On Wed, 29 Sep 2004 11:24:38 -0700 (PDT), Chris Olson - SunPS <Chrisf.Olson at Sun.COM> wrote: > I always thought what Verra was trying to say was: > In a world dominated and controlled by the Great Cycle, > this great big stone tablet that even we Gods don't > fully understand, the ideas of Marx and Engels simply won't work. > How can you have a socialist revolution when, once the next > Cycle comes around, it moves right back to feudalism? > Not only that, but the mass of "Noble Houses" have > sorcery and Elder Sorcery, and this throws the > calculations off even further. A bummer for Kelly's Gang, > but them's the facts. We know that things *have* changed over time. Technology (including sorcery) has changed. Assuming that a house's brand of feudalism remains the same from cycle to cycle seems presumptuous. Thinking Orca instead of Dragon can make this evolution easier to perceive. But even the warrior classes find it useful to have a productive underclass - which may or may not be feudal.