[Dragaera] magic speculation

[Rebecca Harbison via Dragaera]

>
> However - I could be all wet here; Khaavren shows no particular dislike of
> Easterners (though he is good natured enough to like just about anyone who
> isn't automatically hostile to him; rather differently depicted than the
> way
> Vlad sees him) and I believe that in the Phoenix Guards Khaavren encounters
> an Easterner who is a very minor palace functionary. Perhaps Vlad's
> upbringing colors his narrative and makes him exaggerate just how bad
> things
> are in the Eastern "slums". Then again, perhaps Paarfi just paints
> everything deliberately through rose-colored glasses.


There was; a librarian if I recall.

It could be that prior to the Interregnum, Easterners were seen more as an
alien culture that attacked the border occasionally.  An Easterner in the
heart of the Empire was a novelty enough that if they assimilated, most
people just didn't think about them in their day-to-day life.

If I recall, someone in the Vlad books (or the Viscount of Adrilankha set)
mentioned that Interregnum meant that Easterners en masse finally invaded
or migrated into the Empire, so Dragaerans outside of border outposts saw
them forming their own communities (and not always assimilating) and not as
the occasional novelty.  So they perhaps served as a reminder that the
Empire wasn't the eternal edifice it seemed, and that people could exist
outside of the structure of the Houses.  I do recall Tazendra expressing
disapproval of Easterners on seeing a group of them, and Zerika being
clearly uncomfortable by this.  (Mica and Lar also had a conversation about
how houseless Easterners gave Teckla someone to feel superior to: they
might be the lowest of the Houses even when they are at the top of the
Cycle, but they have a place.  I can see how that would turn to resentment
if aristocrats and merchants turned to Eastern labor instead of Teckla,
since Teckla were citizens and Easterners were not.  Hence, leading to
Kelly's attempt to unify the two groups against the system.)

(Aside: it could add to why Valabar's was considered immune to a lot of
anti-Eastern sentiment.  Not only was their food that good, but if they
existed in the Empire prior to the end of the Interregnum (I think they
did: Daro's cook trained there in the Viscount books), they were sort of
grandfathered in as 'honorary Real Dragaerans'.

I'm trying to think of real-world examples of a group going from 'exotic
novelty' to 'those darn immigrants taking our jobs' as demographics change.
 (I'm at work, so I have enough of a lunch break to write this, but
probably can't go on a giant wiki walk to shake some history loose.)


On Wed, Sep 13, 2017 at 11:47 AM, Steve Hubbell via Dragaera <
dragaera at lists.dragaera.info> wrote:

> When I read this, the first thing that really popped in my head was
> psionics = telepathy. During the Phoenix Guards, there was no telepathic
> communications between characters, as far as I remember.
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> > I was chatting with a friend, and he said this; "It's interesting that,
> in
> order to
> > make the musketeer-y tone work in Phoenix Guard, he had to tone down
> > the magic and remove psionics."
> >
> > Now we know the story reason for why magic & psionics are more prevalent
> > after Adron's disaster - it spawned the lesser sea of Chaos.
> >
> > I was wondering if the story rationale came first, or if it was
> retro-fitted to
> > include the events of the Phoenix Guards books?
>
>
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