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jmtorres · 9 years

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davetheinverted replied to your post“aight i am officially caught up on foreigner universe through...”

So how did #15 change your mental picture of the Guild?

lol ok we doing this?

so while it became apparent that guild administrators had power, there was no perception of them having power for many many years, the reaction to shishogi was "holy crap a pencil pusher did all this???"

but in general i think all members of the guild downplay what power they have, i think the ban on guild aiijiin is something most of them hold pretty close. which makes me wonder what the guildmaster's actual powers are--I can't think they are many! certainly not like tabini's where when he decide to do something it just fucking gets done. I think by and large the guild votes by council or as a body on most things; the guildmaster might have have, like, the power to call to general vote (ie why the hearings on whether or not to accept Intent Filed on Bren back in like, book 2, took forever and ever, guildmaster refused to call to vote until the body turned the direction he wanted). I'm thinking the guildmaster might have some kind of veto power, but even that shouldn't be absolute, it might be the kind of veto that can be overturned with, what are felicitous fractions, like, a 5/7 majority? (I imagine that these powers are ones that could be handed over to a designate if the guildmaster is unable to attend a meeting, that kind of thing does exist in atevi culture, bren speaks as tabini because he has tabini's seal, Dur might send the son to sit in the legislature a season, etc)

but i'm so imagining guild votes right now where the guildmaster holds his vote like Gregor Vorbarra--like most of the time it's an abstention, and it's a big fucking statement when it's not.

seriously tho the guildmaster is not an aiji of the guild, like i think the fact that "he ACTS like he's guildmaster, you don't DO that" was one of their justifications to kill an upstart at Tirnamardi was not just the secrecy factor, the acting like a guildmaster to outsiders, it was that in general the guildmaster is supposed to have some humility and not act the aiji. And turn aside any offers of personal man'chi to be like, man'chi to the institution, to the law, to justice.

in any case, i remain convinced that algini is the once and future guildmaster, for all of my previously stated reasons, plus the following three from book #15:

jago, unprecedentedly, names three other people whose survival is more critical than Bren's. Those three names are Cenedi, Banichi, and Algini. Cenedi is Eastern; it's extremely doubtful he could have ever run the Guild in Shejidan. We recently learned of Banichi's history that up until Tabini requested him, he was stuck in the shit jobs run by Assignments due to his bad break-up with Haikuti, so rule him out for head of Guild, not enough influence until outside influence came into play. That leaves--Algini. And honestly I sort of wonder if she brought up Cenedi and Banichi as shell game, and as "gods unfortunate he knows banichi's injured let's just use it and direct his tendency to throw himself in front of his own security in a way we can at least predict."

(and Cenedi wasn't with their group so it's hard to argue there were other people she wasn't mentioning for that reason)

then also the fact that the guild upfront admits to playing shell games with its guildmaster, that the council will switch seats when an outsider is present so you can't tell who's what. but you know the thing about a shell game, right. when you're playing against a proper con artist, the stone isn't under any of the shells.

and then, when they have to get a message in person down to the guild about the investiture, and Algini's going to go, Banichi is like TAKE 4 OF CENEDI'S MEN, better the aiji's floor of the bujavid should be short 5 than that algini, an assassin in his own right, should walk alone and unguarded through Shejidan.

I just. You know, let's blame the fact that Banichi has recently lost a lot of blood for him doing that in front of Bren. sometimes i'm like oh god dudes, i know you're hanging onto plausible deniability but it's fucking paper thin.

but in things i've said before:

the idea that leaders have to show up means it makes sense to me that the guildmaster would be on active duty, that you can't have seniority and precedence without being on active duty. I mean, yes also, he can't be aiji, there is a line to walk there, but in a sense active duty works that way as well, that the guildmaster is just like everyone else in the rank and file of the guild.

and just. *hands*

#foreigner #cj cherryh #davetheinverted #algini #once and future guildmaster

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