Like a good Neighbor

James Wynn · 23 Nov 2011, 17:43 · from 2011-November.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:43:48 -0600
Subject: (urth) Like a good Neighbor
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On 11/22/2011 11:45 AM,
> Gerry Quinn wrote:
>> A nice metaphor ? but I?m not trying to torture you, Marc.  I just don?t
>> think the books support the notion that inhumi are vegetables.
> Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
> I don't know whether the inhumi _are_ the lianas or not, but I think
> it's beyond clear that there is _some_ vital connection between them.

Let me take another shot at their connection (although I don't think I'm 
there yet):

The Neighbors are trees. Not like the Ents of Tolkien. They are like 
dryads. As their bodies sleep (particularly in the winter) they 
dream-travel in the form that "Horn" encounters them during his meeting 
and in the pit. In that form, they built cities and technology and 
traveled to Green, bearing their seeds with them. If a Neighbor dies in 
dream-travel, the same thing happens as happens for humans. Their soul 
is dead but their body lives on. A tree body can grow for hundreds of 
years and (presumably) reproduce without a soul. Perhaps their children 
have no souls as well. On Green they encountered inhumi who fed on them. 
Their children are ensouled by Neighbors. Now what will such a being do? 
Perhaps they will lay in wait for a Neighbor to come along, but in the 
meantime, they will not disguise themselves with makeup and old clothes. 
Instead, they assume a woody form as they go without food, leaning on 
the Neighbors sleeping bodies.

There is a problem with this model: It is suggested that the Rajan needs 
an inhumi to dream-travel. That's why he needs his staff. On the other 
hand, maybe that isn't the case.

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