Sime~Gen Roleplaying: Householding Naros Scenario
Episode #165: Fishing for an Angle II (10/13/99)
see note 1
Morca: Nick Reckage is not the only Naros associate to join the Tecton recently, is he?
Morca: Haven't there been others?
Riyyh: Yes, there are always a few. [regretfully]
Riyyh: But if that is what makes them happy, of course they have my blessing.
Morca: More than a few, in the past year, I understand.
Riyyh looks a little bit distressed by the thought, but doesn't seem to have a comment.
Morca: In fact, I'm told that there has been an unprecedented number of Narosians leaving their House.
Morca: Why is this?
Riyyh forces a smile.
Riyyh doesn't know why Morca is playing stupid on this subject.
Riyyh: Well, I think we both know why that is.
Morca: Yes, but my editor would prefer it in your words, not mine.
Morca has no way of assessing whether her take on the situation is the same as Riyyh's, of course.
Riyyh: How kind.
Morca is perhaps better described by adjectives such as "rapacious" when researching a story.
Morca's editor, on the other hand, has actually managed to impress Morca with her sheer ruthlessness, which ought to give Riyyh pause.
Riyyh isn't showing any particular inclination to elaborate.
Morca: Why have so many of your members chosen this time to leave their home and go to work for the Tecton?
Morca: ~~ insistent ~~
Riyyh finds himself wondering why he's answering this woman's questions.
Riyyh frowns slightly.
Riyyh can't really imagine anything she could do to him that would be worse than he's already weathered in the past, in terms of press, and she really is quite unpleasant as people go, despite his best efforts at helping her to relax a little.
Riyyh supposes if his answering her questions actually pleased her and made her happy, there might be more temptation, but as it stands it would appear she only becomes more intense and demanding the more helpful a person is.
Morca smiles, showing her teeth.
Riyyh winces at the not-smile.
Riyyh glances in the direction of the door.
Morca: I do what I can to report a story accurately, of course, but when I don't have anything to report on a subject, well, readers will draw their own conclusions.
Riyyh: Of course.
Riyyh doesn't think there's anybody in Sime Territory who hasn't already drawn them, actually.
Riyyh suspects most of the drawings aren't fit to be viewed by minors, either.
Riyyh: I respect my members' right to go there they choose.
Riyyh: The Tecton has also been very eager to see more Narosians at work.
Riyyh doesn't mean in social outreach programs, either.
Riyyh leaves it at that.
Morca: Of course you do, and they have. It is simply the timing that concerns me.
Morca: There have been other interesting happenings over the same time period.
Riyyh: Oh?
Riyyh could assume that she is referring to the "interesting" happenings that have made Riyyh's life hell, but given the rest of Morca's questions it's possible she was referring to Arat's becoming District Controller or any number of other things.
Morca: For instance, you have recently adopted a channel from Fior.
Riyyh: Yes.
Morca: And not from a lack of children of your own, within Naros.
Morca: I find that rather curious, given Naros's historical insularity.
Riyyh: Fior has always been very close to Naros.
Riyyh: Fior's first Sosectu was originally ambrov Naros, after all.
Morca: Really?
Morca hadn't known about that connection, as her research focused more on Riyyh personally.
Morca: Have there been other connections between Naros and Fior?
Morca: ~~ interest ~~
Riyyh: Naros spoke for Fior's entry into the Tecton, and there has been some limited exchange of personnel more recently.
Riyyh: Sometimes young people require travel, to broaden their experience. [explains]
Morca: More than just one channel?
Riyyh pauses.
Riyyh: I beg your pardon?
Morca: The "exchange of personnel" you mentioned.
Riyyh: I was referring to the temporary trade of young people to allow them to see more of the world.
Morca: I see.
Riyyh: We share such trades with several different Houses.
Morca: Which other Houses would those be?
Riyyh names several rather obscure Houses.
Morca notes that Zeor isn't among them, which complicates finding the Naros-Zeor connection which she has become convinced exists.
Morca: Fior also has historical connections with Family Audnes, does it not?
Riyyh: Yes, as I understand it the Audnes family had business dealings with Fior up until quite recently.
Riyyh means, up until about 15 years ago.
Riyyh does tend to take an extra-long view on matters.
Morca: Do you mean by that, that the connection survived Unity?
Riyyh: Yes, it did.
Riyyh smiles, thinking that even he doesn't think of Unity as having been a particularly recent event.
Morca thinks that Riyyh is proving a better informant than she'd hoped, at least on matters that don't concern him directly.
Morca: Are you aware of any connections between Fior and House Audnes's current head, Arat Farris?
Riyyh considers.
Riyyh: No. [confesses]
Morca: So the connection was with his parents?
Riyyh: But then, Arat's circumstances have hardly... his parents were the last to have a formal business relationship with Fior, as I understand it, yes.
Morca: But their son rejected the association?
Riyyh ponders the question.
Riyyh: Well, I'm not privy to the details, mind you, and much of what I know I am sure is general knowledge....
Morca raises an encouraging eyebrow.
Morca is perhaps not up to Narosian standards in issuing an invitation to gossip, but the intention is clear.
Riyyh: Arat's first kill was a Garlenist.
Morca thinks this is good stuff.
Riyyh: And their association with Fior was part of what put the Audnes on the Tecton's bad side in the first place.
Morca: A Garlenist? I'd heard it was a relative?
Riyyh: Well, it would have been both.
Riyyh: Where else would Fior have gotten a Farris Gen to train for them?
Morca's eyes widen at the dramatic possibilities of this information.
Morca: ~~ glee ~~
Riyyh: Given those circumstances, and the fact that Arat was dependent upon the Tecton's continued goodwill at the beginning of his career, I might speculate that he let the association lapse in order to improve his own reputation.
Riyyh: There are also his feelings to consider.
Morca makes a mental note to put a chapter on the junct actions of Family Audnes towards the front of her book, to catch the sensationalists in the audience.
Riyyh: He might not have been able to bear the thought of facing them, after what happened at his changeover, and what became of the rest of his family afterward.
Morca: Yes, I'd heard they landed in jail. For juncting Arat himself, wasn't it?
Riyyh is genuinely surprised that an intrepid journalistic type like Morca isn't more familiar with this area of history.
Riyyh being a Narosian through and through, is more than willing to enlighten her, however.
Riyyh: Oh, it wasn't specifically for that.
Riyyh: They were on the Tecton's trouble list for years.
Riyyh: After Unity, they raised revolutionary fervor in the New Othwol area more than once.
Riyyh: They also refused to allow their son to be trained in the Tecton's children's schools, and refused to use the Tecton selyn distribution system.
Riyyh: Arat's becoming junct was... well, it was really just the excuse the Tecton was able to use to justify what it had wanted to do all along.
Morca is very good at playing dumb, when it will get an informant talking, because she genuinely believes that the phrasing her informants use gives a fresh perspective.
Morca: I gather that the Audnes reputation hasn't completely escaped Arat, even after he changed his name?
Morca: And fathering the most notorious rogue channel in a generation hasn't helped?
Riyyh considers.
Riyyh: I have not heard of any problems for Arat recently, even given his relation to Wise Snake.
Riyyh: Certainly he has been very true to the Tecton standards of behavior in my experience.
Riyyh thinks, and lamentably so.
Morca: And yet, not long ago, a Donor of his publicly cast doubts on his loyalty to the Tecton, in part because he has championed his daughter's cause.
Morca does like reading a tabloid or two, on occasion.
Morca finds it refreshing to have a taste of a journalistic world where facts can be completely ignored, instead of just downplayed.
Riyyh: Oh?
Riyyh had not given that report much credit, mainly because his direct informants had told him the author of the article in question was full of it.
Morca: Yes. And it's certainly true that months after her capture, not one charge has been leveled against Wise Snake Farris or any member of her party.
Morca: And not for want of evidence, either.
Riyyh isn't sure what to make of that statement, so he just nods and smiles.
Morca: I find that rather strange, don't you?
Riyyh thinks about it for some time.
Riyyh: Sometimes an illusion is only that, even when the public believes it to be truth.
Morca wonders what this has to do with Snake's crimes and the lack of punishment.
Riyyh: The Tecton is nothing if not self-serving. [helpfully]
Riyyh: Despite what it might appear from the outside.
Morca: The penalties for working as a rogue channel or Donor are severe, as they have to be, to protect the public.
Riyyh has nothing to say to that.
Morca: There have been at least three other rogue channels caught in the past few years; they were dealt with severely, as examples.
Morca: Of course, they didn't have District Controllers from old families as fathers, nor were their Companions the offspring of a Sectuib.
Morca looks closely at Riyyh to see if he will react to the implications.
Riyyh looks as pure as driven snow.
Riyyh can look really amazingly innocent and not very smart, when he tries.
Morca has, of course, learned more than enough about Riyyh's accomplishments to know this for the act it is.
Morca is used to interviewing the newsworthy, after all, including politicians, publicity agents, and other such questionable characters.
Morca: And strangely enough, their capture didn't evoke a flurry of new connections between such historically isolated power blocs as Naros and Family Audnes, and the Tecton.
Morca: And then, Zeor has become involved.
Riyyh looks genuinely puzzled.
Riyyh is not naturally paranoid enough to be able to follow really convoluted theories.
Morca: Or didn't you know that Controller Arat was recently assigned a Zeor Farris Donor, when there was already an excess of top Donors in the Center?
Morca: The Tecton is rarely so generous, especially with Zeor Donors.
Morca: Unless Zeor itself requests such an assignment, of course.
Riyyh: I understood that Alea Farris was assigned to him only temporarily, as part of her rehabilitation.
Morca: A plausible excuse, as I'm sure you'll agree.
Morca: Although I've heard that Zeor prefers to keep its problems within the House, where possible.
Riyyh means, that Arat was considered a disposable guinea pig upon which to test out a possibly incomplete job of rehabilitating a traditionally erratic Donor.
Morca, unfortunately for the accuracy of her future story, shares the common illusion that Farris Gens make perfect Donors.
Morca therefore sees Alea's assignment as either a bribe for Arat's cooperation, or the placement of a Zeor authority on site, or possibly both.
Riyyh: I... [considers]
Riyyh: I suppose. [concedes]
Riyyh hadn't really gotten the impression that Kenmore was eager to bring Wise Snake back to Zeor, quite to the contrary in fact.
Riyyh therefore sounds rather doubtful.
Riyyh would rather give in than argue, however, being Riyyh.
Morca smiles in triumph, knowing that Riyyh's doubting tone will not come across in print.
Morca wonders how much of her speculation can be reasonably presumed to be covered by Riyyh's "I suppose".
Morca decides it's open to interpretation, which she is very good at, if she does say so, herself.
Morca: Do you know anything about the agent who originally delivered Nick Reckage to Arat Audnes's custody?
Morca figures this is a long shot, but Riyyh seems to be well-informed.
Riyyh smiles, glad of the return to a subject he has some familiarity with.
Riyyh liked the questions about things that had nothing to do with him even less than the questions that were too personal.
Morca has not been able to identify the person in question with certainty, due to Prunida's having simply barged her way through the Center to Arat's office, without pausing for useless courtesies like giving her name to anyone.
Riyyh: Prunida is Nick's grandmother.
Morca's eyes widen at this juicy bit.
Riyyh: She was also responsible for Hero's working for the Tecton. [adds, since Morca had seemed so interested in those reasons]
Morca: His grandmother?
Morca: A Tecton agent, while her grandson goes rogue?
Riyyh looks rather confused for a moment.
Riyyh: Prunida is not a Tecton agent.
Riyyh feels he can say that with reasonable surety.
Morca: And yet, she has delivered not one, but two rogue Donors.
Riyyh: I believe you are under a misapprehension as to Hero's status.
Riyyh: She has never been a rogue.
Morca: She was traveling with Wise Snake Farris's band for some months, was she not?
Morca belongs to the if-it-looks-and-quacks-like-a-duck school of identity.
Riyyh: After being forcibly kidnapped by Prunida, she was abandoned in a mountain village, where she was snowed in for the winter.
Riyyh: Being nearly a child and in no way able to fend for herself, she was taken in and protected by Wise Snake and her people.
Riyyh: While I have reasons enough for not associating with Wise Snake myself, I am grateful for what they did for Hero.
Riyyh is not exactly angry, but he's about as close as he gets.
Morca reluctantly accepts the correction.
Morca: Wise Snake certainly seems to have collected an interesting group of followers.
Morca: You are acquainted with many of her followers, are you not?
Riyyh: Yes, I am.
Riyyh: Or at least, with those who came with her to Naros last year.
Morca: Are there any traits that her followers have in common? I admit that I have been having trouble finding one.
Morca: And yet, she must have had some basis for her selections.
Riyyh considers.
Riyyh: Well, all of them were either channels, or Gens with Donor potential if not actually Donors.
Morca: So she was trying to set up her own anti-Tecton?
Morca has a hard time figuring out what else one could do with a collection of channels and Donors.
Riyyh: At one point she was interested in founding a Householding.
Riyyh: However, I am under the impression that she had given up on that idea by the time she reached Naros.
Morca: Is she seeking power in the Tecton, instead?
Morca: A member of Family Audnes has a certain position just by existing, after all.
Riyyh spreads his hands.
Riyyh: To be honest, I haven't had much contact with Wise Snake since she left Naros last year.
Riyyh doesn't appear the worse for the separation, actually.
Riyyh: When Nick speaks of her, he mentions nothing of the sort.
Morca: I see.
Morca: Has he mentioned any plans she does have for her future?
Riyyh: No, he hasn't.
Riyyh is pretty sure Nick will get PO'd if he goes into much detail on this subject.
Riyyh: [that is, the subject of what Nick says about Snake]
Morca makes a mental note to corner Nick, or have her assistant do so, at the earliest opportunity.
Riyyh is naturally interested in staying on Nick's good side at this point.
Morca puts her pencil down at least.
Morca: Well, you've been very helpful, and I do appreciate it.
Morca's sharklike manner moderates a bit, now that she is no longer hot on the scent of her story.
Riyyh beams.
Riyyh always responds well to a moderation of sharklike behavior, although of course he does even better with kindness.
Morca: Will you be staying here for a few more days, if I have some follow-up questions?
Riyyh: Oh dear, well,
Riyyh immediately looks stressed out.
Morca looks at Riyyh sternly.
Morca: I will contact you when I have had a chance to review my notes, of this interview and others, to clarify any discrepancies.
Morca: It was a pleasure meeting you, Sectuib Riyyh.
Morca is quite sincere; she shares Prunida's taste for a good victim, although she prefers mental to physical torture, and has some scruples about picking her victims, in that she has to believe that they know something connected to her current story.
Riyyh: Likewise. [weakly]
Riyyh manages a smile.
Morca smiles back, satisfied, and sweeps from the room.
Riyyh is glad that he will be leaving town as soon as Nick is freed up.
Notes:
1) This episode is a continuation of HHN #164. [return]