> I agree that the characteristics of each House are genetic, > but nothing says that those characteristics come from the > *animal* genes that are built in. Could issola possibly have > genes for courtliness, jhegaala for shifting (as distinct > from a fixed sequence of metamorphoses), or yendi for > trickery? I prefer the theory that the animal genes are > markers and the Jenoine gengineered the Orca to like the sea > without using orca genes. (The orca don't have to be > attracted to the sea--they're stuck > there.) Actually, I'm pretty sure Aliera says as much but I have no text handy to quote. At any rate, I don't quite see the point of modeling a behavior after an animal, inserting an animal gene as a marker, and then implementing the behavior using ordinary "human" genes. Why do you prefer the marker theory?