On Mon, 19 Jul 1999, MercutioV@AOL.COM wrote:

The problem is, she's *not* the queen of an empire.  She's the queen
 of a *hive*.  Her subjects -- while I *like* the Bugrom, I like them a lot,
 but let's not kid around here, they're bugs -- are probably biologically
 programmed to obey her, as they have been programmed to obey all the queens
 stretching back into history.  So she's never had to interact on a social
 basis with someone with free will or a complicated, devious personality
 before.
 
 	(See Poul Anderson's "The High Crusade" for further speculations on
 why, even without a technological advantage, humans might be able to take
 alien empires on their own turf.)

I would like to reccomend, at this point, Orson Scott Cards "Ender" novels 
for some prime examples on how a technologically advanced hive species maight 
operate. If you squint at them hard enough, you can even draw some parralles 
between them and El-Hazard.
 

 	Anyway, I frankly suspect that this is *why* she's attracted to
 Jinnai. He fascinates her, since he is something she has never encountered
 before.  It's plausible that any human being who could speak her language
 would have aroused the same interest.

It's a good theory, Davies (and that's NOT sarcasm, I know it's hard to tell 
sometimes) but it falls apart once you realize that Deva has been warring on 
the Roshatrians, who are for all intents and purposes human, without ever 
giving a smeg about having long involved social discourse with them. In fact, 
I consider that one of the LARGER plot holes in El-Hazard; the fact that the 
Bugrom, who have the intelligence of your average dog, managed to 
differentiate between Jinnai and your average Roshtarian long enough to take 
him to Deva. After all, they attack Makoto and Co. the instant they spot 
them, and Jinnai wouldn't have had a Fujisawa-sensei tocome rescue him.

	Actually they were after Princess Rune, who had collapsed right next to 
Makoto and Fujisawa.  Thus they were obsticles to counter to accomplish their 
orders.  Jinnai on the other hand was found alone and with no need to be 
attacked, so the bugrom grabed him, and were suprised that they could 
understand what he said.
	As for the question of comprehension, remember that we have never seen 
Diva talk to anyone besides Jinnai and the Bugrom.  In the Wanders TV series, 
when Jinnai kidnaps Princess Rune, everything both rulers say makes perfect 
sense to both Jinnai siblings, who can't understand why their acting like the 
other's talking giberish.

-Mercutio
"A plague 'a both your houses!"