Adeon Hawkwood wrote:
I think you're overestimating information gathering in a pre-technical society. Yes, the sailors on the ship will know that they picked up someone (although probably not exactly who) and yes some of them will probably mention it to other people and in time it might even come to ears of an inquisition agent. But when it does it'll just be a rumor that a Charisian ship picked up some people in a fishing boat, with very little hard info on dates and locations. Chances are the inquisition will just file it as an irrelevant rumor and forget about it along with their collection of rumors about the face of Langhorne appearing in someone's toast.
It's the problem any intelligence agency has, you don't have the manpower to chase down every rumor or random story so you have to prioritize. Since the Inquisition "knows" that Thirsk's family is dead they are very unlikely to connect a rumor they hear months later with their disappearance.
It's possible that some clever inquisitor will hear the rumor with enough accuracy to match the dates but I would say that the odds are low. So long as Charis stashes them somewhere out of sight (a remote villa in the country somewhere) and makes sure that the staff are trustworthy then they can probably keep them off the inquisition's radar at least long enough to win the war.
Plus of course if the inquisitor who figures it out is outside the Temple there's a decent chance of the SNARCs picking it up in time for Merlin to kill him.
First, I doubt the sailors will not know exactly who their transportees are. It's a small ship with precious little privacy. People talk, especially kids and curious sailors - which probably quite a few of them are, given that they
chose naval service - will get a kid to talk.
This means that likely that tale will contain names ...
Either way, if I were an inquisition manager with the task of spying on the enemy navy - especially under the current constraints - what I'd do is place my isolated agents in sailor's taverns in port cities. Perfect to actually talk with the people out there doing the things, and with a 'little' help from alcohol and skillful guidance of the conversation you can get a lot of context from a sailor (especially where date and location is concerned). It's virtually impossible to detect that kind of thing either - sailors in a tavern carousing and telling tales? How conspicious - and given the location you can setup a direct message connection out of the empire fairly easily (Sailors carrying letters to the lover of a stranded fellow? Not exactly unusual either, given the literacy levels in Charis).
Then there's the bragging rights involved in the story. "Hey, imagine that, last month we went and rescued the enemy high admirals' family from his own inquisition!" I'd imagine some sailors would be telling that story a bit louder than what would be prudent
So yes, I think it's highly likely the inquisition will hear about the story. Either way, all parties can't assume it won't (though it would probably take a while, given simple travel time).
On the other hand, yes, if they can keep the identities hidden and stash them away somewhere, then the inquisition has almost no chance to find them.
On the other hand, do they
want to do that? Consider the propaganda value of advertising their presence (and safety):
- "We'll take in all refugees with honor, even the close family of enemy admirals"
- "We can free high-profile prisoners from the inquisition, even from right in front of their own shores"
The first one would be especially effective for the honor-over-faith kind of people (e.g.: Thirsk and - probably - Alvarez).
most people wrote:
He'd never consider abandoning his country
While still most of you argue he wouldn't abandon his kingdom, remember, he already considered doing so when offered position 2 in the Tarot navy after the Armageddon Reef fiasko. If memory serves, it was only his family that kept him from picking up the offer either, let's see ...
By Shism Rent Asunder wrote:
Under the circumstances, Thirsk had actually seriously considered the invitation from Baron White Ford to stay on in Tarot as the second-in-command of the Tarotisian Navy.
If it hadn't been for his family, he probably would have, he admitted to himself now.
One of the thing most people don't really understand on an emotional level - even though the author explicitly explains it in the case of Corisande some books later - loyalties in a feudal system tend to be very personal. Thirsk's loyalty was to his king, not to the kingdom of Dohlar. Charisians are untypical in that they think of themselves as Charisians first and subjects of whatever local lord only third or so ...
I think we can by now safely assume that loyalty is long buried, so what kept Thirsk in line? Well, I'd assume a combination of three things:
- Inertia (never underestimate it)
- Threat to family
- Honor. His loyalty might have been spent, but that doesn't change the fact that he gave his word when he swore loyalty to the king (which would probably what every officer needs to do, never mind an earl).
Factor one is already out thanks to the inquisition (there
will be change). Factor two just got taken out and I really disbelieve that factor three is enough to make him stay and take the shitstorm that's coming his way.
Cheers,
Bosparan
Edit:
Oh hell, while I'm at it, here's the quote regarding the loyalties:
A Mighty Fortress wrote:
There really weren't all that many Corisandian "patriots," in the sense that someone from the millennium-dead Terran Federation might have understood the term. Loyalties in most Safeholdian realms — there were exceptions, like Charis and the Republic of Siddarmark — tended to be purely local. Loyalties to a specific baron, or earl, or duke, perhaps. Or to a prince, or an individual monarch. But not to the concept of a "nation" in the sense of a genuine, self-aware nation-state.
