Sounis can't marry Eddis without Gen's permission because he is essentially Gen's... vassal. A very politically powerful vassal in this sense. Their original agreement involved Sounis swearing some loyalty to Attolis - this means that Sounis won't try to turn against Attolis. In exchange, Attolis allows Sounis to maintain political autonomy in his country and military protection. This ends the war between Sounis and Attolia, since Sounis has conceded by agreeing to be subordinate to Attolis.
Now, there are very big political consequences for Sounis to marry Eddis. Eddis is a sovereign in her own right, with her own political, economic, and social power. If Sounis marries her without the approval of Attolis, it is also an opportunity for a Sounis-Eddis alliance against Attolia. Sounis can't marry just anyone, if it create an alliance that threatens Attolia. This is why Sounis needs permission from Gen in order to marry Eddis.
This is why Gen suggests that Sounis can marry Eddis if Eddis also becomes subordinate to Attolis, because it means that Eddis does not have the authority to stand against him.
Of course, Eddis has her own ulterior motives for marrying Sounis and also agreeing to be Attolis's vassal. One, is that she knows the Hephestial Mountain will erupt one day and turn Eddis into ash. She wants to save her people and Gen knows that her charisma alone will be enough to make her people move if she gives up her sovereignty. Her reasons for not simply doing so sooner by marrying the former Sounis (Sophos's uncle) appears to be because she wants Eddis to join Sounis under terms favourable to Eddis, not Sounis. The previous books remark upon how the former Sounis's ideological standpoint would not be favourable to Eddis, which is why Eddis and Eugenides resisted him for so long. They don't like those terms. That's why they ended up going the roundabout way of forming an alliance with Attolia (with ulterior motives again, this time, Eugenides's own) first, rather than with Sounis.
Eddis and Eugenides set up Sounis to believe that he did need their help, they knew he could have done it without them if only he had the confidence. Instead, they undermined his ability to trust and rely on his few allies - the Magus, his father, among the few - and the use of other solutions and alliances he could have formed instead.
By forcing him to shed blood, they've forces him to join their side, because they've have forced him into a situation where he could not find the alternative. That alternative might have taken longer, forced Sounis to suppress the civil war in his country before tackling the war against Attolia, and ended things on his own. Sounis might not have had to face 10 000 Mede troops. In fact, with enough political saavy, he could have manipulated them as Attolia did. Sounis never gets to see the alternative, so he ends up going down the path that results in him needing those troops from Attolis.
But Eddis and Eugenides didn't want the possibility for Sounis to establish him in a position where they wouldn't be able to create circumstances that would be favourable to Eddis and Attolia.
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Date: 5/18/11 03:04 am (UTC)Now, there are very big political consequences for Sounis to marry Eddis. Eddis is a sovereign in her own right, with her own political, economic, and social power. If Sounis marries her without the approval of Attolis, it is also an opportunity for a Sounis-Eddis alliance against Attolia. Sounis can't marry just anyone, if it create an alliance that threatens Attolia. This is why Sounis needs permission from Gen in order to marry Eddis.
This is why Gen suggests that Sounis can marry Eddis if Eddis also becomes subordinate to Attolis, because it means that Eddis does not have the authority to stand against him.
Of course, Eddis has her own ulterior motives for marrying Sounis and also agreeing to be Attolis's vassal. One, is that she knows the Hephestial Mountain will erupt one day and turn Eddis into ash. She wants to save her people and Gen knows that her charisma alone will be enough to make her people move if she gives up her sovereignty. Her reasons for not simply doing so sooner by marrying the former Sounis (Sophos's uncle) appears to be because she wants Eddis to join Sounis under terms favourable to Eddis, not Sounis. The previous books remark upon how the former Sounis's ideological standpoint would not be favourable to Eddis, which is why Eddis and Eugenides resisted him for so long. They don't like those terms. That's why they ended up going the roundabout way of forming an alliance with Attolia (with ulterior motives again, this time, Eugenides's own) first, rather than with Sounis.
Eddis and Eugenides set up Sounis to believe that he did need their help, they knew he could have done it without them if only he had the confidence. Instead, they undermined his ability to trust and rely on his few allies - the Magus, his father, among the few - and the use of other solutions and alliances he could have formed instead.
By forcing him to shed blood, they've forces him to join their side, because they've have forced him into a situation where he could not find the alternative. That alternative might have taken longer, forced Sounis to suppress the civil war in his country before tackling the war against Attolia, and ended things on his own. Sounis might not have had to face 10 000 Mede troops. In fact, with enough political saavy, he could have manipulated them as Attolia did. Sounis never gets to see the alternative, so he ends up going down the path that results in him needing those troops from Attolis.
But Eddis and Eugenides didn't want the possibility for Sounis to establish him in a position where they wouldn't be able to create circumstances that would be favourable to Eddis and Attolia.