Lives of the Great Beasts

Jonathan Goodwin · 02 Jul 2010, 21:14 · from 2010-July.txt.gz

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From: joncgoodwin at gmail.com (Jonathan Goodwin)
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2010 16:14:21 -0500
Subject: (urth) Lives of the Great Beasts
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The passage that, when I typed the original message, I was sure
referred specifically to Erebus, Abaia, etc., was not, it seems, said
by Jonas. I have a strong memory of someone saying it, whether
Baldanders, Dr. Talos, or someone else; but it's possible that I
conflated it with a description of the alzabo, etc., which someone
raised as  a possibility earlier. I was almost sure that the word
"fauna" is in the passage I remember.  The latter two books are
searchable on google books, but the first two, it seems, are not.

I like the explanation I had, though. I imagined Erebus, Abaia, etc.,
as being something like protoplasms--pseudopodian animalcules emitted
by some Solaris-type planet, which the Urthian xenobiologists
drastically mistake the nature of. I've also always found it curious
that Typhon is dismissive of them, which would fit with the idea that
they grew to emulate him and haven't yet achieved his power. (Typhon
sent his children/subjects among the stars; Abaia grows his to swim
between them, etc.)

And then there's the idea that some earlier cycle of humans created
the hierogrammates, and the megatherians would be the dark mirror,
etc.

On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 3:59 PM, Lane Haygood <lhaygood at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 2:17 PM, David Stockhoff <dstockhoff at verizon.net> wrote:
>> Nice idea. I always wondered what their motivation was, in taking an
>> interest in Urth among all the planets and races that might be out there.
>
> Why do they need special motivation to be interested in earth, if they
> are but one of many interstellar/cosmic beasts? ?What if Erebus or
> Abaia are on Urth by some accident instead of design, and they merely
> seek to dominate and enslave whatever they happen to find in their
> path?
>
> Or why set such paltry spatial limits on them in the first place?
> Maybe they exist on and are conscious of many worlds simultaneously.
>
> Let's not go artificially limiting our cosmic horrors with human failings.
>
> LH
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