(urth) Appearance of the Gods

[Lee Berman]

>James Wynn: Are you looking for practical reasons? I'm not sure there are any.
>To some extent, they draw their appearance from monsters whose name they 
>bear, but not especially..... Actually, Scylla _does_ have a practical reason for 
>her looks. She's a follower of the Megatherian Scylla, and I guess chooses her appearance 
>based on that.
 
 
Yes, my question pertained to practical reasons. Even if there is debate on the original 
appearance of this family (I tend to think Cilinia gave rise to great Scylla), the question
is framed by Gerry and your later comments.
 
 
>Gerry Quinn: Tartaros tells Auk that their appearances are the self-images of the 
> gods. He gives the specific example of Kypris
 
 
>James Wynn: Tartaros' assertion requires serious finessing. One cannot possibly 
>assume that Echidna and Scylla thought they looked like that.
 
 
So that's the problem. Even if they really were monsters in their original form, why would 
they choose monster forms to appear to people in the Whorl? To scare them?  We don't see 
fat Phaea the pig's image on a screen but I suspect it wasn't really scary.
 
I'd hate to think it was pure auctorial choice...he had Typhon as mythological father of all 
monsters so he felt compelled to name Typhon's family by those names....
 
 
>Antonio Pedro Marques: I think the default assumption is that Pas looks like Typhon. 
>People have asked about other gods forgetting that it's Pas who called the 
>shots. If he wanted one of his family to look like a mouse, that's what they 
>would have looked like.
 
 
I think this is getting at the inkling I have. Who would have the greatest tendency to think of 
Kypris as beautiful and the family of Typhon as nasty monsters?
 
As Tartaros, suggests, that would be Kypris herself. Is there any way she could establish enough 
of her own control over the Whorl to force her own names and her own visions on Typhon's family? 
 
If not, perhaps the next best explanation is that it was Pas under the spell of Kypris who gave
his family monster names and images. We know there was eternal conflict in Mainframe over control
of things. Perhaps Typhon felt compelled to put both his family and Kypris onto the Whorl but once
there, Kypris had a much greater influence over Pas than she did as a flesh and blood woman over 
Typhon.
 
You know, if some tart took over and gave me and my Mom a monster name and a monster face while 
operating under the protection of my Dad, I might consider killing Dad and hunting down Kypris myself.