On Sun, 29 Feb 2004, Bryan Newell wrote:
> But don't read this email unless you've read all the Dragaeran novels, as
> there are spoilers for most of them below.
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> 1. Why hasn't any action been taken against Paarfi by the Empire for
> publishing to the masses how to defeat the Orb?
Because Paarfi is Sethra's mouthpiece, and no one wants to mess with her.
> 3. Why does Noish-pa revere Verra, the goddess of Elder Sorcery, instead of
> her sister Moranthe, the goddess of Witchcraft?
Ask a Catholic.
> 4. When the Empire was founded, Kieron was, well, Kieron, Vlad was Dolivar,
> but who was Aliera? Aliera says she was a Shaman, and in "Issola" we hear
> that Drien was a Shaman/Warrior contemporary of Kieron's, and may or may not
> have had a sex change, so was Aliera Drien?
No. This would make her relationship with Morrolan e'Drien too Oedipal.
Also I believe Drien is described as complex, possibly as unstable - not
Alieraesque.
> 6. Is Grita Ibronka's (much) older sister? ...
Yes. People on the list eagerly await their presumed confrontation.
I'm looking forward to her death, because she bores me - my guess is the
two sisters will kill each other, or Piro will kill Grita forcing Ibronka
to kill him. I'm rooting for Roaana only to escape alone to tell us.
> 8. On pages 141 and 142 of "Issola," Vlad turns to take a step towards
> Aliera and Morrolan, who have just appeared in his Jenoine prison. As he
> begins his step, he suddenly has a "mystical experience"....
> Is that the same as "being in two places at the same time"...
I don't think so. I think Vlad is either fragmented or (rather more
likely) receiving inputs from a variety of sources which he interprets as
three different experiences or (rather more likely) has an brief odd
experience which his conscious mind can't interpret but which
his sleeping mind assembles through dream into three coherent lines.
Or, most likely of all, Vlad has a brief odd experience which he decides
to express in a confusing way for the fun of it.
> 9. ... Verra says, "Kelly has his hands on the truth about the way a
> society works ...
> Has she forgotten the Teckla Republics? Or is that what she's referring to
> by "another time and another place" "in ten thousand years, or a hundred
> thousand"? The "another place" makes me think she is talking about
> somewhere BESIDES Dragaera (wherever she came from, or the "small invisible
> lights" the Easterners came from), which again begs the question, what about
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
<allcaps>aaaaahhhh!</allcaps>
> Teckla Republics? Maybe what Kelly wants isn't the same as a Teckla
> Republic?
Kelly wants to break the Cycle. He doesn't want to form a govt that will
scrap its constitution in a set timeframe. She's surely talking about
Marxism or some other earthly analysis, and noting that it doesn't make
any sense in a world that's a) widely preindustrial, b) indifferent to
widescale slaughter, and c) <allcaps> run by a big cosmic wheel
administered by a bunch of gods </allcaps>.
Note that it's possible that House Teckla will take the throne through
revolution, but more likely by the normal means of a) the last emperor
dying or b) gaining either sufficient influence and wealth to take power
or c) being suited to address a crisis (perhaps an agricultural collapse).
> 10. In "The Lord of Castle Black", on page 318, Clari has a conversation
> with "a certain Dragonlord of middle years distinguished by a large build,
aka Dortmund.
> 11... Where are the strip clubs in Adrilankha? Maybe strip clubs only
> exist where looking is legal, but touching is not, and in places where
> touching is legal, why would you pay just to look?
Dragaerans have much less of a taboo against prostitution - I agree.
Note that Dragaerans might well have fewer body taboos in general,
and that this might make such clubs less appealing and less needed.
But maybe there are scads of bars with naked waitstaffs which we haven't
seen because of Vlad's Eastern mores.