>Why doesn't Vlad call them "elfs"? We can guess that his father, a Dragaeran >wannabe who probably never left Adrilankha and so never considered anything >outside its boundaries, is the one who came up with the word Dragaeran as a >replacement for the hated Eastern vernacular. We're getting into weird >subtleties here. When Vlad uses the term "Dragaeran" when speaking to >Morollan and company, he's speaking their language and using their word for >"people". They may not even really understand that he's equating the word >for "human" with the word for "citizen of the Empire". It would be >interesting if Morollan and Vlad had some cause to speak in Fenarian or >another Eastern language and for Morollan to discover this nuance. I could >even see that as the point where Morollan says "Well, yes, I AM a Dragaeran >but so are you..." Since so many Drag.s like to call Vlad whiskers, maybe he could start calling them by an equally degrading term in the same vein (baldie?). And as to the subject of nationalism/race, I have to disagree on some points. Being a member of an empire is not just a matter of citizenship. When "nationalism" was coming into vogue in the 19th century, the French state began a drive to remake the populace in the image of Paris. Meaning, the French government defined "French" as "Parisian." While the people living in the outer reaches of French territory were certainly French citizens, they would not have been a member of the "nation" because they would not have recognized themselves as a member of the "national we." There is a counter example, however, with the Roman empire, where citizenship was not merely racial. While Roman originally meant that a person was from Rome (and surrounding Italy), the conquests of Caesar led to a looser definition of what it was to be Roman. That definition brought the newly conquered territories, such as Spain, into the fold. At the same time, the definition meant that Spaniards and those rising in the ranks in Spain would be eligible for leadership positions (think Hannibal). I'm not sure which of these cases would apply, because I am not totally clear on Vlad's status within the empire. Would he be eligible for Emperor if the timing was right? The obstacles and reasons against are strong -- the orb would have to prolong his life or would quickly be passed on. However, if Vlad is ineligible for the orb, I would argue that he is not "Dragearan." >Oh, yes, very much so. I rather like it that way. It's very amusing that the >Easterners consider the Empire to be a "fairy land", yet to the modern >cosmopolitan reader of the Vladiad, the East actually appears to be a "fairy >tale land" full of strange places, mystical people, and unknown adventures. >A land of myth, magic, and folk tales come to life. I don't think it's >"another world" in the sense that the Paths are "another world", it's just a >collection of very different cultures. Despite Sethra the Younger's >ambitions (and contrary to Aliera's smug assertion that Easterners exist at >all because Kieron "allowed" them to live so that the Empire would have an >outside target for aggression that would otherwise be aimed inward) the East >appears to be a large place that has barely been touched by the Empire >despite 200,000 years of on and off warfare. The Eastern Mountains (or >Western Mountains if you happen to live in the East) do a pretty good job of >limiting the places where the two sides can actually come into conflict. >They're a separate world in the same way that a citizen of Victorian England >would consider an African tribesman to be from a different world. Population could also have something to do with this limited contact. Since the Empire is hardly busting at the seams, there is little reason for the Dragearans to expand into the far reaches of the East. I also wonder if the orb is limited at all by proximity...