[Dragaera] Cat-centaurs

[Scott Schultz]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dragaera [mailto:dragaera-bounces at lists.dragaera.info] On Behalf Of
> frieda2133--- via Dragaera
>
> Or maybe houses shouldn't be together because it messes up the Jenoine
> experiment and the children could have more of the animal dna turned
> on.  For example, a Tiassa and a Dzur "human" have children that are cat-
> centaurs.
> 

I think the problem with that theory is that we've seen "mixed breed" Dragaerans already without any such consequences. The Jhereg themselves are pretty much a mishmash of the other houses, genetically. They're the "melting pot", where anyone can mate with anyone else with no social consequences. If there were genetic consequences, we'd expect that to be well established after seventeen-some Cycles. Plus, while they are not part of the Empire, Greenaire and Elde Island are populated by Dragaerans that are presumably the same sort of genetic mish-mash as the Jhereg. (Note that we don't know the histories of Greenaire and Elde Island - Sethra tells us that that one time there were as many as thirty tribes. The "lost tribes" may not be "lost" at all. They may be living outside the Empire in their own lands.)

The strictures regarding inter-House breeding (lots of inter-House romance seems to happen) are probably in place for the typical "purity of our people" reasons, but also, I think, because each House has a very real drive to "be" something - Builder, Warrior, Historian, Explorer, etc... When Houses mix, you can end up with children that are normal or you can end up with Mellar - an individual that embodies the drives of ALL of his genetic Houses; for good or ill. Mellar was something of a prodigy/genius. He was so completely focused on his need for vengeance for his imagined "wrongs" that he was not just suicidal but willing to have his soul destroyed utterly. (Now, to be fair, we see several Dragaeran characters that treat their own souls rather cavalierly, so maybe True Death isn't something frightening to them.)

In short - it's possible that mixing Houses can result in a child that's  mad or otherwise unstable to one degree or another. Mellar was probably an edge case, but still; the possibility of a "Mellar" that's hideously deformed and/or mentally deficient may be enough to discourage inter-House breeding, even if that possibility is quite small in reality.

The Jhereg may be able to avoid this themselves the same way that Elde and Greenaire have avoided it - by never becoming "specialized" in the first place.