{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/1811",
    "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": 1811,
    "subject": "Pyrexic slugs",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "1999-10-02T01:38:11+00:00",
    "last": "1999-10-02T01:38:11+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0028-0159@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Robert Borski",
        "address": "rborski at coredcs.com"
      },
      "date": "1999-10-02T01:38:11+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Re: Pyrexic slugs",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Mr. Greene:\n\nNice bit of research and extrapolation. Congratulations. Here are my\ncounter-arguments:"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "I think it unlikely that Hethor's slug and the former Mother Pyrexia are\nthe\nsame creature.  When Severian finally encounters the snuffling slime\ncreature in person, he describes it as a brown, pudding like mass nearly\nthe\nsize of a destrier -- presumably much larger than an old woman. "
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I think the key work here is \"finally.\" The alcalde never mentions any\ngiantism; nor does the little girl in the antechamber. Surely, something as\nbig as a destrier crawling about would rouse somebody else in the\nantechamber, but this never happens. It's also quite possible the slug has\ngrown since taking to the Saltus backwoods; remember, eighteen years have\npassed, and slugs never stop growing until they die. It's also recently\ndined on or engulfed Decumen, which may further have increased its size\n(hell, you should see my stomach after I eat buffet-style--it looks like\nI'm carrying twins). "
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "More importantly, there is no indication that Hethor's pudding monster\nhad reason\nto fear fire; instead, when Severian was faced with the monster in the\nwooden long house (during the battle of the magicians) the monster\nappears\nto be able to snuff out the torches remotely --"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I never meant to imply the slug was afraid of fire. Certainly, Wolfe never\nsays this. Rather, the alcalde says, \"It didn't like the light, or the fire\neither.\" Nocturnal creatures, of course, shun daylight, and other than\ndomesticated pets, all animals generally avoid fire--nocturnals even more\nso for the light it generates. But just as bees will attack anyone or\nanything that aggitates their hive, so too, if given the chance, might the\nslug attack the offending fire, especially if it's static and not being\nwaved about by fearful villagers. "
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "In light of the exceptional size of the creature and its ability to douse\nfires, it seems to be a far different creature from the nocturnal,\nfire-fearing ex-Mother Pyrexia -- Hethor's slug would have just doused\nany\ntorches carried by Saltus villagers, and slurped them up in its destrier\nsized bulk."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "My argument here is that the slug, whether you think it's Mother Pyrexia or\nnot, is acting under the impress of Hethor. Before, it might have been\nhappy to spend the rest of its days eating mulch in the dark, and done its\nbest to avoid detection; compelled by Hethor, however, it must act at his\nbid, in the face of fire, Terminus Est, or anything else that might come\nbetween it and Severian.\n\nOne question for you, Carlton: if you don't think Mother Pyrexia has been\nturned into the slug, how do you explain the alcalde's remark about how \"a\nwoman sealed in the dark long enough can become something very strange,\n*just like the strange things you find in rotten wood, back among the\ntrees*\"? If he's not talking about a slug/grub/worm/larva here, what's\nleft?\n\nI also think the slug's demise by fire would appeal to Wolfe the ironist,\nsince Mother Pyrexia is named after a physical condition that mimics\nburning.\n\nRobert Borski\n\nPS: imho you're also right about the Commonwealth = South America,\n\"poisoned\" Nessus being \"Good Air\" Buenos Aires--another example of Wolfe\nat his ironic best.\n "
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}