On Sun, Aug 03, 2003 at 07:25:17PM -0400, Alexx S Kay <alexx at TheWorld.com> wrote: > > > > On Sun, Aug 03, 2003 at 03:25:40PM -0400, Alexx S Kay <alexx at TheWorld.com> wrote: > > > > On Sun, Aug 03, 2003 at 12:13:21PM -0400, Alexx S Kay <alexx at TheWorld.com> wrote: > > > > > > Well. > > > > > > > > > > > > That was fun. > > > > > > > > > > > > [SPOILERS below] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [snip] > > > > > > > > I was operating under the impression that the "rune" would be > > > > Arra's way of making the levitation permanent. She suggests that > > > > with enough witches, she can make it permanent. > > > I don't remember such a suggestion, but will watch for it during the > > > next read-through (already underway, but slower, 'cause I'm updating > > > the Timeline). > > > > Page 308. > > <flips to page 308> "With this arrangement [of 714 witches], I should > undertake to maintain a structure with a hundred times this much weight, > and to hold it up forever." Seems to me that the "maintain" in the above > refers to an active, ongoing process, not to any sort of "permanence". > The "hold it up forever" would seem to indicate that she is confident > that the process will be able to continue uninterrupted. I find the idea of 714 witches in a large number of circles chanting continually in shifts for hundreds of years for no better purpose than to hold up Morrolan's castle when a small amount of sorcerous research would doubtless be able to achieve the same effect automatically ... substantially uncool. Therefore, I choose to believe that Brust is telling us something different, which I do find sufficiently cool. I do not dispute that the interpertations of Arra's statements could go either way. -- Matthew Hunter (matthew at infodancer.org) Public Key: http://matthew.infodancer.org/public_key.txt Homepage: http://matthew.infodancer.org/index.jsp Politics: http://www.triggerfinger.org/index.jsp