The Yendi Conspiracy was an involved, century-spanning effort to make certain that the next Dragon Emperor would be someone who would allow Sethra the Younger to fulfill her ambition of conquering the Eastern Kingdoms. This was meant to come about by having the Dragon Emperor and appointed Warlord of The Empire acquiesce to Sethra the Younger's ambitions for conquest. Sethra the Younger would obviously also have been satisfied if an agreeable Emperor directly appointed her as Warlord.
The conspiracy, which was first started before the Interregnum began, was orchestrated largely by Sethra the Younger's friend, The Sorceress in Green. Sethra the Younger herself had an important role, as did Baritt, and they had the cooperation of a few other like-minded Dragons. Adron e'Kieron might have been an explicit part of the conspiracy, although this is less certain; he might simply have given his tacit agreement. At least one Jhereg, Laris, was involved, but it can be safely assumed that he had no personal interest in the matter, and was merely a hireling.
The conspiracy was first entered into because the then-current Dragon Heir, K'laiyer e'Lanya, was strongly opposed to invading the East. Adron e'Kieron was either neutral or mildly in favor of this plan (although Paarfi appeared to have been under the impression that he was later opposed to it, but acquiescing because the Dragon Council favored it), and was to be made the next Dragon Heir.
Key points of the conspiracy were:
- Discredit the parents of Norathar e'Lanya (K'laiyer e'Lanya and Lady Miera) by providing false testimony of Miera letting slip that Norathar was a crossbreed bastard.
- Use Sethra Lavode as a stalking-horse to convey this accusation to the Dragon Council.
- Use the confusion and chaos of the ensuing conflict to kill K'laiyer and Miera.
- Falsify evidence of Norather being a crossbreed by lying after performing a genescan.
- Performing another false genescan of Norathar before the Dragon Council, while taking pains to pretend to be neutral parties.
- Help Adron e'Kieron be made Dragon Heir.
- Help Adron take the Orb and become Emperor.
- Adron was supposed to appoint Baritt as Warlord, and Baritt would then approve Sethra the Younger's ambitions for conquest.
Adron's Disaster, and the Interregnum, necessarily changed their plans. At first, when Morrolan e'Drien was made Dragon Heir, he was left alone, since he was found to be neutral towards Sethra the Younger's ambitions, and would even have been willing to appoint her as Warlord. However, after Morrolan (and Vlad Taltos) brought Aliera e'Kieron out of the Paths of the Dead, and Aliera was made Dragon Heir, she was found to be strongly opposed to conquest of the East. The conspirators knew that even if Aliera was disqualified as Heir and Morrolan was made Emperor, he would now prefer to appoint Aliera as Warlord, and she would oppose conquest. Therefore, both Aliera and Morrolan had to be removed as potential Dragon Heirs. Baritt did not approve of this measure.
Therefore, the next phase of the conspiracy was:
- Assassinate Baritt when he balked at their next moves.
- Use Laris to start a Jhereg turf war with Vlad Taltos.
- Set up Aliera e'Kieron and Morrolan e'Drien to become involved in the war so as to remove them both as potential Dragon Heir.
- Hire the Sword and the Dagger of the Jhereg to assassinate Vlad Taltos, while making sure that Morrolan was informed of this, with the intention of getting Norathar killed, and Morrolan and Aliera discredited.
This part of the conspiracy failed when Aliera, who also showed up with Morrolan, saw Norathar, and recognized her as a Dragonlord, and potentially a Dragon Heir. Aliera killed Norather, but revivified her, since Aliera had been searching for someone else to be Heir instead of herself. Norathar was therefore discovered to be both a pure Dragon, and a pure e'Lanya as well, and therefore potentially a worthy Heir. Norathar was verified as such before the Dragon Council, which began taking steps to at least provisionally recognize her as the Dragon Heir.
The next phase of the conspiracy was even more improvisational. The conspirators next moves were to:
- Query Norathar directly to see what her feelings were about invading the Eastern kingdoms.
- On seeing that Norathar was strongly opposed to conquest, convey information to her about how she had been set up by Laris, in the hopes that she would go out, kill Laris, and thus discredit herself as Heir.
- Make sure that Morrolan and Aliera were also involved with this flat-out attack on the Jhereg, so that they too would also be discredited as Heirs.
This plot was foiled when Vlad discovered the true mastermind behind the plot, the Yendi Sorceress in Green, who was then attacked by Morrolan, Aliera, and Norathar. After a small-scale battle, these three fought off a small force of Dragonlords aiding the Sorceress, Morrolan defeated her sorcerous defenses, and Norathar delivered the deathstroke to the Sorceress.
Shortly thereafter, Aliera revivified the Sorceress in Green, but mind-probed her during the process, finding out all of the details of the conspiracy, and many other plots and secrets besides.
For her part in the plot, Sethra the Younger was made to write "I will not interfere with the Dragon Council" 83,521 (174) times in the sand by Sethra Lavode. She was also barred from ever holding an Imperial position by Zerika the Fourth.