Subject: (whorl) Long Sun timeline -- and distractions

From: Ranjit Bhatnagar <ranjit at gradient.cis.upenn.edu>
Date: Tue, 04 Feb 1997 11:40:02 +0000

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

Here's a puny attempt at a timeline of recent history on the
Whorl.  Help me fill in the details -- or throw it away and
start over.

About 300BE (Before Exodus): Typhon, last Monarch of Urth,
causes the Starcrosser _Whorl_ to be launched with a bunch
of brainwashed conscripts aboard as cargo, and digital
simulations of himself, family and friends as the gods.

40-20BE or so: _Whorl_ arrives at its destination.  Queztal
sneaks aboard.  Gang of gods kills Pas in order to forestall
Exodus and their own obsolescence, but Pas (with help from
Kypris and Tartaros?) saves backup copy of self in at least
one human.  Ayuntamiento of Viron usurps power and threatens
Calde in order to forestall Exodus and their own
obsolescence, but Calde Tussah goes to the box marked "In
Case of Emergency, Break Glass" and pulls out a frozen
embryo which he gives to a trusted friend; also impregnates
mistress; is killed by Ayuntamiento.  Meanwhile, Whorl, long
past expiration date, starts to go bad.  Sun flickers,
overheats; Lake Limna starts to dry out.  Ayuntamiento
supresses knowledge about Pas and Whorl to preserve power;
Quetzal does same to prevent panic.

Autumn, 1BE: timed blood clot in Emergency Embryo's brain
activates hidden programming (as Crane would have it); or,
Outsider enlightens Silk (as Silk would have it).  Rabble of
Viron start to cry SILK FOR CALDE almost instantly-- all
based on hearsay reports of enlightenment by an unknown God?
or pre-planned scheme put into action by Tussah's posse?
Silk breaks leg, smashes head, gets kidnapped, tortured,
drowned, stabbed, shot, buried, but feels better now.  Pas
is restored from backup tape, which is destroyed in the
process.  Auk gets possessed by Tartaros and instructed by
Pas; leads party off of Whorl, which makes Pas happy; Exodus
begins.

Distractions:

* Silk is the answer to Pike's prayers.  Exactly what did
Pike pray for?  Did Pike know Tussah?

* Dave L: "With his name [Wolfe] he'd fit right in on the
_Whorl_."  And, in Viron as in the USA, the name "Gene" is
just as good for a girl as for a boy.

* They have wings, they live in heaven, and they serve and
confer with God -- does anyone know if the names of the
fliers are names of angels?  Sciathan, Aer, Grian, Sumaire,
Mear...  They sound more like Tolkein elves to me.

* Whose children are Pas' sprats, really?  If Pas was Typhon,
he's got Piaton's testicles.  

* Was it the same night that "Pike" visited Silk, and
Teasel, who lives in the same quarter, got bitten by an old
man with wings?  If so, more evidence that P=Q.  Q drops by,
rummages through Silk's stuff, throws fairy dust in Silk's
eyes, then stops off for a drink.

* A famous painting of the creation of the Whorl, parodied
on the stage curtain in Orchid's place, depicts taluses of a
beautiful yellow color: bulldozers!  In the parody, the
bulldozers are made obscene.  I can just imagine Blood
chuckling over the "taluses with phalluses."

Questions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com

---

From: CoxRathvon <coxrathvon at aol.com>
Date: Tue, 04 Feb 1997 15:14:02 +0000

To Ranjit: Thanks a million for your wonderful, entertaining timeline.  I'm
saving it as a reference and thinking about it carefully.

--H. Rathvon