Subject: (urth) Aquastor!!!

From: mary whalen <marewhalen at yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 01 Aug 1998 21:10:17 +0000

This is Sean Whalen (prion).

I think that I have found the name aquastor.  While reading about
golems, I saw that aquastor is the mystical name for a created being,
such as a golem or homunculus.

One legend about the golem is that God told a Jew to sculpt a man out
of the clay of the River Jordan.  On this was placed a tablet
inscribed with the name of god (remember the Hierodules' lecture on
souls being like carved words?).  The golem was then a healer; a slave
of the Jews.  Any Jew who looked on it was healed.  This resembles
Severian so much, I can't help but think it's related.

Supposedly, the concentration and power of a trained mind is required
for an aquastor's creation and maintenance.  Also, the creator is
responsible for the actions of the aquastors it creates.

Perhaps part of Severian's special relationship with the people from
Yesod is that they made an eidolon of him when he died, and are
responsible for him.  Why would they resurrect some anonymous Urth
boy?  Because they knew him in his future, which is their past.  It's
all cyclic, you see.

In the BNS, if there is any difference between the terms eidolon and
aquastor, it seems to be that the eidolon is created from the memories
of the person being recreated.  Aquastors come from the memories of
other people.  The mind from which the memories for the aquastor would
not be able to tell that they were not the real people, since they
would never act in a way that the originator wouldn't believe them to
do, even if the real person would have done something different from
that.  An eidolon would be exactly like the original, since it is
created from the original's memories.  Actually, the eidolon would
only be a perfect copy if the original had all the memories of its
life.  A being with imperfect memory would have experienced things and
have memories hidden (or unavailable) to its current memories, and
would probably actually be slightly different from the original,
though not in significant ways, since only remembered memories would
probably have affected the original anyway.

May I propose a theory?  Severian resurrects people; that is apparent.
 But, what do these renati do?  They do one of two things.  They
appear normal to Severian if he knew them, or they have almost no
memories if he didn't.  When Severian resurrects the uhlan, he acts
like Sev. thinks an uhlan should act, and remembers what Sev. saw
happen to him.  When Sev. resurrects the soldier, he has no memory,
but acts in a way like Jonas, whom Sev. was reminded of when
resurrecting him. He knows only what Sev. knew about him:  that he was
a soldier, and that he had a love.  He even completely adopts the name
Sev. decided to use for him.  The man animated by the necromancer was
unknown to him, too, and has no memories except hatred for the
necromancer, whom Sev. already knew had "raised" him.  There seems to
be no reason for these people to have no memories, other than what
Sev. knows about them.  This theory, if true, solves many problems and
questions using only information provided in the books.

When Sev. resurrects Thecla in his mind he had eaten part of her and
the alzabo, so he had all of her memories when giving her life
(recreating her soul in him).  We can't even be sure exactly what the
process of autarchization is like to someone with imperfect memory and
without revitalizing power.

prion
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From: m.driussi <m.driussi at genie.com>
Date: Sun, 02 Aug 1998 14:57:00 +0000

prion,

Could we have a text citation for that "aquastor" tidbit?  Author,
title, publisher, date of publication, page number of item.

Thanks in advance!

=mantis=