[Dragaera] Does house discrimination=racism?

[Scott Crain]

Jon_Lincicum at stream.com wrote:
  But then I got to thinking, what about racism within the Dragaerans 
themselves?

Certainly, a Teckla will be denigrated and discriminated against nearly as 
much as an Easterner, but is this racism, or merely due to social status, 
rather than race? (And is there even a significant difference?)

How pervasive is the discrimination based on house? If you're a Hawklord 
hiring a security guard, for example, would you hire a Dragonlord or a 
Tsalmoth? Would their house even play into your decision? How about if 
one was a Teckla, and the other was an Orca? Or if one was a Teckla, and 
the other was an Easterner? 

I guess the root question here is how deep does Dragaeran discrimination 
really run?

Does anyone have any good examples from the texts that might illuminate 
this subject?
  Resurrecting an old thread....
  
'To a Dragaeran, your House is everything...'  Jhereg, Vlad talking to Kragar about why Dragaerans do what they do, after Kragar saves Vlad's life, and when Vlad's figured out why Mellar did what he did.
   
  A Dragaeran doesn't think of thinking of individuals from different Huses as being discrimination so much as it is discriminatING.  To take an example from Morrolan (and, come to think of it, one of the daughters in Orca), one hires a courtly Issola to be one's doorman/majordomo/greeter; Morrolan hires a 'maintaining' Tsalmoth to keep organized the security of his domain.  I'd bet, however, that his guards are primarily Dragons, with a scattering of Dzur.
   
  It isn't prejudice if the individual's genetics have a particular bent in that direction; it's perception, getting the person most appropriate FOR the job to DO the job.  You won't find many Iorich shopkeepers, I expect; Iorich aren't really genetically primed to do that.  You MIGHT, however, find a number of Iorich private investigators.  (Oddly, I can't think of what else an Iorich might do that isn't 'police officer', 'judge', or the like.  Security guard??)
   
  I'm sure there are a few of each House who buck the trend, but even Daymar has his Hawkishness -- he is, after all, just about the best there is at pure psionics.  He's picked a particular 'thing', and pursues it to the heights of its excellence.  (Hawks, I get the sense, are the 'specialists' of the Empire.)  When it comes down to it, though, your House -- your genetics -- very significantly define who you are and what you do.  (And what the gods expect you to do.  ;) )
   
  House discrimination is, therefore, appropriate -- and not at all racist.  This is, however, why you'll be able to find an Easterner doing whatever you care to look for, whereas you'd be hard-pressed to find Dragaerans of certain Houses doing them.
   
   


S. Thomas Crain
Author-in-Training
 		
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