> So.. if your a Teckla that just happens to be "good with his > hands", and ends up doing a bit of "work", can you "join" the > Organization, and thus presumably the Jhereg? I assume you > would not have a title at that point.. > you would just be "my lord" ? What about a Dzur that turned > out to fear > combat, but have a flair for architecture and construction.. > could they "move" to the House of the Vallista? The real problem with moving between houses is that the Houses themselves are the foundation of an extremely strict racial/caste system whose basis is metaphysical as well as sociological. With the exception of the Jhereg (and possibly the Tekla) anyone who "moves" is going to be considered "honorary" at best by the true members of that house. The problem with answering this question is that we have only one example to extrapolate from. I say one because only one of the three examples we have is for a house of the "conventional" nobility. The Dzur barrier of entry is so high that the number of "honorary" Dzur in the entire history of the Empire can probably be counted on one hand. A "transferee" is not only a potential blot on the reputation of the House (if s/he can't live up to the standards of the House) but also technically speaking an available mate. While it's unlikely that any self-respecting noble would allow his heir to marry a "transferee", the potential for pollution of the gene pool means that any "transferee" has to be someone who is so highly skilled at the gimmick of the House as to be better at it than all of the best purebloods combined. This last point also means that transfers are inherently self-limiting. If a Dzur successfully transferred to the Vallista, he would die childless. No self-respecting Dzur would choose him for a husband, and no self-respecting pureblood Vallista would choose him either. With no Vallista heir, his membership in the House would last one lifetime, then his property and titles would revert back to the House. All this means that "transferring" is something that just isn't going to happen very frequently. When it does happen, it's going to be a pretty exceptional case.