Low-born vs High-born

[nicolai]

A random thought that's been running around in my head for a while: Since Rann and Shya were betrothed, wouldn't that have qualified House Karinne as a high-born house, since they were now related to the Empress? Or does that only count when the reigning High Duke/Duchess is the one related? A moot point now, of course, but curiosity compels me to ask.

And a minor continuity glitch in the final chapter of Secession: Jason's Secretary of State is called Yuri at first then it changes to Yeri. Just a minor nitpick, and I edited my copy to read Yeri throughout, because glitches like that make my teeth ache. (I'm a proofreader for several on-line authors.)

[Fel]

A house isn't Highborn until the sitting Grand Duchess has a direct blood relation back to the current Empress.

The House of Karinne will become a Highborn house when Rann and Shya's child takes the house throne.

And yeah, I'm aware of that error, blame glitchy MS Word spellchecker since both Yuri and Yeri are named characters in the book and the fact that sometimes I have character dyslexia.

If you read closely, you'll find the occassional place where I also confuse Ayuma and Ayama. Two different characters, extremely close-sounding names.

This is the peril that comes when you create a society where the custom is to have short, vowel-dominated names for women and names that tend to end with the letter N for men (recall Jason believing that Gora was a woman due to his name). There are only so many combinations, and you tend to run into "phonetic synonyms" that can turn you around. So, aspiring writers, my advice to you is DO NOT MAKE THIS MISTAKE, FOR IT WILL HAUNT YOU.

Luckily I haven't reached the point where people don't have the same names yet that weren't specifically named for someone else, but that time will come soon, I think. Names are getting harder and harder to think up.

Oh, that reminds me: a couple of people have asked for the rules of pronunciation for Faey names and words, mainly people who aren't sure how to pronounce the names with Y as vowels in them. I suppose I'll have to get around to that eventually. I've listed a few of the quirks of the Faey language before (like there is no "I after E" in the Faey language), but haven't gone into much detail.

Oh, and for the record, in Faey, when a Y is used as a vowel, it takes on the short I sound, which I will represent with the "ih" phonetic sound. So phonetically, it's "JIHS-lin" and "sih-MOAN." Often, the Y replaces the first I in a word or name to prevent a repeat of the use of the letter I, most often in words with only two syllables, but it is also sometimes used as a stand-alone to create "calligraphic diversity" of a sort, since Y and I are the only interchangable vowel letters in the "English Romanized" Faey language. This is very much different from English, where vowels often have multiple phonetics and can be interchanged in words freely. In Faey, a vowel has ONE sound, and to create alternate sounds, the vowels are combined (AI combining to form the long I sound, AE combining to create the AY sound as in "hay," for example). This convention is common in quite a few languages, and it's based on my own knowledge of the Japanese language.

If you read closely, you can see this pattern repeat in the Faey words I've introduced...if I did it right and followed my own rules, you shouldn't find any two syllable words outside of a couple of exceptions where there are two I's in the same word unless they're together (e.g., the day Chiira). The double I phonetic (pronounced "ee") is why the Y vowel convention came into being, to prevent mispronunciation. There's an exception to this rule, and that's when the I begins the word, like in Ilia's name...and that's a hard name for English speakers to pronounce. "IH-lih-ah"...try it. Both I's carry the short I sound, as in "lick." English speakers reflexively convert the second I to an "ee" sound, but that's not correct pronunciation.

Faey words starting with Y utilize it as a consonant rather than a vowel, much like English.

There is an exception to the phonetic Y rule, as well, and one that matters to the readers. When a Y is followed by a V in a Faey word, the Y changes its pronunciation. It's one of the language's little quirks. In this case, such as Kyva, the Y becomes a long I ("sky" is a good example in Engilsh of this process), replacing the "AI" phonetic in the Faey language that represents the same sound. Kyva's name is pronounced "KAI-va."

Which is completely different from Noraavi. Kyven's name is pronounced with a short I sound ("KIH-ven"), as are all words and names carrying the Y vowel spelling convention; his name is an evolved version of the common English name Kevin.

See? SEE? I DO do a lot of stuff behind the scenes that you never see! I'm not just playing Warcraft or watching My Little Pony or anything!

Mostly.

[RobJ]

Jason's daughter with Dahnai not close enough blood line? -:)

[Fel]

If she were the Grand Duchess Karinne...yes. Until then, no.

[khms]

recall Jason believing that Gora was a woman due to his name

You don't need Faey for that kind of confusion. A rather common example is Andrea: in German (for example), that'd be a female name - in Italian, it's a male name. (The German male version is Andreas. No idea if Italian has a female version. It derives from the Greek ἀνήρ (anēr), genitive ἀνδρός (andrós), that indicates the man as opposed to the woman - says Wikipedia, at least.)

[Phantom]

Do we consider Jasmind a Grand Duchess then ?

Or would there be Way too much Blood if we did that

<runs away to hide>
Phantom

[RobJ]

Fel,
So are you saying that if House Karrine continues to have a male as head of the House, the statis quo will remain?

[Fel]

Fel,
So are you saying that if House Karrine continues to have a male as head of the House, the statis quo will remain?

It has nothing to do with a male or female head of the house, it has to do with ancestry.

"A house is Highborn if its sitting grand duchess is directly blood-related to the sitting Empress" is what I wrote up there, but I didn't mention a grand duke because there's only one male house leader in the Siann...Jason.

If Dahnai was Jason's blood relative, then the House of Karinne would be Highborn. The house will become Highborn when the child of Rann and Shya takes the house throne, because that child will have a direct blood relation back to the sitting Empress through Dahnai and Shya...whoever she may be at that point, since that's two generations into the future. Most likely, it would be either a very, very old Sirri or Sirri's daughter.

[Mizriath]

Well, I am not sure how a "protectorate", exiled house can be highborn. :p. But the writer rules.

I was thinking the "protectorate" will grow to be its own empire, an offshoot of Faey since the Karinne will be the only Faey/Human. Once the humans have that mindjack thingy, well knowing human history, they will want to be expanding and using Karinne tech. And the FAey/Human will be a new species/empire by itself.

Will the humans be accepted in the other Faey houses and society where they have been looked at as slave fodder. The other species have better administrative skills, brain power, piloting skills and humans only advantage maybe, they are more daring, having balls to be mind-jacked, maybe then humans are well rounded then although still fragile.

My 2 cents thoughts.

[Fel]

It was an example, Miz. /thwap.

[nicolai]

Thanks for the expansion. I had noticed the Ayuma/Ayama confusion as well. May I offer my services as a proof-reader? I will in no way be offended if you decline. Nor will a refusal to use my suggestions bother me. (Although I may reinstate them on my local copy.)

Being recently retired, I do have a good bit of time available. Not that I am over-anxious to fill it, I'm enjoying it at the moment.