Subject: (whorl) Cards as currency

From: Brownes3 <brownes3 at aol.com>
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 14:29:19 +0000

>>If they're not interchangable, then the whole idea that Pas set them up as
>>currency weakens anyway--although I suppose if one Card holds an entire
>>personality--"Majordomo Fred", say--then just bringing along a good set of
>>them would give you enough personalities to make the system functional.

They aren't interchangable. Look at the conversation between between Silk and
Malmeta. He has lots of cards, but they are the wrong kind. She can't use all
the ones he has and needs the right kind. Further, if memory serves, the cards
are shaped differently and that's how Malmeta tells them apart.

I do agree with the notion of Pas' plan to keep everyone onboard. It's also
likely that  he distributed the different cards throughout the ship so no one
faction could control the landers and therefore the colonies on the short sun
world.

I'm glad someone else has just finished TBotLS, too. I've a few questions and
observations to make also.

Rich Browne

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.moonmilk.com/whorl/

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From: Brownes3 <brownes3 at aol.com>
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 14:48:14 +0000

>>However, I don't think that's what is going on. I suspect the Cards became
>>a unit of currency for the reason that gold did on Earth: they're scarce,
>>measurable, almost indestructable, pretty, and portable. 

Sensible, but not likely because of what it doesn't explain:  what happened to
the original currency, then? There's no mention of other currency, even by
"good ole days" types of characters. Cards had to have been the only currency
know in the Whorl. 

Rich Browne

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From: mary whalen <marewhalen at yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 00:08:09 +0000

This is Sean Whalen (prion).

It seems unlikely that the cards would have been adopted by the cargo
after the voyage for use as currency.  They would have no reason to
accept as valuable things stolen from the "sacred" machines.  They
wouldn't really need to use anything as money.  Who would have begun
to steal them, for what reason, and why would others accept it?

prion
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