Somewhere I read Wolfe quoted as saying Severian was an (one of many?) aspect of the Outsider.
Dan'l thinks:
1 quoted line
God is outside,in NS; when he incarnates and enters inside, it must change everything. Not least, it must end the whole cycle of universes, and fix one - ours - as the only reality, now with a definite beginning & definite end.
Sounds Buddhist, yes? They reach their Nirvana by escaping the endless reincarnation cycle of birth and death.
-bsharp