The Power Behind the Phoenix Throne

Roy C. Lackey · 16 Jun 1999, 07:14 · from urth-v0027.mbox · original

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From: "Roy C. Lackey" <rclackey at stic.net>
Subject: (urth) Re: The Power Behind the Phoenix Throne
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 07:14:29
Message-ID: <urth-v0027-0096 at digest.urth.net>
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Mitchell,

    I enjoyed your Inire posts and have no substantive arguments with them,
just a couple of sidebars.

<snip>
>>and as a bonus vanquish the =E2=80=9Cmegatherian=E2=80=9D enemies of mank=
ind and escape
the icy fate of a prematurely dying sun.<<

    If you are referring to Robert's Undines, at least one of them survives
the flood.

<snip>
>>He goes on to lament that his =E2=80=9Ccousins=E2=80=9D help only relucta=
ntly and do not
seem to regard Urth, still less the Commonwealth and its Autarch, as
worthy of special consideration. It was Inire=E2=80=99s job to plead on beh=
alf
of Urth to seemingly indifferent ears until the Epitome was prepared.<<

<snip>
>>It is easy to see an emissary of the Hierogrammates on a mission here,
taking a very personal interest in the fate of the peoples of Urth.<<

    No argument; just curious: Just _what is_ Inire's interest in Urth? Why
should _he_ care? (And don't tell me "little girls": they could be had on
thousands of other worlds in the universe for a lot less trouble. <g> ) And
how/why is it that he is exempt from the short lifetime of others of his
kind?

    If the Hieros put the hoodoo on Urth's sun -- in this cosmic game of
crime and punishment -- then the punishment is merely symbolic, at least for
the overwhelming majority of mankind, who are scattered on untold numbers of
planets throughout the universe. Urth, as the birthplace of mankind, becomes
a scapegoat for the rest of the species, which makes the drowning of Urth's
denizens all the more pointless, since they are no more "guilty" than all
the other people on all the other worlds, who escape the wrath of the Hieros
unscathed.

Roy




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