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<p>vizcacha wrote:<br>> Thanks, Matthew. It's "Lebling," by the way, not "Liebling."</p>
<p>Woops, sorry about that. Take "Liebling" as a sign of my affection. What sort of thing is a vizcacha, by the way?</p>
<p>> The epigraph has multiple meanings.</p>
<p>Well, that wouldn't be a first. So there is another layer there, or several layers in one, as you observe. And you thing this all takes place on an asteroid? That would not be a first either. Can you expand on that at all? It is obviously extremely small, but do asteroids have moons?
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<p>On another matter: If all the tribes carry weapons keyed to their "totemic" animals, then what are we to make of Mantru's horned staff? I though perhaps he might be a minotaur, particularly because he lives in a "labyrinth." But in that case it seems like Mantru should be a lot bigger. And the description of the staff gives it insect qualities: it has "a pair of slender and nearly parallel horns," it's metallic, and the horns are "gracefully curved antennae." But what about the "geometric designs interspersed with faces" on the shaft and the fine script on the antennae that is "of a form I felt certain I had never seen before."
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<p>Still the correspondence among the words "Min," "Mantru," "Minotaur," and "King Minos" is suggestive, and the epigraph from the Aeneid points in that general direction also. And what would this say about the *winged man* at the end!!! The winged man who is catching the *sun*!!! Any thoughts?
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<p>The winged man is from a bird tribe;<br>The winged man is a cherub, or an archangel;<br>The winged man is Great Raven;<br>The winged man is Icarus;</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Wolfe is a tricky bastard.</p>
<p>Matt G.</p></div>