Aliases are alternative forms of a reference. They can include actual aliases for characters, nicknames, plural variations, gendered versions of some [Classes], and even typos.
Nevermind that most of the [Strategists], including Chaldion’s grandson and his replacement, the Garuda Esor, recognized what he had been doing. If Saliss had spotted it earlier, he’d have had Chaldion locked up.
“The smart thing to do would be to have Esor take Chaldion’s old role. Not as [Grand Strategist], but [Head Strategist] or whatever stupid class it is. Promote Shirka to 1st Army. No, wait, 1st Army sits on their asses all day. Keep her in 3rd and promote someone useless to the role. So you got that right. Then bump Caoraz up in his post, and hire Olesm and everyone else who acted smart.”
Sometimes…the right person didn’t get the job. Even if you had Chaldion writing it down and underlining a command like ‘make Esor my replacement you unbelievable morons or I will rise from the grave and shove my wrinkled testicles down your throat’.
The person who should have pulled Saliss aside for a quick chat in the headquarters—and given him a refill of coffee—was Esor. They’d do it in Esor’s office, and the Garuda would be polite, but Saliss would see if Chaldion’s chosen replacement was as good as Chaldion thought he was. They’d hash things out; Saliss would probably try to prank Esor, and it’d be done quick.
The person who should have pulled Saliss aside for a quick chat in the headquarters—and given him a refill of coffee—was Esor. They’d do it in Esor’s office, and the Garuda would be polite, but Saliss would see if Chaldion’s chosen replacement was as good as Chaldion thought he was. They’d hash things out; Saliss would probably try to prank Esor, and it’d be done quick.
The person who should have pulled Saliss aside for a quick chat in the headquarters—and given him a refill of coffee—was Esor. They’d do it in Esor’s office, and the Garuda would be polite, but Saliss would see if Chaldion’s chosen replacement was as good as Chaldion thought he was. They’d hash things out; Saliss would probably try to prank Esor, and it’d be done quick.
As far as Saliss knew, Esor hadn’t been fired; he’d just failed to be promoted. The fact that the Drake [Major] was here meant he was part of High Command and had a lot of authority.
He knew it was coming. High Command had one thing they could pull on him, and Saliss’ hopes that Esor would pull him aside and do something smart were dashed. Ah, well. The [Alchemist] closed his eyes.
“You’re dumber than the Wyvern Lord that attacked Pallass, Major Howkless. And High Command has less intelligence than a hatchling staring at a shiny gold coin. The fact that Esor isn’t here, that someone made Edellein 1st General—no, wait, that one’s fine. The fact that he’s actually giving orders and the fact that no one’s promoted Caoraz or tried to hire Olesm shows how stupid you all are. Chaldion gave explicit orders, and you can’t even follow them. You don’t even know how to read his orders right.”
“No, it’s not. You see, the threat was made. It wasn’t intelligent—High Command didn’t listen to Esor, because he would have told them ‘don’t do it’. But they didn’t listen and, worse, didn’t ask him why or let him explain. Now, I’m here, having to explain to them why it’s a bad idea for reasons Esor and I both know, and the old man knows, and probably most of the Eyes of Pallass with a brain. Which is some of them.”
“No, it’s not. You see, the threat was made. It wasn’t intelligent—High Command didn’t listen to Esor, because he would have told them ‘don’t do it’. But they didn’t listen and, worse, didn’t ask him why or let him explain. Now, I’m here, having to explain to them why it’s a bad idea for reasons Esor and I both know, and the old man knows, and probably most of the Eyes of Pallass with a brain. Which is some of them.”
