On Mon, 02 Jul 2001 22:02:01 -0000 "Sally Manton" smanton@hotmail.com writes:

Stephen wrote: <What was the business with Servalan coming over all moralistic about the fact that Reeve was a torturer, given the number of people who spent time reassuring her interrogators?>

Oh but that's different, Stephen, it was in *her* personal best interests :-)

She does have an oddly selective moralistic streak, does Servalan.

I think Servalan sees what she does as serving a purpose. She's very self-centered, but it's like the self-centeredness of an absolute monarch. Her good is her kingdom's good (I think she may be capable of thinking the other way around, with the Federation's good coming first [there were hints of it in Star One] but I doubt she ever lets the impulse get carried away).

She also sees torture for torture's sake as uncivilized and low. Torture to punish the deserving, to extract information, to set an example, that's all good.

Actually, never let it be said that I've set a limit to how low that woman might sink, but she's convinced she's more civilized and just as convinced _her_ motivations make sense. Why not? Some of the worst monsters in history have been, by their own standards, very civilized and sophisticated.

And given her reaction to Krantor's Freedom City, one wonders if [a] she knew exactly *who* ran Space City, [b] she - errr - 'inherited' Space City along with the presidency and [c] she closed it down with a high-minded sniff about sewers

Oh, no, Space City served a purpose and fed largely off of lower grade sorts she couldn't have cared less about - their degeneracy would only support Federation prejudices (this is what happens with 'freedom' sort of stuff). I think it really bothered her that 1) Freedom City had customers from her own class, and 2) It did nothing beneficial for the Federation.

Then again, maybe this is where she lost a certain ex-boyfriend found dead in Sand. He must have dumped her because of a bad environment. After all, it's not like any guy could have faulted her sparkling personality, now could he?

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