Resurrections

David Stockhoff · 01 Aug 2010, 18:36 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:36:01 -0400
Subject: (urth) Resurrections
In-Reply-To: <4C55B9C1.2060902 at io.com>
References: <SNT123-W102EAF82936D83BA5B3B78CFAB0 at phx.gbl>	<4C53EFB0.7000501 at io.com>	<AANLkTimW46WUP1H=_3BHedctLc_d0uV_M3_UsH0ZFA52 at mail.gmail.com>
	<4C55B9C1.2060902 at io.com>
Message-ID: <4C55BE91.4000702 at verizon.net>

Some autarchs may have ruled for only a week.

Jeff Wilson wrote:
> On 7/31/2010 12:52 PM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
>> On Sat, Jul 31, 2010 at 2:41 AM, Jeff Wilson<jwilson at io.com>  wrote:
>>
>>> Whatever "they" are, I don't think they are meant to have a truly 
>>> objective
>>> identity and feelings apart from Severian, any more than the 
>>> aquastors have
>>> from their Yesodi controllers. Maybe an eidolon, which has to be
>>> reconstructed with as perfect fidelity to the original as possible, 
>>> would
>>> count as "an" objective person, if not the same objective person.
>>
>> Actually I suspect that Severian is supposed to be an exception to the
>> general principle you laid down (and I agree with). Through his Magic
>> Resurrection Ability, Thecla at least lives again in him. I'm not so
>> sure about the prior Autarchs.
>
> The old Autarch does claim he will live, and re-reading reveals his 
> mention of cells that will take up residence in Severian's body. So 
> technically, some living tissue may survive though the mandrake in the 
> Autarch's Citadel quarters disagrees that constitutes life.
>
> There are said to be hundreds of personalities, but a thousand years 
> is not really long enough for that many Autarchs. The old leech says 
> that many men of learning use the alzabo extract, and "confine 
> ourselves to the most retentive tissues."  The old Autarch says "The 
> drug is in the vial I wear at my neck, and that blade will split the 
> bones of my skull like pine. I have had occasion to use it, and I 
> promise it."
>
> So the Autarchs may have occasion to use the analeptic to add other 
> minds to theirs outside the line of succession. It would seem the 
> ideal way to interrogate a subject whose debrief must be absolutely 
> reliable or may involve complex and nuanced answers, but the time to 
> recover from use of the drug would make it difficult to schedule. 
> Still, I don't think it is something that would go on if the subjects 
> literally lived on in the host, with significant volition and 
> initiative. Sev records Thecla acting in his absence, but that still 
> remains but a single will even if it is confused about which set of 
> memories it should act on.
>

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