Inhumi in the Whorl

Gerry Quinn · 09 Feb 2011, 19:37 · from 2011-February.txt.gz

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From: gerryq at indigo.ie (Gerry Quinn)
Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2011 19:37:00 -0000
Subject: (urth) Inhumi in the Whorl
References: <SNT123-W205D608707B2BB696F93DACFED0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <154D8C1F3C32487CA8BB7F5C148B613E@jill>

From: "Lee Berman" <severiansola at hotmail.com>
>
>>Gerry Quinn:  but then the Whorl appeared and they thought the humans 
>>might fight the
>>inhumi better

> I think it is more complex than this.
>
> We could consider BotNS a religious/mythological based story for which the 
> moral is that the
> world/universe is more than a battle between good and evil. The battle 
> between good and evil,
> angels and demons itself constitutes a necessary part of the Creation 
> process.

Fair enough - we could also note that the creation process is more 
*important* than good and evil:  "Which does humanity need more? Justice and 
peace? Or a New Sun?"

> Likewise we could consider Short Sun an ecologically based story for which 
> the moral is that
> the world/universe is more than a conflict between predator/prey/parasite. 
> The total interaction
> of all participating creatures is necessary to drive the ecosystem.

That seems a bit of a stretch.  It is easier to take the opposite tack: the 
parasite has destroyed its prey, and will now itself die.  The story is 
driven by the failure of an ecosystem, not its success.  [In some sense, all 
three stories are driven by such a failure, but in BotNS the cause and cure 
are in some degree external, and in BotSS the system has outlived is design 
life.  I don't think ecosystem failure is the central theme ofd the Solar 
Cycle.]

> The Neighbors are a species of being far beyond that of human beings.

I'm not sure I agree.  Remember that line of Horn's I quoted earlier: "We 
are ready to believe that they are practically minor gods - that they know 
everything and possess all manner of mysterious powers; but they must seem 
perfectly ordinary to themselves."

They may be more morally, aesthetically, and technologically advanced in 
some ways - but they were still defeated by the inhumi. Not to go all 
Campbellian, but  perhaps there's a reason why the humans end up in 
possession of Blue.

> Inhumi, in some ways, might also be considered superior I get the sense 
> that humans are > the low species on the totem pole in this whole Sun 
> series. Inhumi seem to exploit them at will. Inhumi may be controlled by 
> the
> Neighbors, or perhaps there is a see-saw battle like the one between 
> humans and insects.

That seems quite wrong.  The Neighbours failed utterly to control them.  The 
inhumi destroyed the Neighbours.

> Either way, the humans of Urth, the Whorl and Blue-Green seem constantly 
> manipulated by beings
> who are superior in ability and vision. As the future of the  oblivous 
> uakari and margay of the Amazon
> are jerked around by farmers and Green types, so humanity is jerked around 
> on all their worlds by
> superior beings in the Sun Series.

To some degree,  certainly, at ;least at the time that the stories are set.

On the other hand, he Hierogrammates were created by humans in the first 
instance.  Ane Urth has in the past been the hub of an interstellar empire. 
(This may be the cause of some of its current difficulties.)

- Gerry Quinn

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