{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/946",
    "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": 946,
    "subject": "Shards and gaps",
    "messages": 2,
    "voices": 2,
    "first": "1998-07-09T22:49:37+00:00",
    "last": "1998-07-10T00:58:24+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0016-0032@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Peter Westlake",
        "address": "peter at harlequin.co.uk"
      },
      "date": "1998-07-09T22:49:37+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Shards and gaps",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "At 20:41 1998/07/09 GMT, mantis wrote:\n-"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "Likewise we know little about Nessus.  Who is the ruler of this\nsprawling city?  I'll bet that few have figured out that it is an\narchon, and that he probably allows each quarter to be run by local\npeople.  But where is the archon's palace, how many are in his court?\nAnd what was the Wall built for?"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "And why is the area near the wall kept clear? Someone suggests\nit is to allow the city to expand, but Baldanders says it isn't\nfor that. Later we learnt that the city was razed, so maybe the\ngaps were bomb sites, cleared by war, but that doesn't explain\nwhy they are not rebuilt.\n\nI still want to know what Agilus' ribbon was for. One of the\nmore mystifying shards.\n\nSBear."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0016-0033@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Matthew Malthouse",
        "address": "matthew.malthouse at guardian.co.uk"
      },
      "date": "1998-07-10T00:58:24+00:00",
      "subject": "Re: (urth) Shards and gaps",
      "in_reply_to": "<urth-v0016-0032@digest.urth.net>",
      "reply_link": "subject",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "Peter Westlake wrote:\n\nAt 20:41 1998/07/09 GMT, mantis wrote:\n-\nLikewise we know little about Nessus.  Who is the ruler of this\nsprawling city?  I'll bet that few have figured out that it is an\narchon, and that he probably allows each quarter to be run by local\npeople.  But where is the archon's palace, how many are in his court?"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "And what was the Wall built for?"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "And why is the area near the wall kept clear? Someone suggests\nit is to allow the city to expand, but Baldanders says it isn't\nfor that. Later we learnt that the city was razed, so maybe the\ngaps were bomb sites, cleared by war, but that doesn't explain\nwhy they are not rebuilt."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Sev tells (is told?) that the Last Inn is in a tree because building so close\nis [actively] prohibited. I've interpolated 'actively' there because such land\nwould be highly prized by wealthy city dwellers, even if population presures\nhad eased from what they were, and would not have gone undeveloped had some\nauthority not taken continual measures to keep it clear.\n\nRight now I'm not certain that I can justify one word of what follows but my\nimpression was the the wall was built to contain the city and it's hinterland,\nfarms etc. Like the wall enclosing Minas Tirith's nearer farmlands in The Lord\nof The Rings.\n\nAncient Nessus lay to the south of the Citadel and over the milenium spread\nnorth (cf Sevs journey through the deserted southern quarters) engulfing the\ncitadel until the citadel itself was in the \"south\" of the populous areas.\n\nIf the wall pre-existed this expantion of the urban areas then it would form a\nbarrier to continuing sprawl upstream.\n\nIn Severian's time it is inhabited (cf the cacogens at the gate) and it would\nnake sense that any Autarch would wish to keep a clear space around such an\ninstalation. The killing ground is a basic of defensive architecture.\n\nBut why was the wall built? Does it protect the city and it's hinterland or\ncontain them? There is at least the implication that it ciontains the city and\nit's populous, but ref the Ascians having come as far as the wall then its\ndefensive as well. As a simple wall it is overly large as a ground barrier and\nyet vulnerable to sophisticated technologies, especially if airborne.\n\nNow this is unadulterated speculation on my part but is the wall in overall\nplan circular? Might it have been the base for some sort of dome (forcefield\nrather than physical) either for protection from a deteriorating environment\nor maybe even a defense agaist space attack? Just as a last related question:\napart from the changing focus of the civilian city is there any indication\nthat the Citadel - spaceport - might be in the geometrical centre of the area\nenclosed by the wall?\n\nMatthew"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}