> ----- Original Message ----- > From: <Randi128 at aol.com> > (snip) > In the dragaeran world, only the aristocrats are > > allowed to learn sorcery, Teckla, the largest group, are generally not > > taught, though they are allowed a link to the orb. In _Teckla_ there is > one > > teckla who had studied sorcery, on his own, but he is not the norm. > > John D. Barbato OD > > I would say that only the aristocrats are _expected_ to learn sorcery beyond > the easy stuff the Orb basically does on request for anyone who is linked. > I would submit that Dragaeran society as a whole has such a low opinion of > the theoretical top-end Teckla sorcerer, that most Lords don't even bother > to check for potential. More a case of: "You'll never be good enough to be > worth the bother of training you." than: "This knowledge must be shielded > from you lest you become a danger.". On the contrary, many Teckla learn sorcery. They just learn spells designed to help them perform their standard agricultural duties. We see this in _Athyra_ ("ratkill" spells, others I'm forgetting at the moment). In _Brokedown Palace_, Miklos demonstrated knowledge of various wood-shaping spells and basic fire-starting. I'm AFB, but I'm sure there are other examples of "country sorcery". Alexx Alexx Kay Opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily those of my employers alexx at world.std.com http://world.std.com/~alexx "This forces the self that exists /behind/ our "front identity" to take over the wheel of the moving vehicle. After that, it gets rather difficult to describe, firstly because what is going on isn't remotely human, and secondly because one's self isn't actually present while all this is occurring. Whoever is in control of the vertical and horizontal, as it were, isn't you. Recollection of the experience is necessarily non-linear, fragmentary. Time, mind, identity, cause and effect... all of these have been behaving in unusual ways. A certain confusion is forgiveable." -- Alan Moore in correspondence with Dave Sim about _From Hell_