> On Thu, 29 Jan 2004, Casey Rousseau wrote: > > > David Silberstein wrote: > > > > We have not seen any stories set when a house other than Phoenix was on the > > throne. My understanding of the relative social statuses of the noble > > Houses was their relative ascendancy in the Cycle. > > > > Hence, I would expect that during a Vallista Reign there would be much less > > stigma attached to being of House Jhereg. > > I had thought _influence_ went with the Cycle, and I can imagine status > following influence to some extent - but I can't imagine any point in the > Cycle where House Lyorn will be looked down on like House Jhereg is now. I can. I see lots of real-world examples of cultures which are (at least briefly) obsessed with novelty, to the extent that people who are concerned with things like honor, tradition, and intellectual thinking are seen as pariahs. I think such meme-plexes are unstable and self-defeating, but they definitely *do* occur periodically. Admittedly, it's rare for them to heap as much scorn on intellectuals as is more generally heaped on Organized Crime -- but I don't think it's unheard of. Alexx Opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily those of my employers. alexx at carolingiaSPAMBL@CK.org http://www.panix.com/~alexx (At the Bad Habit there was some brief discussion of how many things one could do at once. For instance, is it possible to have net access, a job, a social life, and be romantically involved with one or more people? I believe the consensus was "yes, but you don't get to sleep...") -- Sean McGuire