Oldest altar

Lee Berman · 17 Sep 2010, 13:36 · from 2010-September.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2010 09:36:09 -0400
Subject: (urth) Oldest altar
Message-ID: <SNT123-W4301FB8379288BDA504EC3CF7B0 at phx.gbl>

Not that I have a solution but a few vague observations:

> "When the first people came here, Auk, they were shown how we desired
> to be worshipped. Soon, they were made to forget.

Sounds like a conflict. One person or group reversed the actions of another.

>They did, but because they had seen what they had seen, a part of them remembered, 
>and when they found our altars on the inner surface, they sacrificed as we had 
>taught them. First of all, here."

So the reversal was only partial. Maybe it means human sacrifice was reduced to 
animal sacrifice? Human sacrifice is most closely associated with Echidna, I think. 

On Urth, Typhon demanded tribute of fair women and boys. What he did with them seems 
illustrated in the painting of his court orgy. Perhaps shrewish Echidna did not look kindly 
upon such attractive objects of her husband's attention and had her barbaric way with them 
when Typhon was finished.

The name Scylla is invoked in BotNS. Echidna is not but there is mention of a book bound
in echidne hide. Perhaps it is a spelling error and spiny anteater is meant. But that seems 
like an awkward, painful sort of binding for a book. Moreover "Echidne" is an alternate 
spelling for the Mother of All Monsters. Having her skin used to bind books in Ultan's Library 
could be part of the foul mood of her electronic avatar in the Whorl.

Regarding Scylla, I'll re-observe:

>She founded your Chapter as well, a parody of the state religion of her own whorl.

To me the word "own" might imply ownership more than just origin.  Typhon ruled a multi-planet 
empire.  Perhaps Typhon installed Scylla as the ruler of another planet in his empire. 
The Empire had much interstellar travel and trade so I don't see that everything on The Whorl 
needed to come from Urth.

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