Mystery of Ascia/Agia

Gerry Quinn · 21 Jan 2011, 00:41 · from 2011-January.txt.gz

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From: gerryq at indigo.ie (Gerry Quinn)
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2011 00:41:39 -0000
Subject: (urth) Mystery of Ascia/Agia
References: <AANLkTim+1KN+6tWRkW4gqaX_d=cLP-Ap_c3KZtoJXbSW at mail.gmail.com>
	<9E5DCA03-6DA3-4F4E-9B5E-D7248A637A2B at butcherbaker.org>
Message-ID: <8120F35037D44B77ACD8BF187CE57021@jill>

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Son of Witz 
  So, if my theory is right, that the culture of Kim Lee Soong was asian, and this culture is the humanity that spread into the universe with war, and that this culture still survives in Ascia, it makes perfect sense to think that "asian" is a much more likely source "soulless.".

****************************

On my right lay a man whose close-cropped scalp made me think at first that he was one of the slaves of the Pelerines. I called to him, but when he turned his head to look at me, I saw I had been mistaken.

His eyes were emptier than any human eyes I had ever seen, and they seemed to watch spirits invisible to me. "Glory to the Group of Seventeen," he said.

****************************

Here's the thing: the only thing Severian notices about him are his haircut and his empty eyes.  That doesn't sound like Ascians are racially very different from the folks in the Commonwealth.

Also, Asia isn't north of anywhere.  And if Asians move to North America and live there, they will after a few generations be North Americans.  All our ancesters came from Africa and we are not thereby Africans (for the most part; there may be Africans on the list for all I know).

Asia is a big place.  Wolfe may well believe that different races have different psychological characteristics, but I wouldn't expect him to either allocate them on a continental basis, or expect them to persist into the distant future in their current form.

- Gerry Quinn

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