The Vorkosigan Companion - Lillian Stewart Carl [219]
The other consideration that determines how good a claim is is how far back you have to go to get to an emperor. The fewer generations you have to go back, the better. By that token, Vordarian's claim is not as good as any of the others as he has to go back to the generation before Xav. However, perhaps he has convinced himself that this is really better, as it harks back to a "better" age.
What about Ezar? Since Aral claims that Salic Law bars him (and thus everyone else we know of), there is an implication that Ezar has male line descent that legitimizes his claim. It does not have to be more legitimate than that of Yuri or Xav; just by being through the male line, it is automatically better than the rest. Piotr, when he persuaded Ezar to assume the throne, probably just made the argument that Ezar would make a better ruler and he, Piotr, and all his troops wanted him. A glance at the possibilities and Piotr's encouragement—these were all his relatives; he knew them pretty well, remember—should have been enough to convince him.
For instance, say Ezar's great-grandfather was the youngest brother to the emperor who was Dorca's great-uncle. This would make Ezar a third cousin to Yuri and Xav. Now, if Ezar's son Serg's madness has the same source as Yuri's, Ezar's relationship to Dorca could be irrelevant to it. It is only necessary that Ezar marry a sister or daughter of Yuri. Indeed, if the madness descends from a Vorrutyer source, as has also been hinted, Yuri likely inherited it through his mother and Serg from his mother, making Ezar's relationship to Dorca—second cousin, once removed—irrelevant.
In The Warrior's Apprentice Miles remarks that he is related to Mad Emperor Yuri through two separate lines of descent. He is contemplating the likelihood that he may go mad. We can identify one line easily through Prince Xav. Yuri's madness could have come from his mother, who seems to have been a Vorrutyer. In Shards of Honor, Aral mentions this same Prince Xav as having married a Betan, so that means the other line of descent must be through Piotr.
Since Piotr is ninth-generation Vorkosigan, it must be through Piotr's mother or grandmother. If we assume Piotr Pierre was the first son, this makes Pierre the first name of his mother's father, who was likely a Vorrutyer. In A Civil Campaign we learn of Pierre "le Sanguinaire" Vorrutyer, who was Emperor Dorca's strong right arm and whose eldest daughter married a Vorkosigan. This is very likely the second link. This would be like Miles's thoroughness and, further, like his fatalism to note that whichever line Yuri got it from, Miles is related to both, and to the more likely Vorrutyer line, twice.
If the genetic disposition to madness comes from the V orrutyers, Yuri's, Serg's, and Ges Vorrutyer's madness could then all have a common origin. During the reigns of Dorca, Yuri, and Ezar, the Vorrutyers were very close to the emperors. The terrible architecture of the government buildings built during Yuri's reign is attributed to a crazy Vorrutyer architect in Yuri's favor. Dorca married a Vorrutyer. Piotr's father married a Vorrutyer. The Vorrutyers are apparently very thorough in consolidating alliances with everybody of any note. Aral and Ges Vorrutyer were probably second cousins and childhood friends just as Miles and Ivan are second cousins and childhood friends and similarly with Gregor as well. Further, Aral's first wife was apparently a Vorrutyer and Ges's sister—that would have boded very ill for their children and probably for their home life if she had become mad in time.
This easily gets us to Vorrutyers and madness through the Vorkosigan line. Should we suspect that Dorca and Pierre "le Sanguinaire" were also cousins? Or that Dorca married Pierre's sister (possibly his own cousin)? Alternatively (or