[Dragaera] Breaking the Cycle.

[Scott Schultz]

In regards to the Cycle being broken, I took a good hard look at the
discussion between Verra and her sisters in _The Paths of the Dead_. This is
where Kelchor and the other gods ask Verra to explain how it is that the
Cycle could be unbroken when there are only two Phoenix left and they're
both women.

Begin Excerpt - _The Paths of the Dead_, Page 179
---------
(Ordwynac has just made the observation that two Phoenix women is
objectively no different than no Phoenix at all.)
   "How so?", said Keurana. "You perceive, if two is the same as none, then
all of the sciences must be redefined, beginning with arithmetic."
   "Because," said Ordwynac, ignoring the irony the goddes did him the honor
to share, "these are beings who require a male and a female to reproduce."
   "And so?" said Verra.
   "And so, even if there is a Phoenix now, there can never be another, and
so, by the time the Cycle returns to the Phoenix, it will be broken."
   "You know little of the Phoenix," said Verra.
   "And less of the Cycle," added Barlen.
   "Then explain it to me," said Ordwynac.
   "And to me as well," said Kelchor. "for, you percieve, I do not
understand how the Cycle is to survive either, and, if there is to be no
Cycle, well, they why are we here?"
   "You explain it," said Verra to Keurana. "The breeding of humans is your
domain; I cannot explain why two that are hidden can produce one that is
seen."
   "Let Moranthe explain, because she understands the phoenix and its
significance, and how it lives when it dies, and creates with it destroys,
and prophesies while making its prophecies come to pass."
   "No, let Verra explain," said Moranthe, "because she comprehends the
Cycle better than I, and moreover knows how, to preserve itself, it can
summon the phoenix, and even cause people to fall in love who otherwise
might not have met."
   "Well," said Verra. "That is true, but it needs help from time to time."
---------
End Excerpt

If we examine the dialog of Verra, Keurana, and Moranthe from the standpoint
of a geneticist, then something appears to become clear - Verra, in passing
the buck to Keurana, is talking about two people with latent Phoenix genes
(two that are hidden) producing a child who is pure Phoenix. (one that is
seen)

Keurana's statements are a lot of mystical claptrap about the mystical
significance of the Phoenix, which doesn't appear to do much but say "Yeah,
there are forces at work in House Phoenix above and beyond those that
normally work in the other Houses.".

Moranthe gets back down to practical matters - The Cycle itself can
intervene (Fate, in other words) to insure that our two latent Phoenices
come together and mate, even if they come from completely different walks of
life, and  also insure that a phoenix will appear at the birth to ratify the
child as a true Phoenix.

If Zerika dies childless (as seems likely, given her taste in men), there is
at least hope that the Cycle will take its own steps to insure that events,
however unlikely, fall together in such a way as to produce a Phoenix to
hold the Orb when the Phoenix is once again ascendant.

There's an interesting implication that either one or both parents will need
to come from House Jhereg or House Teckla because none of the other Houses
would knowingly harbor impure genetic strains. Another rather far-out
possibility is that Zerika and Laszlo (people fall in love who might
otherwise never have met) have a child who carries the Phoenix genetic line
into the East where it lies dormant until events once again bring together
two of their descendants or one descendant and one latent Dragaeran to
produce a genetically true Phoenix child. That would certainly make for an
interesting spin on the Beren and Luthien story. It could also make for an
iconic Eastern fairy tale featuring a "changling" who grows up, ordeals many
tests, and ultimately becomes the King or Queen of Faerie. I rather like
that idea.