>I don't think most houses have any official way for an outsider to >join. >From Vlad's adventures, we know about the Jhereg and the Dzur. From Miklos, we know about the Tekla. For the rest, as far as I know we have only this quote from _Tekla_: ---- "The House of the Teckla," [Paresh] said, "embodies all the traits of all the Dragaeran Houses. As does the Jhereg, by the way, and for much the same reason: Those Houses will allow others into their ranks with no questions asked. The aristocracy -- the Dzur, the Dragons, the Lyorn, occasionally others -- see this as a weakness. The Lyorn allow no one in; some of the others require the passing of a test." ---- No real clue about how many "some" is except that it sounds like more than just the Dzur.