It's always cool to across certain things in the novels, see how they're consistent, and realize that, in all probability, it was planned that way. Consider the cycle. We'll start at Jhereg, because that's where I want to start. Jhereg are opportunists and manipulators. Criminals, a lot of them. Iorich follows, making an attempt to put a stop to the crime which probably gets fairly blatant by the end of the Jhereg rein. The new law system, or the newly efficient and enforced law system enables people to start building again, and you get Chreotha. Within all the corporations that inevitably result you get hugely complicated scheming, which of course is followed by people who are basically trying to do the same thing without the subtlety of the originators of those schemes, the Orca. The Orca are inevitably corrupt and totally unfair, involved with all sorts of petty business, which directly affects the Teckla to a truly unignorable, who choose this time to revolt successfully. With the creation of a democracy, we see an elimination of class barriers, but unfortunately, these things don't stick around for long. Life is no fun if you can't put on airs every now and then. So you get, I hope (don't know too much about them) a kind of bourgeois-noble/meritocracy setup, with the Jhegaala. And of course, to show those guys what *real* nobility/skill is, you get Athyra. And of course, the Athyra will never outdo the Phoenix for nobility, who will inevitably take it too far, sparking massive military protests, possibly even martial law, Dragon-style. Once that has calmed down a bit, the Lyorns will want to record all the historical events that happened (not that they'll be anything forgettable, cf. Adron's Disaster) and after the Lyorn, you get the Tiassa who are inspired with new ideas upon which to build their society. However, once again, it's taken too far, and the House of the Hawk really removes the practicality of the ideas that Tiassa came up with. So you get a knee-jerk reaction, once again, with the Dzur who are tired of all the posturing and haughtiness of the Hawk, and really just wanna cut some shit up. However, in any warrior society, politeness rules, and eventually the Issola take over to stop all the bloodshed. However, I have no idea where to go to get to Tsalmoth, and none from there to Vallista and from there back to Jhereg. I just don't know enough about them. But nonetheless, I'm sure I've made my point. While I could be overanalyzing, it could very easily have been thought out by Steve in the beginning. If so, good job :P Jon _________________________________________________________________ MSN Premium with Virus Guard and Firewall* from McAfee® Security : 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-ca&page=byoa/prem&xAPID=1994&DI=1034&SU=http://hotmail.com/enca&HL=Market_MSNIS_Taglines