From: "Jeff Veyera" 
Subject: RE: (urth) Blue-Ushas; Green-Urth -- Problems
Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2003 20:53:31 -0800


Chris wrote:
Re: "No, no, NO, GREEN is Urth", I thought I'd add this on (from the joke
angle), though it's not much of a joke unless you're an engineer. In various
types of power cords, there tend to be three wires of different colors. The
colors mean different things, depending on what kind of wiring it is, but as
far as I know there is almost always a green, and it corresponds to:
"Earth". (the others being "line", and "neutral")

Teflon replies:

Well, we all know Gene IS an engineer, so that little in-joke may actually
fit.

Having re-read the Red Sun whorl visit portions of RttW again (esp. Chap 17)
some things gelled:

1.  The reference to Green made by Hoof is pretty damning to the overall
Green-Blue as Ushas-Lune hypothesis.  At first, I was struck by this
passage, made while on the ship in the Red Sun whorl: "Green came up, bigger
and brighter than we ever see it on Blue."  But then, later, Hoof says,
"Green was up above the main-mast, and it seemed like if we put up the main
top it would touch it.  Our Green is not as big as theirs, but ours was
plenty bright." Then, apparently back on Blue: "Out on the water there were
the stars and quite a bit of light from Green; for nighttime it was really
pretty bright, but there was sort of a shadow between the side and the
water.  Green was halfway up over to starboard."

Hide was born on Blue.  He has never known any other place, until the
journey to the Red Sun whorl.  It seems natural that he would describe what
he saw there in terms of what he knew from his own experience---thus he
recognizes the towers of Nessus for the landers they truly were, and sees
Lune as a larger, brighter version of Green.

2.  We've discussed the whole astral travel issue a lot.  The question arose
as to how they could go to the Red Sun whorl after the visit with Duke
Rigoglio.  Silkhorn explains, "I should explain to you both why we cannot go
to the sea [on Urth] directly, as I did to Scylla several days ago.  In
order to go to a place we must have with us someone who has been there, or
at least been in the area.  I don't know why that is so, but that is how it
seems to be.  I can go to Green---as I have at times---because I have been
there in the flesh.  I can go to the Red Sun Whorl, too, as we did a few
minutes ago, because Jahlee and I went there in the company of Duke Rigoglio
of Soldo.  He had been a Sleeper on the Whorl, and so had been there in the
flesh.  I cannot take us to the sea there, because I have never been on it.
Scylla has, to be sure, but ultimately Scylla is not among us."  This travel
is clearly spatial rather than temporal---when he went to Green, it was
Green at that moment.  Likewise, his visit to the Red Sun Whorl is most
likely at the equivalent time rather than in the past or future.  When
Silkhorn references the 300 year journey of the Whorl relative to the time
passage on the Red Sun whorl, he notes, "It's been much longer than that"
and later indicates his belief that it had been many centuries since
Cilinia/Scylla had died.  In Chap 19, he tells Juganu, "Think of a whorl so
old that even its seasons have worn out, a whorl on which they had jungles
like yours once, with wide-leafed plants and many flowers and huge trees.
It is too cold for that in our time..."  Note the "our" time
there---Silkhorn and company are travelling in space, not time.





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