[ThoughtsOfThelli]

Not sure really.

We have Domyot, the capital of Zeum, which is the Black Iron City (and built close to a Non-Man Mansion)
We have the Black Iron Seat of Ishterebinth, created when a set of gates were blasted with the Sun Lance.
We have the No God with its Sarcophagus, sometimes described as being of black iron.

Is this just a coincidence?

Out of world, we have the "Black Iron Prison" of Philip K Dick, which as I understand it is a description of the material world and the systems which prevent people going beyond it, to something more spiritual.  I've never read anything by Dick, so I might be barking up the wrong tree, but it does sound quite Consulty to me.

Interesting, you might be on to something there! Though it may be a while until we find out what is (potentially) special about Zeüm.

Never read that either (I did read one or two of Dick's other books, but that was years ago), so let's hope someone who did weighs in on this.

I forgot all about that

To be fair, he (presumably) dies off-page, unlike Proyas. And it's easy to forget about him with...well, everything that happens afterward.

[TheCulminatingApe]

Not sure really.

We have Domyot, the capital of Zeum, which is the Black Iron City (and built close to a Non-Man Mansion)
We have the Black Iron Seat of Ishterebinth, created when a set of gates were blasted with the Sun Lance.
We have the No God with its Sarcophagus, sometimes described as being of black iron.

Is this just a coincidence?

Out of world, we have the "Black Iron Prison" of Philip K Dick, which as I understand it is a description of the material world and the systems which prevent people going beyond it, to something more spiritual.  I've never read anything by Dick, so I might be barking up the wrong tree, but it does sound quite Consulty to me.

Interesting, you might be on to something there! Though it may be a while until we find out what is (potentially) special about Zeüm.

A further point on Zeum.  Memgowa, the originator of the 'blind beggar brain' , which as far as I know, is the in world equivalent of Bakker's 'blind brain theory' was Zeumi.  On the assumption that he has left an intellectual legacy in Zeum, there may be people there that have a better chance of understanding what the No-God is there, than there are elsewhere

[profgrape]

Not sure really.

We have Domyot, the capital of Zeum, which is the Black Iron City (and built close to a Non-Man Mansion)
We have the Black Iron Seat of Ishterebinth, created when a set of gates were blasted with the Sun Lance.
We have the No God with its Sarcophagus, sometimes described as being of black iron.

Is this just a coincidence?

Out of world, we have the "Black Iron Prison" of Philip K Dick, which as I understand it is a description of the material world and the systems which prevent people going beyond it, to something more spiritual.  I've never read anything by Dick, so I might be barking up the wrong tree, but it does sound quite Consulty to me.

Interesting, you might be on to something there! Though it may be a while until we find out what is (potentially) special about Zeüm.

A further point on Zeum.  Memgowa, the originator of the 'blind beggar brain' , which as far as I know, is the in world equivalent of Bakker's 'blind brain theory' was Zeumi.  On the assumption that he has left an intellectual legacy in Zeum, there may be people there that have a better chance of understanding what the No-God is there, than there are elsewhere

Excellent observation!  I don’t think we ever got a sense of how the Zeumi even think about the Apocalypse.  The idea of ending the cycle of birth seems like it would throw a big wrench in the whole idea of ancestor worship.

[ThoughtsOfThelli]

A further point on Zeum.  Memgowa, the originator of the 'blind beggar brain' , which as far as I know, is the in world equivalent of Bakker's 'blind brain theory' was Zeumi.  On the assumption that he has left an intellectual legacy in Zeum, there may be people there that have a better chance of understanding what the No-God is there, than there are elsewhere

Excellent observation!  I don’t think we ever got a sense of how the Zeumi even think about the Apocalypse.  The idea of ending the cycle of birth seems like it would throw a big wrench in the whole idea of ancestor worship.

I second what profgrape said, yet another great catch there, TheCulminatingApe.

Memgowa does seem to have left a lasting intellectual legacy in his home country. I remember Malowebi referring to his old mentor as a "true disciple of Memgowa" or something similar. Hopefully some of the greatest minds in modern-day Zeüm will become allies to Akka and co. in the future. He certainly needs some good ones...

Also a good point, profgrape. It makes me wonder if after the First Apocalypse, the people of Zeüm became even more zealous in their ancestor worship, having lost that connection once before. (I don't think it only became part of their culture then, it seems to be older than that.) They will certainly know what the Boding means, that's one of the (many) reasons why I feel it would be important to have a Zeümi POV (probably someone from Nganka'kull's court) early on, before our protagonists get there (if they ever do).

[themerchant]

Akka is qirri infused but reeling at the moment. He's smarter than he was.

Also Akka must have a reservoir of water inside him.

He can outrun the sranc in the air using magic.

[Wilshire]

Also Akka must have a reservoir of water inside him.

What do you mean?

[themerchant]

Also Akka must have a reservoir of water inside him.

What do you mean?

Just think how much passion he has felt in his life. Psûkhe seems to have some correlation to hardship/anguish/immense emotions. Just seems if anyone is about to have a Psûkhe based emotional breakdown it must be Akka. Although loads of others might be candidates too, there's a lot of anguish to spread about.

Plus Mimara can make the world answer to her as well. She manipulates the shroud just before she is struck blind by gazing at her belly. Noticed this in a re-read.

[SmilerLoki]

Plus Mimara can make the world answer to her as well. She manipulates the shroud just before she is struck blind by gazing at her belly. Noticed this in a re-read.

I just re-read that sequence, and I don't see it. Could you clarify?

[themerchant]

Sorry it's a sequence before being struck blind


But her gaze lolls away, across the intact Horn soaring upward, silken with sunlight.Slowly,gracefully, she draws the Shroud across it's gracile immensity, for she is- and always has been- a modest whore. The beautiful ones always are, you see. She looks down upon the three desperate souls, as tony beetles clicking across the temple floor. The little Mimara us screaming hands about her burning,cramping, shrieking womb.

Then you read on a couple of pages and get this "Now the shroud had engulfed the High-Horn,...."

Now if i'm correct why is Greater Mimara shrouding the horn?

[SmilerLoki]

Sorry it's a sequence before being struck blind


But her gaze lolls away, across the intact Horn soaring upward, silken with sunlight.Slowly,gracefully, she draws the Shroud across it's gracile immensity, for she is- and always has been- a modest whore. The beautiful ones always are, you see. She looks down upon the three desperate souls, as tony beetles clicking across the temple floor. The little Mimara us screaming hands about her burning,cramping, shrieking womb.

Then you read on a couple of pages and get this "Now the shroud had engulfed the High-Horn,...."

Now if i'm correct why is Greater Mimara shrouding the horn?

Ah, got it, thank you!

I took this sequence as a poetic way to describe Mimara's slipping consciousness. She sees events, but she's under such a great amount of stress (not to mention Qirri) that it feels like she is causing them to happen. It's about her state of mind at that moment, not about some supernatural power she possesses.

Even then, in that state, she describes what's happening as "communing with the God of Gods". It's not that she causes things to happen, per se, it's that she imagines herself one with the entity that does.

[TaoHorror]

It's not that she causes things to happen, per se, it's that she imagines herself one with the entity that does.

SL - if I come up with the scratch to visit Russia, can I pay you to read this series with me? 

I should've hooked up with the re-read, I missed so much of this story, I couldn't follow so much of this stuff.

[SmilerLoki]

SL - if I come up with the scratch to visit Russia, can I pay you to read this series with me? 

No problem! Then we can ruminate together on how little we understand, and how everything can be entirely not what we take it for.

[TaoHorror]

SL - if I come up with the scratch to visit Russia, can I pay you to read this series with me? 

No problem! Then we can ruminate together on how little we understand, and how everything can be entirely not what we take it for.

Yeah, but you sound so much smarter about what you may be wrong about - better than me, a primate staring at a calculator in wonder. Be careful, I'll take you up on that

That and you can help me transition to becoming a Russian - I don't like settling for the help, I want to report directly to the man himself  - ( i.e. Trump, Putin )

[themerchant]

Sorry it's a sequence before being struck blind


But her gaze lolls away, across the intact Horn soaring upward, silken with sunlight.Slowly,gracefully, she draws the Shroud across it's gracile immensity, for she is- and always has been- a modest whore. The beautiful ones always are, you see. She looks down upon the three desperate souls, as tony beetles clicking across the temple floor. The little Mimara us screaming hands about her burning,cramping, shrieking womb.

Then you read on a couple of pages and get this "Now the shroud had engulfed the High-Horn,...."

Now if i'm correct why is Greater Mimara shrouding the horn?

Ah, got it, thank you!

I took this sequence as a poetic way to describe Mimara's slipping consciousness. She sees events, but she's under such a great amount of stress (not to mention Qirri) that it feels like she is causing them to happen. It's about her state of mind at that moment, not about some supernatural power she possesses.

Even then, in that state, she describes what's happening as "communing with the God of Gods". It's not that she causes things to happen, per se, it's that she imagines herself one with the entity that does.

Well she communes with God as God I think it is.

"The Greater Mimara communes with God as God"

Then literally next line is "Malowebi watched the shroud swallow the void that was light and deliver foetid darkness and gloom. The bottomless vista disappeared , leaving only their small platform stranded upon a vertical plane extending indefinitely in all directions.

The next change of scene also starts with the shroud as well, so it;s mentioned 3 times in a row. Once when "Greater Mimara" might move it. Once when Malowebi on the high horn is relived he can't see shit now and then When Akka is thinking not like this.

[SmilerLoki]

The next change of scene also starts with the shroud as well, so it;s mentioned 3 times in a row. Once when "Greater Mimara" might move it. Once when Malowebi on the high horn is relived he can't see shit now and then When Akka is thinking not like this.

To clarify, what I mean is, Mimara sees the Shroud falling (the event happens), but imagines herself moving it instead of just normally assuming it to be a force of nature unconnected to her. Her consciousness is drifting, that's why it's so strangely written.