On Thu, 7 Aug 2003, lazarus wrote: #And how the heck do the Orca navigate without stars? By magic. And when they get close enough to Greenaere Isle for the Orb connections to be blocked, the overcast is thinner, and maybe they have compasses, too. The Orca seem to be gadgeteers, on the basis of Kiera's observation in _Orca_ about the mechanical gizmo in whoozis's office (page 165, mmp), and possibly something on p23 of Phoenix. (I'm away >from books right now, just consulting my chart at http://world.std.com/~mam/Cracks-and-Shards/characteristics.html#table .) -- Mark A. Mandel http://world.std.com/~mam/Cracks-and-Shards/ a Steven Brust Dragaera fan website