Dragaera

Sethra's House

David Silberstein davids at kithrup.com
Tue Oct 21 12:09:18 PDT 2003

On Mon, 20 Oct 2003, Iván Rebollo wrote:

>
>I think that Roila and the other Lavodes had a similar genetic
>inheritance according to the scene descrived in FYA, when a guard
>tells Kraaven that there are a group of people wearing black, some of
>them seeming to be dragons and others dzur.
>

I am confused as to how you can arrive at the conclusion that they are
related based only on the knowledge that they are wearing the same
color clothes. 

Elsewhere, it is stated that Sethra created the Lavodes, which
certainly implies to *me* that they were recruited somehow.

The quote from the booksearch is (FHYA, chapter 25):

   They seem to be of no one House, though many appear to be
   Dzurlords, and one or two are without doubt Dragonlords.

>Notwithstanding that, I cannot remember if he says that any of them
>seems to have both characteristics,

The above quote is indeed somewhat ambiguous.  "They seem to be of no
one House" *probably* means "the group is made up of individuals who
are of different Houses", yet it could also imply that some of those
*individuals* are of mixed House.  I would tend to doubt that, though. 

> and if not it can be also that Sethra only recruits Lavodes from
>those two houses, but if the purpose of the Lavodes is "to handle
>threats or potential threats to the Empire that were fundamentally
>non-military", maybe it does not have sense to only recruit members
>among the two skillest houses in the military art, does it? Maybe
>some Yendis and Athyras would be useful also, wouldn't they?

You are entirely correct.  However, you will note that this piece of
intelligence is being reported by Sergeant, a guard, who might well
be expected to notice, and stress in his report, the presence of
members of the more martial of the Houses, given that they may be
more of a threat.