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From: Jason Ingram <jingram@usc.edu> Subject: (whorl) Re: Re: Crocagators Date: Tue, 1 May 2001 19:47:49 Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote: [re: inhumi taken along with the Nieghbors] > They're not "hypothesized," dammit. The Neighbors _say_ so, > in RETURN. (Don't ask me for a page cite, though; my copies > of SHORT are out on loan and won't be back for a while.) Fine; assume the Neighbors never lie and that the narrator is 100% trustworthy. That's a reasonable hypothesis, but nevertheless an assumption. The important aspect of that assumption (or "fact," whatever) lies in the effects of the interaction of abilities that enables astral travel, or bilocation. Maybe the Neighbors can do some things by themselves, others only with the inhumi. Maybe thinking about the relation between Horn's ability to bilocate in terms of his movement _into_ Silk, as it were, and the presence of inhumi might shed some light on the pesky question of astral travel. I'm also curious about Quetzal's lineage, but that seems to be a minor thread. > > He [Quetzal] might have been born on Green, however. > > The word seems to be "must." It appears that the inhumi can > only breed on Green. We don't really know much about the abilities of the Neighbors. They might be able to replicate inhumi breeding conditions. They might not. Our access to the "truth" of these matters is so buffered that guarded terms are more appropriate. If "seems to be" and "appear" work better, use those words instead of "might." Again, the question here is-- if Quetzal was born on Green, by what means did he make his way to the Loganstone. If by ship, whose, and to what end did they assist him? If by other means, which? (inhumi flying through space, randomly seeking out hosts? inhumi flying through space pursuing objects perceived with their incredibly superior perception?) The answer might prove interesting; I'm not sure. > > If several generations of inhumi had passed since the Neighbors > > left, > > There are implications that it has been only a short time -- > I believe I first got that impression on the island with the > not-very-ruined Neighbor-place in BLUE. Agreed. However, a short time could mean centuries, or decades, depending on the technology involved and the degree of ruin. Since we don't know (or, more precisely, since I can't recall any statements on this matter) the inhumi lifespan, this could involve generations. Still speculation, but pertinent for determining whether intelligence passes to grandchildren. Jason *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun. *More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.moonmilk.com/whorl/ *To leave the list, send "unsubscribe" to whorl-request@lists.best.com *If it's Wolfe but not Long Sun, please use the URTH list: urth@lists.best.com