I want to say it's a play on habitat. That's what I assumed in my reading of my own ARC.I wouldn't doubt that it has some roots in that general vicinity. Perhaps a portmanteau of habitat and rabble = place for the people to live?
I want to say it's a play on habitat. That's what I assumed in my reading of my own ARC.Like the Gretna Green housing project in Chicago, from the Dresden novels?
I would guess that habble is more than just a place to live. The prologue takes place in Habble Morning, but the characters give it political weight as well. Perhaps a habble is a major subsection of a Spire?
They're physically (and probably culturally and economically) separated political entities. More like cities or greek polises than countries. Maybe the closest analogue is the early days of the US (or current EU) where there is, technically, centralized leadership but in practice each unit governs itself mostly-independently.
Spoilering to be safe, but it's not anything beyond Serack's level of info. No plot stuff.(click to show/hide)
Per Jim at the signing tonight, a hobble is a level of a Spire. Go up a ramp and get to the next hobble. I recorded it this evening, but need to compress and upload.yup. Well, except the one that was divided into two layers after the fact.
Okay, I've read my ARC and enjoyed it. My ONLY question throughout the whole thing is wtf is a habble?
I have not finished ARC, but I've come to believe that "Spires" are vertical constructs with "arches" as we know them. "Habbles" are horizontal parts of the Spire/Arch. Perhaps Habble Morning faces toward the sun as it rises.I think the "Arch" is always describing the person/position of Spirearch, as in Monarch.
There's a fairly convincing WMG over at TvTropes that it's a contraction of "Habitat Level".
Damnit, I was just about to guess that it was a portmanteau of habitat and level.
The Spires per Jim are like Borg Cubes.In what way?
In what way?
Scale? Regenerative properties? Shape?
In what way?I believe from the context that it is general proportion. It cant be literal shape, they arent literal Cubes since the outer edges of each level is a circle. I think he was addressing the fact that many people were picturing something very tall and narrow, as is more typical for a "spire", wheras the novel describes these as being equally wide as they are tall.
Scale? Regenerative properties? Shape?
They are cubes. The circle is within the cube, and the excess space is where things like the ventilation tunnels go.You have it backwards:
"While the Builders had created Spire Ablion in the shape of a perfect circle, each habble was laid out as a square fitting within that circle. The extra spaces, at the cardinal points of the compass, were filled with a variety of support structures-cisterns, ventilation tunnels, waste tunnels, and the like."
Deeeeerp. Sorry, I guess altered my mental picture to align with the Cube comment and never realized it.Ya, I think that is becoming a chronic problem with the whole Borg Cube imagery now in the mix. I think Im now picturing more of a Cylindrical equivalent to the Borg Cube; short and stout, but with a stacked Circular cross-section. Which makes me immediately begin to wonder about the purpose/function of the roof...
That's a great explanation, but where does it come from? I'm 3/4 through the book and just plain got tired of not knowing what spire, habble, and batman means. I've read and loved every Jim Butcher book so far, I find it odd and frustrating that he would leave the reader clueless like this.A batman is a military aide, not something specific to the Cinder Spires world.