Subject: (whorl) Keeping Up With the Neighbors

From: Talarican <exultnttalarican at mindspring.com>
Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 22:43:15 +0000

Some thoughts on these Vanished People / Neighbors.

First of all, they seem to be tall, eight-legged arthropods, i.e.
spider-people. When the Neighbor "Horn" offered Horn his hand, it was hard
and bristly, as one might expect an insect or spider's paw to be. The
impression of the "dark cloak" could perhaps have been intended to suggest
an abdomen? When Horn first saw one, from the pit, he did in fact believe it
could have been a huge spider.

It would appear they probably aren't dead, but have stepped into some sort
of extradimensional netherworld (the Corridors of Time? The Brook Madregot?
Some dimension beyond the specula?) from which they might occasionally
appear dimly, wraithlike, able to interact with their former homes and
inhabitants, but safe from the inhumi. Horn was told "you cannot go where we
are", but surely the humans could follow the Neighbors into Death, if that's
what happened. While they seem to have certain similarities with some other
Good Beings in Wolfe, particularly the Hierodules, they seem unlike anything
ever mentioned in the New Sun cycle.

One of their powers seems to be an ability to project feelings and emotions
telepathically, to make others feel comfortable or uncomfortable in their
presence or former dwellings. They obviously approved strongly of Horn, who
felt so good and welcome in their presence he thought he would gladly clean
their sewers for the rest of his life. Poor Barsat, OTOH, was not liked by
them, for whatever reason, and felt repellent fear and menace in their
presence. In that respect, I am rather reminded of the Mule from Asimov's
_Foundation Trilogy_, or the Celtic-deity-aliens from Julian May's
Pleistocene Exile cycle.

One would think that this ability would give them instant recognition and
rapport with one another. The inhumi can deceive humans with their
shape-changing and color camouflage because humans are so daylight
sight-oriented, whereas animals which are more smell/sound or night vision
oriented, such as horses and night choughs, are not fooled by inhumi
masquerading as humans. I must wonder whether the inhumi could in fact
convincingly masquerade as the Neighbors' kind, if they presumably lacked
this telepathic emotion projection ability, and if so, how. Could the inhumi
acquire this ability by drinking a Neighbor's blood?

They also remind me in some ways of the Shadow Children and Old Wise One of
5HC: They are spectral, difficult to see and count, and seem to love
philosophical speculation. Also, they used the term "starcrosser" at the end
of _Green's_, the first use of that term I've seen outside 5HC.

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---

From: j e <lo_phan17 at hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 12:21:51 +0000

I am unlurking because I must. I enjoyed The Book of the Protagonist so much 
I keep going back and rereading certain parts, especially the scenes with 
the Neighbours which are so fascinating. Talarican had some interesting 
thoughts:

>From: "Talarican" <exultnttalarican at mindspring.com>
>Subject: Keeping Up With the Neighbors
>Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 22:43:15 -0500

>could have been a huge spider.

I can see spiders also, although Horn never mentions a connection when 
speaking of the giant spiders on Green. (Don't have a copy for reference, 
but it's in Horn's second story to Inclito's family IGJ)
I don't know what to make of the fact that the Neighbour said his name was 
also Horn. The only (I think) other Neighbour name we read is Windcloud (pg 
231 RTTW), which I associate with Pas' image. Windcloud fits with the 
elemental nature of the Neighbours and Horn seems to serve them in that he's 
_real_ on Blue or Green.

Incidently, I've got to look into legends based of Tierra del Fuego, Horn 
calls the place where he first meets Neighbour Horn the _land of fires_ - my 
next post.

>of _Green's_, the first use of that term I've seen outside 5HC.

Horn, you'll remember wrote in "My Defense" (Exodus) that some thought his 
book should have been called _Starcrosser's Landfall_. It's interesting that 
a Neighbour would choose this word and not Lander, which Horn uses. (The two 
words may both be common in the way some Bluvians say Vanished People, while 
some say Neighbours). The _crosser_ in starcrosser may be an homage to 
Quadrifons I suppose. Even the Inhumi say Crossing when speaking of the 
jumping of planets at conjunction.

Now a small question. In LS, the span of Quetzal's time as _Prolocuter_ 
(note Jahlee's comment that inhumi catch their prey with their tongues as 
someone pointed out on this list)is something like 30 years. The first 
meeting of Vatican II was in 1962, thirty years before the publication of 
NStLS. There are clearly parallels with the Prolocutor and the Pope. 
Quetzal's prothonotary is named Bull, for one. One of the decisions made at 
Vatican II was to allow the Mass to be said in the common tongue (if you 
will). When exactly did Viron lose it's high speech? Did any of you read 
recently about the exhumation of Pope JohnXXIII recently? His face was said 
to be remarkably _composed_ for a man long dead. I could'nt help putting 
this together with Whorlly things.  (Is World the past tense of Whorl?)

Before I finish, one more thing,
Was Uncle Gene referring to this list when he wrote of Pig's name 
choice?(pg. 45 RttW).

I'll take the name Crateowl.

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