Subject: (whorl) Quetzal's Desciption; Pike the Vampire Slayer; Mucor Wakes the Gods

From: David_Lebling <david_lebling at avid.com>
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 1997 09:44:20 +0000

[Posted from WHORL, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

mantis sez:
> P.S. vizcacha--glad to have you onboard the "Pike Aquastor" bandwagon.
> Alga won't come onboard anytime soon since she's the one who came up
> with the very interesting Quetzal-as-Pike theory.

Actually, I thought _I_ came up with that one. Like Lasrach, I am
curious about the limits of inhumu shapeshifting.  Could Q disguise
himself as Pike?  We don't get much of a description of Q's body, other
than that it horrified those who went to prepare it for burial (or
whatever one does on a lander).  I visualize an inhumu in its natural
state as having a more-or-less human-looking head, what you would get if
you made a cartoon version of a snake's head. (Actually, his description
is like nothing so much as E.T.!) The neck in its relaxed state is very
wrinkled, in its erect state is like the hood of a cobra. It has wings
which can be shaped into arms and a snake-like body which can be shaped
into something fairly leg-like.

> There is definitely a tie between Quetzal and Pike.  For starters,
> Quetzal is most likely the same devil/vampire that Pike fended off so
> many years ago.

When did Pike fend off a vampire? He told Silk that devils had
infiltrated the whorl, but do we know he had an actual encounter, much
less an encounter with Quetzal?  (Just curious exactly how long and how
sturdy your bridge of inference is...)

> See, Pike followed Quetzal back to the land of the living for a quick
> visit and was happy with what he saw. OR psi-magically, having both
> Quetzal and Silk thinking about Pike made mischivous Mucor go wake
> the ghost up for a visit, in the same way she seems to activate the
> other "sleeping" gods of Viron.

How often exactly does Mucor wake the gods/goddesses? She was obviously
present fairly close to the Kypris theophany (but Kypris was probably
awake already, viz. Silk's close call in Hyacinth's boudoir). When did
she awaken a god(dess)?  (Not arguing, just curious).

     -vizcacha
     (david_lebling at avid.com)