the mogul-rich were a new breed hence unknown to the surface of the earth and their transmigrations between continents birthed epicycles in their wakes like those of giants ships , and in those wakes spun facsimiles of cultures , swirls of color and of lives cast and dashed and hoped and remixed like spilled paints , clinging to the money and the inspiration and the excess , and moving into a form or a role that either held its shape and was towed along further in the slipstream of the vessel or else spun off lazily and detached to dissipate in the sea .