Sev's Silence about Catherine

Roy C. Lackey · 27 Jun 2008, 05:06 · from 2008-June.txt.gz

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From: rclackey at stic.net (Roy C. Lackey)
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:06:22 -0500
Subject: (urth) Sev's Silence about Catherine
Message-ID: <001201c8d813$8da8fe60$e3cf4a0c at rclackey.stic.net>

bsharp quoted and wrote:
>>Anyway, as I told you before, the text specifically states
>>that Valeria's family "had given many castellans to the Citadel, but the
>>last had died generations ago;".
>
>Sorry I didn't remember that Roy; it must have been a couple years ago.

Yes, it was. August 16, 2006, to be specific:

http://lists.urth.net/pipermail/urth-urth.net/2006-August/006684.html

>Good that you rememer clearly.  But didn't you prompt my response with
>your earlier challenge?:

Nope. I was responding to your assertion of this June 25th that concluded:
"It is far simpler and more explanatory to think that Catherine is mother to
Valeria."

>>If Valeria is Sev's sister and Ouen is not her father, that father
>>must be accounted for.
>
>I smell a set-up! ;-)

I'm shocked, absolutely shocked that anyone could think such a thing of me!
Now seriously, if you contend that Valeria is Sev's sister, and we know that
Sev's parents are Ouen and Catherine, and the text makes it impossible for
Ouen to be Valeria's father, then her father must be someone else. It ain't
the old Castellan.

>So it sounds as if Roy must espouse the alternate view that Valeria has no
>father and  is a clone of Catherine.  Perhaps a long chain of clones which
>would explain why she looked younger than Severian but had an antique
quality
> that made her seem older than Master Palaemon.   (j/k Roy).

Of course you have to be joking to mention me and clones in the same breath.
<g> But the "antique quality" Sev wrote of actually referred to her
"metal-trimmed dress". What kind of dress is metal-trimmed?

>Speaking of clones, if kaibits really do exist in this world I've wondered
about
>their names. They must have names as they seem to have their own lives, not
>just immobile vat women passively providing blood to their mistresses. My
final
>(in this round) speculation is that a kaibit would appropriately have a
name which
>is derived from their mistress's name, but shortened. Examples might be
>Josephina-Josepha, Catherine-Carina, Pelagia-Pega. Though they are of
similar
>height I wonder about Thecla-Thea. Perhaps that's what the unexplained
"half-sister"
>business is about? Another thought to consider is that the name Thea is a
bit too short
>to derive a shorter (saint) name from. Perhaps her kaibit is named Thais
(Thea's).

Don't you think Sev would have noticed any presumed resemblance between
Thais and Thea on that makeshift raft?

-Roy

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