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the peridexis

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  • #16
    After re-reading the AWoM teaser on the yw.com, I'm wondering if we'll be seeing the peridexis again much sooner than we had originally thought.

    ...Nita becoming something less than human or much more than? That sounds a lot like the peridexis to me.

    Originally posted by Peter Murray:
    It's probably connected with her increasing power levels. The peridexis is curious about them, and since it can't join the forums to speculate, it's hanging round her instead.
    heh, PM
    PM: Dai everyone, Caitlin is right
    Follow the bouncing poot

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    • #17
      I think this is one of those things we're meant to wonder about. there's something going on with nita, i think, but I also think we're not supposed to figure it out yet.
      I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.
      For those of you who don't recognize WHO'S back, I'll give you a hint, and I don't mean the typo's in my posts - YR.

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      • #18
        Still, I think we'll find out something, at least, when A Wizard of Mars comes out. I mean, after reading the teaser, it sounds like some of the mysteries surrounding Nita will be revealed.
        "Ah, the substance that binds the universe together." -Tom Swale, about duct tape.
        "You are my friend!" -Mamvish

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        • #19
          The way I see it is like this: Imagine a cat. Think about a cat. It's cute and fuzzy, right? Right. Now draw the cat on a piece of paper. Nice cat. Now go out and buy a cat, and take him home and play with him and feed him.

          This is how I see the difference between the Wizardry's forms. The idea of the cat is like the idea of wizardry, thinking about it. The drawing of the cat is like casting spells. You're describing it, and changing it. The cat you can talk to and pet is like the peridexis. It's there more that the drawing was or the thought was. For lack of a better word, I'd say it's the soul, and the physical embodiment. Nita didn't go buy a cat, a cat followed her home and now she can't get rid of it.

          Or maybe I'm totally wrong. Who knows. That's just how I think about it.

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          • #20
            That is a GREAT metaphor.

            Can you post another one in the 'ponch' topic? Some people over there seem confused still.

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            • #21
              Do you guys think that Nita will still be able to communicate with the Peridexis effect when her power levels go down (because of the seniors taking the power back)?

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              • #22
                Maybe... Her power levels have been rising throughout the series for some reason, so she might not lose any of her power at all. We'll just have to wait until A Wizard Of Mars to find out.
                "Ah, the substance that binds the universe together." -Tom Swale, about duct tape.
                "You are my friend!" -Mamvish

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                • #23
                  Cant wait for that book. Thought it might be out for pre-order b now but it is'ant (who said i could not wait!), and I also think that her power levels will remain higher for now. Got a feeling somehting bigs going to come up soon .

                  Love that peridexis, a great addition by the great all powerful DD
                  Fox
                  God its hard to keep up with everything here!!

                  Memember of The STTF (Save the topic foundation).

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                  • #24
                    What is the peridexis?

                    Okay, lame answer first: The peridexis is what it says it is. Namely, it is wizardry.

                    Okay, now for the not so lame answer: If the peridexis is wizardry, then we need to ask what exactly that means. What is wizardry here? Wizardry, as far as I can tell, is the ability to use the Speech to get the universe to do things normal people can't do. In the YW universe, the Speech works because all objects are sentient. You can communicate with plants, rocks, artificial constructs and even molecules. In some sense, wizardry is the Speech, or rather an ability to use it to communicate and get things done that normally wouldn't be possible (or very difficult at the least). The way I see it, the peridexis is taking this idea to the next level, this ability is also sentient in and of itself, which is in some ways bizzare, but also very neat.

                    However, we have seen wizards communicate with wizardry in some ways before, so this is not entirely new. For example, Darryl originally got his wizardry from "The Silence", which spoke to him, and the cat wizards in the Feline Wizardry sequence get their wizardry from "The Whispering", which also speaks to them. In fact, Nita did speak with The Silence in A Wizard Alone. What's different about the peridexis is that it is sentient, and Nita can actually have conversations with it. This opens up many more possibilities that The Slience and The Whispering didn't provide, such as simply asking wizardry to help power you up.

                    Dee: That metaphor is a bit off the mark, but not entirely so, as it's true that the peridexis probably does embody wizardry in some way, but when normal wizards use wizardry, they aren't trying to get at it, they're just using it like any other tool. What's different about the peridexis is that Nita can actually speak to the tool that she's using.

                    It's true that the peridexis can be seen in the same way as the Transcendent Pig, in that they are both anomalies. However, I'd say the peridexis is a bit more abstract than the Transcendent Pig (even if the pig is transcendent ).

                    Why does Nita have this special ability to be able to communicate with the peridexis while other wizards can't? I don't know, and I can only speculate that it has to do with some of the other things about her wizardry that seems special. I guess we'll find out in the next book.

                    What does interest me is the name "peridexis". I would venture a guess that it comes from the same word as Peridex, but Peridex is a kind of mouthwash, and while I am aware that DD was a nurse at some point and does get some of her terminology from medical jargon, I have no idea what the connection is between this kind of mouthwash and the peridexis...
                    ---------------------------
                    "The law of entropy is just a complicated way of explaining why some things don't happen very often."
                    -Norman Christ, Professor of Physics, Columbia University (Does the Lone One know this? :P)

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                    • #25
                      Well, "peri" is a word root that means "around". I have no idea what "dexis" might mean though. Sometimes it helps to figure out what the roots mean.
                      "Ah, the substance that binds the universe together." -Tom Swale, about duct tape.
                      "You are my friend!" -Mamvish

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                      • #26
                        I read much of the thread but I'm positive I missed several sections since I read quickly so forgive me if I become repetitive.

                        First, though definitely of a different variety - isn't this very similar to the Irish way (Ronan) of communicating with the Manual? Most notably, Nita's ability to see the spell ready to initiate when under fire at The Crossings.

                        Also, I found these sources enlightening if not interesting as to the root and meaning of "Peridexis"

                        Peri - In Persian mythology, a beautiful and benevolent supernatural being or fairy, earlier regarded as malevolent.

                        Some of the other meanings included on the page are thought inspiring.

                        Deixis
                        - The function of a deictic word in specifying its referent in a given context.
                        - the function of pointing or specifying from the perspective of a participant in an act of speech or writing; aspects of a communication whose interpretation depends on knowledge of the context in which the communication occurs.

                        Deictic - Linguistics. Of or relating to a word, the determination of whose referent is dependent on the context in which it is said or written. In the sentence I want him to come here now, the words I, here, him, and now are deictic because the determination of their referents depends on who says that sentence, and where, when, and of whom it is said.

                        edit: apologizes for the spelling. T'is fixed.
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                        Gigo wrote:
                        That was the most useless thing I have ever said.

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                        • #27
                          First, I must note that the peridexis says that it is "the combined effect of the words of the Speech and the power that lives within it", not quite "wizardry itself", as Nita first assumes, and seems to be the preferred way of characterizing it here; the peridexis makes this distinction because wizardry itself needs wizards to "speak the words and decide how to use the power". (However, "wizardry [itself]" isWizard's Manual ConcordanceManual sentienceHrau'fpace a dropped "o" or "i", the meaning of "peridexis" seems best rendered along the lines of "around/surrounding the right" or "near/encircling the reference", or some other permutation of the above, as suits your fancy. (One could even attempt to follow my mom, who likes to have things both ways if at all possible, and let botheverythingonlyEdit: I'm surprised that no one corrected me when I first posted this, but Nita does indeed tell Kit, Dairine, and her other comrades about the peridexis, not just Nguyet.

                          Finally, I think that Nita will indeed have trouble communicating with the peridexis outside of lucid dreams now that her power levels have returned to their 'pre-conflict' state, as she specifically missed being able to do so at the end of WAW (but was still able to communicate with it during a lucid dream).

                          * Incidentally, its comment that Callahan's Unfavourable Instigation was "one for the book" reminded me of Erd?s'Concordance (which I'm following), but not in the books. (I have enquired about this on the Wizard's Manual talk page. Edit: ...and DD responded, saying that she prefers "Manual" capitalized, but the books' editors did not.
                          Last edited by Nathan; May 17, 2010, 05:43:47 PM. Reason: Edited to fix unrendered Unicode and HTML
                          Omnia disce, videbis postea nihil esse superfluum.

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                          • #28
                            Oh, that was ambiguous of me.

                            Yes, I meant that Nita seemed to be the only wizard of the featured characters in WAW who was in touch with the peridexis. The universe is too big to speculate any further than that group.
                            Just the FAQs, ma'am: Chat, Board and Books.

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                            • #29
                              Its also the soul of wizardry and the manual, as well as the force behind wizardry without the wizard to enable it. (i reread its self introduction, and my previous answer was only part right.)
                              Last edited by zilvox; April 28, 2009, 09:30:55 PM.
                              There is always a price, but who pays it is optional.

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                              • #30
                                In case people didn't notice, DD gave the official etymology for "peridexis" in three recent tweets, viz.,

                                "Peridexis" is a pun, out of the "dexis/-on/-ontis" root (skill, expertise, dexterity) and "deixis/on/ontis" (display, demonstration, a reference or reference work). The "peri-" suggests that the solution is temporary or unusual.
                                Omnia disce, videbis postea nihil esse superfluum.

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