a pragmatic general?
> Sounds like we have several different views of Tatius, and it might not
> be a bad idea to get them ironed out for the purposes of this joint
> project.
Apparently yes.
> We know he's more intelligent than his cousin Euglyptus.
We usually use Euglyptus as the face of decadence in the Lunar Empire.
> And Euglyptus ran Dragon Pass quite effectively for over ten years,
> so he wasn't a complete loser.
Let me see:
He bungled the Building Wall Battle big way, and had Fazzur fired for
being successful.
The Tarshites solved the Aramite problem.
Jomes Wulf solved the Telmori problem.
Harvar Ironfist solved the Righteous Wind Far Point problem.
Euglyptus bungled the Orlanth Victorious situation and allowed open
rebellion. Somewhere the sugared eel came in, and it may even have come
from Assiday sources.
Thrice lucky (after helplessly letting the situation escalate), twice thoroughly incompetent in the face of crisis.
Of course the Empire didn't send Mr Bremer^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Euglyptus sufficient forces. Oh well.
> The impression I get is that Tatius is primarily a politician, and
> secondarily a magician. His military knowledge has up till now been
> theoretical. But then if a very bright guy spends a few weeks reading
> through the world's best military library with the intention of learning
> strategy as fast as possible, you may well end up with a competent
> strategist.
Unfortunately we are dealing with a very bright guy with a bias against the most recent contributor to "The Light of Action". Tatius apparently cannot stand Fazzur, so everything Fazzur has to say must be wrong.
> As a magician, do we see him as concentrating on the mythical
> manipulation - Compromise, god-killing, etc? Or on the more "technical"
> side - my fireball's bigger than your fireball, and look what happens
> when I combine this number of sorcerors in this configuration, sort of
> thing?
I have the distinct feeling that Tatius is a chess (or Ouranekki) player rather than a tactician. He is overly fond of sacrificing units for a minor gain.
> As a politician and administrator, I tend to see him as being a lot like
> the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork. Always knows more than you think he does.
> No apparent vices. Seems to get by on a negative amount of sleep.
> Sarcasm 10W3.
Here I part company. Lord Vetinari does not perform any family business, very much unlike Tatius whose allegiances to family and empire are fighting it out. Vetinari had the nerve to form a thieves' guild, whereas Tatius as an administrator prefers to weed the rebels out. On an imperial level, Tatius is a master player in the balances and imbalances of the great houses. On the provincial level, he has as much sense as Lord Rust (also of Ankh-Morpork fame, in Jingo) - teach em bastards.
Again, he has all the makings of a chess player. For some reason or another, the units he designs as sacrifices in real life have a tendency to avoid these designations. Can't they see it's for the greater good?
I wouldn't be surprised to meet Tatius in a backstabbing game of Junta...
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