On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, Philip Hart wrote: #> >I believe oracularity is an official trait of Tiassas - see Mark #> >Mandel's page. #> > #> #> Yes, and I think he put "oracle" in there because, prior to /The #> Phoenix Guards/, the only Tiassa we had met with any noticible role #> was that same oracle. Khaavren appears in that same book, but, as #> noted in a prior post, has only a brief and non-speaking part. #> #> In other words, he was generalizing from one example. Well, yes. But the ability fits with incidents we have seen with other Tiassa. IIRC, Daro came to Khaavren's side because she had a strong sense that he needed her and a sense of where she was. Khaavren evades the assassin's strike from behind even though the assassin is perfectly and completely silent. Tiassa ARE more likely than members of other houses to have inexplicable insights. #An old poem from my days working underground at an accelerator in Geneva #(hence beam - also Slimos refers to the shift safety responsible, PB #and EB were parts of the detector, and the letters designate particles): # # Song of the Happy Slimos Ooh! Ooh! May I post this to rec.music.filk, with credit of course? Did you write it? #Late at night on shift you start to wonder about the beam. #Are electrons claustrophobic? Can you hear the bunches scream #As they hurtle towards each other? Do the Z's have time to pray #For an extra femtosecond before they violently decay? #Do the K's and pi's feel helpless as the magnet makes them curve? #Does PB say to EB, "We must take what we deserve"? #Are aliens kept frozen in the liquid He vats? #Are the tunnels ruled by giant, glowing, radioactive rats? #Are the things that live in darkness in the dirt outside the hall #Slowing gnawing on the concrete? Are we really just in thrall #To the whims of our computers? Does Vax control us all? #Is this data really useful? Does God think it a crime #To investigate his secrets, or are we just wasting time? #If someone destroys the universe, we will start again from scratch. #If you point me towards the fuse I think that I can find a match. -- Mark A. Mandel http://cracksandshards.com a Steven Brust Dragaera fan website -- Mark A. Mandel, The Filker With No Nickname http://mark.cracksandshards/filk.html Now on the Filker's Bardic Webring!