Hieros

b sharp · 11 Aug 2006, 03:49 · from 2006-August.txt.gz

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From: bsharporflat at hotmail.com (b sharp)
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 23:49:14 -0400
Subject: (urth) Hieros
Message-ID: <BAY103-F1214C2EC2A1FDD9DD2E78AD74B0 at phx.gbl>

Regarding this exchange:
Roy says:
>The "holy slaves" (of which Barbatus and Famulimus are examples) were a 
>race of beings
>created by the Hierogrammates to serve them in Briah. (URTH, 36) They are
>not humans, as their living quarters on Tzadkiel's Ship clearly shows.

bsharp says:
>But, Malrubius' story says the "created beings" escaped to Yesod then had
>to look back to Briah to find (not create) the Hierodules (and humanity).

Roy says:
>The exact quote is: "The Hierodules they [the Hierogrammates] have found
>too, and formed more quickly, to serve them in this universe." (CITADEL, 
>chapter XXXIV)

Roy is right of course, as always, but at the risk of hairsplitting I'll 
note it seems the Hierodules were found then (re) formed in Briah rather 
than created in Yesod from scratch. They already existed in Briah in some 
capacity.  All the similar statements I find in the text use the word 
"shape" instead of "create", which may be a purposeful distinction.

I still think Cyriaca's story is important.  Searching the archives, I find 
only Tony Ellis in one post 
(http://www.urth.net/urth/archives/v0029/0151.shtml) suggests he agrees with 
me that Cyriaca's story has something to do with the Hierogrammates, 
Hierodules, etc.

In her story, people had thoughts they put behind them because "they could 
not be written in numbers". Sounds like digital intelligence to me (and the 
basis for Long Sun Gods?).  Anyway, the machines in question, as mentioned 
before, do very Hierodule-like things like disseminating knowledge, 
artifacts and aquastors and impacting human development.

Cyriaca's story about the creation of these thinking machines takes place 
during empire building which stated to be part of Urth's and Severian's 
past.  Malrubius' story also describes an empire building era as the time 
the Hiero race created the Hierogrammates who escaped to Yesod.

Now, as Roy notes, Apheta and Tzadkiel think their Hierarch/grammate race 
will be produced by the humans of Ushas.  Are we to think that the peaceful 
priest of The Sleeper or the gentle Green Man produce an Ushas population 
who forge another bloody, galactic human empire and for   whom "Uncountable 
billions suffered and died under their guiding hands, leaving ineradicable 
memories of pain and blood"? So much for incremental improvement.

That doesn't seem right to me. Could Tzadkiel (of Yesod planet) be wrong?  
He/she certainly isn't omnicient, since Severian has to keep explaining 
stuff to Tzadkiel versions from giantess to tinker bell, each time.  Well, 
we know there is an even higher power at work.

Maybe the Hierodules were produced in Severian's past by (not yet fully 
formed in Wolfe's mind) empire-creating Whorls.  Perhaps these are the 
digital intelligences of Cyriaca's story.  Some hierodules escaped to Yesod 
to become Hierogrammates, of whom one (Tzadkiel) returned to Briah to shape 
the remaining Hierodules he/she found into tools to reform the now legendary 
Urth.

Well, that's my best attempt as synthesis for now, in lieu of throwing up my 
hands screaming "time paradox"

-bsharp

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