Mia wrote: #I'm not so sure about that. My impression is that all Dragons, and all #Dzur, are lords. At the other end, no Teckla are lords, and no Teckla #can be emperors; hence the Teckla Republic. It has not been Revealed #from the Oracle as to the exact situation in the intermediate houses. #Tiassa can be lords, so can Athyra (I would suspect they all are), and #we have heard, I think, of Orca nobles, as well as any number of Orca #thugs and seamen. I've never heard of a Jhegalla lord, or a Chreotha. #There are definitely Hawklords, if my memory serves me correctly. As #far as Phoenix go, there are only ever a tiny number of them; I would #think they must all be nobles. There does seem to be a heierarchy of #Houses, and I suspect that the nobility of the highest members is #dependent on the position of the house. # #I have not bothered to look anything up on this . . . my impressions only. I was sure I had answered this question a little while ago, or rather, given my take on it. But occasionally, for reasons I don't understand, my posts don't get to the list. Mia, would you please reply to me directly if you get this mail? I am sending it directly to you as well as to the list. >>> Although technically all the houses except the Teckla are "noble houses", "only a few [of the 'noble houses'] ... contain any of the aristocracy, and then only a few of that House" [Tek27; Paresh speaking]. Kelly implies that the Houses of the Dragon, Dzur, and Lyorn comprise the bulk of the aristocracy [Tek188]. The House of the Phoenix is almost certainly also largely aristocratic, but they are the smallest House and so do not count toward the "bulk". In fact, Paarfi takes for granted the existence of bourgeoisie as well as nobility [FHYA285]. Vlad, technically a noble of the Jhereg, makes his living (for most of his career that we've seen so far) as a mobster and an assassin. -- The "noble's point" is a feature of the hairline typical of all but the Teckla, apparently what we would call a "widow's peak": a downward point at the center of the forehead. http://www.speakeasy.org/~mamandel/Cracks-and-Shards/characteristics.html <<< -- Mark A. Mandel http://cracksandshards.com a Steven Brust Dragaera fan website [I talk, Dragon NaturallySpeaking types, I correct. Neither of us is perfect.]