--- Joy Jennifer Nicholson <jjnichol at MIT.EDU> wrote: > "Bastard" doesn't always mean "born out of wedlock". It can also mean > un-acknowledged by the father, or perhaps by either parent in the > gender-equal world of Dragaera. For all we know, it may be public > knowledge that Verra is Aliera's mother. Although this seems to awe > Vlad some little bit, Dragaerans take a much more non-chalant attitude > toward gods. Have we ever seen or heard of a Dragaeran wedding? Is (what we call) common-law marriage, perhaps, the norm? > Since Aliera's rank as heir comes from her father, all that may matter > is that he is clearly her father and that she is a member of the > House. If being Verra's daughter disqualifies her as a potential > heir, then it would probably have to disqualify her from being a > member of the House as well. Maybe there's a clause in the bylaws > excepting the half-breeds of gods. A half-breed, as we've seen the term used in the canon (as best I can remember), refers to a descendant of different Houses. A god has no House. For that matter, neither do the islanders, who are "Dragaerans" in species but not "Dragaerans" as citizens or inhabitants of the Empire. Suppose Aibynn married (moved in with, set up housekeeping with... see above) an Issola musician. Would their children be considered half-breeds? We don't know. -- Mark A. Mandel http://cracksandshards.com a Steven Brust Dragaera fan website [This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.] __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com