Path of Air

Jeff Wilson · 18 Aug 2010, 21:22 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: jwilson at io.com (Jeff Wilson)
Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:22:23 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: (urth) Path of Air
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W45CBF49C387A508AE39F2FCF9D0 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W45CBF49C387A508AE39F2FCF9D0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <4c088fa80e7f24c14235985348edfa46.squirrel at webmail.prismnet.com>

>>Jeff Wilson- This sort of transcendental architecture may be more
>> suitable for
>>research and monitoring than meddling with causality.
>
> Could be. Still we see someone ostensibly from Severian's past there in
> his distant
> future.

Where? You mean Master Ash is really from the past instead of the ice-age
future?

>>I'm in agreement on the existence of physical corridors that bridge time
>>and space like the Corridors of Time, but I see no evidence that
>>Valeria's tower itself is a time-bender.
>
> Why is it called the Atrium of Time then? There is no time travel there in
> the Atrium.

An atrium is an enclosed or partially enclosed area adjacent to some
larger structure or feature, usually open to the sky though glassed-over
and skylit atria are popular these last few centuries. Thus, the Atrium of
Time can be this secluded area adjacent to the Corridors of Time,
associated with their function but not part of it, accessible through time
but outside of it. Mantis speculates that it and the dial-filled rooms
nearby might be part of some abandoned time patrol headquarters.

>>you get the same effect if the tower is entirely in the past, or if the
>>tunnels curve through space so that the tower seems to be in one place
>>rather than another.
>
> I suppose. But if that were true then Valeria's tower is like nothing else
> on Urth.

Her tower can be just like all the other towers, only the place it is
resting is unusual. There are other towers shown on the map not in
evidence, and towers visible that are not on the map. The time tunnels
allow her tower to be both.

> By noticing the similarity of Valeria's tower to the Last House, with its
> invisible
> top in the future, we at least have some basis of comparison for
> guesswork. And, as
> previously mentioned, it gives a reason for the name Path of Air.

That's "speculating on", not "noticing." The Last House has to have its
upper stories in the future of its lower stories, because the ice
accumulates over the ages.  If time travel had a strictly vertical,
up-to-the-future-down-to-the-past character, the Green Man would seen
climbing the Stairs of Time, or the Chutes and Ladders of Time, and
Tzadkerbell would flutter alongside the Cataract or the Geyser Madrigot.

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