From: Jim Jordan <jbjordan@gnt.net>
Subject: RE: (urth) The Commonwealth: North or South
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1999 13:55:59 

At 09:18 PM 10/26/99 PDT, you wrote:
>North or South--an interesting question. I've always pictured the 
>Commonwealth existing in what is now South America--though I had wondered 
>about the east/west problem. Still...if Urth cycles in and out of a 
>technological civilzation in the meantime, who knows what changes mankind 
>will wreak on the continents?

	The Slime (Alga) suggested long ago that because of the clearly Byzantine
character of the Commonwealth, we are really in the Mediterranean. She made
a valiant case for it, but it did not persuade many (any?), and she may not
hold to it any longer. (Alga?)
	Alga's thesis might be salvaged if we are in a physical SA location, near
Buenos Aires, but the cultural geography is Mediterrean-esque. 
	Doesn't the Long Sun somewhere say that the Spanish culture of Viron came
from people living near to Pas/Typhon? That might be another indication of
South America. 
	My own thinking started by noticing that Blind Ultan is Borges, and that
Nessus looks like a contraction of Buenos Aires (as Meeya Meefla in
Cordwainer Smith is Miami, Fla.). But the Ascians being from the north, the
hot lands, and also from a continent north of the hot lands, seems to
settle the question.

Nutria


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