> As an example, I ended up imagining House Yendi as not being truly a House > at all. Rather, House Yendi is like a secret society which is, itself, > nothing but a coalition of countless smaller secret societies. It might be > difficult to even know who is truly in charge, let alone say who is the > "ruling council". > With that fresh in mind, I was interested to notice in _Paths of the Dead_ > that Galsten (that is, Pel) and the Sorceress in Green use a secret sign and > countersign to recognize each other as fellow Yendi. The first idea that occurs to me here is that there is actually a secret sign, but we are falling prey to a lack of distinction between "member of the Yendi house" and "involved in the Yendi 'house business'/conspiracy". Much as it's possible for someone to be a Jhereg noble and have nothing to do with the Organization, it's possible for someone to be a Yendi and not be involved with the vast Yendi conspiracy; the secret sign is a way for people who are to recognize each other. > Of course, Paarfi could be simply adding "romance" to the story where none > actually existed and the Sorceress, while not advertising her House, may > never have actually gone to any trouble to hide it either. There seems to be a strange contradiction about the importance of Houses. On the one hand, it's vitally important in determing many aspects of a person's life - the tabu on intermarriage alone would assure that, and people tend to make friends within their Houses, the Houses are the most important political divisions, etc. On the other hand, it's not something people tend to *ask* about - they generally figure it out from clothing cues or facial features. Most of Adrilankha still thinks Daro is a Lyorn. So my suspicion is that the average Yendi doesn't advertise the fact - they dress however they like and let people guess at their features, and don't correct those who get it wrong. However, neither will they deny their House if asked directly. However, some Yendi, especially those involved in the Vast Conspiracy, will try very hard not to let anyone guess their House, for fear it would cause suspicion. Pel hides his House because he thinks people wouldn't trust a Yendi; the Sorceress in Green lets people *assume* she's an Aythra, but will admit to being a Yendi if asked. However, both are members of the Vast Conspiracy and trying very hard to hide this fact. Just some ideas; I'm AFB and don't recall if they were contradicted at any point.