Sev's common lineage

Mark Millman · 30 Jun 2008, 16:05 · from 2008-June.txt.gz

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From: markjmillman at gmail.com (Mark Millman)
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:05:11 -0400
Subject: (urth) Sev's common lineage
In-Reply-To: <BAY103-W384A6630C654486BBFD3AAD79F0 at phx.gbl>
References: <BAY103-W384A6630C654486BBFD3AAD79F0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <c873c2920806300905r562031e1l46274cd7a32b6a11 at mail.gmail.com>

Dear b sharp:

On Monday 30 June 20008, you wrote:

> I still don't see that any effort should
> be made to find a source of exultant
> blood for Severian.

Severian is the Epitome of Urth, and possibly of humanity, if Urth be
taken to be the epitome of the human worlds of the galaxy.  The
exultants are of Urth and have been since the time of the Monarch a
thousand years earlier, but originated off-world.  It's possible  that
among the reasons that Ymar and the Old Autarch failed is that they
did not represent the exultants.  If Severian has exultant heritage,
then he does.

> He is tall compared to most people
> but at least a head shorter than
> every single exultant he meets. In
> other words, he is of armiger height . . .

I have yet to see any evidence that armigers are, on average or as a
whole group, taller than optimates.  Can anyone provide documentation,
or is this an idea that has become enshrined in the common
understanding without actually having any support in the text?

I know it's been posited in the past that armigers may be taller than
optimates because their social class is higher, which by this argument
would imply that they should, on average, be able afford to nourish
themselves better, but I don't think this follows.  (My bet would be
that in reality there are many more wealthy optimate families than
armigerous ones, and that many--even most--of the latter have declined
and retain hardly more than their rank, and certainly very little
wealth; but I wouldn't suggest that there's much evidence to back this
view.)  I think that the only systematic difference in height between
classes for which evidence exists is that between exultants and
everybody else, and that the roots of exultant height precede their
return to Urth.  (I speculated many years ago on alternative
explanations for the exultants' height; that posting is in the
archives.)

Best,

Mark Millman

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