(urth) More on Juturna

[mournings glory]

From: b#

>I think it is a mistake to assume the desires of Juturna are (in all times)
>the same as those of Abaia.  Abaia is not interested in the physical
>domination of Urth but rather the acquisition of slaves.  I suspect Abaia's
>harem of brides/daughters may not be happy with their roles but rather
>forced into compliance in some manner.

I've another theory yet -- could the undines be the equivalent of alien Mata 
Haris and therefore be agents of the Hierodules?

1) Their names (Juturna, Idas) seem closer in affinity to the friendlier 
extrasolarians of New Sun (Barbatus, Famulimus, Ossipago) than the 
teratonymic Megatherians (Abaia, Arioch, Erebus).

2) Juturna, in Roman Mythology, is the goddess of springs, wells, and 
especially *fountains* -- ergo, she's a symbol of rebirth as well as the 
White Fountain that will renew the old sun. (Note as well the common linkage 
with Roman mythology -- B, F, & O all being named after minor Roman 
deities.)

3) Either the undines experience time in "widdershins" fashion or they know 
how to access the Corridors of Time (depending on your preference) -- yet 
another link that posits a connection more between the Hierodules than the 
Megatherians. (Indeed, I see no evidence that the Megatherians -- being 
creatures of Briah and not Yesod -- can negotiate or undercut time in the 
same fashion. But if the undines know how, why wouldn't their alleged 
masters?)

4) Juturna consistently helps -- rather than hinders -- Sev in every 
encounter. (The attempted seduction scene at Cephissus appears designed to 
give our hero the ability to breathe underwater, which he'll need in the 
future.) Idas, on the hand, may have been turned by her father (if, that is, 
he's Baldanders -- we're still awaiting the paternity results  <gr>).

5) The notion of sea-deep monsters needing brides, consorts, or sexual 
playthings implies one of the seven deadly sins -- lust --and opportunizes 
their vulnerability to the placement of covert operatives by the opposition 
--a catching of the Catodon, if you will.

em-as-in-merfrow (go Ariel!)