[Dragaera] A slip of the tongue...

[Scott Schultz]

>And certainly it's no shame to have a duller chin than Khaavren etc.

Very true. 

>One might perhaps argue that _TPG_ is about different types of
>intelligence - Khaavren's brilliant intuition, Pel's interpersonal
>skills, Aerich's general or perhaps Holmesian smartness, Tazendra's -
>uhh - idiot-savantism?

Sethra's point to Tazendra in _Five Hundred Years After_ is that she gives
herself too little credit when she tries to beg off from the challenge due
to being a poor thinker. (Paraphrased - "There isn't a stupid sorceror that
made it past his 500th year.") Perhaps that comes from hanging around with
exceptional people like Khaavren and company. Perhaps it's simply that Dzur
as a general case don't waste a lot of time on "wondering", which is no
doubt why Tazendra finds it such a novel experience to be doing just that at
certain points of _The Phoenix Guards_. 

Dzur are as intelligent as anyone and even more-so than most (accounting for
the fact that House Dzur produces more wizards than any House save Athyra).
It just happens that one of their defining traits is that they are
exceedingly challenge oriented. Once the goal is accomplished, it's
dismissed in favor of the next goal. Dzur don't typically feel the need to
ask "why?". They're much more comfortable with asking "how?" and "when?".
This is why they don't typically apply themselves to what most people think
of as "education", yet within their own areas of strength they're able to
astound the uninitiated with their knowledge and ability.

I would imagine that a Dzur who DID become interested in some particular
mental problem would be formidable scientist as long as she could motivated
properly. Imagine a Dzur wizard attacking spell research problem the way
that a Dzurlord would attack an army of invading Easterners. A truly
formidable magical research team could be formed by a knowledgable Athyra
acting as the theoretical researcher and a Dzur wizard acting as the
practical experimental scientist. The trick would be to keep the Athyra from
wandering off into unrelated sidelines and the Dzur from growing bored and
going off in search of a more immediate challenge.