{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/whorl/10",
    "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": "whorl",
  "thread": {
    "id": 10,
    "subject": "(no subject)",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "1996-12-07T14:52:46+00:00",
    "last": "1996-12-07T14:52:46+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<whorl-v0001-0011@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Charles Dye",
        "address": "raster at kewlaid.highfiber.com"
      },
      "date": "1996-12-07T14:52:46+00:00",
      "subject": "(whorl)",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "This from Jim Jordan <jbjordan at gnt.net> :"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "Quetzal - Quetzalcoatl was the mythical \"white man\" who was expected to\narrive among the Aztecs and change things forever. The Mayans called him\nCulculcan, as I recall. \"Quetzalcoatl\" means \"feathered serpent.\" Perhaps a\ndragon/cherubim association. Quetzal knows his Bible (the pre-Bible of the\nUrth-universe) and corrects someone in \"Exodus\" who ascribes a Biblical\nsaying to Pas."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Since most people can't see gods, it's traditional to put the gods someplace\ninaccessible -- in the sky, atop a high mountain, deep in the earth.  (In a\ncomputer is a new one on me, though.)  Many pagan religions used birds to\ncommunicate with the sky gods, and snakes to keep in touch with the gods\nbelow.  Snake/bird combos like dragons and quetzalcoatls are especially holy,\nfor obvious reasons.\n\nWe see quite a few birds in the Whorl, as well as flying humans at various\nlevels of technology.  Most of the augurs have names suggestive of snakes,\nworms, eels and so forth.  (Incus is one exception.)  I think Quetzal is the\nonly \"bird\" name in the bunch.\n\nI kept expecting Wolfe to bring forth an auspex or two, to go with the\naugurs.  Perhaps Silk himself, in a major reform of the Vironese religion?\nBut it never happened; sigh."
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "So Quetzal is pretty ambiguous. Perhaps a \"converted\" vampire who\nrejects human blood for animal blood?"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "And perhaps not; remember Teasel?  Guiding a whole starshipload of humans\nto the vampire planet would be a true act of charity ... to the vampires.\n\n------\n\nAnd this from Peter Cash <cash at convex.convex.com> :"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "I always preferred to translate \"Terminus Est\" as \"It is finished\". And\nwhen that sword gets through with you, it is definetely all over! 8^)"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Other connotations, of which Severian may not be aware -- but Wolfe is:\n\"terminator\", division between day and night, the edge of dawn;\n\"terminus\", in railroad speak, the End Of The Line."
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "In addition to \"mercury\", my dictionary (the huge Merriam-Webster) also\ngives \"the universal remedy of Paracelsus\" as a meaning for \"azoth\". If\nyou think about it, the azoth was a pretty drastic remedy, just like\nTerminus Est! And yes, I want one!"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "\"Azoth\" not only links the weapon with the mercury-filled Terminus Est,\nbut with that panacea, the Claw of the Conciliator.  When Wolfe makes a\nword work this hard, I sure hope he pays it double!\n\n------\n\nAnd these from me:\n\nWounds of Graves's King Jesus:  lame (dislocated thigh), torn cheek.  Nail\nholes, of course.   And finally, the puncture wound in his side -- fatal,\nbut not for long.\n\nWounds of Graves's Tiberius Claudius:  lame (malformed leg), severe\nabdominal cramps (the \"cardiac passion.\")  Died by poison (more abdominal\ncramps), deified.\n\nWounds of Severian:  lame (battle scar), torn cheek (Agia's weapon.)\nChest wound (from the avern leaf) -- fatal, but not for long.\n\nWounds of Patera Silk:  lame (broken ankle), chest wound (stabbed by Musk)\nwhich should have been fatal -- but Silk wasn't really stabbed.  Silk also\nhas a habit of rubbing his cheek; I have to wonder whether it has something\nto do with that gawdawful straight razor of his father's.\n\n\nSeverian is frequently associated with Graves's Claudius.  Graves makes his\nfictional version of the Roman tyrant a philosopher and philanthropist, a\nwould-be democratic reformer.  Silk, by contrast, gets associated with\nMarcus Aurelius, who really was a philosopher, and a reasonably benevolent\nEmperor.  (Many of Silk's quotations from the Chrasmological Writings are\nin fact from the Meditations.)\n\nAnybody care to venture a guess as to which Caesar will show up in Wolfe's\nnext series?  Constantine, or Diocletian?\n\nraster at highfiber.com\n\n\nQuestions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}