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Ethshar: I Learned the Truth At Seventeen Chapters...

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Lawrence Watt-Evans

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Aug 7, 2005, 12:56:51 AM8/7/05
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...that this story's meant for... well, anyone who'll read it, beauty
queens or not.

And Chapter Seventeen is now available at
http://www.ethshar.com/thesprigganexperiment17.html

Thanks for your support!

Read the new Ethshar novel online! http://www.ethshar.com/thesprigganexperiment0.html

Bo Lindbergh

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Aug 7, 2005, 3:22:24 AM8/7/05
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It's a good thing this isn't Xanth, or the start of the next chapter would
feature Gresh having survived because he was turned into a spriggan at
the last moment by some contrived mechanism. And then we'd get a
much-too-detailed description of what spriggans have instead of sexual
urges....

/Bo Lindbergh

DougL

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Aug 7, 2005, 1:57:20 PM8/7/05
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Argh! Must remove brain with a dull knife to clear image....

DougL

David Goldfarb

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Aug 8, 2005, 5:38:34 AM8/8/05
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In article <blgl-C7417B.0...@news.bahnhof.se>,

I don't recall the story saying that Gresh was *in* the cave.

--
David Goldfarb |"I came to Casablanca for the waters."
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu | "The waters? What waters? We're in the desert."
gold...@csua.berkeley.edu |"I was misinformed."

Peter Meilinger

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Aug 8, 2005, 10:21:48 AM8/8/05
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Veddy interesting. But not stupid.

The chapter, that is. Gresh, unfortunately, really is stupid.
He's been smart as a whip at other points in the story, but
throwing the powder onto Tobas while Tobas was explaining
a possible problem? Really, really, incredibly stupid.
The man's a moron.

Now, if he actually learns from this bout of idiocy and
doesn't make that kind of mistake in the future, I'll
go back to thinking of him as intelligent. But in this
chapter? Whatta maroon.

Pete

Damien Neil

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Aug 8, 2005, 3:53:55 PM8/8/05
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In article <dd7pps$6j1$1...@news3.bu.edu>,

Peter Meilinger <mell...@bu.edu> wrote:
> The chapter, that is. Gresh, unfortunately, really is stupid.
> He's been smart as a whip at other points in the story, but
> throwing the powder onto Tobas while Tobas was explaining
> a possible problem? Really, really, incredibly stupid.
> The man's a moron.

I think that was a case of Gresh's innate asshole warring with his
innate smart guy and winning. He's arrogant and self-centered, but
usually smart enough to make up for it; this time, it nearly bit him on
the ass. (Literally, if Tobas had been a bit more annoyed...)

- Damien

Michael Alan Chary

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Aug 8, 2005, 4:54:03 PM8/8/05
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Glad to see that whole "Gresh, you're so much smarter than I am" subplot
is getting abandoned...
--
An experiment in publishing:
http://www.ethshar.com/thesprigganexperiment0.html
The All-New, All-Different Howling Curmudgeons!
http://www.whiterose.org/howlingcurmudgeons

David Goldfarb

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Aug 9, 2005, 8:36:53 AM8/9/05
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In article <neild-usenet4-560...@news.newsguy.com>,

Although, from what we've heard about it, wouldn't the Spell of Reversal
have worked even if Tobas *had* become the Seething Death? To be
sure that would have been a waste of a couple of powerful spells,
but at least it wouldn't have been a world-destroying disaster.

--
David Goldfarb | "Justice or immortality. An intriguing choice."
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu |
gold...@csua.berkeley.edu | -- Babylon 5, "Deathwalker"

Dan Swartzendruber

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Aug 9, 2005, 8:59:00 AM8/9/05
to
In article <dda815$rj6$1...@agate.berkeley.edu>, gold...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU
says...

> In article <neild-usenet4-560...@news.newsguy.com>,
> Damien Neil <neild-...@misago.org> wrote:
> >In article <dd7pps$6j1$1...@news3.bu.edu>,
> > Peter Meilinger <mell...@bu.edu> wrote:
> >> The chapter, that is. Gresh, unfortunately, really is stupid.
> >> He's been smart as a whip at other points in the story, but
> >> throwing the powder onto Tobas while Tobas was explaining
> >> a possible problem? Really, really, incredibly stupid.
> >> The man's a moron.
> >
> >I think that was a case of Gresh's innate asshole warring with his
> >innate smart guy and winning. He's arrogant and self-centered, but
> >usually smart enough to make up for it; this time, it nearly bit him on
> >the ass. (Literally, if Tobas had been a bit more annoyed...)
>
> Although, from what we've heard about it, wouldn't the Spell of Reversal
> have worked even if Tobas *had* become the Seething Death? To be
> sure that would have been a waste of a couple of powerful spells,
> but at least it wouldn't have been a world-destroying disaster.

I'm pretty sure not. I seem to recall the Guild trying the Spell of
Reversal on the Seething Death in the Overlord's palace - to no effect.

Michael Alan Chary

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Aug 9, 2005, 9:51:43 AM8/9/05
to
In article <dda815$rj6$1...@agate.berkeley.edu>,

David Goldfarb <gold...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU> wrote:
>In article <neild-usenet4-560...@news.newsguy.com>,
>Damien Neil <neild-...@misago.org> wrote:
>>In article <dd7pps$6j1$1...@news3.bu.edu>,
>> Peter Meilinger <mell...@bu.edu> wrote:
>>> The chapter, that is. Gresh, unfortunately, really is stupid.
>>> He's been smart as a whip at other points in the story, but
>>> throwing the powder onto Tobas while Tobas was explaining
>>> a possible problem? Really, really, incredibly stupid.
>>> The man's a moron.
>>
>>I think that was a case of Gresh's innate asshole warring with his
>>innate smart guy and winning. He's arrogant and self-centered, but
>>usually smart enough to make up for it; this time, it nearly bit him on
>>the ass. (Literally, if Tobas had been a bit more annoyed...)
>
>Although, from what we've heard about it, wouldn't the Spell of Reversal
>have worked even if Tobas *had* become the Seething Death? To be
>sure that would have been a waste of a couple of powerful spells,
>but at least it wouldn't have been a world-destroying disaster.
>

Well, it depends. If he became the seething death maybe the reversal spell
wouldn't work on him.

Peter Meilinger

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Aug 9, 2005, 9:53:55 AM8/9/05
to
Dan Swartzendruber <dsw...@druber.com> wrote:
>In article <dda815$rj6$1...@agate.berkeley.edu>, gold...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU
>says...

>> Although, from what we've heard about it, wouldn't the Spell of Reversal


>> have worked even if Tobas *had* become the Seething Death? To be
>> sure that would have been a waste of a couple of powerful spells,
>> but at least it wouldn't have been a world-destroying disaster.

>I'm pretty sure not. I seem to recall the Guild trying the Spell of
>Reversal on the Seething Death in the Overlord's palace - to no effect.

The question is, would the Reversal have to work on the Seething
Death itself, or on the spell that turned Tobas into the Seething
Death? Personally, I wouldn't want to have to find out.

What would have happened when the Seething Death hit the edge of
the nearby No-Wizardry Zone? Is there any reason to think that
would have cancelled the SD altogether, rather than just stop
it from spreading into the Zone? Or might it have cancelled the
spell that turned Tobas into the SD? Again, not something I'd
want to experiment with.

Pete

Dan Swartzendruber

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Aug 9, 2005, 10:53:47 PM8/9/05
to
In article <ddachj$jq0$2...@news3.bu.edu>, mell...@bu.edu says...

Hmmm, interesting. My guess is it would convert the entire world into
Seething Death except for the dead zones (we know of two, correct?)

Wayne Throop

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Aug 9, 2005, 11:03:22 PM8/9/05
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:: What would have happened when the Seething Death hit the edge of the

:: nearby No-Wizardry Zone? Is there any reason to think that would
:: have cancelled the SD altogether, rather than just stop it from
:: spreading into the Zone? Or might it have cancelled the spell that
:: turned Tobas into the SD? Again, not something I'd want to
:: experiment with.

: Hmmm, interesting. My guess is it would convert the entire world into
: Seething Death except for the dead zones (we know of two, correct?)

I suppose. But I suspect that the no wizardry zones are active
constructs, rather than "mana dead spots". Because all the other types
of magic still work there. And it still exists and all. If wizardry is
"calling on the primordial chaos that underlies reality", then it's the
"calling on" not the "primordial chaos" that's being suppressed.

In that model, I'd conclude that the Seething Death would eat
right through them, because *it* deals with the "chaos underneath
it all", not just the "calling on".

Of course... that's just idle speculation.
There have been some hints (um... somehwere)
that wizardry isn't what the wizards think it is,
so I'm not overly attached to the hypothesis.


Wayne Throop thr...@sheol.org http://sheol.org/throopw

Danny Sichel

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Aug 18, 2005, 3:15:30 PM8/18/05
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Bo Lindbergh wrote:

You mean the Spriggans would try to drag Gresh through the mirror?

Hm. What was that cult that Borges proposed in "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis
Tertius", the ones who "abominated mirrors because, like sex, they
increased the numbers of men" ?

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