1. The Vlantis regard humans as "rats" who can be treated without regard for their thoughts and feelings.

Can you list some episodes from history in which humans have treated other humans in much the same way?

2. During the march across the Firesands, Rainshadow and his band see numerous strange creatures and plants.

Draw some of them based on a mental picture and briefly explain why such mutant forms still exist several centuries after nuclear war.

3. Even though their treatment of people was cruel and immoral, the Vlantis had reasons of their own for coming to Earth and then abandoning it. Try writing something from the point of view of a Vlanti: for example, a log or journal that Cacinnix might have kept; Ikkarak's speech ordering Cacinnix to stop wasting time with such studies; the letter of a Vlanti ambassador, centuries...