On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 Jon_Lincicum at stream.com wrote: > Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> > >On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 Jon_Lincicum at stream.com wrote: > > > >> Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> > >> >Perhaps an Imperial title is heritable. > >> > >> Vlad makes a comment at one point about wearing his medallion of > office, > >> which he "hadn't worn since he had inherited it on the death of his > >> father". > > > >Certainly he inherited the medallion... > > Are you suggesting his House would allow him to wear a medallion of an > office he was not entitled to? No, I'm suggesting that the title may have been valid for his heirs _at the time it was purchased_. That is, it may have been a license for Vlad's father and Vlad full stop. I.e., Vlad's children may not be included. Assuming Vlad didn't have any at the time the title was purchased. Which seems unlikely given his age at the time. The language you quote in reference to this particular Imperial title ("descendants and heirs") may suggest a distinction of that sort. The point being that the Jhereg would otherwise become essentially Easterner instantly (in Dragaeran terms). Which hasn't happened.