Sham War

Lee Berman · 09 Aug 2010, 03:49 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2010 23:49:26 -0400
Subject: (urth) Sham War
Message-ID: <SNT123-W5ACF7CD71EAAE6AA0106ECF940 at phx.gbl>

>Paul B: I'd meant to bring up the quote from Inire's letter to
>the new Autarch in "Citadel" where he talks about getting the Hierogrammates
>to side with "not just the side of Urth, but /our/ side" (emphasis mine).
>That seems to contradict this pretty well.  Unless you'd like to come up
>with a reason for Inire to lie so bluntly.

It is a good point to bring up. I must say that I do not share your assumption
that when Father Inire refers to his "cousins" that this must mean 
Hierogrammates. We see F, B and O trying to distribute technology and disseminate
knowledge without malice or prejudice. Prime Directive. 

I can't see them beseeching Tzadkiel for more weapons so that one side will win a 
petty war on a small planet. This doesn't seem like very divine behavior. Quite the
opposite. And I have quite a few reasons to think that Father Inire has reason to lie
to Severian (an example given in my most recent *Boatman as Inire* post).

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