Subject: (whorl) Re: Xury's Whorlography

From: David_Lebling <david_lebling at avid.com>
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 12:07:51 +0000

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

> Let us assume that the Whorl is cylindrical. The sun runs along the
center.
> Mainframe, as I have always assumed is dircetly opposite to the
"floor" of
> which the cities have been built on. I've also assumed the the
Mainframe is
> upsidedown, or hanging from the roof (the building roofs are closer to
the
> sun).

Xury,

If I read you right, I think you're wrong...

Think of the whorl as a soup can.  The "east" and "west" ends of the
whorl correspond to the top and bottom of the can.

Run a drinking straw from the center of the top to the center of the
bottom.  That's the long sun.

Mainframe is at the east end (the "top") {or is it the west end?}, near
where the drinking straw originates. Recall that gravity at Mainframe is
low to non-existent, because what the Cargo experience as gravity is
actually just "centrifugal" force.  It is possible that the east and
west ends are curved (each one half a tennis ball, for example).  If
they were perfectly sheer, there wouldn't be much need for the Mountains
That Look at Mountains.

The cities are sprinkled all over the inside curved surface of the can.
The ones opposite you at any point are your "Skylands." The mountains
that protect mainframe are on the curved part at the east end. Viron
seems to be somewhere near the middle of the can.

     -vizcacha
     (david_lebling at avid.com)