{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/whorl/1375", "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": 1375, "subject": "About the secret of the inhumi, again (RTTW spoilers)", "messages": 4, "voices": 2, "first": "2001-04-19T14:52:57+00:00", "last": "2001-04-27T09:07:02+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Kevin J. Maroney", "address": "kmaroney at ungames.com" }, "date": "2001-04-19T14:52:57+00:00", "subject": "(whorl) About the secret of the inhumi, again (RTTW spoilers)", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "In an earlier post, I pointed out this (in somewhat different words): \n\nIn _Return to the Whorl_, Jahlee tells Nettle a secret about the inhumi,\nwhich, because of the structure of the story, we are led to believe is\n*the* secret which has been sketched out in the first two volumes. The only\ndetail new to her revelation is that it is the children of the inhumi who\ngain intelligence from the blood rather than the predators themselves. \n\nA. Am I correct that this detail was not present in any of the earlier open\ndiscussions of the secret? \n\nB. If I am correct, it seems to me that this detail is supposed to be a\nmajor revelation about the nature of the secret, and key to understanding\nhow the humans on Blue and Green could fight the inhumi. But I keep failing\nto see how this detail transforms what we knew into \"a weapon too big to\nwield\". \n\nWhat am I missing?\n\nAny responses welcome. " }, { "kind": "sig", "depth": 0, "text": "Wombat, a.k.a. Kevin Maroney kmaroney at ungames.com\nKitchen Staff Supervisor, New York Review of Science Fiction\nhttp://www.nyrsf.com\n\n*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Adam Stephanides", "address": "adamsteph at earthlink.net" }, "date": "2001-04-20T09:49:17+00:00", "subject": "Re: (whorl) About the secret of the inhumi, again (RTTW spoilers)", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "on 4/19/01 1:52 PM, Kevin J. Maroney at kmaroney at ungames.com wrote:\nIn _Return to the Whorl_, Jahlee tells Nettle a secret about the inhumi,\nwhich, because of the structure of the story, we are led to believe is\n*the* secret which has been sketched out in the first two volumes. The only\ndetail new to her revelation is that it is the children of the inhumi who\ngain intelligence from the blood rather than the predators themselves.\n\nA. Am I correct that this detail was not present in any of the earlier open\ndiscussions of the secret?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I believe so. I don't recall it, in any case (though iirc a couple of\npassages can be seen in retrospect to hint at it); nor do I recall any of\nour discussions of the secret mentioning it." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "B. If I am correct, it seems to me that this detail is supposed to be a\nmajor revelation about the nature of the secret, and key to understanding\nhow the humans on Blue and Green could fight the inhumi. But I keep failing\nto see how this detail transforms what we knew into \"a weapon too big to\nwield\". \n\nWhat am I missing?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Whatever you're missing, I am too. The only thing I can think of is that\nperhaps it would be enough to keep inhumi about to spawn from drinking human\nblood, rather than all inhumi; but I don't see how this knowledge could be\nused in practice." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Any responses welcome." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I'm afraid mine wasn't too helpful.\n\n--Adam\n\n\n*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Adam Stephanides", "address": "adamsteph at earthlink.net" }, "date": "2001-04-22T21:59:08+00:00", "subject": "Re: (whorl) About the secret of the inhumi, again (RTTW spoilers)", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "on 4/19/01 1:52 PM, Kevin J. Maroney at kmaroney at ungames.com wrote:\nB. If I am correct, it seems to me that this detail is supposed to be a\nmajor revelation about the nature of the secret, and key to understanding\nhow the humans on Blue and Green could fight the inhumi. But I keep failing\nto see how this detail transforms what we knew into \"a weapon too big to\nwield\". " }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Since my first response, one potentiality has occurred to me. Assuming that\nthere are not enough humans on Green to maintain the population of\nintelligent inhumi, the Secret implies that to have intelligent offspring,\nmost female inhumi must first go to Blue, and then return to Green to spawn.\nSo if it were somehow possible to prevent inhumi returning to Green, the\npopulation of intelligent inhumi would be set on a declining course. But I\ndon't see how this would be possible, any more than stopping the inhumi from\ncoming to Blue.\n\n--Adam\n\n\n*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Adam Stephanides", "address": "adamsteph at earthlink.net" }, "date": "2001-04-27T09:07:02+00:00", "subject": "Re: (whorl) About the secret of the inhumi, again (RTTW spoilers)", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "on 4/24/01 8:29 AM, Spectacled Bear at spectacled.bear at pobox.com wrote:\nHave a look around August 2000 in the archives.\nAdam, you drew attention there to the Neighbour who takes Horn to the\nsewer saying that the Neighbours wanted to wake humans up, not to their\ndanger but to their safety. Horn only understands this after Krait tells\nhim the Secret, though it doesn't appear that the Neighbour is talking\nabout that directly, but about some other implication of the sewer. No\nidea what, though." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I actually think I know this now (it just came to me). There were thousands\nof human corpses in the sewer, all drained of blood. In combination with\nthe Secret, this indicates the tremendous amount of human blood the inhumi\nneed. If the supply on Blue is cut off, they will have to consume their\nslaves at a greater rate than they can reproduce or be replaced.\n\nThe fact that the inhumi do have a temporary \"cushion\" on Green indicates\nthat it's not necessary to provide 100% protection on Blue, just to reduce\nthe supply greatly. So my earlier concerns about the impossibility of\nprotecting everyone are less applicable, though even providing 90%\nprotection would still be a major task.\n\n--Adam\n\n\n*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun." } ] } ] }