(urth) Juturna, the Missing Sister

[Jeff Wilson]

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 >