(urth) Severian and Valeria sitting in a tree

[Jeff Wilson]

On 8/20/2010 9:28 AM, Dave Tallman wrote:
> Jeff Wilson wrote:
>
>     And there is her dark hair and light skin that Severian overtly finds
>
>     attractive, and if the metal trim on her dress is zippers up the sides,
>
>     that doesn't hurt either.
>
>
> This is a world where copper and iron are mentioned in the same breath
> as silver and gold. Metals are rare and precious. Metal trimming on the
> dress makes Sev think it has an "antique quality." Since Valeria's
> family has come down in the world it's unlikely they could afford to buy
> such things. It has either been passed down to her or she herself is
> from an earlier time.

I've thought about that some more. Valeria's family doesn't seem to be 
of especially poor means as they have servants and at least three towers 
to themselves, despite having dwindled to a single member in Valeria's 
generation.

As for the commonality of metals, there are any number of iron fixtures 
and other objects left to rust instead of being kept painted or oiled, 
and gold chrisos are not particularly rare in Severian's travels (unless 
I'm mistaken and chrisos aren't gold). No one's looted the funeral 
brasses from Severian's crypt. So supplying a dress with zippers to the 
only marriageable girl in even a poor but landed noble family isn't a 
big deal, though the zippers may have been salvaged from earlier 
garments, and it would make sense for them to be exposed as an 
ostentatious display. The same goes for any other metal trimmings, of 
course.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
IEEE Student Chapter Blog at
< http://ieeetamut.org >