Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 14:02:03 -0500
From: James Jordan 
Subject: (urth) Walls of Nessus

         At a symbolic level, we should remember that ancient cities 
(before cannon fire) were always walled. Especially Jerusalem (book of 
Nehemiah). We're symbolically in Byzantium, of course, but are we also in a 
fallen Jerusalem? I can't think of any clews along the latter lines, so I 
don't think so. But the walls of Byzantium would fit thematically.
         Which brings up another possibility: Perhaps the walls were not 
set up as a blast shield, but to protect Typhon's project from angry armies 
of insurgents -- and we can be sure there were such: Who wants to be 
drugged and dragged off into space? These are walls that surely COULD 
withstand cannon fire, and much else. And even apart from Typhon, we know 
that Urth is divided into warring nations, so a strong wall might have been 
needed long before Typhon.
         Ancient cities usually had two walls: outer and inner, the 
inner-city or "citadel" on a high place for even better defense. In 
Russian, the citadel is called "Kreml[in]" and all older cities have them, 
not just Moscow. In London, it is the "Tower of London." In time of seige, 
the people living around the walls could crowd inside the citadel, where 
the palace and temple were, for protection if the outer walls were 
breached. Is this the original relationship between the Citadel of the 
Autarch and the outlying city of Nessus?
         But I can't remember. The Citadel is within the outer walls of 
Nessus, isn't it? Even if not, the walls of Old Port could also function as 
a place of refuge for Nessusians under attack from Ascians or whomever.
         So, maybe the wall as blast-shield is not the best answer.

Nutria


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