[Dragaera] [Dzur Spoiler][Orca Spoiler] A slip of the tongue...

[Jon_Lincicum at stream.com]

"Scott Schultz" <scott at cjhunter.com> 
Sent by: dragaera-bounces at dragaera.info
08/22/06 04:19 PM

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Re: [Dragaera] [Dzur Spoiler][Orca Spoiler] A slip of the tongue...




>A
>Dragon
>guardsman
>approached
>the Fox
>in
>manner
>rather
>rude,
>using
>vulgar
>words
>and
>language;
>and 
>his Lady overheard.
>>
>
>>Yes, but isn't Sethra a Dzur?  (or more precisely, a proto Dzur),
>>so Steven's comment that he meant the global "our" (as in dragaerans)
>>is clearly accurate and this isn't a crack.
>
>>Don't have textev on Sethra as a Dzur, but I'm pretty sure it has
>>been said.
>
>>-Jot
>
>Sethra is Sethra. ;-) She has physical characteristics of both Dzur and
>Dragon. None of the main characters of the Vladiad have definitively 
stated
>that Sethra belongs to one House or another. If Paarfi is correct (and
>there's no reason to believe he's wrong about a matter of heraldry) coat 
of
>arms, if you will, displays both a dzur and a dragon on a black field 
with
>no other decoration, as I recall. Her lineage block represents only 
herself;
>implying either that her lineage is unknown or, more interestingly, that 
she
>has no parents. Taking such heraldry literally, we could speculate that 
she
>might actually be the direct product of the genetic manipulation and
>breeding program of the Jenoine. By the same token, since her physical
>features jibe with her choice of heraldic representation, it seems
>reasonable to consider her to be a mixture of Dzur and Dragon, though the
>terms half-breed or cross-breed don't really apply, at least not in the
>conventional sense.

Hmm.. Interesting counter-theory--perhaps Sethra is the origin of both 
houses? 

She has one son (let's call him Abel) who takes on her Dragon traits, and 
another (let's call him Cain) who takes on her Dzur traits, and they each 
go on to be the first full members of each distinct house?

Of course, since her coat of arms does not indicate any descendants 
either, it's hard to make a compelling case for this theory. Maybe she 
disowned both of them when they started bickering with each other? ;-)

>Essentially, Sethra predates the Houses and can't really be considered to
>belong to any of them.

Or, perhaps belongs fully to both. Sethra is a special enough case that 
she might be able to get away with dual-citizenship in a way no one else 
can.

>She DOES have a great deal of empathy for Dzurlords as well as a keener
>understanding of 
>their natures than most people have. She favors the Dzur for work as 
Lavodes
>as well. All of which makes it a bit ironic that the iconic Hero story is
>that of the Dzur Hero challenging the Enchantress of Dzur Mountain.

I have always suspected that getting Dzur heroes to charge up to fight the 
Enchantress was just a recruiting technique for Lavodes. The question is, 
how many of them are still in the Dungeons of Dzur Mountain undergoing 
apprenticeships? (Just because Telnan doesn't know of any is not to say 
there aren't others.)

The other, more sinister, possibility is that Sethra encourages Dzur 
Heroes to charge up the mountain in order to feed...

>It's all very interesting given that, in many ways, the last several 
Brust
>novels have been an exercise in pro-Dzur propaganda. I think that Steve 
must
>be a Dzur at heart. It appears to me that House Dzur is nearer and dearer 
to
>him than any of the others. We've explored the aspects of several Houses
>during the Vladiad and Paarfiad, the Dzur whose depths are plumbed the 
most
>often compared to the shallower exploration of most other Houses.

Well, you'd have to ask him, but to me, /Dzur/ takes a rather objective 
look at the house, having Vlad say some not too flattering things about 
them. 

As to the "last few books", three of these were /VoA/, (which is really 
just one book) in which Tazendra plays a rather important and heroic role, 
which is just right for the type of tale Paarfi is telling. I don't know 
how much of this can really be considered "pro-Dzur propoganda"... And 
since Tazendra is the only Dzur we really see in these (apart from 
Ibronka, who doesn't really do a whole lot), I suspect you may be 
generalizing from one example here. 

Majikjon