I thought you would like to read the poem Jo Walton wrote which was the seed from which the two Sulien books began - "Thirty Sword". I found it on the web some time back. But when I went looking, it had vanished, leaving only a dead link behind it. However, I noticed that Jo Walton has a LiveJournal, as papersky, so I asked her about it. The poem's disappearance seems to be a mystery, but she has posted it again on her LiveJournal, here (http://papersky.livejournal.com/301504.html). I think you'd find it interesting.