1. .1 That, 'thul thinks, depends on the situation and upon the dragon. Some dragons might bring the elderling along, others will not. Tintaglia left her elderlings behind (malta, selden, reyn), while dragons like heeby would take their elderlings with them. The bigger and more interesting question here is: would Sintara bring Thamyra along?
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   1.2 That is also situation-based and dragon-based. Some dragons (and elderlings) are very restrictive on how they interact with other dragons, while others are loose. Remember the way Sintara reacted when Thamyra helped treat one of the injured dragons. She did not like it.
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2. Most likely it is the dragons and the skill stone. The interaction and relationship between the species is in essence the skill.
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3. .1 the skill is a watered-down version of the elderling abilities. The "magical" aspect is obviously harder to get rid of than the physical differences are, genetically speaking.
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   3.2 It came from the relationship between dragons and humans, forming the elderlings, who then reproduced with humans, passing on their altered genes. most likely the presence of the skill in the six duchies royal family came from them descending from two distinct bloodlines descended from elderlings. Icefyre might have had some effect on the humans on the out islands, perhaps increasing the strength of the elderling bloodlines out there, but that is hard to verify.
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4. still a bit uncertain. Too little is known. However, as far as 'thul knows, the elderlings did not have a single queen. All female elderlings were queens, just as all female dragons are queens. Indications are that elderling cities also had significant human populations, so all the lower echelons of society were probably held by humans.
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5. Dragons have at least all skill abilities present in humans and elderlings, and probably a lot of others. They also spit acid, and fly. (can arrogance be considered an ability?) The ability to heal others is closely related to the dragons higher understanding of biology, they understand their bodies, and those of humans, because they have better perceptions, and can therefore heal humans easily, since they see what is wrong. It is also related to the fact that dragons grow their entire lives. They repair themselves easily, so why should they not repair humans easily?
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6. This, 'thul suspects, is due to Robin Hobb expanding the elderling mythos. As Mercor mentioned, Malta, Selden and Reyn are not fully formed. They are a bit over half-way towards becoming elderlings, since Tintaglia abandoned them. If some dragon completes them. they will live very long. It is also quite possible that elderlings born elderling live longer, since they are exposed to dragons from birth. These beings suspect that the elderling life cycle is a certain % longer than the human life cycle, and thus, if the change starts earlier, the life will be longer.
   If a natural elderling life is say, 2x that of a human lifespan of say, 80 years, it is 160 years at birth. But if the change is at say, 40 years of age, the lifespan will then be 40 + 40x2 which is 120 years. The calculation is probably much more complex, but that gives the idea.

(Oct-02-2010, 05:44 AM (UTC))assasin Wrote: 2. elderling technology
What is the source of the technology? Memory stone? Liquid "skill"? Using skill to change the properties of different materials?