Yes, but: I think the point Jeff was reminding us of (as he's reminded me in other contexts) is that there are oath-bound obligations between guest and host, and as such, Broyan has to be treated by the rest in certain ways unless they want to be the target of Divine displeasure, never mind about Broyan's.
Of course, that guest-to-host thing only applies *inside* WW. You get outside the walls, say as far as beating up some Lunars, and all bets are off. Attack whichever fellow guests you feel like. Broyan may not appreciate it, but you're "only" annoying him, not breaking oaths.
> Thus, Kallyr will be another locus of authority
> amongst the
> defenders of Whitewall, but every time she gives an
> order, the
> recipient will be making a conscious or unconscious
> decision as to
> whether to obey, to question, to ignore or to modify
> it.
Yep! Members of the Kheldon tribe may have some "legal" obligation to her as their duely elected Queen, but no-one else does.
> This need not be 'treasonous' -- who is to
> say that the
> warleader who disregards Kallyr's orders in battle
> does not do so
> because he thinks he has a better idea?
> And he may be right.
Oh, yes. Either right according to the (limited) information he has, or just right, period.
> On the whole,
> those involved with this fascinating project are, of
> course, partisans of the Whitewall cause.
Donald does defend the Lunars from time to time?
> what mistakes do Kallyr and Broyan make?
>
> Sure, they are noble heroes, yadda-yadda, but every
> commander screws
> up some times, and many conflicts are determined not
> so much by
> better quality of troops or generalship but by who
> manages to screw
> up _least_. So, share your Broyan and Kallyr
> blunders!
Most of my more interesting Kallyr blunders are being turned into fiction, I'm afraid. Yes, she does some beauties! You get whole chains of mistakes, and attempts to correct them with unintended consequences that then need correcting.
But here's a general one to start with, that very much links in to all of this. We were saying a while back that there's a lot of "discussion" over who gets what positions on the various watches that guards the walls. And John Hughes has explained to us that most people see the night-time watches as tedious, cold, dangerous, unpleasant, a time when even if you do something heroic, no-one's going to see it so it's wasted, and generally something to be avoided.
That's what *most* people think. How do you think a Rigsdali will see it? Yes, Kallyr is intellectually aware that she doesn't share the majority view here. But it keeps slipping her mind :( So if she's the one who got delegated the job of sorting out who's on what watch.... Oops.
The general type of mistake she tends to make, other that that, is letting her concern for individuals override the cause as a whole. Her "loyal to followers" is one of her highest abilities, and you can interpret the word "followers" as loosely as you like. Great for making them loyal to her in return, but often leads to very poor strategic priorities.
She's grown up a bit since 1613. The temper tantrums are usually short-lived, and in private. Usually. There are certain subjects she's a bit sensitive on, and sometimes she'll misinterpret something to see an insult that just wasn't intended at all. Once she's been persuaded that it was a misunderstanding, and calmed down, she does apologise, though.
Later date, but indicative - you know we were discussing *why* she started that fight on the Sky Ship, and coming up with reasons why it was justified? Looks like we were wrong. What happened was that she saw someone she hated, saw an ambush opportunity, and lost the plot for a bit.
Jeff? What weaknesses does the new, improved, Broyan have? Does he keep the serious, lethal, temper tantrums we posited earlier? I still think one reason Gyffur obeys Broyan is because he's scared of him!
Jane Williams
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