Lives of the Great Beasts

David Stockhoff · 02 Jul 2010, 19:17 · from 2010-July.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:17:43 -0400
Subject: (urth) Lives of the Great Beasts
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Nice idea. I always wondered what their motivation was, in taking an 
interest in Urth among all the planets and races that might be out there.

That would explain their interest in Urth, if as Yesodis they opposed 
the Yesod project to raise it up. It would be appropriately Satanic.

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 11:38 AM, Jonathan Goodwin <joncgoodwin at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> Jonas tells Severian that they were brought to Earth, possibly in the
>> zoetic tower, to replace the extinct fauna (I don't have the exact
>> quote, but I think that's a reasonable approximation.) I suppose they
>> might also have been summoned via catoptromancy, though this seems
>> later in the timeline. If the former, then they must have been smaller
>> and in a different form. I think it might be reasonable to assume that
>> their true nature was not known and it was supposed that, while they
>> may grow large, they would not be monstrously intelligent, ambitious
>> beasts with the desire to rule the planet and the stars from which
>> they came. What would their own world have been like, then? But then
>> it occurred to me that creatures such as this would take on the
>> characteristics of their rulers as they grew. This would fit Wolfe's
>> treatment of alien life forms in other contexts and have some larger
>> thematic significance.
>>
>> Does that seem plausible?
>>     
>
>
> Has anyone given any serious consideration to the idea that they are
> "fallen" Yesodi? Hieresiarchs, as it were?
>
>

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