From: Nick Brooke (Nick_Brooke@btinternet.com)
Date: Fri 14 Apr 2000 - 10:24:37 EEST
Philipp asked:
> What are the Emperor's Proxies ? I don't think I've heard of them.
> Can you expand on that ?
The first Proxies were created by the Red Emperor Reclusus, who ruled thirty
I find it helps to think of the Proxies as rather like Moonson's identical
or forty years ago. The Fortunate Succession (the best source for info on
Moonson) says: "He even created the Silver Proxy and the Bronze, Brass, and
Bone Proxies to rid himself of duties which took him from his personal
endeavours. His tasks included many long-term magics which required his
attention." (FS p.67)
twins. Or stunt doubles. Or Blofeld's many doppleganger lookalikes. Or
Elvis-impersonators, nowadays. They are stand-ins for the Red Emperor,
created by him, and used to perform tasks that he can't be bothered to do
(or can't do) himself: pinning medals on veterans, visiting orphanages,
waving to crowds at the colosseum, official visits to the wire manufacturers
of Upper Kostaddi, greeting diplomatic envoys from the Sable Tribe of Prax,
that kind of thing. You get the idea.
So: Moonsons who don't like bread and circuses will send a Proxy along to
sit in their seat at the Circus and the Amphitheatre. Moonsons who don't
like fighting will send a Proxy along to lead their glorious armies in
Dragon Pass. Moonsons who don't like the Presidium, or the Court of the
Silver Gate, or the Imperial Senate, will send a Proxy along to sit on the
highest councils of the Empire. Again, you get the idea.
Clearly, it is necessary that a Proxy should both look like Moonson and act
as if he's Moonson, as otherwise everyone will know that Moonson isn't doing
something himself. This leads to problems when Moonson dies, and there are
still loads of lookalike stunt doubles walking around saying "I'm Moonson".
Which is where my comments (excerpted in Philipp's post) came from. Proxies
aren't a problem when "their" Moonson is alive -- but afterwards, they can
be a cause for embarrasment.
This is what happened when Reclusus died and Ignifer became Emperor: "When
the bureaucrats refused, he personally led groups of people through the
capital to whip the false Proxies out, and then to hunt them and their
friends down through swamp, city and mountain. Ignifer took back command
which had rested in the hands of the Proxies." (FS p.68)
(We refer to this last event as the "Proxy Wars" in Tarsh War, partly for a
convenient name but mostly, I must confess, for the punning value).
In our freeform "Life of Moonson" we hint that Bellex Maximus may once have
been the Steel Proxy, and that Argenteus himself may be no more than a
Silver Proxy -- look at the suspiciously similar names. These issues are
unresolved in the freeform, but they're the kind of conspiracy theory that
could easily circulate at the highest levels of the Empire, where Lunar
piety alone requires one to look below surface appearances and assume
*everything* is concealed by mirrors, masks and veils...
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Nick
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