The existence of Culture V*

[-JKP-]

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So if we really are stumbling blindly in a state of confusion, how is it that something like the Oresme cosmos suddenly pops up? Can it be considered that the VMs version of the Oresme cosmos has two parts of different pages? Can the papelonny pun be distributed on three consecutive pages? What the author does here is like the slight of hand that leaves young children with their mouths open. The VMs author exhibits a knowledge of detail where we do not know to look, like the use of scallop-shell patterns in the construction of a cloud band - the same pattern of construction as the Oresme cosmos.

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I've often wondered if the text itself is constructed this way.

I've tried things like taking paragraphs beginning with EVA-P and splicing them into ones beginning with EVA-T or trying to match up text on the plant pages with text on the starred-text pages, or splicing one sentence into the next one. I also tried an "ox-row" method (alternating back and forth). There is a sense of something being "missing" in the text and the question comes up, from time to time, whether variations in shapes of specific glyphs might be a variation in meaning...

which brings up the question of whether there is another reference, another part, or a glossary to fill out the missing parts or, as you mention, two parts (whether textual or visual) in different sections of the manuscript that go together to make the whole.