Subject: (urth) Palaemon

From: thalassocrat at nym.hush.com <thalassocrat at nym.hush.com>
Date: Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:39:06 +0000

The Terminus Est discussion raises a tangential issue which has 
bothered me: how does Palaemon come to have such a valuable antique 
in his personal possession? 

Not by inheritance, of course. 

Did he save up his torturer salary and buy it? Unlikely? I think 
probably somebody gave it to him, as he gave it to Sev. If in 
return for a service, I imagine it must have been a very valuable 
service. And he must like Sev *a lot*, to give it to him.

Anyway, I think Palaemon deserves more story-making-up than he's 
been given. Where did he get his sword? Where did he get his eyes? 
Why was he temporarily exiled? Can we connect him to Sev, family-
wise?

Was he the silent traveller who spent an evening with the old woman 
and her son in the Stone Town, sleeping beside his staff? 
(Recalling that Sev believes many must have mistaken Terminus Est 
for a staff during his travels.) There aren't many other 
candidates, if the traveller is somebody we know from elsewhere in 
the story.

And if he was the traveller, does he have anything to do with the 
Pelerine garment Sev finds himself lying upon after his encounter 
with Apu Paunchu? It would be nice if the garment were related to 
Catherine, somehow. Did he also encounter Apu Paunchu?

Palaemon was in exile about 30 years (maybe a little less) before 
Sev meets Winnoc in the Pelerine's lazarette. About 10 years before 
Sev's birth, by Sev's reckoning. IIRC, Winnoc gives the impression 
that Palaemon's exile was for a fixed, not very lengthy term.

Casdoe's father reminds Sev of Palaemon (except for the eyes). 

Ummmm ... dunno. Anybody care to make up a story from all this?

---

From: thalassocrat at nym.hush.com <thalassocrat at nym.hush.com>
Date: Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:02:43 +0000

Trying to make up a Palaemon story is like squeezing blood from a 
stone, but I guess there's a couple more pieces of data which might 
be relevant. 

We can infer that he was in the same general neighborhood as the 
Pelerines at the time he punished Winnoc, around ten years before 
Sev's birth. After the punishment, Winnoc searches for a group to 
belong to, and soon ends up with the Pelerines.

At that time, it's plausible that Catherine would have been a 
Pelerine postulant. Eg: If my Catherine = Ouen's sister story is 
right, she would have been around 13 years old then (born ~41 years 
before Sev meets old boatman, when Sev is ~18). If I'm wrong, a ~13 
year old Catherine is still plausible.

We know from Cyriaca that Pelerine postulants could be about this 
age. 

I think it's a fair guess that the place was Liti, down south along 
the river. Eata's story in UOTNS tells us that foreign-sailing 
caravels departed from there; Winnoc was thinking of signing on a 
ship like that; Palaemon little glitch about Sev's destination, 
thinking for a moment that it was to the south.

Liti of course was Burgundofora's destination with her captain 
lover, after betraying Sev.

Dunno what, if anything, all this means ...

---

From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:39:44 +0000

Another detail you can work with is that Palaemon trained Master 
Gurloes. The dates and ages seem to imply that Palaemon was a master of 
apprentices, then a journeyman exile (demoted from a Master?), then back 
to a Master and teacher again in Sev's time.

The old autarch says that he has an agent in the guild (in Citadel), who 
could well be Palaemon. Perhaps Paleamon's restoration to favor and his 
valuable sword are both a result of his autarch connection. Could the 
reason for this be Sev's training itself? Possibly, since we don't know 
for sure who trained Sev1.