bsharp's Inire theory

Roy C. Lackey · 08 Jul 2008, 05:09 · from 2008-July.txt.gz

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From: rclackey at stic.net (Roy C. Lackey)
Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2008 00:09:42 -0500
Subject: (urth) bsharp's Inire theory
Message-ID: <006001c8e0b8$d746ba00$a3ce4a0c at rclackey.stic.net>

Jeff Wilson quoted and wrote:

>Roy C. Lackey wrote:
>> Dave Tallman wrote:
>>> Still, Inire is of a "short-lived race" (Citadel XXXVIII), and the B,F,O
>>> Hierodules are said to live "a score of years, like dogs" (Sword
XXXIII).
>>> There has to be a connection. Probably both are creations of the
>>> Hierogrammates from the same original life-forms. Their shorter
lifespans
>>> may have made it easier to accelerate their evolution. Multiple types of
>>> Hierodules seem to have been made, with different roles.
>
>It seems like a stretch for Inire to serve the Autarchs for a thousand
>years when he only lives for 20 himself, even using time travel to skip
>over the boring parts but still create the Second House and the
>Botanical Gardens.

Nevertheless, the line Dave referenced reads: "[...]old Father Inire, alive
so long beyond the span of his short-lived kind[...]". Whatever the
explanation, that's the way it was, and that's what we have to work with.

>> Immediately before reading the letter, Sev spoke to Rudesind of Inire:
"We
>> know your master is what the people call a cacogen, and that for whatever
>> reason, he is one of those few who have chosen to cast their lots
entirely
>> with humanity, remaining on Urth as a human being. The Cumaean is another
>> such, though perhaps you did not know that."
>>
>> Fuel for the fire. Obviously, Inire is an alien of some sort, not a human
>> being. But he is capable of taking on the form of one.
>
>Don't the heirodules already have humanlike faces, under their "scary
>alien" masks?

Barbatus and Famulimus do. After taking Sev to their cabin on the Ship they
removed their masks:

"Famulimus's falsely human face was gone, revealing
some huge-eyed horror with needle teeth; she pulled that
away as well, and I saw (for one last time, as I then
believed) the beauty of a goddess not born of woman."
(URTH, V, 35)

Barbatus is described as "handsome, inhuman".

> I don't see Inire as a shapeshiter so much as an actor, he
>puts on a hood and robe to hide his nonhuman proportions and carries a
>walking stick for support in Urth's gravity and passes as a wizened old
>man. Urthers see the hood, the robe, a few sparkly doodads of vague
>function, hear the archaic speech he learnt from colonials long
>departed, and call him "Father Inire" on the assumption he's a priest;
>he doesn't deny this as he is most certainly a servant of the higher
>powers in heaven/Yesod.

A "holy slave" need not be restricted to only one race of beings.

-Roy

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