XPost: rec.arts.sf.written   
   From: jpolowin@sympatico.ca   
      
   On 2019-12-12 4:52 PM, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:   
   >>Hypothesis: Creatures of Faerie live via a nuclear fission/fusion field.   
   >>   
   >>Logic: They are poisoned uniquely by the presence of matter that   
   >>contains no (or few) atoms that can be fused/split without loss of   
   >>energy.   
   >   
   > Examples?  And are you sure the term is "poisoned" rather than   
   > "starved"?   
      
   It's a fairly common folkloric trope that the Fae are sickened and   
   pained merely by being in the presence of iron.  It's a recurring   
   element in Seanan McGuire's October Daye series: a small wound from   
   an iron weapon can be fatal.  At one point, IIRC, a character is put   
   into an iron cage, and can't think about anything but the horrible   
   presence of the iron.  I gather that somewhere along in the series,   
   a Fae character is gravely injured by being whacked by an iron skillet.   
   I know that there are other examples in other literature, but I'm   
   blanking on them at the moment.   
      
   Perhaps I should explain the joke: a unique characteristic of iron   
   is that it's at the peak of the nuclear binding energy curve.  You   
   can get energy by fusing lighter nuclei to get iron, or by splitting   
   heavier nuclei to get iron and something else.  You can't get energy   
   *from* iron by either splitting it or fusing it.   
      
   At least with the physical properties of our universe.  Another set   
   of experiments to try would be to see if Faerie creatures are poisoned   
   by the presence of other elements, in universes which have physical   
   constants different from ours.   
      
   Joel   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)