On Fri, 8 Apr 2005, Scott Schultz wrote: > [... Paarfi] says that "the protections and safeguards" available to his > readers were not available in those earlier times (or at least not as > widely available). [...] > > The implication here is that Dragaeran birth control is not something > inherent to the species. Rather, it's something that's possibly sorcerous in > nature or possibly something else, but it's definitely something that > requires a Dragaeran to be proactive in its application. While I tend to > view Paarfi with a jaundiced eye, I trust him rather more than Vlad in this > area. I had assumed that unintentional pregnancy was inherently unlikely among Dragaerans but that post-Interregnum the easy availability of sorcerous safeguards makes it unheard-of for those sensible enough to take simple precautions. However, one would think that even pre-Interregnum so subtle a man as Adron would be able to make use of such a spell, which Paarfi says was known at the time and which Adron might have known regardless. But in any case, what's the scenario for a daughter of Adron to be announced to him without his knowledge and acknowledgement? The mother gives birth and says, "It's Lord Adron's", and everybody says, "Ok"? As we know from _Yendi_, questions of paternity came up in Adron's day... -------------------------------------- Philip Hart rosenschale.blogspot.com The Riddle Shall I love God for causing me to be? I was mere utterance; shall these words love me? Yet when I caused His work to jar and stammer, And one free subject loosened all His grammar, I love Him that He did not in a rage Once and forever rule me off the page, But, thinking I might come to please Him yet, Crossed out 'delete' and wrote His patient 'stet'. -- Richard Wilbur