[@shylarah] It has been 200 years since Omestris' fall, but Iddin Mar was never actually captured by the Varyans. The people in it apparently destroyed the capital themselves before the invasion could take place, and thus Rose's family managed to escape capture for quite a while. This is why she is so terrified of Aleksandre, since he hunted them down for an entire generation before finally finding them.

Oh and yeah, Essa was meant to tell you guys some more stuff, but I decided we've had enough lore dumps for now. Best to actually get the story moving at some point :p

EDIT: I think Ziotea's surnames are pretty Lanostran sounding, so yeah, they would recognize those names. Might be able to even track her down. :p