{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/1257",
    "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": 1257,
    "subject": "Mind the Doors, Please",
    "messages": 2,
    "voices": 2,
    "first": "1998-11-18T14:29:29+00:00",
    "last": "1998-11-18T19:05:16+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0021-0061@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Peter Westlake",
        "address": "peter at harlequin.co.uk"
      },
      "date": "1998-11-18T19:05:16+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Mind the Doors, Please",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I've been reading my Lexicon Urthus Additions and Errata III,\nwhich turned up in the post a couple of days ago - thank you\nvery much, mantis! - and noticed something about the footsteps\nin the mine at Saltus. Severian is reminded of them by the\nfootsteps of the mastodon, Mamillian, and this biological\nassociation makes mantis think the Deep One must be biological\ntoo. He goes on to say that mention chess imagery: \"that Mamillian\nis a cross between an elephant and a tower means that it is a Rook,\nwhich in some chess sets is represented as an elephant with a small\nwooden tower on its back.\" So near, O mantis, and yet so far!\nA Rook is also called a Castle. So, not elephant and tower, but ...\n... Elephant and Castle. Is the London Underground sufficiently\nsuggestive of subterranean engines for you?\n\nSpectacled Bear, who has accidentally almost convinced himself\nthat Wolfe intended this :-)"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0021-0062@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Kevin J. Maroney",
        "address": "kmaroney at crossover.com"
      },
      "date": "1998-11-18T14:29:29+00:00",
      "subject": "Re: (urth) Mind the Doors, Please",
      "in_reply_to": "<urth-v0021-0061@digest.urth.net>",
      "reply_link": "subject",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "At 07:05 PM 11/18/98 +0000, Spectacled Bear wrote:\n\"that Mamillian\nis a cross between an elephant and a tower means that it is a Rook,\nwhich in some chess sets is represented as an elephant with a small\nwooden tower on its back.\" "
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "The Elephant is a piece in the Chinese member of the _Chess_ family, _Xiang\nQi_. It is the direct ancestor of the Bishop; it moves two spaces\ndiagonally. This piece was probably present in the ur-game from which all\nmodern _Chess_ games derive. In fact, if I understand correctly, _Xiang Qi_\nmeans \"The Elephant Game\". \n\n(Note on orthography: I italicize the names of all games, including sports\nand traditional or folk games. This is an idiosyncracy.)"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "So near, O mantis, and yet so far!\nA Rook is also called a Castle. So, not elephant and tower, but ...\n... Elephant and Castle. Is the London Underground sufficiently\nsuggestive of subterranean engines for you?"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "<rolling on the floor, clutching abdomen in odd mixture of laughter,\nsurprise, and pain.>\n\nWombat, a.k.a. Kevin Maroney kmaroney at crossover.com\nKitchen Staff Supervisor, New York Review of Science Fiction\nhttp://ebbs.english.vt.edu/olp/nyrsf/nyrsf.html"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}