[Somnambulist]

Though I'd always imagined it as much thicker, for some reason. Like at it's thickest, as wide as a garbage can. Though on reflection, I have no idea what sort of animal such a thing might come from? Heh, what does it say that I imagined it so big?

You make a good point.  I guess I always assumed it was a mammoth tusk.  Can't remember specifically if the books ever said, but that's what I always imagined, anyway.  But, knowing Bakker (or not knowing him, as the case may be), you could very well be right.

[Madness]

There is a question, I think, on the old Zombie Three Seas (which doesn't seem to be totally functioning right now).

Something about whether or not megafauna ever existed in Earwa/Eanna.

[Somnambulist]

and now for something a little different...  Breaking the Gates, Sumerian style.

http://spiralhorizon.deviantart.com/art/BreakingtheGates-413192946

[Francis Buck]

Very nice Som.

And now another Mekeritrig.

[Quinthane]

my fave so far, FB.

[Somnambulist]

Yeah, FB, that is great!  Also one of my favs.  Great job.

[locke]

isn't the base of the tusk like 8 or 12 ft in diameter?  I think there's a description when proyas encounters it at the beginning of TDTCB

[Somnambulist]

I've read that section many times.  It doesn't give any dimensions, just descriptions of its winding shape.  Suspended by chains from pillars.

[locke]

I reread it, you're right, no dimensions, my pathetic mind's eye provided what it wanted to see, absent the text.

[Callan S.]

Hey, I'm not the only one then!

How phat is your tusk, guys?

Wait....

But seriously, its actually interesting to get an idea of the percieved width.

Though man, to get alot of writing on the thing, it probably needs to be fairly thick.

[Somnambulist]

Depends on the size of the tusk.  Before doing the pic, did some googling.  Some mammoth tusks were relatively small (akin to elephant tusks), while others looked like they could have been over 10' long.  Also depends on what form the Thoti-Eannorean language took.  Many early languages were pictographic or symbolic in nature (i.e., cuneiform, hieroglyphs, etc.), and not necessarily phonetic.  You could pack a lot of meaning into very few symbols.

[Wilshire]

I reread it, you're right, no dimensions, my pathetic mind's eye provided what it wanted to see, absent the text.

I would have agreed with you fully before hand. Seems like there should be some dimensions for it somewhere... Is the size of the room or building ever described?
When you read the passage, if you thought of the Tusk as small, do the descriptions make sense?

[Somnambulist]

When you read the passage, if you thought of the Tusk as small, do the descriptions make sense?

So, when I did this, I had in mind it would be around 10-12 feet long.  I realize there's nothing in the picture to suggest that kind of scale.  The specters in the back shouldn't be used for a sense of scale, as they're not 'real-world' references.  The pillars also can't be used, because there's nothing to suggest their scale, either.  I'm not a professional illustrator, so these were oversights on my part in terms of the composition.  Anyway, fail on composition.  I did the pictogram illustration afterwards to suggest the kind of scale I had in mind, located here http://spiralhorizon.deviantart.com/art/BreakingtheGates-413192946

blah

[Madness]

I really liked the Sumerian style, Somnambulist.

Highly entertaining.

[Francis Buck]

For what it's worth, I always imagined the Tusk as being gargantuan, however this discussion took place on Westeros and I believe HE concluded that the entire Old Testament could fit onto a real world mastodon tusk (or something, I'm not sure exactly, but he did math, so I trust him).