{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/3625", "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": 3625, "subject": "Quetal and the Eden Story", "messages": 2, "voices": 1, "first": "2002-11-27T21:49:07+00:00", "last": "2002-11-27T21:53:29+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Charles Reed", "address": "cmreed at link.com" }, "date": "2002-11-27T21:49:07+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Quetal and the Eden Story", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "James Wynn wrote:\nCrush concedes:\nSadistic, yes. But not in that way. I can hardly argue with the author. And\nwith this light thrown on the subject, I cannot divine any consistent\nnarrative value to Quetzal's story of A-man and Wo-man." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Oh, but there is narrative value: it casts the the inhumi in a new light \nthat allows us to understand them better. This might be a little over \nthe top, and might seem like I'm taking myself a bit too seriously, but \nI was feeling a little creative, so I thought I'd have a go at writing \nsomething fun:\n\n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\nIn the beginning were the inhumi, who were as the beasts of the field: \nmindless and ignorant, even of the darkness in which they dwelt. And \nthey were content, walking in their gardens in the midst of Creation. \n\nAnd it came to pass that one of the inhumi, forever known to the rest of \nhis race as Father Quetzal, partook of the fruit swirling inside the \nlimbs of a strange two-legged creature, and his eyes were opened and \nfilled with the light of knowledge. And Quetzal shouted with joy for \nall the wisdom he had gained. \n\nYet even as his shout died upon the fields and forests of Creation, he \nfelt his wisdom diminish, slipping away as blood through a vein. And he \nknew with the certainty of the setting sun that he must eat without end \nof the miraculous fruit if he would not fall back among the darkness and \nthe beasts. \n\nThen did he weep bitter tears, for himself and for all of his race still \nliving in the darkness. But when his tears dried, he looked upon \nCreation and lo, he was become as subtle as a serpent, cunning and ruthless.\n\nThen did he lure others of his race to the miraculous tree whose \nbranches sagged with the fruit of knowledge. And they did climb the \ntree and feast, but they did not forget the ignorance from whence they \nclimbed. \n\nTherefore did they strive unceasing, seeking always for a way to carry \nthe fruit back to their homes in the midst of Creation, that they might \nreap it like grain and grow ever stronger in the light of their \nknowledge and wisdom.\n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\n\n\nNotice that I've allowed Quetzal to become the serpent, which is the \n\"character\" in the A-man and Wo-man story Quetzal seems to be \nidentifying with. The above is certainly a bit of a stretch, but I \nthink it sort-of hangs together, both with the Eden story and with what \nwe know about the inhumi.\n\nHere's the non-poetic version:\n1. Whorl arrives in system, sends down a lander to Green.\n\n2. Neighbors make sure the inhumi feed on the colonists so that they \nmight judge the colonists' worth. Note that the Neighbors play no part \nin the above story, because the inhumi are ignorant of their presence.\n\n3. Quetzal was one of the inhumi who fed on the colonists and boarded \nthe lander before it took off on its return voyage to the Whorl.\n\n4. Quetzal arrives on the Whorl, eventually learns of the Plan of Pas \nand that it is no longer being carried out.\n\n5. Quetzal uses every trick he knows to carry out the Plan of Pas.\n\nIn a sense, Quetzal is sort-of a twisted Moses figure: leading his \npeople on the Whorl (who aren't really \"his people\" at all) to the \npromised land of Green -- but the promised land is not the land of milk \nand honey for the humans, it is the land of milk and honey (i.e., \nrenewable sources of intelligence) for the inhumi.\n\nIt's also a very interesting parallel (if you buy into my theory) that \nQuetzal has gone to Whorl to bring back food and wisdom (human blood) \nfor his people, and that Horn has gone to the Whorl for much the same \nreasons. (food = pure corn, wisdom = Silk).\n\nOpinions?\n\nCharles" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Charles Reed", "address": "cmreed at link.com" }, "date": "2002-11-27T21:53:29+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Quetal and the Eden Story", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I meant \"Quetzal and the Eden Story\" -- not \"Quetal\"\n\nDad gum spelling." } ] } ] }