{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/whorl/211", "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": 211, "subject": "Mysteries of Whorlography; \"Starcrosser's Landfall\"", "messages": 2, "voices": 2, "first": "1997-04-18T11:10:58+00:00", "last": "1997-04-20T13:47:57+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "David_Lebling", "address": "david_lebling at avid.com" }, "date": "1997-04-18T11:10:58+00:00", "subject": "(whorl) Mysteries of Whorlography; \"Starcrosser's Landfall\"", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "*** Talon's questions, and some attempts at answers:\n\n\"Why is Viron colder than Triviguante?\" (IV, 79)\n\nViron is colder than Triviguante for two reasons. One is that Lake Limna\nis cold and exerts a lake effect on the surrounding territory. (People\nwho try to swim in Limna get out pretty quickly, we are told). The lake\nis \"artificially\" cold: lakes make a good way to radiate heat from the\ninterior of the whorl if you put a good radiator on the exterior. The\nsecond explanation is that by manipulating the sun and the shade (not to\nmention the air-conditioning tunnels), the scientists at Mainframe can\nproduce climates and seasons to order. They can make the shade cover\nmore of the sun or reduce the sun's output to produce colder weather, or\nmake the shade's opacity or the sun's output change during the diurnal\ncycle to produce climates. Triviguante is south of Viron, which means it\ngets full sun at a different time of day. (Recall that places at the\nsame latitude are in the same \"time zone\" on the whorl). To make\nTriviguante warmer, you just make aperture of the shade wider when it's\ntoward Triv, or make the shade a tad more transparent when the shade\nfaces Triv at night. Also, Triv is in a desert, which might affect its\nmicroclimate.\n\n\"How to mountains cast shadows if the sun is directly overhead?\" (I, 91)\n\nThe shadows aren't etched in stone, as someone suggested. They probably\nmove a little as the part of the sun obscured by the shade changes\nduring the day. Obviously, if the aperture through which the sun shines\nis directly overhead, they don't cast shadows. However, at other times\nof day there would be shadows, albeit unusual, nearly immobile, and\nsmall from our short sun point of view.\n\n\"How does seeing the lake let Chenille know she is getting closer?\" (II,\n144)\n\nWe know that Lake Limna is south of Viron, and Blood can see it \"like a\nmirror\" from his mansion. My guess is that between Viron and Limna is a\nrelatively built-up and wooded area. When you are in this area you can't\nsee the lake, but as you get closer you get out of the obscuring\nbuildings and trees and can see it again. (This is an unsatisfying\nexplanation, I admit).\n\n\"What is meant by the term 'horizon'?\" (II, 255)\n\nMaybe the horizon is the opposite of our usage: the line beyond which\ndistant objects rise above \"level ground\" and are visible? Isn't Silk\nreferring to distant cities that are also in the dark when Viron is in\nthe dark in this passage? These would be cities somewhat north or south\nof Viron, but not so far north or south as to be in the sun. Cities\ndirectly east or west would be invisible at all times.\n\n*** I'll add some more of my own, with commentary:\n\n\"How big is the Whorl?\" \"What is its shape?\"\n\nIt's at least 200 leagues (how big is a league?) east-west (lengthwise),\nand probably much more (Iolar remarks on a weather front 200 leagues\naway just before he is attacked by the eagle). It takes the airship a\ncouple of days to get from Viron to Mainframe. At five miles per hour (a\nconservative estimate, as the wind aids them for part of the trip) you\ncould go over 250 miles in two days.\n\nAs for its diameter, we have only indirect evidence. When people look at\nthe skylands they can see cities, and at night you can see the lights of\ncities that are also in the dark. We can see details of the terrain\n(moutains, valleys, etc.) When the airship is over towns we can see the\nindividual houses, so it's not more than a few miles up -- at the\ntypical 5 miles that airliners fly, houses aren't visible to the level\nof detail given (houses shaped like Pas or thatched with straw, for\nexample). Horn remarks that it's like looking at the skylands, and Silk\nsays they are much farther away, but the fact that Horn can guess this\nindicates the diameter can't be huge. My intuitive feel is that the\ndiameter is relatively small (20 miles or less), but I have no direct\nevidence. I think 100 miles is probably the largest that makes sense.\n\nMy guess is about 500 to 1000 miles long by 10 to 20 miles radius.\n\nThis would make it more cucumber-shaped than potato-shaped, to recall a\nprevious debate.\n\n\"How does the sun work?\" \"How thick is the sun?\"\n\nAre we dealing with a giant fluorescent light, or is it much thicker, or\nthinner, or what? What is it made of? I think it's a magnetic or other\ncontainment with fusing hydrogen plasma inside. Sciathan's remarks about\nhow it has to start at full power suggest this; you must get the plasma\nand the containment up to speed before you can fine-tune it.\n\n\"How does the shade work?\"\n\nI think the shade is not a physical object (like the _Ringworld_ shadow\nsquares). I think it is a \"field\" of some sort that masks the sunlight.\nI think the opacity and size of the field can be manipulated by the\nscientists at Mainframe.\n\n\"Is it ever dark on the Whorl?\"\n\nNo. The amount of light reflected from the skylands would make it at\nleast somewhat light at all times. This leaves unexplained how Mucor's\nroom can be so dark, as it has a window. Maybe the window is some opaque\nmaterial rather than glass? I would guess that shutters to close at\nshadelow might be rather common on the whorl.\n\n\"If Triviguante is south of Viron, why can't we see it from Viron, and\nwatch the approach of the Vironese army directly?\"\n\nSilk laments that they didn't ask someone to signal from the airship\nduring the wait for the army. Couldn't someone in a high spot in Viron\njust look?\n\n\"In what direction does the whorl rotate?\" \"How fast?\"\n\nWe should be able to figure this one out from the behavior of the\nfloaters. As I recall, it's north that's the \"smash into the ground\"\ndirection, so that would imply north-to-south rotation. We can work that\nout once we know the diameter of the whorl, assuming the gravity is 1G.\n\n\"In what direction does the shade rotate?\"\n\nI.e., Triviguante is south of Viron. Where does shadeup occur first,\nViron or Triviguante?\n\n*** _Starcrosser's Landfall_ was the \"Ace double\" title of the _Long\nSun_ series. I can't help but wonder, given that title and the\nwhorlography of the whorl, if Wolfe ever played _Starcross_? (Oddly\nenough, this thought only just occurred to me).\n\n --vizcacha\n (david_lebling at avid.com)" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Derek Bell", "address": "dbell at maths.tcd.ie" }, "date": "1997-04-20T13:47:57+00:00", "subject": "Re: (whorl) Mysteries of Whorlography; \"Starcrosser's Landfall\"", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "In message <199704181518.IAA02032 at lists1.best.com>, David_Lebling at avid.com writ\nes:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "It's at least 200 leagues (how big is a league?) east-west (lengthwise),\nand probably much more (Iolar remarks on a weather front 200 leagues\naway just before he is attacked by the eagle). It takes the airship a\ncouple of days to get from Viron to Mainframe. At five miles per hour (a\nconservative estimate, as the wind aids them for part of the trip) you\ncould go over 250 miles in two days." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "\tAccording to the WWWebster dictionary, it could be one of\nseveral units from 2.4 to 4.6 statute miles, or 3.9 to 7.4 km.\n\n\tTercel" } ] } ] }