(urth) Juturna, the Missing Sister
Jeff Wilson
jwilson at io.com
Wed Jul 28 11:55:07 PDT 2010
On 7/28/2010 6:38 AM, Lee Berman wrote:
>
>
>> Jeff Wilson- Isn't is customary for children stolen by fairies or selkies or the
>> Erlkoenig to be given a new name as well? Severa the apprentice witch
>> could have been snatched any time she went swimming in Gyoll or had been
>> left unattended for a few moments near the water.
>> And Juturna/Severa could have any color hair under the alage.
>
> My assumption was that, like Idas, all the undines have white/albino hair. The green
> algae color wouldn't work so well atop a brunette.
The BOTNS seems to disagree with you; there is a green megatherium at
the Well of Orchids, and we have green sloths today who get their color
from algae growing on/in their pelts which are otherwise various colors:
http://deoxy.org/gaia/3tsloth.htm
RL people have also been known to get algae growing on their neglected
dreadlocks.
> I put a lot of stock in the undines' claim to be daughter-brides of Abaia. The
> Tzadkiel/sponge sexual/asexual reproduction model works for me.
I think incest with Abaia the undine man is more likely.
> I'm not sure if that can fit in with this scenario of Severian's twin being dragged
> underwater as a child to be transformed into an undine. Some sort of Corn Maiden?
> But if that's what happened I can certainly see her name being changed to match the
> lake.
Not necessarily transformed into an undine, but perhaps surviving as
long as she has because of undine ancestry. There could be a rather
Dickensian chain of "chance" relations from a Abaia-bride seducing a
Nessusite man, giving birth to the child who grew up to marry Dorcas and
begat Ouen, who begat twins on Katherine that grew to become Severian
and Juturna.
Undines claim to be able to entertain air-breathers the way the mermaids
represent to Latro. Their association with algae like the Green Man
suggests a connection, and that plus the weird alien science may provide
some kind of life-support mush that they can supply. If this mush
somehow saturates the fetus in vivo, then it explains the Green Man
coming from some time in Ushas' future where the repentant undines have
re-united with the air-breathers. Having built-in oxygen and nutirent
support would be really handy for people who travel among the stars or
between eras of catastrophic change. The universe's like a box of
chocolates, after all.
--
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
IEEE Student Chapter Blog at
< http://ieeetamut.org >
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