[OB]Odium: Deal or no Deal

[Zelly]

So when Odium makes his deal with King T to spare Kharbranth, he says

Quote

"I am not some spren of Honor, who seeks to obey only the strictest letter of a promise.  If you have an agreement with me, I will keep it in spirit, not merely in word."

It's been said that there are certain rules/laws that bind "gods and spren".  I'm assuming that Odium will not only be held to his literal words, but truly the overall intent behind them as well.  

If so, it seems like a better deal for the humans as Odium has far less wiggle room to renege  ("I said I would spare the city, but didn't say anything about the Fused!"   "I said I'd save the people born into it, but not unborn generations!" evil laughter etc etc).

 

Odium already called out King T on using the "save my people, oops I'm the king of everyone, now ya can't do anything" ploy.  But I think the ploy may still be valid, but now it just applies only to the city of Kharbranth.

Or, more precisely, the independent city-state of Kharbranth.  Which is curious because I can't think of any other Roshar city-states who don't owe allegiance to a particular country or person (possibly some other cities in the Frostlands we don't know anything about.)

I know it's pretty much built into a cliff wall on the sea, but with some clever city planning and heavy territory pushing into the Frostlands, maybe it could work?  Just because Odium has to stick to his word doesn't mean King T does.  City limits and domains are a completely manmade concept, and with Roshar's magic being focused on "living ideas", could the definition of the city be as simple as what the people believe it to be?

 

[The Thinking Herald he/him]

Yay! Now the Rosharans have two easy solutions to their problem. Either all marry into Kharbranth families, or rename every city Kharbranth and think that the cities are Kharbranth enough so that their cognitive aspects are altered. Either way, Odium can’t storming do anything.

But, to be serious, I think Odium wouldn’t consider that in the spirit of the agreement made with T.

Edited March 17, 2018 by The Thinking Herald

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

Whatever the rules that bind Odium are, I doubt that he would be stupid enough to be fooled by such simple ploys as everyone marrying into Kharbranthian families. 

The spirit of the agreement probably means Kharbranth as it was at the momement the agreement was made. No new buildings, or new Kharbranthians (newborn babies excepted) will be spared.

[The Thinking Herald he/him]

@Toaster Retribution It was meant to be a joke. I’m sorry, since it appears that I either have a poor sense of humour/sarcasm, or I have no idea on how to properly translate that sense of humour/sarcasm through typing on Internet forums. Probably should have learned the first time I attempted a joke about Rshara’s constant theorybusting, to her chagrin. Then again, I suppose being a naive 14 year old hasn’t helped.

But, yeah. I agree with you. In my edit, I stated that I believe that Odium would not consider the “make every city into Kharbranth” idea as in the spirit of the original agreement, or the polygamy idea. And if it didn’t seem to include the latter, I apologise for my poor choices of words.

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

@The Thinking Herald Part of it is my bad, since I kinda realized it was a joke, but decided to do a serious post anyway. So, my bad. As the self-proclaimed Herald of Jokes I should have done better :-) Keep up your jokes. You never know how good they are until you have used them. 

Also, I'm 18, so the age difference between us isn't that big.

[Zelly]

Welp I understood you both and think you two are clearly articulate and well intentioned, so don't be too hard yourselves. :-) That's Wit's job.

But! To the matter at hand,  as farfetched as it may be, I am curious if Odium has any say over King T's spirit of the agreement.

Or if the city and people can be used in an unexpected manner.... If Odium has promised to preserve Kharbranth and a different army attacks it, will he be forced to help protect it?

I'm leaning on the assumption that people brought up in a different topic that the Diagram might just be a tricky part of Cultivation's long term planning against Odium.