Jay Smith wrote: > > > Actually, I think Vlad is (unbeknownst to him) founding the House of the > > East, which will replace Phoenix in the cycle. > > -- > > I respectfully disagree. > > I don't think the Easterners will ever find a place within the cycle, except > as Teckla or Jhereg. Question - what if it wasn't Vlad's 'soul' that let him create raw Chaos, but the fact that he's an Easterner rather than a Dragaeran? And Chaos is something the Phoenix have doings with, if you look at the history of Zerika I. Anyway, if it is being an Easterner and knowing that creating Chaos is possible, it didn't seem to require anything more from Vlad, other than being desperate enough to try. If this theory is correct, well, I can see some reasons for the Dragaerans to decide it might be better to co-opt the Easterners by at least placing them under the authority of the Cycle, then letting them be outside it and subject to random persecution and maybe sometimes feeling they didn't have anything else to lose....... ;) Possibly related - does anyone else get the feeling that Dragaeran society doesn't really seem to fit a belief that they can tell who a reincarnated soul once was in a previous life? Like, if that's the case, why was Norathar picked as Dragon Heir because she was an e'Lanya, rather than because she was the reincarnation of the last Dragon Empress? Similarly, why was Aliera Dragon Heir because of her Dad, rather than because she was the sister of Kieron the Conqueror and Kieron hadn't shown up yet? Maybe that's the reason I've always wondered if Aliera or Sethra hit Vlad with a gullibility spell when they told him that he once was Dolivar, and Dragaerans really can't tell who someone was in a previous life, they just know that reincarnation happens. In which case, creating raw Chaos might definitely be related to being an Easterner. (BTW - does anyone know of any textevd that 'souls' have to be reincarnated in the body of one of their line? If not, the LoJ really should have taken advantage of that and reincarnated some of their more able souls into the body of an e'Kieron to get that ability in future versions). Karen