User:Bookofjude/Dancers

''Sandbox of notes for the Dancers at the End of Time. See also The Dancers at the End of Time.''

Notes about the end of time

 * Occupants are amoral, immortal, decadent
 * Sex, homosexuality, incest, treated lightly, apathetically
 * Morals, virtues, are archaic relics of the past that nobody is particularly interested in
 * The landscape is constantly changing
 * They occupy themselves with flights of fancy, recreating the past
 * Time travellers common
 * Morphail effect, backwards
 * Naive

The End of Time
The prologue of the An Alien Heat states that it is "a story of Jherek Carnelian, who did not know the meaning of morality, and Mrs Amelia Underwood, who knew everything about it". The novel begins with a discussion between Jherek Carnelian and his mothther, the Iron Orchid, of the meaning of the word virtuous. Carnelian bases his description of the concept as "bewildering" based upon a dictionary definition that he looked up.

It is at a party hosted by the Duke of Queens, the theme of which is "Disaster" and at which an alien by the name of Yusharisp delievers a message that the universe will soon collapse upon itself, that Mrs Amelia Underwood makes her first appearence. Disgusted by the actions of Lady Charlotina, who had frozen Yusharisp for transport to her menagerie, she exclaims "Let the poor creature go! Though he is neither human nor Christian, he is still one of God's creatures and has a right to his liberty!"

Emphasis on how lightly sex, including incest and homosexuality, is treated at the End of Time can be found in the early chapters of An Alien Heat. The chapter, A Conversation with the Iron Orchid, involves an incestuous scene between Jherek Carnelian and Iron Orchid, and the chapter Carnelian Conceives a New Affectation implies a homosexual relationship between Carnelian and Lord Jagged.

Landscape
The landscape of the End of Time is constantly altered, as noted in the first chapter of An Alien Heat, where the Iron Orchid and Jherek Carnelian awaken to find that the sea has been turned a shade of cerise, and the cliff with two palm trees that had previously been behind them had been replaced by a twelve-story silver Pagoda.