--- John Cowan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

I shoulda just waited for thee to answer for me!

> It would be fair to say, I think, that the
> Daine (who have vestigial wings

Understood, but I wouldn't say "vestigial",
though. Certainly they can't fly; but some have
been known to glide (or at least fall less
calamitously from heights), and they're just too
big to be really vestigial.

They also serve a number of important functions
like balance, communication (a Daine shrug is a
visual extravaganza), interpersonal bonding
(grooming and mating rituals surrounding the
combing out of the feathers, for example), and
they can pack a whallop, especially when sent up
at speed against an unsuspecting chin. Feather
colour and wing length also communicate much
about an individual's ethnicity. [Though, so do
face shape, hair and eye colour, dentition, hair
pattern and any number of minor physical and
mental characteristics. It's just that wings are
pretty big, obvious and not easily concealed.]

> > > Only in Westmarche do the Daine count in
> > > Mannish fashion:
> >
> > That's England, I suppose?
>
> No, it's in northeastern Asia, just west of
> Auntimony.

Culturally, they're about as English as you can
get in The World.

Jolly good show, old chap, wot!?

Padraic.


=====
Ne savem rhen cong quen dormises l' Etang; mays ieo savem que ne dormises
rhen di solèz.
    -- per tradicièn Ewrnor



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