[trentdick2882]

I can't remember exactly. But I think the Scar's creation had to do with something the Ghosthead triggered. So if they created some cataclysmic event that created the Scar, it might also have created the rupture that the avanc was summoned out of. The Scar wasn't an actual physical chasm going into the center of Bas-Lag though, was it? It was a dimensional rift that led supposedly to the place the avanc was from or somewhere like it. That's why the avanc could travel through the area surrounding the Scar without being harmed.

[DarthV]

I didn't get the impression that the avanc was from the same dimensional reality as the Ghosthead. The Scar was the result of them ripping into Armada/NC's world. The avanc was summoned from a different dimensional existence. I think CM mentioned that no seagoing vessel in the world could traverse that Ocean, hence the need for something extra-dimensional to power the motion of Armada.

?

[ezchaos]

I read The Scar several months ago, but I felt as if the avanc came from a kind of elemental dimension of water. The Scar was something created (accidentally?) by the Ghosthead Empire. Armarda wanted to harness the avanc so they could get to The Scar quickly.

[trentdick2882]

DarthV, I was just saying that whenever the Ghosthead created the Scar, the power used to create it might have ripped other holes into other dimensions. Did the Ghosthead come from the Scar or did they create it for the possibility mining?

[Dystran Hart]

I was under the impression that the Ghosthead created the Scar from their possibility mining and did not come from it .... but don't quote me, even though I did quote it hmmm :)

Gee it annoys me when I cant remember facts when I only finished the book recently lol.

[Rob B]

Its coming back, yeah. I'm pretty sure the Scar was the result of the Possibility Mining, though who knows what the equivalent to Possibility Mining would be in our terminology? More of a rhetorical question.

My first reading, I was focusing on the character and clan interactions on Armada and perhaps read the stuff about the Scar too quickly.

[Eventine]

I thought the Scar was the wreckage of some spaceship or something containing the Ghosthead, and it came down with such force that it tore a hole in reality, creating the Scar. Because it screwed up reality, it made probability mining possible.
Where the Scar reached the mainland, things get extremely screwy (creating nasties like slake moths), but out in the ocean there wasn't too much to be bothered by it.
I don't think the avanc had anything to do with the Scar - they used a known thin(?) point between dimensions to pull it through, and because the Avanc was so big/different/???? it could propel Armada towards the Scar where no other method of propulsion could.

That's just my take on it though. And I was reading this book in airports/quiet periods through a big trip through Europe where I obliterated many of my brain cells with numerous pints every day, so it may be very wrong.

[Erfael]

Okay...I JUST finished, but it is late at night, so I'll see how I do with this.


The Ghosthead came from another planet. When they landed(crashed) on Bas Lag, it tore the fabric of reality. The Scar was one of these places. They then mined possibility there...........

okay, now that I've seen some others have beat me in on this one.............


^^^^^^^^^
What Eventine said is where I was going with this one. That's how I took it, and I wasn't on pints at the time.....maybe a liter of wine or two, but no pints!


Now that I'm finally finished with that bloody opera, I'll be along in a day or two to slap some more thoughs down on this one.

[trentdick2882]

Who did you guys think Bellis was originally intending her letter to go to. Isaac? I also wonder what Bellis was doing during Perdido Street Station, since it says she left when it was all over. I liked the way the letter was a focal point the entire book, as well as a way to end the novel.

[Terazed]

As I recall Bellis said that she really had no one in mind when she started to write the letter. I doubt it would have been to Isaac for 2 reasons: one is that she had dumped Issac a year or so before the start of PSS, the second is that by the time she left it would have been clear to her the Isaac was either under arrest already, in hiding, or fled the city. In none of these cases could she have expected a letter to reach him.