Mirrors, Apports

Reply: Item #0858372 from URTH at LISTS.BEST.COM@INET# Kieran Cleary, Re: the endpoint destination from magic mirrors in Briah, in "The Cat" we are told creatures which enter the circle are "circumfused to the borders of Briah" (ES, p. 214); the autarch offers a shortcut to "the Garden (Yesod)" when he shows Severian the book of mirrors (II, ch. 21)--true, this could be just a shortcut to the ship Tzadkiel, similar to the shortcut to the ship Tzadkiel used from the interior of worldship Yesod (V, ch. 23) . . . Borders of Briah, hmmm. "Borderlands" in this context seems more like Brook Madregot or corridors of time if it is not Yesod. "Circumfused" uses the image of "spread out" which is used in other cases of talking about mirror destinations, or so I believe. Re: apports. Based upon the one case we have, apports seem to be reflections (of sailors who pass in front of the mirrors) that come to life on their own. Are all apports really spawn of Hierogrammates as Venant was of Tzadkiel? =mantis=

er, well I haven't read "The Cat", so I'm not sure what the "circle" you're referring to is.

I really don't think this is so. The ship's hold contains the caged apports, and in fact the Tzadkiel-sliver which comes to resemble Severian is assumed to be one. The ship's sails accidentally act as mirrors and, as in the case of the Fish, images are created without an object, which subsequently come to form real beings. Gunnie finds it funny that the apports may be important people on their own worlds, but are snatched away and caged in hold of the ship. Problem here though in that Fr. Inire says that a coherent light source (laser) is required for anything more complicated than the Fish to form. The ship is presumably driven by starlight which is non-coherent. Hmmm. Kieran C. North West Labs Finisklin Industrial Estate Sligo Republic of Ireland Tel. +353 71 69441 Fax. +353 71 69451 email: kierannwn at tinet.ie