Subject: (urth) "The Autarch's Face"

From: Charles Dye <raster at highfiber.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 13:42:46 +0000

So saith m.driussi at genie.com (mantis) :

>This detail sparks other associations: for the current inquiry we
>will assume that the coins have Valeria's face.  However, the
>mysterious coin of TBOTNS, which had a womanly face on it from a
>model never really identified, a coin given by Vodalus to Severian,
>turned out to be a fake coin.  Who was the model?  (People seem to
>assume that it is the old Autarch, unmanned and androgynous.
>Personally I think it is more likely to be Tzadkiel.)

Another mystery:  How can Vodalus not recognize the Autarch whom
he hates and wants to destroy?  Especially if his profile is in
circulation on the coinage?  The old Autarch (oh, call him
"Appian," I like the Claudian connection) is supposed to have
acted as one of Vodalus's servants.  Sounds like a recipe for
assassination to me!

Putting someone else on the coins helps, but not much.  Surely
the court would notice, and Vodalus is not some farmer from
Podunk.  He'd hear rumors, right?  Thea was *at* the court!
"The face on the chrisos doesn't look much like the Autarch.
He's chubbier, and he has thinner hair and no wings ...."

raster at highfiber.com

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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From: m.driussi <m.driussi at genie.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 21:27:00 +0000

raster,

Right, Appian is playing so many roles he rivals Kokkor Hekkus of THE
KILLING MACHINE!  Thea would certainly recognize Appian--after all,
Thecla-in-Severian does--so does he therefore always meet Vodalus
alone, in dark rooms?

This leads to the thread that "Vodalus is really Appian's
selected heir (or one of them), as opposed to Baldanders (self-made
man) and Severian (selected by someone else)."  Vodalus does seem to
be "in on" a game of some sort; even though at the same time he seems
naive and flashy.

There is a bit of trouble in offering the Phoenix Throne to an
exultant, however.

Back to the coin, I think having Tzadkiel's face on it would be like
having a Liberty dime, that is, a coin with Liberty depicted on it as
a lofty goal or guiding principle.  Let alone a momento of the Trial.
And a way to avoid being recognized by any citizen with a coin.

Tangent alert: hey, what do you think--maybe "Empires of Foliage and
Flower" is actually set in what we know of as the Commonwealth!  The
Yellow Empire could be the Greco-Roman "Northwest Area" we all know
and love so well; the Green Empire might be the Persian zone I keep
envisioning as being to the east beyond the mountains (homeland of
people with names like Abdiesus).  The Yellow Empire uses gold coins
(like the Commonwealth); the Yellow Emperor travels incognito because
of security reasons.  So "Xanth" would be House Absolute or the city
of the Monarch, and "Vert" would be a Persianesque city like
Ctesiphon or Vathek.  Then the war is over and the empires united, so
that Persian troops could fight alongside the Europeanish city
legions at Orithyia.

Just a thought.

=mantis=