[Sorry Scott, for previously misdirecting my reply.] "Scott Ingram" <singram at videotron.ca> writes: > "Thomas Yan" <tyan at twcny.rr.com> wrote: I had also said "I don't remember there being anything like psychologists", and follow-ups reminded me of a key fact I had forgotten: psionics, etc., have a number of implications for Dragaerans in the Dragaeran Empire: + There are mind reading techniques, i.e. ways to fairly directly finding out what another person is feeling and thinking. + So there might be less motivation for developing methods for indirectly deducing emotions and thoughts from facial expressions, body language, and actions. Except that there are also techniques for blocking mind probes, and the Empress obviously is good at accurately deducing thoughts without using mind readings. > > *** Spoilers for Issola *** > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [...] although Teldra uses the word cute (p155), and > > Morrolan and Aliera don't like being called cute (unlike Loish, "I > > *am* cute" :), it seems like cute for them is an intellectual concept, > > not an emotional response. So I don't know. > > I think you're reading too much into this. Morrolan wears black and is a big > bad witch living in Castle Black; Aliera is ... well, she's an e'Kieron, > both of them have devoted their lives to being antithetical to 'cute'. True, so it is risky to try to gauge the range of Dragaeran emotions >from how they react, but my that's my impression. > I think even to us cute is both an intellectual concept and an emotional > resonse. Humans contrive to be 'cute' or its opposite all the time. Oh, no doubt. > > The Jenoine seem rather unemotional. Sure, they are said to hate > > Verra and be jealous of the gods, but that seems to me like a cold > > passion, not a hot fire. So Telda saying the Jenoine think they > > (Vlad, Morrolan, Aliera, Teldra) are cute (p155), particularly strikes > > me as Jenoine regarding "cute" as an intellectual concept, not an > > emotional response. Plus, Teldra may have been translating a Jenoine > > concept into Dragaeran/Easterner terms, which is another further remove. > > I don't see the Jenoine being 'jealous' of the gods. I see them more as > laboratory researchers being frustrated because the mice won't come out of > their cages. My cats sometimes refuse to come out from under the bed and > while they look so stubborn and cute under there, they still make me feel > frustrated. Sethra say, p38, the Jenoine are "filled with lust for this power, and hatred for those who destroyed their brethren -- or so I believe[.] Who [...] might protect us from this jealous and angry species [....]". - tky