Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 09:43:43 -0600
From: "Charles Reed" 
Subject: Re: (urth) urth inhumation and unwanted change

Several things, including an argument for why Green is not Lune:

maa32 wrote:

>A lot of discussion on whether or not inhumi were hinted at on Urth - keep in 
>mind that they would be on Lune in a simplistic state at that time period, 
>with perhaps a few that had become humanoid due to Lune's settlers and the 
>closeness of the moon to Urth.
>

You're assuming, of course, that Lune = Green, which I don't believe to 
be the case.

But even if that were the case, why would the inhumi be in a simplistic 
state?  How much evolution is going to occur in 1000 or 2000 years?  How 
much have humans evolved over the last 2000 years?  We're certainly 
bigger than we used to be, largely attributable to better diet and 
better living conditions, but a human living 2000 (or 10,000) years ago 
certainly wouldn't be physiologically "simplistic" compared to us.  

There's another thing that's always bugged me about the Urth = Blue, 
Lune = Green theory, and that is this:  From my reading, Green is not in 
orbit around Blue.  It's a separate planet, necessarily closer to the 
"short sun" than Blue, due to its noticeably warmer weather.  [This is 
speculation, of course, but I believe it to be sound.  We may infer 
Green's warmer weather is because of its closer proximity to the sun and 
NOT some kind of Venus-like greenhouse effect because there is a 
relatively light cloud cover on Green.  After all, Green is noticeably, 
prominently, and dominantly green -- not largely white with spots of 
green peeping through the clouds.]  Either Blue or Green, or perhaps 
both Blue and Green, have noticeably eccentric orbits, which brings the 
planets relatively close together every six years (is that right? 
 conjunctions are six years apart?).  

If Green orbited Blue, which has markedly cooler global temperatures 
than Green, in such a way that it only got "close" to Blue every six 
years, the orbital picture would necessarily have to look something like 
this:

           .
         . B .
        .     .
       .       .
        .     .
          .G.
           


         [vast
         amount
           of
         space]



         SHORT
          SUN


And for Green to swing so far toward the sun that its climate is 
noticeably warmer -- and relatively stable, to boot! -- it seems to me 
that it would have to travel so far away that the gravitational pull of 
Blue would be lost.  

So.  The only orbital pattern that makes sense to me is, as I've already 
said, for Green and Blue to be separate planets, neither being a 
satellite of the other.

If Green is Lune, though, then something drastic had to have happened to 
get it out of it's nice, stable orbit around Urth.  This is true EVEN IF 
YOU BELIEVE that Green is a Blue's satellite.

But recall that the Green of the SS books and the Lune of the NS books 
exist concurrently.  CONCURRENTLY.  That is, at the _same_time_ Green is 
approaching and receding from Blue, Lune is making its regular, steady, 
non-varying orbit around Urth.

So how can Green possibly be Lune?  It can't.

So how can Blue possibly be Urth/Ushas?  It can't.


>  Juganu does seem to say that "We are 
>everywhere" when he is back on Urth (or was that Jahlee?).  I think Wolfe is 
>trying to pull a literary joke: let me hide the setting of my text
>

I don't think it's hidden.  I think Urth is Urth and Blue is Blue and 
never the twain shall meet.

>, let me 
>hide the identity of the first narrator in a hus,
>

What that?  Who's the narrator hiding in a hus?

> and let me give enough 
>evidence that can be ALMOST explained away
>

I think it can all be explained away.

> - I don't see why he would feel 
>compelled to give us a clear glimpse of inhumu on earth at all - HE DOESN'T 
>WANT TO PLAY FAIR IN SHORT SUN. 
>

I think Wolfe is subtle, demanding, and sometimes frustrating.  But I 
also think he plays fair with his readers.

Charles





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