Maximilian Wilson wrote: >> Now mind you, I'm not sitting up nights worrying about this. The >> suspension of disbelief isn't hard, and I'm fine with that. > >I guess I just have to suspend my belief in a different place, i.e. >the slow pace of Dragaeran society. > >Max Wilson > > Steve based Dragaerans on fantasy using elves - but with realistic life styles. The long life spans don't really work with these life styles, but since that was a basic of elf fantasy, that was what he needed to incorporate. We haven't seen much in the way of youth activity. We don't see 50 year old Tekla gangs being bored out of their skulls with still being children. But we do see grown-ups who are ready to fight, kill, and die at the drop of a hat. These aren't Dragaerans who have had kids and can afford to die. On the other hand, we have only seen enough of the feudal society to know that it exists. There could be a lot of serfs out there producing babies of all of the houses. But they aren't interesting unless the city revolution moves to the country. If we want realistic views of what immortality means, we would be better off reading Wil McCarthy. If we want to play with concepts in myth and literature, we should read Brust. I enjoy both. Obviously Steve enjoys playing with myths and literature - and we get to go along with the ride.