It’s really fun to look back at this old theoryland stuff?

On 7/31/2009 at 2:59 PM, fader6818 said:

Figs and Mice, guys. Figs and mice.

Exactly, it comes right after the chapter where a character all but turns to the four wall and says “your imagination is better than anything I could explicitly say”

On 10/16/2013 at 4:47 AM, Mr Ares said:

But they came to the Sea Folk and said "we need your help." That doesn't put you in the most convincing position for then saying "well, we don't need you, I'm sure we can manage without.". Remember, the lives of everyone hang in the balance, and the Sea Folk are the only sure way to fix it. Plus, to their way of thinking, the Bowl already belongs to them. So you enter a bargain with very skilled bargainers who are your best hope for fixing things, after putting yourself in a weaker position in the bargaining process by going to them and saying that you need their help, and the only thing you're really willing to offer them is to give them back something that belongs to them. Also, bear in mind that "slave teachers" wasn't the bargain, just AS teachers - something which is not altogether unreasonable, and so they probably didn't think it too terrible a concession because they didn't realize how the Sea Folk treated their teachers. It's that cultural difference that makes the bargain so bad for the AS - if they were treated in the way the expected, with a degree of respect, it would be a great opportunity for the AS to both learn from the Windfinders, and also to shape the minds of the younger Windfinders - to make them more respectful of AS and more receptive to the desires of the WT. It could have represented a huge opportunity for expanding the AS influence over the Sea Folk. Looked at in that light, the fundamental problems with the bargain are a cultural difference in the correct way to treat teachers, and the mindset of the Sea Folk that their first response to the situation is to try and turn the situation to their advantage (well, advantage beyond "prevent the apocalypse") by making a bargain when offering help freely would not have been unreasonable, more so than any terms of the bargain itself.

Third Rule of Acquisition: “Never spend more for an acquisition than you have to” 

-Start from the Position the Bowl of the Winds belonged to the AS from the AOL and of the Sea Folk found one it was theft to take what was clearly never theirs, that modern AS have never given up search restore what was taken so scavengers/salvage rights do not apply, and they are not that they are authorized to relinquish the object. This last was still available to the A. Seat: a child can not legally sell his father’s sword. 

-Follow up with the offer that they will gain the talent of linking in exchange of the service.

- add that if the are not satisfied with that, then the SF will have to be satisfied with the weather changes the Tower will make: as imperfect as AS might be in controlling weather.

All that took me longer to type than to realize and articulate. To establish that the SF are this good at bargaining you have to show at least some of it. 

On 10/3/2013 at 1:36 PM, jedman67 said:

YES! THIS is my one big problem with wot

immature women who should be all grown up.

Well, I think the idea is that 3,000 years of otherwise human people in a situation. Where women can be wizards but that same power driving men made has created an imbalance that is deep in the culture. The Jungian archetype of the devouring mother is unchecked in the culture. It is the instinct of the masculine to kill the threat and teach purpose, the obligations of the father. The tyranny of the masculine energy is upon peoples, it is conquest, or it is subjugation, or a rigidity of immutable obligation to purpose each bound to a role that is chosen for them. Here we have the tyranny of the feminine energy. Where the feminine protects and nurtures the, when unbalanced, it infantilizes. It is a personal tyranny; see how all the women oppress the people with what is usually an individual verbal assault turning to each person in turn when cowing a group.