(urth) City on Green

[Son of Witz]

On Dec 31, 2010, at 12:39 AM, "Roy C. Lackey" <rclackey at stic.net> wrote:

> It isn't going to make any difference; I know because I've been through this
> before, but I have to say something before I just get disgusted and leave
> the List, which is probably what I should do anyway. Facts are facts,
> regardless of who likes them or doesn't. There seem to be some people left
> who put more stock in the text than fanciful interpretations that belie it
> or distort it beyond reason. Maybe this will interest those people.
> 
> There has been a lot of crap bandied about of late that I don't have the
> time or interest to get involved with, but one issue, the notion that the
> City of the Inhumi is actually Nessus, really bugs me. It just isn't so, and
> no amount of wishing will make it so. Silkhorn wrote down the story he told
> at dinner at Inclito's house about Horn's encounter with the Neighbor on
> Green who wanted him to clear the sewer. He wrote:
> 
> "The buildings of that city were not built by the inhumi themselves, for the
> inhumi do not like tools or use them skillfully. Its builders were the
> Vanished People, the same master builders who began this gracious house of
> yours." (IGJ, 60) And to anticipate the argument that Silkhorn doesn't know
> where he is or Horn was, there is the testimony of the same Neighbor. After
> walking through the ruins of the city that is crumbling under the onslaught
> of the encroaching jungle, the Neighbor said:
> ---------------
>    "How we deceived ourselves!" the man of the Vanished People who had been
> his guide said. "We thought we were building here for the ages. Another
> thousand years, and everything you see will be gone." (63)
> ---------------
> 
> Even if Silkhorn had his head up his ass, I don't see how anyone could
> believe that the Neighbors didn't know who they were, where they came from,
> or what they themselves had built. And to suggest that the Neighbor just
> lied is not credible. There are other details that unimaginative assholes
> like me notice that indicate that the City on Green is not Nessus. The black
> sword that Horn was given came from a selection of swords inside a "bronze
> tablet" (23) that was located in a ruined building. There was a black sheath
> that came with it, and a sword belt with many thin straps (24) that "had
> never been intended for such a body as his (61). That is, not a human body.
> 
> Soon after Horn and the Neighbor entered the sewer they came to "an altar of
> bronze and stone" (64). Behind it was an image too worn for Horn to make out
> what it looked like. The Neighbor told him, "This was our goddess of
> purity". That is, it was a Neighbor shrine for a Neighbor goddess. Horn
> prayed to it and was rewarded with the little light that he used in the
> sewer.
> 
> There is no doubt about it; the ruined City on Green was built by the
> Neighbors, for the Neighbors and used by the Neighbors before they abandoned
> it. If this is another "asinine" reading by me of the simple textual facts,
> so be it.
> 
> Gerry, you seem to have gotten all over you a lot of crap that really has
> more to do with me than you, as you have probably figured out by now. Sorry
> about that, but I'm not flinging it. <g>
> 
> -Roy

I missed the name calling, but please don't leave, Roy.
Who else would slap sense into us?

I'm trying to open up to the possibility that "Green is Urth" (which is how he wrote it to Marc, not the other way around, which makes it seem as if it is not a joke, though he regretted the telling)
It's a bit ugly. Maybe it fits. I won't say it doesn't unless I've really considered it. Of course, it's a HUGE leap, without much of anything to fill the plot gaps. But it is interesting.

As Roy points out, the City on Green is not Nessus, and not built by people with bodies like ours.  I don't see how the Whorl could have been gone long enough to the transformation from man to multi-limb neighbors, and all the other flaura and fauna changes, along with Moon and Blue swapping (do either blue or green have moons, I forget?) but then I don't really grok all the relativity time wonkorama rules. Perhaps all this has passed between the Whorls's Exile and Return.

As for what all this does for the themes, well that might seem tastier the more we chew it, but it starts out with a very funky flavor.

I think it's "not exactly right" to frame these books with any single, over-arching phrase-theme, such as, "You can't go home," or "the ramifications of a world without Jesus," though I might be guilty of hammering the "Resurrection and Death" label here.  These are useful framing concepts that help with that Gestalt-o-Vision, but none is likely to encompass the vast amount of thematic material here.