Greg Rapawy wrote: > (Spoilers for _Paths of the Dead_.) > > 1 > 2 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 7 > 8 > 9 > 10 > 11 > 12 > 13 > 14 > 15 > 16 > 17 > 18 > 19 > 20 > 21 > 22 > 23 > 24 > 25 > 26 > 27 > 28 > 29 > 30 > 31 > 32 > 33 > 34 > 35 > 36 > 37 > 38 > 39 > 40 > > Peter H. Granzeau [I think] wrote: > >> The situation of the Phoenix puzzles me, and Chapter >> Eighteen of _The Paths of the Dead_ don't help me a >> single bit. Parthenogenesis? > > Is anyone up for a close reading of the passage on > page 195 of _The Paths of the Dead_ where Verra and > her two sisters discuss the problem? I'll reproduce > it here for easy reference. > > ] "You explain it," said Verra to Kéurana. "The > ] breeding of humans is your domain; I cannot explain > ] why two that are hidden can produce one that is > ] seen." > > ] "Let Moranthë explain, because she understands the > ] phoenix and its significance, and how it lives when > ] it dies, and creates when it destroys, and > ] prophesies while making its prophecies come to > ] pass." > > ] "No, let Verra explain," said Moranthë, "because > ] she comprehends the Cycle better than I, and > ] moreover knows how, to preserve itself, it can > ] summon the phoenix, and even cause people to fall in > ] love who otherwise might not have met." > > I suspect that this exchange will turn out to describe > the solution, although we may not have enough > information yet to figure out how, and it may also be, > as others have commented, that SKZB never intends to > nail all the details down. > > I will present a few wild speculations. > <snip> > 4. My proposed solution: The two living female > Phoenixes -- Zerika and the other, who someone > speculated might be Illista, which makes sense to me > -- will both have children before they die. The > children will necessarily be of mixed descent. At > some point, some agency (maybe Verra, maybe Kéurana, > maybe a Dragaeran or group of Dragaerans, maybe the > Cycle itself) will begin carefully breeding the > descendants of those two sources of Phoenix genes. > Some might be Jhereg, some might be Teckla, some might > be of no House. In the course of the thousands of > years before the next Phoenix Reign, the result of the > breeding project will be at least one genetically > satisfactory Phoenix Heir. Or that's the plan, > anyway. > There was some discussion about Aliera and her blood line, I think it's safe to say that *if* a god impregnated a currently alive Phoenix that would be just as valid as Aliera. Heh, tough job being a god, sit around in the paths, make love to humans, argue, etc. etc.