Two Ships

Lisa Schaffer-Doggett · 15 Aug 2003, 03:42 · from urth-v0308.mbox · original

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From: Lisa Schaffer-Doggett <harlekin at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) Two Ships
Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 20:42:20 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0308-3905 at digest.urth.net>
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On Thursday, August 14, 2003, at 07:21 AM, Andrew Bollen wrote:

> The universes of New Sun and Short Sun really don't fit together very
> snugly. IMO, if you took them as standalones, you'd say that Short Sun=20
> is in
> the future, while New Sun is in the *deep* future. A few hundred years
> versus a geological age or two. I think that GW did a lot of=20
> back-filling to
> tie them together. (Not that I really mind - myths are generlly cobbled
> together from pieces which don't fit very well, in a logical sense.)
>
> Obvious examples:
>
> - Typhon in New Sun at least desires to rule an inter-stellar empire,=20
> and
> offers Sev the job of satrap of Earth. How does this make any sense=20
> without
> superluminal travel? If Typhon can travel faster than light, why build=20
> the
> Whorl? If he can't, is he really going to feel good about a clunky
> slower-than-light hollow asteroid crawling through space while the=20
> immense
> shp/s of the Hiero-whatsits leap/s over dimesnional boundaries?
> - The universe of New Sun has a bunch of human-settled planets in some=20
> kind
> of contact with each other, if only via port-calls by Tzadkiel's ship.=20
> Why
> would Typhon think it was a cool thing to send out a slow boat to=20
> found a
> crappy little colony when these old, established ones already exist,=20
> and he
> presumably intends to conquer them?
> - The literary survivals from our age in the Chras Writings are=20
> *really*
> implausible for a deep future setting.
> - At some point in Exodus Silk talks of French and Latin as extant=20
> languages
> (at least literary languages). Ditto.
> - Why none of the bio-engineered animals from New Sun on the Whorl? No
> destriers, no smilodons ...
> - Why no chems on Urth, apart from throwbacks like Jonah? Maybe there=20
> are
> some around at the time of Sev vs Typhon in UOTNS; we don't meet them,
> AFAIK. But surely Typhon's army would have been predominantly chems?
>
>

Don replies:

I think that these "inconsistencies" that you bring up may very well=20
point to another motive for the existence of the Whorl.  In some=20
perverse way, I think Typhon is seeking to create a renewed "Urth"=20
(meaning whatever planet he chooses to colonize.  It will be Urth like,=20
be full of Urthlings, Urth technology and Urth animals).  French and=20
Latin could easily be recreated from the books in the Library (or=20
whatever stands in for the Library in Typhon's time).  Remember, the=20
Whorl is not Urth and doesn't have to reflect what the trends and=20
patterns are there.  It is only a reflection of Typhon's will.  As far=20
as chem armies, they'd be much more costly and alienating than human=20
ones.  The bio engineered animals aren't there because Typhon doesn't=20
want them.  Just some thoughts.








--=20

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