On Mar 16, 2004, at 19:31 , Mark A Mandel wrote:
> *** Nitpick alert! ***
>
> On Tue, 16 Mar 2004, Matthew Klahn wrote:
>
> #It seems to me that Great Cycles wouldn't merge nicely if you had
> #discreet endings of Phoenix reigns and discreet beginnings of another.
>
> Would you explain what you mean by that? Tortaalik's reign certainly
> didn't end discr<eet>ly -- "unnoticeably" or "unobtrusively",
> according
> to M-W Online.
Sorry, I meant "discrete", but must have misspelled it (and the
auto-spell checker blessed the word, so I didn't check carefully):
Discrete \Dis*crete"\, a. [L. discretus, p. p. of discernere.
See Discreet.]
1. Separate; distinct; disjunct. --Sir M. Hale.
2. Disjunctive; containing a disjunctive or discretive
clause; as, ``I resign my life, but not my honor,'' is a
discrete proposition.
3. (Bot.) Separate; not coalescent; -- said of things usually
coalescent.
If you have a clear separation between Phoenix reigns, then you would
have _2_ Phoenix reigns in a cycle:
descending Phoenix -- BEGINNING OF CYCLE X
Dragon
... etc ...
Athyra
ascending Phoenix -- END OF CYCLE X
descending Phoenix -- BEGINNING OF CYCLE Y
Dragon
... etc ...
While the poem does say basically this, I always envisioned the cycle
as more:
Phoenix (ascends, then descends) -- END OF CYCLE W, BEGINNING OF CYCLE X
Dragon
... etc ...
Athyra
Phoenix (ascends, then descends) -- END OF CYCLE X, BEGINNING OF CYCLE Y
Dragon
... etc ...
And, not to start a whole different argument, but since Kieron was a
Dragon, wouldn't the cycle have started with Dragon at the top? Or was
he not the first emperor? Is this mentioned anywhere?
> One Emperor dies and is taken to Deathgate Falls
> with appropriate mourning, and the House's Heir takes the Orb with
> proper ceremony. Clearly distinguished, as part of a smooth transition.
Yes, but that wouldn't be two cycles. So, take your example of Lyorn:
if the Lyorn empress died and the heir was to step up & become
emperor/empress, it would still be one Lyorn reign. I think this is the
same with each Phoenix emperor/empress: In the case of Tortaalik &
Zerika, it was all one Phoenix reign, the cycle didn't turn but a new
Great Cycle was begun. It's just that the same Phoenix reign happened
to be the end of one Great Cycle and the beginning of another.
Sorry I wasn't more clear on what the heck I meant.
--
Matthew S. Klahn
Software Architect, CodeTek Studios, Inc.
http://www.codetek.com