Inire's Machines?

Spectacled Bear, Father Inire's machine? Really! I didn't know he had any. So this tower stomping around underground does not pre-date the Autarchy, since Inire serves the Autarchs from Ymar to Severian (and Valeria's regency, presumably). The mine shaft was begun in (one year before) the era of the Conciliator (or "week of the Conciliator") (V, ch. 34, last page). The Autarchy began sometime after the era of the Conciliator. Hmmm. Well, ships are built within bottles, after all. And Cyriaca's tale tells of bad machines digging down to the twisted roots of trees and finding, essentially, Pandora's box of techno-toys, so there you have it. But her tale places these bad machines at a time far distant, at the long decline of the First Empire. Which presumably comes before Typhon's attempt at a Second Empire; and Typhon comes before Autarchy. Long time, maybe even deep time according to some. =mantis= (Would my wife be "mantisa" or "womantic"? Do I have a choice?) =m=

His teleporting mirrors strike me as high-tech in the extreme. Am I missing something fundamental here?

The forged letter says that the treasure belongs to the Autarch and is guarded by "certain servitors of Father Inire's" (Claw, ch 5). The treasure exists, one or more sets of guards exist, and the man-apes are commanded by the Autarch (Claw, ch 6). So that part of the letter is born out, and Father Inire is responsible for at least the man-apes. Given that, isn't it reasonable for him to be responsible for a greater guard, to be invoked when the apes aren't coping? Having said that, I'm quite happy for the tower to have been there for ages and been awakened by the Claw instead. Or combine the two theories and have it found down there, refurbished and pressed into service. (I quite like that idea, come to think of it.)

They are, but it seems like hard work. Especially if you have a set of teleporting mirrors. Or maybe it was there all the time as you suggest, the miners found it, and that's why this particular mine was used as a treasure-house in the first place. SBear. P.S. teleporting mirrors, ships in bottles - you are Hethor, and I claim my five pounds!