Cumaean???

Pedro Pereira · 14 Dec 2007, 23:51 · from 2007-December.txt.gz

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From: domus_artemis at hotmail.com (Pedro Pereira)
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2007 01:51:06 +0200
Subject: (urth) Cumaean???
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> Pedro,> > Forgive me, but do we have any clear evidence that the continent where the> Commonwealth lies is actually "the same" as modern-day South America? We> have plenty of evidence that it's a continent in the Southern hemisphere, with> at least one huge river running through it, but for all I can tell> that river could> be a descendent of the Nile or the Mississippi a great deal of tectonic activity> from now.> > I realize that this would put the timescale an order or two of magnitude> larger than "a million." But then, I'm arguing that "a million" is the *minimum*> span between our time and Severian's.> > What would argue most strongly for the relatively "near" future would be if> we saw a lot of contemporary species still living in the Commonwealth.> Unfortunately, Severian's (Wolfe's) tendency to use the names of modern> species for created or recreated species makes it hard to know. There are> a few *domestic* species that we can recognize, but the human influence> might have stabilized, e.g., dogs. Horses, on the other hand, have been> modified into the fanged "destriers."> > One thing we do know is that it's enough into the future that "Lune" has not> only been terraformed, but developed an ecology suited to its gravity and> (presumably) relatively-thin atmosphere, capable of remaining green and> "forested" at at time when humanity (bound to Urth) is no longer maintaining> it. That seems to me as if some serious evolving has gone on there, if not> on Urth.> > As for human artifacts subducted and uplifted into mountains -- well, see> Sev's journey through the mountains, is all I can say. It's there.

No need to ask for forgivness. I enjoy these scientific discussions, especially since I'm "into the business"...so please, feel free to shoot your questions as I find the discussions interesting.

Wolfe has stated clearly that Nessus is on south America (probably Buenos Aires), the wars in the North are going on on Central America (Apu Punchau is another clue to which continent we are talking about) and the Ascians are North Americans. This is no speculation, Wolfe spelled it quite clearly.

Lune is a tricky subject. We know it LOOKS bigger than now. That may be because its closer. Why its closer we don't know. Maybe Wolfe assumes it would be closer do to gravitational attraction, but thats wrong, because the Moon is actually getting farther away from Earth. Maybe it was intentionally "pushed" towards the earth? Why I can't possibly understand. Some people say that its mass was increased. Maybe, but what for and how? The ecology there, the forests, where certainly part of the terraforming program. Maybe some genetic engeneering of the plants themselves to help them cope with the different conditions, or even some alien vegetation (like the averns). The atmosphere would be a result of the presence of plants. Probably carbon dioxide was introduced before the plants would transform that inicial atmosphere into a breathable one. I think its assumed that the ecossystem would become auto-sustaining by Severian time. Also note that either Green or Blue is the moon...I haven't read those books yet but I would be curious to know if there is any indication regarding differences in gravity. Also notice that Green and Blue are very close to each other, which further implies that the moon looks bigger at least in part because its much closer to earth, and it seems that it gets closer all the time to reach the position it has by the Short Sun books.

As for human artifacts subducted and uplifted into mountains , that can't be because during subduction everything gets destroyed and turned into magma and becomes part of the mantle. What CAN occur (and does occur) is sediment getting warp and becoming part of mountain ranges during ororgenesis. Basically, its "carried away" during mountain uplift. It also gets deformed. So thats what Wolfe is implying. Its the same reason why we find fossils and sedimentary rocks in mountains. The problem is that such an event takes a loooonnnnngggg time, but 100.000 or 1 million years is enough I think, given a suitable rate of orogenesis.

Hope that helps! 

Pedro

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