Tracking Song and vizcacha, and misc.

Daniel D Jones · 17 Jun 2007, 19:34 · from 2007-June.txt.gz

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From: ddjones at riddlemaster.org (Daniel D Jones)
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 15:34:56 -0400
Subject: (urth) Tracking Song and vizcacha, and misc.
In-Reply-To: <39ed084f0706171209q542096d9hdd1d1e849927acee at mail.gmail.com>
References: <39ed084f0706171209q542096d9hdd1d1e849927acee at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <200706171534.57247.ddjones at riddlemaster.org>

On Sunday 17 June 2007 15:09, Matthew Groves wrote:
> vizcacha wrote:
> > Thanks, Matthew. It's "Lebling," by the way, not "Liebling."
>
> Woops, sorry about that. Take "Liebling" as a sign of my affection. What
> sort of thing is a vizcacha, by the way?
>
> > The epigraph has multiple meanings.
>
> Well, that wouldn't be a first. So there is another layer there, or several
> layers in one, as you observe. And you thing this all takes place on an
> asteroid? That would not be a first either. Can you expand on that at all?
> It is obviously extremely small, but do asteroids have moons?

Suppose an asteroid were in orbit around the earth?  Would a stone-age level 
inhabitant consider the Earth and Luna as two moons?  I'm not certain that it 
makes sense to say that they're actually on an asteroid orbiting our Earth, 
just pointing out that the word "moon" might need to be taken rather loosely.

> On another matter: If all the tribes carry weapons keyed to their "totemic"
> animals, then what are we to make of Mantru's horned staff? I though
> perhaps he might be a minotaur, particularly because he lives in a
> "labyrinth." But in that case it seems like Mantru should be a lot bigger.
> And the
> description of the staff gives it insect qualities: it has "a pair of
> slender and nearly parallel horns," it's metallic, and the horns are
> "gracefully curved antennae." But what about the "geometric designs
> interspersed with faces" on the shaft and the fine script on the antennae
> that is "of a form I felt certain I had never seen before."

It's been awhile since I read this story, but I was under the impression when 
I read it that Mantru's staff was an artifact (probably of the robot makers) 
and not something that he or his kind had constructed.  

> Wolfe is a tricky bastard.

Grass is green.  The sky is blue.  :-)

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