On Tue, 29 Mar 2005, David Rodemaker wrote: > I think what would be most interesting is if the marital/mating patterns of > the various houses parallel the habits of whatever animal they are matched > with. Such that the other reason that the various Houses don't marry and > interbreed is because the whole situation just feels 'wrong' on a whole > 'nother instinctual level. I like this idea but I haven't been able to convince myself that the young Vlad would have passed up the chance to comment on Dragaeran animalism in this context. True, he only learns the genetic truth in _Jhereg_, but the Texts are so concerned with prejudice that something so juicy would have been mentioned. Note however my hypothesis explaining Yendis' lack of distinguishing visible characteristics and the taint of their name: they're cuckoos. And note the sharp observation by someone on the list that Dzur croosbreeds seem to be common...