On Wed, 29 Oct 2003 wyrmouroboros at comcast.net wrote: > ... I, who had some importance in the tribe [of Dragons]... > --Sethra Lavode, _Issola_, p. 41 (Hardcover). > It would appear, at least at the time of the Empire's founding, that > Sethra Lavode is or was considered a Dragon. What that means to the > current estimation of her House is up to the PTI (Power That Is, i.e. > Steve). I disagree - she's still important to House Dragon, but that doesn't make her a Dragon. She's sui generis - maybe she's a Dragon and a Dzur, maybe whatever - which _is_ up to SKZB. > Also, though I don't have it handy, I seem to recall that the very first > mention Vlad ever makes (well, in order of writing) of the Necromancer > is that he's always liked her. That would be in _Jhereg_, at a party, an unlikely setting for the N. I'd say this is a problem in the text, likely due to _J_ being SKZB's first stab at translating the Vladiad. Or Vlad was being funny. > On the other hand, in later writings -- Issola comes to mind, as it is > at hand -- Vlad seems to, well, be afraid of her, or at least dislike > being around her. Any thoughts as to why this is? She's powerful and quite insane by Vlad's definition (she probably doesn't eat at all - even Sethra eats something), and in _Dragon_ they have an encounter which seems to coincide with some memory loss or a disturbing psychic event or a psychotic interlude...