I'm catching up on the list. [Sean Whalen replying to Philip Hart:] # Heirship seems hereditary in the Phoenix. Zerika #wouldn't be Heir because she wasn't born yet, so her #position is probably assumed by way of her mother. #Yes, I assume that there is a minimum and maximum #length of time for each reign but any number of #Emperors (though usually just one in practice). [Philip:] #> If you can find a reference to the sister as Phoenix #> Heir I'll be #> impressed. But wasn't Loudin the logical heir (if #> she was alive?) #> possibly already being the Princess? Loudin was the #> Phoenix Heir just before the Interregnum. [Sean:] # She's never mentioned as that, but with hereditary #heirship (see Loudin and Zerika) it seems very #probable. Loudin became Phoenix Heir after #Tortaalik's sister was banished. So I went to my own page to see if I'd found anything: http://cracksandshards.com/deaths.html#Zerikas_Parentage : >>> Our two sources for Zerika's parentage agree that her parents were named Vernoi and Loudin. Unfortunately, Paarfi tells us of a Lord Vernoi and a Princess Loudin [FHYA319-322] ... <<< In FHYA, on p.320 (Tor edition; three pages from the end of Chap. 21), we find the following dialogue: >>> [Vernoi:] "This is it, then. Do you know the Princess Loudin?" [Khaavren:] "That is your question?" [V] "Nearly. My question concerns her, which is why I ask." [K] "Well, I have seen her, if I am not mistaken. Was she not, some years ago, one of Her Majesty's maids of honor, and is she not now the Phoenix Heir?" [V] "The very woman. ..." <<< Here, I nearly believe, we have an explicit and authoritative statement that Loudin is the Phoenix Heir, very shortly before Adron's Disaster and the Interregnum. -- Mark A. Mandel http://cracksandshards.com a Steven Brust Dragaera fan website