On 1/10/06, Jon_Lincicum at stream.com <Jon_Lincicum at stream.com> wrote: > I'm not sure this follows. > > How often does a soul of the e'Kieron line get reincarnated as an > Easterner? And how often, when that *does* happen, does the Easterner > become aware of that fact while he's alive? And have friends close at hand > who can teach him to use those abilities without destroying himself? > > Vlad may, in fact, be the first, and only, Easterner who's learned Elder > Sorcery. Seems likely, in fact. But nobody needed to teach Vlad how to use amorphia. He just did it, under stress. Aliera was needed only to stop him from destroying Adrilankha in the process. So the existence of Vlad's powerful friends makes it not more but less likely that Vlad's Elder Sorcery adventures will get into the history books. (And I thought we were _refuting_ the hypothesis that it was an innate ability of Easterners and not just e'Kierons to use amorphia.) The only thing required in Vlad's first instance were a link to the Orb and a suitable desperation. The only point in favor of this hypothesis is that Easterners with links to the Orb may be a relatively new (post-Interrugnum) thing. Then again, there's that Easterner that Khaavren mistook for an Athyra... Max Wilson -- Be pretty if you are, Be witty if you can, But be cheerful if it kills you.