The Riftwar Cycle/Headscratchers

• Regarding Prince Of The Blood and Lord Nirome's punishment - How can a name be forbidden to Keshian noble children while at the same time being removed from all written documents? There would be no way to record the names the nobles couldn't use, meaning that such a law could only work for as long as human memory.
  • If Kesh were entirely dependent on written records, that might be true. But given Kesh's culture is based on a society of hunters, they probably depended entirely on their bards and wise men passing on knowledge through oral history from generation to generation. And given the level of bureaucracy in the Keshian Empire, odds are there IS some functionary whose job is keeping tabs of the names of the noble lines who can be told "Nobody uses this name anymore." Then he tells his apprentice that name is forbidden. And he tells his apprentice. And so on and so on until the original offender is completely forgotten in the oral history, save as a reference to something forbidden that is known only to one Lore Master.

---

Back to The Riftwar Cycle