Latin in Severian's Day
I don't think Latin is extant---I believe it was indicated in Shadow that Latin is employed as an indication of an ancient tongue, but was not that language in fact.
Teflon
-----Original Message-----
From: Ashley Crill [mailto:ashley.crill at student.oc.edu]
Sent: Saturday, August 16, 2003 1:37 AM
To: urth at urth.net
Subject: (urth) One Ship: reply
Something screwy is going on with my email. First it sends scrambled messages to the List, and then I stop recieving the List for a week. Hmm...
Anyway, I didn't intend the 'One Ship' idea to be particularly convincing. Its one of those fond oddball ideas that would be almost impossible to prove correct or incorrect. I also didn't take the Captain's statement about one ship as literal, though I didn't make that clear in my original message. The Captain seems to be speaking in some sort of poetical sense concerning the ideal of 'shiphood'. The strongest suggestion of this whole theory seems to be the fact that Gunnie has no idea what Cargo the Ship carries. She indicates that the Crew doesn't have access to the cargo holds at all, yet such holds must be unimaginably huge.
-I agree with the the symbolic idea of the Ship as the Church. Its very plain. I might point out, however, that the Whorl carries the same symbology, only its 'heavenly destination' is Blue/Green rather than Yesod.
-When Silk and the others saw the Whorl from outside, it simply appeared as a bright spot in the Sky. Tzadkiel's ship would appear the same, depending on its distance from Blue/Green.
-There is no evidence of genetically engineered animals (destrier's etc) existing on Tzadkiels's ship, only the apported animals which are confined to the crew's zoo. Genetically engineered animals could have been introduced to Urth by the Hierodules after the launching of the Ship.
-Its true that Jonas and Sidero differ in ways from the Chems of the Whorl, but there are a variety of Chems that are constructed differently and serve different purposes. Contrast Maytera Marble with a Talos.
-Why do you believe the Whorl travels slower than the speed of light? I don't see this indicated anywhere. Arguments about the date when the Whorl was launched and when Typhon reigned don't apply if the Whorl travels as fast as Tzadkiel's ship.
-The Chrasmologic Writings contain French and Latin because, A: Its a religious writing. B: It was written and the Whorl was launched far before Severian's time. Also, Latin is extant in Severian's day, along with Greek and Spanish.
-Chems wouldn't be found on Urth at all if they were invented on board the Ship. Reference Sidero's claims concerning this. Jonas was an exception, and he clearly came from the Ship rather than Urth.
Ash
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