Wall of Nessus

David Stockhoff · 14 Jun 2010, 05:17 · from 2010-June.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 01:17:52 -0400
Subject: (urth) Wall of Nessus
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This suggests to me that the Wall was there for the soldiers more than 
the reverse; the soldiers didn't happen to take over the Wall as their 
barracks, because it was built as their barracks. This theory combines a 
response to fear of external enemies with a response to fear of internal 
enemies. I like it.

If the Wall was also simply meant to overawe, that might be even more 
effective against the people than against the Ascians et al.

Mr Thalassocrat wrote:
>
>
> Just on a different tack, I think it's easy to miss what Jonas' 
> actually meant to explain in his interrupted story at the gate. I 
> think it was clearly offered in answer to Sev's question to Talos 
> about why the half-beast guards in the wall, not about the existence 
> of the wall itself.
>  
> Jonas starts on his story, explaining that the citadel was built in 
> the olden days by the rulers of Urth to protect themselves against the 
> populace. Some people then left Urth to go amongst the stars, 
> eventually returning. One woman came back with magic seeds, defied the 
> rulers and on being condemned by them, cast the seeds the sea. The 
> chaos at the gate prevents Jonas from finishing. (I think I've 
> remembered all of that correctly.)
>  
> So how would have Jonas' story ended? Presumably the casting of the 
> seeds leads to the presence of Abaia et al. How does *that* in turn 
> lead to the man-beasts? My guess goes like this: Abaia et al suborned 
> some of the populace; the rulers could trust nobody; they created the 
> man-beasts as creatures with hard-wired loyalty not susceptible to the 
> lure of Abaia etc.
>  
> FWIW.

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