Summary:
Maia and Leie rush to the commotion of the battle, only to find that there
was false alarm. There was simply a routine act of piracy transpiring, not
an attack on the town itself. The morning sends Maia off to sea, alone on
a coal ship. The work is hard, the food and drink worse, and the hazing
none to desirable.
Then comes Naroin. Naroin, while a woman, is Master-at-Arms for the crew -
and she is set to law down the law and teach the vars how to fight.
Suffice to say, Maia doesn't do so well in her first bout.
Maia rolls with the punches though, and two weeks later she meets up with
Leie in Queg Town. Leie too has run the par for the course.
Analysis:
The use of leather armour (pg 43) seems a bit odd, given the presence of
rockets. On the next page, however, it seems possible that rockets are used
for signalling and in battles between ships rather than as anti-personnel
weapons.
It is worth noting that the Clans took to the defense of their own assets,
before seeing to the defense of the town. For whatever reason,
governmnetal structures definitely seem weak on Stratos.
Gangs of young vars may band together to form "pirate" outfits. Even
then, however, the pirate ships are crewed by men. Men, however, have a
strong belief that every ship should be saved - and will call a truce to
save a sinking ship - even that of an intended victim. Maia describes
piracy as being "quasilegal" - and indeed, the actions of the men in these
cases seem to bear this out. There seems to be a strong code of honor
among the men, and this code extends even to piracy.
We learn later that there are rules regarding piracy, and small-scale
piracy is more-or-less tolerated. I think that this is part and parcel of
Brin's Libertarianism rising to the surface - if something is going to
happen anyways, why not regulate it and eliminate it?
This brings me to my topic for discussion:
Maia continually stresses the importance for her to find a "niche." Does
anyone else see this social model as sort of an analogy for capitalism?
In a way, is not Brin calling on young people to go out into the world to
"find niches" and become successful?" Likewise, the established clans
seem to constantly receive a less-favorable light. Do you think that Brin
might like stiff inheritance taxes and call on all of us to be vars -
finding our own niches? Vars, on Stratos, are described as being vitally
necessary to preserve the vigor of society. But what purpose do the clans
serve? Might Brin want to get rid of the clans entirely?
Thoughts please.
Notes
-Durga is the larger of two moons. pg. 43
-On pg. 49, there is a reference to one of Brin's favorite themse - the
emphasis of our heritage as just apes, and how many of our qualities today
are directly related to our earlier forms.
-The denizens of Stratos have been genetically engineered to tolerate water
of a higher salinity than Earth freshwater (but less than Earth seawater.)
-Wearing a "red bandanna" is a symbol of piracy. pg. 53
-Lugars are not sapient. pg. 53
-Men are considered to be of another race, in the sense of another species.
pg. 53
-Port Sanger to Queg Town is slightly more than a two week's sail. This
might provide a bit of perspective on scale, if someone has a good estimate
for sailing speed, given that we know they are sailing generally with the
wind?
Creatures:
-Gaeo Bird, has feathers used in military headdresses. pg.43
-"Zizzers" (pg. 55) is colloquial for "zizerbugs" (pg. 37)
-Sealfish, edible. pg. 57
Technology:
-Even sail boats have "tiny auxillary engines." pg. 44.
-The Coast Guard operates power boats. pg. 44
-The weapon of choice is the "treppbill".
-Small mechanical games, often of a wind-up variety, are common.
Clans:
Vunnerri - rich, traders. pg. 45
Bizmai - miners, pg. 49
Ortyn - pg. 51
Chuchyin - rivals of Lamia, pg. 52
Ships:
-Prosper - cargo ship, also has passengers, pg. 45
-Misfortune - pirate ship, pg. 43
-Zeus - collier, pg. 46
-Wotan - collier, pg. 46
Questions:
Anyone have more information on the "trepp bill?"- pg 43 On pg. 54 it is
spelled as one word.
Do "stallions" on pg. 45 refer to two men? And by extension, does the
fight over a sash-horse herd imply that men are the couriers of commerce on
land as well as sea?
Who wrote "the essence of humour is the tragedy that you managed to escape?"
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
"The point of living in a Republic after all, is that we do not live by
majority rule. We live by laws and a variety of institutions designed
to check each other." -Andrew Sullivan 01/29/01
