Subject: (urth) Lives and Times of the Master Tortuers III

From: Talarican <exultnttalarican at mindspring.com>
Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 13:43:45 +0000

The second "Master Palaemon exiled incognito older Gurloes" scenario,
supposes that Palaemon had already been a master prior to his disgrace and
exile. During his exile he named himself a journeyman as an incognito. (a
counterpart to Severian's ill-fated imposture of a master in the village of
Murene by Lake Diuturna!) Or, he could have been stripped of his mastership
if such a thing is possible.

Thus, Gurloes' age would correspond to that which LU conjectures, and "forty
years ago" refers to the time Gurloes himself was Sev 's age, that is, about
nineteen and about a year away from masking. Master Palaemon, not yet
exiled, is his teacher and mentor.

The only real difference in this scenario is that it makes Gurloes sixtyish
rather than fortysomethingish at the time Sev is masked, and Gurloes still
gets elevated to master at a rather tender age, if he is to already be a
master at the time Severian is born.

***

Chronology of the 3 guild masters

c. 90? p.s. birth of Palaemon ( & Malrubius?)

c. 70? p.s. Palaemon (and Malrubius?) masked.

c. 70? p.s. Autarch Maruthas closes the roads "that was when  I [Palaemon]
was your [Severian's, in 1 p.s.] age"

c. 60 p.s. earliest probable date of Gurloes' birth

c.40? p.s.  Scholarly Palaemon is elevated to master,

c. 42 p.s. as Gurloes remembers, "things were harder, much harder, forty
years ago"; he is a senior apprentice at this time ( as Severian is at the
time Gurloes says this to him, about 1 p.s.)

c. 42 p.s. Master Palaemon teaches senior apprentice Gurloes. They have
Gurloes cranking the generator.

c.40 p.s.  Gurloes rises to journeyman, having been Palaemon's star pupil

c.35? p.s.  Malrubius elevated to master

c. 32? p.s. Palaemon exiled for unspecified offences against the guild. He
either was demoted or, as an incognito and/or out of a sense of remorse,
chose voluntarily not to proclaim himself as more than a journeyman.

c. 30 p.s. "Journeyman" Palaemon flogs Winnoc, tells him he is exiled from
the guild for an unspecified offense.

c. 28? p.s. All masters except Malrubius are dying. They decide to risk
desperate unorthodox promotions to mastership to save the guild from
extinction.

c. 27? p.s. Palaemon reinstated in Matachin Tower, elevated to master,
assumes responsibility to teach older apprentices, and does research.

c. 25? p.s. Gurloes elevated to mastership in his mid to late thirties,
older than in the other scenario, but still possibly the youngest master
torturer in the guild's history.  This may have been brought to pass by the
deaths of  all masters other than the parolee Palaemon and the ill
Malrubius.

c. 20 p.s. Severian born.

c. 11 p.s. Malrubius dies, after being bedridden with a long illness.
Palaemon becomes master of apprentices.

2 p.s., summer and fall  Severian nearly drowns, saves Vodalus in the
necropolis, encounters Triskele, Valeria, Thecla, Rundesind, Ultan, etc

2 p.s. spring  Drotte and Roche masked. Severian becomes captain of
apprentices.

1 p.s.   Severian masked, proceeds to screw up royally

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/