Re: Some Moon Boat Facts

From: Andrew Solovay <asolovay_at_...>
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 14:43:46 -0800


donald_at_... wrote:
> In message (no message ID) "Andrew Solovay" writes:
>>
>> But of course, having a moon boat is only have the story--you also
>> need a crew trained in Vargar magic (with a devotee as captain) to
>> fly it. And I'm sure the Empire keeps a pretty good idea of the
>> loyalty of all Vargar captains... The captain may work for you (and
>> a pretty hefty salary you're paying him, too), but I'll bet he works
>> for the Empire, first.
>
> All good Lunar citizens put the interests of the Empire first.....but
> which interpretation of the interests of the empire.....

Yes, of course. But if *I* were an officer of HIM's Secret Service, I'd want to have a very good idea of the loyalties and opinions of every Vargari. Control of transit and communications is a very important thing--they'd want to be sure that they could, say, shut down communications in a particular area, or make sure that merchant can't skip out of town just before the Inquisition shows up. I think they'd make it a very high priority to have control over all the Vargari--whether by bribery, blackmail, or knowledge of their religious fervor.

My assumption is, everyone *assumes* that every Vargari is in the Emperor's pocket. People know better than to talk freely around their moonboat's crew, no matter how long they've been in your service.

Am I off base there?

(Though, of course, it's not clear just *which* Imperial pocket any Vargari might be in. I'm sure that quite often the captain and the mate answer to different intelligence services, and spy on each other as much as on their passengers...)

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