Subject: (urth) Re: Silk as Typhon

From: Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net>
Date: Sat, 08 Mar 2003 18:27:41 +0000

Don wrote:
>This has occurred to me, and here is my solution.  The Gods in
>mainframe are not actual visual representations of their scans but
>archetypal god figures, unless of course Typhon's wife has snakes for
>hair.  The fact that Typhon had a hang-up about his appearance supports
>this.  He was eager to get rid of his second head.  Why scan that into
>Mainframe?  It's a problem for consideration, but it's not fatal.  The
>thematic signs IMO point to Silk being Typhon.

Then here is a somewhat more scientific objection. When Silk briefly "died"
in that tunnel collapse, he was granted a 'vision' by the Outsider (and it
_was_ the Outsider; Pas can't raise the dead) of his "parents". That
'vision' is treated in the text as every bit as valid as Silk's
enlightenment. In that vision he saw _four_ parents, not three. The four
were his "mother" (who gave birth to the embryo and raised him), his
adoptive father (the old Calde Tussah), the "tall" "blue-eyed" man (who was
his "biological" father) and the undescribed woman (who was his "biological"
mother) (LS3:9). If that woman contributed biological material to the embryo
that became Silk, then it is not possible for the embryo to have been a
clone of Typhon, or of anyone else.

-Roy

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From: Chris <rasputin_ at hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 08 Mar 2003 19:02:49 +0000

>clone of Typhon, or of anyone else.

This is a good point, and I think it points back to an older theory that 
Silk was an embryo that was intended to be a future body for Typhon/Pas 
after the landing. We already know that Typhon is not fastidious about the 
genetics of the body his mind inhabits - if anything he considers it an 
accoutrement or tool, and would want as "souped up" a version as he could 
get. Whether this was accomplished through eugenics, or some kind of genetic 
manipulation of his biological parents is impossible to say.

I believe, as well, that this is not an insoluble problem in the grand 
scheme of Don's thesis. Thematically, it amounts to the same thing- Silk was 
intended to be Typhon, in either case.

Of course, there is always the possibility that the people Silk saw were 
actually *Typhon's* parents, but it seems highly unlikely that Typhon's 
parents would have been alive to be scanned into the mainframe; and if they 
had, they would have had a place in Pas' pantheon.

Chris

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From: Lisa Schaffer-Doggett <harlekin at earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, 08 Mar 2003 23:21:19 +0000

On Saturday, March 8, 2003, at 11:02 AM, Chris wrote:

> This is a good point, and I think it points back to an older theory 
> that Silk was an embryo that was intended to be a future body for 
> Typhon/Pas after the landing. We already know that Typhon is not 
> fastidious about the genetics of the body his mind inhabits - if 
> anything he considers it an accoutrement or tool, and would want as 
> "souped up" a version as he could get. Whether this was accomplished 
> through eugenics, or some kind of genetic manipulation of his 
> biological parents is impossible to say.
>
> scheme of Don's thesis. Thematically, it amounts to the same thing- 
> Silk was intended to be Typhon, in either case.
>
> Of course, there is always the possibility that the people Silk saw 
> were actually *Typhon's* parents, but it seems highly unlikely that 
> Typhon's parents would have been alive to be scanned into the 
> mainframe; and if they had, they would have had a place in Pas' 
> pantheon.
>
> Chris
>
>
Don replies,
Thank you both for these important considerations.  Without a second 
reading of the text, I don't have enough to work out my theory the way 
I would like to.  Another possibility I have mulled over is that Silk 
is the son of Typhon instead.  They are genetically related though, and 
I am 100% certain that Silk was meant to be the vessel for Pas.  
Another thing regarding
theophanies.  From what I recall they were never very common and the 
recipients of them all seem to see different things and have a fairly 
hazy memory of what they saw.  So it is highly possible that no one 
really knows what Pas "looks" like.  Personally, I think the 4 parents 
is a red herring like Dorcas and Ouen, but again I have to read the 
series with an eye to puzzles before I can argue with any confidence.  
I just appreciate you taking me seriously enough to reply at all.

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From: Andrew Bollen <abollen at internode.on.net>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 12:36:06 +0000

> clone of Typhon, or of anyone else.

The only reason I have seen for thinking that Silk might be a clone is the
vessel-of-Pas theory. But why should Pas want such a vessel? It is clear to
me that the mainframe is the Olympus of these "gods". Like the Greek gods,
they may foray out in human or animal guise, but this is slumming (or
desperation). Who would willingly abandon Olympus forever?

Pas' reign on Blue is to be heralded by the construction of a new
mainframe/Olympus, not by the appearance of a fleshified Passilk.

(BTW - Passilk: homoousios or homoiousios?)

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From: Jeff Wilson <jwilson at io.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 01:04:51 +0000

> From:
> "Roy C. Lackey" <rclackey at stic.net>

It =is= possible, if the biological parents are also =Typhon's= 
biological parents. (Or whoever's.)

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson/gurps/ >

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