[Dragaera] Gender imbalance in the Jhereg [_Dzur_ Spoiler]

[Philip Hart]

On Wed, 14 Feb 2007, Jon Lincicum wrote:

> From: Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu>
> >
> > Then Vlad or Paarfi ought to have mentioned this.  In particular
> > Aerich or someone says that the only people whose House cannot
> > be identified are Yendi (and Teckla?), doesn't he?
>
> He actually says Yendi and Jhereg. "A Jhereg I would have recognized by
> his smell." or some such comment follows.

Ah, good point then - but I'll just claim that's simply the Jhereg's
mishmash genetics.

(Incidentally, it strikes me as somewhat odd that Kragar can have the
genetic or whatever wherewithal to be a Jhereg but Vlad doesn't -
that given that Dragaerans seem more specialized.)


> > E.g. I seem to recall that Nielar gave up his territory - Vlad might
> > have said he might have dropped out of the Jhereg entirely.
>
> He gave up his shot at running Tagichatn's old area--but stayed in the
> Organization, just at a lower level then he'd had previously. He ended
> up working for Vlad, and was the first casualty in Vlad's war with
> Laris. (/Yendi/).

My point was that if there is an Unhanded Jhereg, Vlad might have
mentioned it in this context.  As far as I recall there's no suggestion
anywhere that a Jhereg might join or leave the Organization, a point
of great interest to Vlad (what's the basis of his link if he leaves
House Jhereg, for example).  Well, note that Cawti's sorta kinda not
a Jhereg - nobody says she's now Handless, but then nobody says she
can't be in the House without reporting to a boss, so I'm not sure
how to count that.


> > The whispers weren't, I think, for the oddness, but the impropriety.
> > And surely there are capable people in the supposed Handless Jhereg,
> > people whose interests might often be better aligned with the Empire
> > than the House.
>
> Such as the erstwhile Count Soffta, for example?

Do we know he's not in the Organization?  If there's a Soccer Jhereg,
who's to say that they couldn't buy him when the Organization is having
a bad day?


> > Dunno - Vlad (and Paarfi) are interested in the odd and the general and
> > the bystander.  One might not be surprised to find an innkeeper in a
> > brigand-beset area to be a Look-Ma-No-Hand Jhereg and notable as an
> > honest man.
>
> We do also have the example of Tukko, the ruddy-faced proprieter of the Hammerhead Inn.

Randomly from the web: "Tukko ran an untaxed shereba parlor in the back of
his inn, presumably as a part of the Jhereg Organization."


> It's never overtly stated that he was a criminal member of the
> organization--tho Paarfi does hint that it is possible.

I'll have to see what Paarfi says - if he has to hint, rather than
just being circumspect and naturally hinty, that counts against me.