On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 11:58:39 -0800 (PST), Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> wrote: >> Oil rich countries also have a bunch of dissatisfied unfulfilled youth >> who >> are willing to become terrorists. Poor despotic countries have better >> things to do than to export terrorism across the world. > Well, Afghanistan is a small exception... And I read that there are more > middle-class well-educated terrorists than otherwise. Engineers are > much more dangerous than street youths. Dragaera isn't a wealthy country, except among the Nobilities. But in today's world it is worth thinking about what creates dissatisfaction that leads to war. And then use such motivations in stories. Steve has already explored what happens when a dissatisfied merchant class feels picked upon, and I expect to see him continue this. Historically, times of great increase in the wealth of the middle class tend to be the most likely times to have revolution. But I also see Dragaerans chomping at the bit to be important. Sethra the Younger wants to achieve greatness by being a conquerer. Maybe they don't see the real threat - but they are wealthy and bored. -- Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/