(urth) traveling north

[carrlaw at swbell.net]

Given the scale of the wall I have difficulty in conceptualizing it being built post typhon-the thing is enormous, several thousand feet high, thick enough that that the characters can have signicant conversational interaction in hiking through it, and at least 25 miles in diameter.  
I think its a cast off piece of extra-solar technolgy that happened to fit the purpose of a curtain wall.  Recall Baldanders refuting Dr Talos comment about the foresight involved in making the wall encompass so much area.
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-----Original Message-----
From: David Stockhoff <dstockhoff at verizon.net>
Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2010 21:11:22 
To: <urth at lists.urth.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) traveling north

Has anyone suggested that the Wall was built to keep people in? Of course you still have the overkill problem.

But there are any number of reasons why a ruler might keep the main strength of his armies near home, especially when assaults might come from land, air, or sea as well as from within. 

I've wondered about a dome too. But would a space invader really land within the walls when the city still has functioning energy weapons that could destroy the incoming fleet? I'd land some distance away---less far than Ascia---assemble my forces, and then move on the city's defenses. This wall would forestall that. And since it's unsmeltable, presumably it would resist energy weapons.

A large wall also puts its troops well away from the city proper.

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Message: 4
Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:06:20 -0500
From: James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com>
To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) traveling north
Message-ID: <4C0D513C.1090705 at gmail.com>
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On 6/7/2010 1:23 PM, Jeff Wilson wrote:

> > Obviously the Wall doesn't stop aerial assault, the Ascians could have 
> > used some flyers that were subsequently destroyed by the Commonwealth 
> > forces. 
>   

Is that really obvious? The thickness of the wall suggests that it's 
purpose is not merely a physical barrier against ground-based assaults. 
Otherwise, if an invading force  over-topped it, the wall would become a 
high-ground from which to launch a more successful assaults on the rest 
of the territory.

The wall might be constructed *primarily* to prevent aerial and 
space-based assaults through some sort of protective dome (which is 
unnecessary in Severian's time). The Ascians might have been far more 
technologically advanced in Typhon's time. Anyway, protecting a city 
with a "mere" wall in Typhon's time strikes me as a bizarre anachronism.


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