On Friday, June 7, 2002, at 10:39 AM, Mark Porter wrote: > Another point I've noticed, since I've been reading the books in rough > chronological order starting with Phoenix Guards, that the widespread use > of > psionics is relatively new among Dragaerans. The explanation given, which makes sense, is that the Interregnum (with the complete loss of "Empire" sorcery) caused many Dragaerans to study paths they had neglected while they had the easy power of the Orb. When Zerika brought back the Orb, sorcerers who had worked on their psionics and then regained connection to the Orb were able to accomplish much that had not been possible (or at least wasn't common) before the Interregnum. Hence the easy teleportation, the psionic communication between people with less mutual familiarity than Adron and Aliera, etc. This seems to show that all these disciplines are related. I think that mental control (psionics) would be both a fundamental skill for a witch and a great asset for a sorcerer. A sorcerer gets fed the power of Chaos via the Orb, but that doesn't mean they can do much (other than blow out their mind) without mental skills. Now, "pre-Empire sorcery" is very interesting, especially as relates to the Jenoine. In several books there is a clear distinction between being able to *control* pure chaos/amorphia and the ability to *make* it. Someone who studes pre-Empire sorcery can control chaos (without the intermediary of the Orb); only descendents (by genes or soul, apparently) of Kieron's family can make amorphia. This includes Adron and Aliera (by genes) and Vlad (by soul). This does *not* include Morollan, who has studied pre-Empire sorcery but cannot create the raw material it uses (chaos/amorphia). Most odd to me is that apparently the Jenoine, who certainly use amorphia in their "magic", also cannot create it (hence their desire to get it from Dragaera). This suggests that they did *not* breed the ability into Kieron' s family -- I would think that if they could give the ability to otehrs that they could have it themselves. Perhaps it was a "natural mutation" or whatever. Also, I wonder if the magic of the gods should be yet another category? -- Glenn Ellingson