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Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :

I was watching an old DS9 tape last night as I am want to do, and came upon the ep "The Rules of Acquisition". This was the second appearance of Grand Nagus Zek and the first mention of the Dominion. Anyway, it occured to me that the only person Zek has accompanying him to the station is Ma'Hardu. This is the Head of State for the Ferengi Alliance. That would be like President Clinton going to France with noone around but a butler! He'd be dead in about 2 and a half minutes!

Does it strike anyone else as odd that the only heads of state we really see with a contingent of security is the Founder female and Gowron?

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"A gathering of Angels appeared above my head. They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said..." -Styx

Posted by Gepta001 (Member # 231) on :

I guess I never really thought about it, but I'm sure his dude would be trained in physical combat. But you do make a good point, mabey people are so used to times of peace that they don't worry about that kind of stuff?

=-FTM

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funniest TV quote.....

"A small penis is a clean penis"
-Matt Real World Hawaii

Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :

Maihar'Du was no Kung Fu artist, as shown in "The Emperor's New Cloak". It is likely that the Grand Nagus travels without protection simply because the only people truly threatening him are other Ferengi, and he would not be Grand Nagus if he did not have an economic stranglehold on all his enemies. If one would kill him, the one would be ruined at once.

If a foreign assassin wants to kill the Nagus, he probably finds Nagus-hired Nausicaan killers on his trail soon thereafter. Most Ferengi abhor physical violence, so they wouldn't base their protection on direct physical violence, either - they would try to outmaneuver the enemy preemptively. And what would the foreigner win by killing the Nagus? It's not as if the Nagus is a figure of great political authority - he sounds more like a feodal leader who is in power because nobody bites the hand that feeds them. If the hand is bitten anyway, a new hand is quickly found.

The society won't descend to anarchy and chaos since it already *is* in anarchy and chaos where only the economically strong survive. Fortunes change constantly, for Quark and probably for other Ferengi as well. Change is the only constant, and a dead Nagus is just one change among others.

Personally, I *would* have liked to see Maihar'Du beat the Intendent and sixty-eight of her guards to pulp with his little finger, after which the Nagus declares the holding cell his new office and sets up a business...

Timo Saloniemi

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

I don't think the Nagus is as much a figurehead as that, Timo. We've seen him setting the overall economic policies for the Ferengi Alliance. Also, I'd argue that Ferengi society is actually rather strict, rather than loose and anarchic. It might appear that way to outsiders, but look at the amount of power their Commerce Authority has, at least over internal transactions.

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"20th Century, go to sleep."
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R.E.M.

Posted by Gepta001 (Member # 231) on :

The Ferengi abhor physical violence? where did you pull that out of? What do you call their electro whip, a pleasure toy?

-FTM

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funniest TV quote.....

"A small penis is a clean penis"
-Matt Real World Hawaii

Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :

Well, I wouldn't call the Nagus a figurehead, either - but I do think the Ferengi society with all its schemings is very flexible, and sweeping changes caused by Nagus decrees are more of a norm than an exception. The strong survive the changes, and circumvent the rules as before. Even the brief reign of Rom probably won't budge the society much - Brunt is already up to speed in exploiting the loopholes of the "new Ferenginar" rules, and is likely to make a fortune under Rom just as he did under Zek.

There will probably be a counterreaction with the next change of Nagus - I doubt Rom will survive long enough to hand-pick his successor - but even he (or she!) will probably just try something new instead of going back to the old. There might be a Rule of Acquisition about it, even: "Tradition enriches our past, but if you want to get a rich future as well, walk a new path." From what we have seen, the Ferengi trade-religion has some fixed deities and ceremonies but just one general moral guideline: "Be Greedy (and buy the latest set of Rules of Acquisition to learn how to become even greedier)!"

And about the violence bit, "The Magnificient Ferengi" seems to make clear that the knife-wielding maniac is highly atypical of the Ferengi race. Sure, there's the Marauder Moe archtype with the whip, available as a nice line of action figures, but that's probably more mythical than based on Ferengi reality. The Ferengi can be brave in their own way, and sadistic in their own way, but even among the military, truly violent types like Bok are rarely seen. And even Bok used mind control instead of guns and electric whips.

Timo Saloniemi