Dragaera

Greetings, houses, politics, pedantics

Wed Jan 14 05:24:25 PST 2004

Multiple replies &c:

 From ReVibe68 at aol.com:

>> Has there ever been a
>> professional/amateur effort to graphically depict (i.e.
>> draw/paint/psiprint) the animals of the 17 houses? If so, are they
>> collected/accessible anywhere, and if not, why not?
>
> No,no,no; This is not a valid Stupid Newbie Question!
> THis is a pretty simple question that I for one never bothered to even 
> think about.

David's links were wonderful, and I thank him for them, but I therefore
also take it that there has been no systematic project. I know some of 
the
animals, even now still have mainly adjectival descriptions.

>  You sir have the perspicacity of a Tiassa, and moreover the piercing 
> inquisitiveness of an Athyra.  I salute you.

Why thank you. The GIM (geek in me) truly appreciates (and has long
wondered about) the categorization. I've never been sure what house I
would categorize myself as, though I am temperamentally drawn to the
Tiassa and Hawk (so I'm hoping one of the next Vlad novels will be so 
named).
There should be a Myers Briggs type test for House identification.


I note with interest that Steven wrote:
>> I also try to steer clear of political arguments, since
>> they instantly turn me into a flaming asshole.
To which warbi replied:
> That's okay, Steve, I already got burned a few days ago for you!
And Philip replied:
> The Flaming Lips - now there's a good band.

Note to self - don't kiss Steven's ass in a political discussion.

David wrote:
> It's really quite a tragedy; Earthly revolutionary theory doesn't
> actually make much sense on Dragaera, where the Empire and its
> monarchy really IS ordained and protected by the gods, and controlled
> by the cycle.  The Teckla revolution has no chance until it's their 
> turn.

Could not the argument be made that the Fenarians are a wildcard? They
were part of the Teckla revolution, too. They worship (at least some 
of) the
same gods and are listened to by those gods (sometimes), but they are 
not
part of the cycle. Clearly one small group of humans (or one individual 
of
particular interest) has caused some important ripples in the cycle (if 
not
saved it altogether). The power to break the cycle exists even within 
Dragaera
(Adron), but certainly the cycle can be threatened by external forces 
(on a grand
scale by, for example, the Jenoine,  and on a 'civil' scale, perhaps by 
Humans
and Tecklas). Of course _can_ does not mean _will_. Even the Gods 
answer to
ultimate Author-ity.

Speaking of Fenarians/humans. is there any speculation on what is 
keeping _them_
at a medieval technology level over the many hundreds of years of the 
various story
arcs? They always struck me as only a Renaissance away from being able 
to
challenge Dragaeran sorcery-augmented power with conventional 
technology (plus
witchcraft). Even the Interregnum didn't catalyze anything on the human 
side?
Perhaps their Da Vincis have not come around yet.

And again, Steven wrote:
> I hate pedantic fiction.  Hate it.  Hate it, hate it, hate it.
> I'll have to write something blatently pedantic one of these days.

I bet Paarfi would be happy to help if you could keep him from 
realizing he was
being insulted.  :-)

Noam

Help! - or an amazing beer.    (What Noam Raphael Izenberg is in 
desperate need of right now)