Typhon & the Whorl (was Prior Race On Blue And Green)

gwern0 at gmail.com · 17 Dec 2007, 22:00 · from 2007-December.txt.gz

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From: gwern0 at gmail.com (gwern0 at gmail.com)
Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:00:35 -0500
Subject: (urth) Typhon & the Whorl (was  Prior Race On Blue And  Green)
In-Reply-To: <6.2.1.2.1.20071217093621.03ace6b0 at pop.vippn.com>
References: <mailman.3378.1197883605.1588.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
	<6.2.1.2.1.20071217093621.03ace6b0 at pop.vippn.com>
Message-ID: <20071217220034.GA26900@localhost>

On 2007.12.17 13:12:39 -0600, Dan <autarch at vippn.com> scribbled 4.9K characters:

> I agree that Typhon would never do anything out of altruism. I'm not sure
> what you mean by "a world he already solidly ruled."  Typhon was abandoned
> and besieged and was awaiting the arrival of the Conciliator to free him of
> Piaton's stubborn hold on his involuntary functions (which he did and he
> did, lol). Remember during his brief discussion with Severian, Typhon is
> absolutely arrogant. This and personal survival are his twin drives for
> injecting a copy of himself into the Whorl project and hijacking it. Being
> STL, no one saw it's utility in escaping the global cooling "disaster" that
> had befallen the Earth. I don't think it was built from the ground up (or
> shiprock in) as a personal vessel for Typhon's digital self and its
> amusement. The time frame is too long and his position too tenuous for him
> to oversee it's completion. Typhon simply copied himself into the mainframe
> and created it's religion or inserted himself in it as it's Godhead and his
> treacherous family as pantheon of lesser gods.
>
>   Whatever the original design, I think Typhon wanted the Whorl to return
> to Earth after things calmed down after a few centuries to "recolonize"
> using technical experts released from suspended animation to start fixing
> things, millions of peons that worshipped him as a god to provide the labor
> and armies of chems to reestablish order. Then they could either revive the
> original Typhon or if he was lost Pas could download into a suitable body
> and reestablish his empire and glory.
>
> Evidently something went wrong with his plan when he was deposed by his
> children and the inhumani hijacked the ship and redirected it to Green/Blue.
>
>   Dan

Perhaps I missed something (I've not read Long or Short sun as thoroughly as I should have), but why are you assuming the Whorl was launched during the latter days of Typhon's empire? An advanced, complex, long-term, and hence extremely expensive interstellar generation-spaceship is not the sort of project you launch when everything is decaying around you. It's the sort of hubristic project launched just before or during one's prime.

--
gwern
Mace tekka .375 RX- nowhere Templar imagery Keyhole AMEMB gold
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