I think Tunesmith is able to behave the way he does because he has
better coping mechanisms than Teela ever did, psychologically
speaking, which give him greater flexibility in rationalizing his
way around (and thus overriding) protector instincts.

Teela, as we remember from the first novel, wasn't precisely stupid
but owing to her psychic luck had never had to learn basic coping
skills; she had never had any of the harsh experiences common to
ordinary people growing up, and so often came across as childishly
naive.

Additionally, imagine that Louis was correct, and that the protector
he dubbed Cronus really was a proto-ghoul ancestor of Tunesmith who
had over the centuries guided the evolution of his species to serve
as the Ringworld's perfect custodians. If modern ghouls are a more
refined version of Cronus, one of their characteristics is that they
probably have greater freedom to ignore the traditional hind-brain
motivations that govern protectors.

just a thought,

Bob II
--- In RingworldRPG@..., "David Fraser"
<davidkfraser@y...> wrote:
>
> I've just finished reading "Ringworld's Children". I enjoyed it -
it
> was better than "Throne". It had some real punch, and Louis Wu
seems
> to be loosening up a bit - or maybe he's just cracking up under the
> strain. Or just young at heart (again). Whichever, he is more fun
to
> be with this time around.
>
> Anyhow: Something the protector Tunesmith did seems, to my limited
> intelligence, to be hopelessly inconsistent with "Ringworld
> Engineers". I need to understand if I'm to use a Protector in any
> Ringworld game, or explain their possible actions in any meaningful
> way! Does anyone who has read the novel get it? Details below,
> protected by a spoiler space:
>
> S
>
>
>
> P
>
>
> O
>
>
> I
>
>
> L
>
>
> E
>
>
> R
>
>
> S
>
>
> !
>
>
> OK, for all you who've read the novel:
>
> Tunesmith is facing the same situation as Teela Brown. The
Ringworld
> will be destroyed unless he takes action (with Teela it was the
whole
> "sliding into the sun" busines, with Tunesmith it was "that
> heterogenous mob" as Hindmost called them, the Fringe War with
their
> antimatter weapons. Ringworld is too fragile...
>
> In both cases, there is a way out, but it will cost billions of
lives.
> Teela had her solar flares which would kill billions but power the
> reaction jets to push RW away from the sun (but she wasn't that
> _bright_ for a protector: Hindmost out-thought her and saves all
those
> lives). Tunesmith had Q2, with the ... consequences that it would
bring.
>
> Teela can't handle the responsibility and has to doublethink her
way
> out. She has to kill herself (using Louis as her suicide weapon) so
> that the crew of Needle can save the Ringworld.
>
> Tunesmith just gets on with it, cracking jokes to Porserpina about
the
> unthinkable numbers that will die or go mad. He just about calls it
> Evolution In Action, and even agrees to let P. muck about with the
> ecology aftwards in a fairly catastrophic way.
>
> What gives...? Based on Teela's behaviour, I'd expect Tunesmith to
do
> everything in his power to _not_ implement his solution.
>
> Or, was Teela really doing something else when she suicided?
> Protecting Wembleth from Louis? THAT doesn't make sense either.
>
> Final possibility: for all that his characterisation is improving,
> Niven is still Losing It big-time... oh, please, no.
>
> -- David F.