I did get the idea that the fact that he was a half-breed and a Jhereg was at least slightly embarassing to the Dzur--at least the fact that someone of that background could get into the house, and would then throw it away, seemed likely to embarass the dickens out of them. At least, that's how I read that part of Mellar's scheme in _Jhereg._ I suspect that on the whole, though, someone who earns his way into the house and comports himself with the dignity (or perhaps the bravura) expected of a Dzur would be fully, or at least sufficiently, accepted by them that he could marry one of their daughters and attend their social functions. After all, why let someone earn his way in and then treat him as if he didn't? Surely that would be beneath the House of Heroes--if nothing else, they can't admit that someone who beat them isn't worthy of being treated as an equal; if their inferiors can beat them, they're in the same fix, more or less, that the Jhereg are if peoplpe know someone can lift the Council treasury and escape. At least, that is how I see it. I could be wrong. It's a big and complex world, and I sometimes feel as simple as an Easterner. bonham15 wrote: >drawing a blank, but the jhereg who was one of the high council and who >horked the jhereg treasury had fought himself into the house of the dzur >then promptly left after he did it...... i believe he was at least a >halfbreed, if not more than 2 ho uses genetically.... > >andy >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Damien Sullivan" <phoenix at ugcs.caltech.edu> >To: "Dragaera List" <dragaera at dragaera.info> >Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 7:19 PM >Subject: Re: Joining the Dzur > > > > >>On Wed, Oct 29, 2003 at 08:05:12PM -0500, Kenneth Gorelick wrote: >> >> >> >>>having a defined genome. However, wouldn't the House of the Dragon be >>>unhappy if a member were talented enough to enter the Dzur, and did so? >>> >>> >>Don't see why, other than being miffed that someone that good was leaving >> >> >them > > >>(if she did leave.) Their genetic purity isn't at risk, although that >> >> >might > > >>reject the hero's crossbreed children. >> >> >> >>>How about genetic purity? One can only procreate with members of one's >>>own House (at least without incurring certain consequences). Would the >>>House of the Dzur truly be honored by adding the genes of a Teckla >>>hero? >>> >>> >>Presumably yes. Teckla and Jhereg are big pools; Dzur is a small >> >> >selective > > >>pool. But it's still open. >> >> >> >>>What is the House of a Houseless person? What is his/her genotype? >>> >>> >>Uh, no House? And the genotype is whatever it was. Unless you mean the >>people outside the Empire, in which case they have no house and possibly >> >> >have > > >>mixed genotypes. >> >> >> >>>"Half-breeds" seem to be lower than outcasts, but allowing them to join >>>one of the 17 defined Houses is asking for mongrelization of the entire >>>House, a concept inconsistent with Dragaeran eugenics. >>> >>> >>Different Houses can have different attitudes to eugenics. >> >> >> >>>those with a House, little trouble would emerge for Teckla or Jhereg, >>>but it seems unlikely that a member of one of those Houses would be >>>welcomed with open arms into the Dzur. >>> >>> >>Open arms or not, they're still brought in. Mellar. >> >>Presumably the point is that if you can fight your way in you are Dzur, or >>deserve to be, and your cross-House genes will improve what it means to be >>Dzur. Darwinism at work. >> >>-xx- Damien X-) >> >> > > > > -- J A Dusty Sayers Home Page http://www.sayersnet.com/~dusty/ Rescue the Princess http://www.sayersnet.com/~dusty/rescue/ 'Pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad.' --Evan James, 'Hen Wlad fy Nhadau'