It occurred to me that a great deal is made of bloodlines--specifically, the liquid that is physically running through a person's veins. I'm sure we all know what god's blood in a mortal does, and further we seem to know that the E'Kieron bloodline has the ability to control amorphia. Now, when Aliera says bloodline, does she actually mean *blood*line, or some sort of spiritual inheritance thing that Vlad might find interesting? If it is the bloodline, and here comes the spoiler, Who is Vlad's mother? I think we can assume (although not necessarily) that Vlad's ancestor did not interbreed with some Fenarians, although he very well could have, due to his outcast nature. The question here becomes, how far did his bitterness and disenchantment go? Far enough to overcome what can be assumed to be Noble predisposition on a racial level? We know he can go against other Dragaerans, even family, to look after his own, but was he motivated primarily by a self-preservatory instinct or by spite? If spite, is it general enough to include all of Dragaerans, in an ironic, and totally SKZBian ironic reversal, consider Vlad's father's opinions on which race is "superior"? Or was Vlad's father necessarily like he was in order to inspire the characteristic hate of Dragaerans and their empire in Vlad, which apparently resonates with Dolivar? On the other hand, if it does involve the physical blood, perhaps we should look at Vlad's *mother*. If a father had a fetish with dragaerans, is it all that unlikely that he would pursue a dragaeran mate? Can they interbreed? Was that why Noish-pa was so concerned for Vlad being taught about the Fenarian methods and lifestyles? Of course, if it's some mystical metaphysical connection that allows Vlad to create amorphia, then this all becomes a matter of mere curiousity. Jon _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/bcomm&pgmarket=en-ca&RU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.msn.com%2f%3fpage%3dmisc%2fspecialoffers%26pgmarket%3den-ca