Seven Severians

Sev1: ProtoS, proto-Severian, Severian the Cruel. Goes to Thrax, War, gains Throne, goes to Yesod, comes back. Sev2: the putative Narrator, the optimized Severian. Gets Claw; meets Apu; goes to Thrax; meets Typhon; meets Ash; gains Throne; gets on ship bound for Yesod--dies on ship. Sev3: Avatar of Change, The Conciliator. Goes to Yesod; <trigger point> creates the white fountain (not blood magic this time); returns to Urth as Conciliator; <trigger point> gives Claw to soldiers (then dies on Mount Typhon and goes independent of Severian the Narrator?); goes to the Deluge; dies in Deluge (go to Sev6). Sev4: the white fountain. Linked to Severian the Narrator. Enters new phase (not so closely bound to Severian) when it merges with the Old Sun to create the New Sun. Sev5: the Claw of the Conciliator. Independent, but possibly has memories of Sev1's penitence in Yesod--this becomes the guide for miracles. Sev6: Avatar of Culture. Apu Punchau. Goes as far back in time as he can; teaches civilization; is murdered; becomes independent of Severian the Narrator <trigger point>. Sev7: the Sleeper God of Ushas. Still unaccounted for: Severian armiger of the mausoleum in the necropolis at the Citadel of the Autarch. Best candidate for this soldier at the dawn of the Age of the Autarch would be a revived, independent sliver of Sev3, after the Narrative spirit had moved on. =mantis=

Mantis said: <Still unaccounted for: Severian armiger of the mausoleum in the necropolis at the Citadel of the Autarch.> The fact that people believe in Sev's time that the Conciliator died leads me to suspect they had a body as evidence. So, when Severian "stepped into a new place" from Mount Typhon, his new sliver left behind a body. Perhaps the people loyal to the Conciliator cold have taken his body back to Nessus and put it in the tomb then. However, this does not answer the question of what the symbols on the tomb mean. Christopher R. Culver <crculver at aol.com> http://members.aol.com/crculver/index.html