SPOILERS. Appropriate postings for Merlin's new friend?

OR "What shall we do with the second seijin?"

It seems to me that Irys and Daivyn, are too peripheral to justify Nimue's full time attention in anything other than the short term. For a few months till the new arrangements get bedded in maybe, but after that? Surely not. Even Sharley and Alanah manage with normal human bodyguards most of the time.

So for maximum strategic and tactical advantage what should Nimue be tasked with? In some ways I'm tempted to say she should 'return to the Mountains of Light' I.e. have no public identifiable role which ties her down, so she can be free to supply intelligence and black ops wherever they are needed without the contortions Merlin has to go through when he needs to be elsewhere. That would be rough on her though because it would prevent her from developing normal friendships through everyday contact.

Randomiser wrote:OR "What shall we do with the second seijin?"

It seems to me that Irys and Daivyn, are too peripheral to justify Nimue's full time attention in anything other than the short term. For a few months till the new arrangements get bedded in maybe, but after that? Surely not. Even Sharley and Alanah manage with normal human bodyguards most of the time.

So for maximum strategic and tactical advantage what should Nimue be tasked with? In some ways I'm tempted to say she should 'return to the Mountains of Light' I.e. have no public identifiable role which ties her down, so she can be free to supply intelligence and black ops wherever they are needed without the contortions Merlin has to go through when he needs to be elsewhere. That would be rough on her though because it would prevent her from developing normal friendships through everyday contact.

You might be right. I remember Merlin being heavily focused on Cayleb's safety at first. He is not less concerned now, but has thoroughly vetted and trained Cayleb'S guard to the point where he feels comfortable turning his bac on Cayleb to do other things.

I see Daiyvn and Irys as being a bit more significant than you indicated. Right now they are the emotional glue easing Corisinde's integration into the empire. I can see Nimue taking much the same path as Merlin in terms of helping vet and providing additional training for guard and providing additional cover for Sharley in Chisholm.

I bet that after her encounter with the bigot that Daivyn's guard is going to take her seriously,at any rate!

Don

IMO protecting Irys, Daivyn and Hektor is only part of her job.

Remember that Corisande was conquered by Charis and while things are going somewhat smoothly in making Corisande truly part of the Empire, it is the one part of the Empire where Clyntahn expects to be about generate resistance against Charis.

Please, remember the attack on Irys & Hektor's wedding.

While Irys and Hektor can be the eyes and ears of the Inner Circle in Corisande, Nimue is needed there to take action that only a Seijin could do.

Mind you, I suspect matters in Corisande may reach the point that her services there are less important, but IMO she's needed in Corisande for the time being.

Randomiser wrote:OR "What shall we do with the second seijin?"

It seems to me that Irys and Daivyn, are too peripheral to justify Nimue's full time attention in anything other than the short term. For a few months till the new arrangements get bedded in maybe, but after that? Surely not. Even Sharley and Alanah manage with normal human bodyguards most of the time.

So for maximum strategic and tactical advantage what should Nimue be tasked with? In some ways I'm tempted to say she should 'return to the Mountains of Light' I.e. have no public identifiable role which ties her down, so she can be free to supply intelligence and black ops wherever they are needed without the contortions Merlin has to go through when he needs to be elsewhere. That would be rough on her though because it would prevent her from developing normal friendships through everyday contact.

DrakBibliophile wrote:IMO protecting Irys, Daivyn and Hektor is only part of her job.

Remember that Corisande was conquered by Charis and while things are going somewhat smoothly in making Corisande truly part of the Empire, it is the one part of the Empire where Clyntahn expects to be about generate resistance against Charis.

Please, remember the attack on Irys & Hektor's wedding.

While Irys and Hektor can be the eyes and ears of the Inner Circle in Corisande, Nimue is needed there to take action that only a Seijin could do.

Mind you, I suspect matters in Corisande may reach the point that her services there are less important, but IMO she's needed in Corisande for the time being.

Randomiser wrote:OR "What shall we do with the second seijin?"

It seems to me that Irys and Daivyn, are too peripheral to justify Nimue's full time attention in anything other than the short term. For a few months till the new arrangements get bedded in maybe, but after that? Surely not. Even Sharley and Alanah manage with normal human bodyguards most of the time.

So for maximum strategic and tactical advantage what should Nimue be tasked with? In some ways I'm tempted to say she should 'return to the Mountains of Light' I.e. have no public identifiable role which ties her down, so she can be free to supply intelligence and black ops wherever they are needed without the contortions Merlin has to go through when he needs to be elsewhere. That would be rough on her though because it would prevent her from developing normal friendships through everyday contact.

Yep. Exactly so. Apart from the potential conspiracy brewing in Chisholm, Corisande remains the most sensitive place in terms of potential for violent resistance to the empire. That seems to be getting better, but remains not completely resolved for the moment.

And Daivyns guard can use the help. They lost Prince Hector. Merlin, not the guard frustrated the attempt on Sharley. It was Hector Aplyn-Armahk's prompt reaction that saved both himself and Irys. As Merlin commented, the guard consists of good men. But they could use addionional training and the reinforcement that the good seijen and her snarcks can provide.

Don

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A second PICA to help in the formation of the new army's tactics and weapons too. Helping to improve the Industrial base will help cement the people too. Remember the Safeholdian saying, "A person's love is where their purse is."

Poker

Actually, I think everyone is missing the most important point of her current posting. By assigning only the second seijin to actually come forward to be Daivyn's bodyguard, the empire is stressing his importance to them. That shows that the empire places him on a par with Cayleb as far as his importance to the Empire is concerned. Granted, we have seen her mostly interacting with Irys so far, but her formal orders specify Daivyn as her responsibility. We wont see that until we see them in a formal setting. The fact that she is there at Cayleb's direct order will play a part in how the Corisandians view both Cayleb and the Empire.

I think she'll at least have to stay there until Earl Coris becomes a member of the Inner Circle (if he does). At that point, his spies no one else knows about could be used as a way to explain intelligence gathered through the SNARCs in terms of dealing with any assassins/insurgents.

There is also the option to move to Chisholm, after all it would hardly do for the newly weds to just STAY in their own territory after Sharleyan was so nice as to let them go without supervision. (possibly a mistake given Irys' condition now...)

As for why Chisholm, well there are scheming nobles, some difficult guild masters and finally at the moment the ONLY place where innovation is firmly entrenched into the social structure is Charis. For the sake of keeping Chisholm the equal partner it is a worthwhile target to make sure that innovations is firmly rooted in every island, with appropriate channels to go through.

Nimue round 2, phase one... become a nice virus and infect a host with dangerous concepts...

See how history repeats itself

In a dynastic society, it is never a mistake for said dynasts to be generating offspring. MWW/RFC has mentioned this several times over the years in various series. This is true even if they grow up and knock you on the head! ...A common enough result historically, though David seems not to write that way much if ever. But then he tends to write about growing/expanding dynasties, not decadent/declining dynasties.

No offspring or only getting them late is a severely destabilizing element dynastically. Part of this is precisely because it negatively affects the plans of "scheming nobles".

CJK wrote:There is also the option to move to Chisholm, after all it would hardly do for the newly weds to just STAY in their own territory after Sharleyan was so nice as to let them go without supervision. (possibly a mistake given Irys' condition now...)

As for why Chisholm, well there are scheming nobles, some difficult guild masters and finally at the moment the ONLY place where innovation is firmly entrenched into the social structure is Charis. For the sake of keeping Chisholm the equal partner it is a worthwhile target to make sure that innovations is firmly rooted in every island, with appropriate channels to go through.

Nimue round 2, phase one... become a nice virus and infect a host with dangerous concepts...

See how history repeats itself

Something nobody has mentioned yet. Perhaps Nimue will be used as a starter for a "Second" circle developing a new university system with a different focus that can be the pride of Corisande. This would cement their place in the empire and allow areas of different research and design as well as manufacturing in new tech areas and spread acceptance of "new" knowledge further on the planet.