They don't call it the 'Magic Weed' for nothing.
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Came up with another idea. Perhaps any non-caster crossing through the portal would be considered Disobedient of their Ruler, in which case it's not the portal itself that disbands the unit, but Disobedience. Or...
Okay, I think I'm getting something here. Let's posit a pair of casters, Alpha Caster in Nation A and Beta Caster in Nation B. A is attacking B. Ruler B is worried that Beta, who was a captured caster and loyalty is low, might be going to the Magic Kingdom to give Alpha information concerning B's units. Ruler B has a vested interest in that Portal being guarded. Heavily. But, it would be better for him if there was a consequence for any unit that goes to the MK without orders.
That's why Maggie, Wanda, and Sizemore didn't jump through the Portal earlier without orders. If they jumped through without orders, they'd be disbanded. That would come with a reputation. If ordered through, they'd be seen to be on a Side, then the Side ends and they go barbarian in MK, with no stigma.
Okay, I'm happier with that now. The Portal disbands to prevent spying. Parson, without orders, should have been disbanded, while the linked Three had orders, so they wouldn't.
That's interesting. I would personally just put a padlock on the portal, or anyother mechanism that turn on and off the portal acording to the side ruler's will. But that may be unfeaseble or simple not as interesting as seeing an rebel unit blow to bits when the try to double cross u.
But Parson was the chief warlord/acting comander of GK so he should be free to take this kind of action w/out some order, given that lowiallity is stronger with him. If u can't trust even your chief warlord either u r booped in the boop or u r an character in the dune universe.
There are almost too many potential explanations to even list for why a "caster sensor" could have failed to detect Parson as a non-caster.
Sure. But how many reasons for them can you come up with that actually make any sense.
Look at the Warlord summoning spell. What defects did it have? Unintended results? It was poorly cast by a non-Lookamancer, and even then, the spell compensated for the screw up by providing items to recover lost, but necessary, abilities. That's a very well thought out spell.
If the Portal disbands some people that pass through, then that is not an accident. It's the reason why it does it that is important, not how.
Personally, after catching up on my reading and getting to this page, I felt I had to comment. I don't think that she is lying. I think that Parson is in fact a Hippiemancer, in this situation. He is trying to defuse the situation and make peace, if only to save himself. I believe that his "special" attribute means that he can take on any job depending on the situation, just as we do in reality. Of course, this is all conjecture and I am interested to see the outcome of this.