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During the podcast, they were talking about the wall. I just finished Shadow, and it struck me that I think I know what the wall is.

My guess is that the Wall contains the equipment to create a force field around the city to protect the inhabitants when the Sun goes nova (the transition between the old and the new sun).

It also struck me that the magnetic pole of "Urth" was inverted, because North goes to the hot climate, and South goes to the colder zones.

Of course they could be in the southern Hemisphere, but I like my theory better.

I still like Tom's speculation that it's the outer circle of the starport that Nessus used to be. If it is that, I could also imagine it having the ability to generate a force field to protect the city (from nova or attack or a runaway rocketship) - that would help explain its size - but I'd expect that the force field doesn't work anymore.

Oh, I just mean I find the idea of it also being the base of a force field around the old starport logical, but I'm guessing that aspect of it is no longer functional (view spoiler)[mostly because we get no hint of it in the books (hide spoiler)].

Yes, it's definitely otherwise in use. In fact, in this thread we discussed how Severian and Dorcas' "vision" of a building hanging over the city in chapter 31 of Shadow is likely a rocket ship taking off, so it could be that while most of the rocket-towers are defunct, Nessus is in part still playing its old role of spaceport. The cacogens in the Wall are possibly being ferried to certain gates/exits, just like in an airport.

They're definitely in the southern hemisphere--South America.

Jlawrence wrote: "In fact, in this thread we discussed how Severian and Dorcas' "vision" of a building hanging over the city in chapter 31 of Shadow is likely a rocket ship taking off..."

Spoiler from later books: (view spoiler)[Actually, that's the Pelerines' tent. It's spelled out explicitly later on. (hide spoiler)] I think it's in Sword when Severian talks with Cyriaca.

I just can't buy the Wall as being part of a starport; I mean, the city is many miles across, isn't it? And the city proper has actually travelled up the river over the years, yet still resides within the Walls. Why would a starport shield encompass a lake, a river, the fields, and all that extra space around the city proper? It doesn't add up, I don't think.

Chris about their vision, (view spoiler)[Hm, I know the tent went up in flames, but how would it appear this way: "Hanging over the city like a flying mountain in a dream was an enormous building-a building with towers and buttresses and an arched roof. Crimson light poured from its windows...but before I could frame a syllable, the building had vanished like a bubble in a fountain, leaving only a cascade of sparks." That sounds much more massive and fortress-like than the Pelerine tent, and I don't understand how it would appear suspended over the city and then -poof- disappear with a shower of sparks. Is there something Cyriaca says that explains that? (hide spoiler)]

Well, the force-field part really is just pure speculation, but since its an obvious piece of high-tech still left standing, and the traditional use of a wall around a city is protection, it makes sense to me that it could possibly have the power to extend a protective shield further vertically with a energy dome-shield, since having rockets around in the Citadel introduces an extra dimension that would have been important to the city/spaceport it once was. And (view spoiler)[the lethal shield around the gold ring of Tyhpon's statue at least gives an example of a force field, although a comparatively small one (and granted, maybe it wasn't a force field, but simply a proximity sensor and a laser) (hide spoiler)]. Maybe more of that entire expanse of land was considered important at one time -- it must have been, if the wall has any protective purpose.

For being functionally connected to the starport - there are all those underground tunnels beneath the tower-rockets - they could conceivably lead to inside the Wall, and, as Adrienne pointed out, Severian does see cacogens inside the Wall, through its (apparent) windows.

Regarding the "vision", think in terms of a paper lantern or hot air balloon.