{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/1182", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 1182, "subject": "More Perils of Agia", "messages": 3, "voices": 3, "first": "1998-10-15T11:17:01+00:00", "last": "1998-10-15T20:17:00+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Charles Dye", "address": "raster at highfiber.com" }, "date": "1998-10-15T11:17:01+00:00", "subject": "(urth) More Perils of Agia", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "A few digests back, Robert Borski propounded:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Because I've\nnever believed Agia's involvement; if she's not looking for coins as her\nbrother suggests when Sev comes to visit her and Agilus in his cell, I\nbelieve she's looking for Sev's whetstone, which she knows is in his\nsabertache." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "To which I asked:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "What good would the whetstone do Agilus? His cell door (\"merely wood\nbound with iron\") locks from the outside!" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I've assumed that she's going for the Claw in hopes of rescuing Agilus,\nof course. Either she believes it has some mystic power to free\nprisoners (\"All the things he is supposed to have done himself\") or\nelse she hopes to use it to bribe any guard she can't seduce.\n\nBut it occurs to me that your theory can still be salvaged. If\nAgia isn't trying to filch the Claw, then she must be after the\nkeys. We know S. has the door keys; where else would he carry them\nbut his sabretache? Agia doubtless assumes that he has the key to\nAgilus's chains as well. (I don't think he *does* -- Severian is\nonly the executioner, not the jailer. However, Agia wouldn't make\nthat distinction even if she weren't frantic.)\n\nraster at highfiber.com" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Alex David Groce", "address": "adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu" }, "date": "1998-10-15T16:14:14+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) More Perils of Agia", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I too have never doubted Agia's involvement, and it seems fairly clear (to me\nat least) that looking for the Claw is The Plausible Explanation for her\ndigging in Severian's handy sabertache of holding..." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On Oct 15, 11:17am, Charles Dye wrote:\nSubject: (urth) More Perils of Agia\nA few digests back, Robert Borski propounded:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "Because I've\nnever believed Agia's involvement; if she's not looking for coins as her\nbrother suggests when Sev comes to visit her and Agilus in his cell, I\nbelieve she's looking for Sev's whetstone, which she knows is in his\nsabertache." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "To which I asked:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "What good would the whetstone do Agilus? His cell door (\"merely wood\nbound with iron\") locks from the outside!" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "I've assumed that she's going for the Claw in hopes of rescuing Agilus,\nof course. Either she believes it has some mystic power to free\nprisoners (\"All the things he is supposed to have done himself\") or\nelse she hopes to use it to bribe any guard she can't seduce.\n\nBut it occurs to me that your theory can still be salvaged. If\nAgia isn't trying to filch the Claw, then she must be after the\nkeys. We know S. has the door keys; where else would he carry them\nbut his sabretache? Agia doubtless assumes that he has the key to\nAgilus's chains as well. (I don't think he *does* -- Severian is\nonly the executioner, not the jailer. However, Agia wouldn't make\nthat distinction even if she weren't frantic.)\n\nraster at highfiber.com" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "m.driussi", "address": "m.driussi at genie.com" }, "date": "1998-10-15T20:17:00+00:00", "subject": "(urth) More Perils of Agia", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "FWIW, an' that ain't much, my version of Agia (and I really do like\nher a lot) has her fully knowing about the Claw. She plants it on\nSeverian. Once they get out of the tent, she becomes giddy with the\nknowledge that she has pulled off this opportunistic jewel heist that\noutshines the Pink Panther. Severian asks her why she smiles, she\nrattles off some interesting excuse--the truth is, life looks good\nall of a sudden. New house in a new town, plenty of food, no more\npetty theft and murder . . . a new life for the twins.\n\nShe's thinking something like, \"We'll just bump off this foppish\narmiger Severian as per the plan to get the sword and then live the\ngood life we deserve.\" But then over the next few chapters a few\nthings change--Agia realizes that one Claw in the hand is worth\ncountless Terminus Ests in the Sanguinary Field (the twins should\njust cut and run with the fortune that they have rather than risk it\nall on a comparatively paltry prize); and that Severian isn't an\narmiger but a torturer (which could involve post-mortem scrutiny from\nthe archon of Nessus or the autarch at best, and/or the death of Agilus\nat worst). I think she wants to drop the original ploy, either by\ngetting Severian to flee, or (since she can't contact Agilus\nbeforehand) by warning off Agilus at the last minute.\n\nHaving failed that and losing \"her\" Claw, Agia uses Hethor and his\nmirror to pursue a sort of anti-Conciliator path of conquest and\ndomination. She succeeds at what Vodalus is only sort of playing at;\nshe has the drive, the ambition, the determination, the huevos.\n\nInteresting tidbit: the three sacred Japanese (Imperial?) artifacts\nare the Mirror, the Sword, and the Jewel.\n\nOf course Herr Dr. Freud has something to say about this--but then,\nwasn't he the one who said that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar\n(i.e., when =I'm= puffing on it)? \n\nRe: rumors of a new larva in my nest. Yes, it is true. Sleep\ndeprivation is not a pretty thing! But then again, let us count my\nblessings--she's on a milk diet right now. It will be three months\nbefore she graduates to eat my brains, or whatever remnants have been\nleft by her sister.\n\n=mantis=" } ] } ] }