The Two Coins...

Roy C. Lackey · 13 Aug 2010, 16:34 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: rclackey at stic.net (Roy C. Lackey)
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:34:56 -0500
Subject: (urth) The Two Coins...
References: <95B8CC4B-7E48-47AB-8464-E72EE1E93F2D at liftingfaces.com><006801cb3af8$13886f40$34cd4a0c@rclackey>
	<66A987F9-F025-46ED-807E-9FA6721C929D at liftingfaces.com>
Message-ID: <009601cb3b05$7b35f4c0$34cd4a0c@rclackey>

Ryan Dunn wrote:
> Okay, but it is called a false coin and rather readily by Dr. Talos, so
what marks it as false?<

The greasy texture, in part. At any rate, there is something about the
dubious specie Talos collected that night that set them apart from the coins
that were undoubtedly genuine.

> Dr. Talos is quick to tell Severian and Dorcas to be careful using the
second coin which matches the one in Severian's mausoleum. Who is supposed
to be on the coin besides the Autarch at that time?<

Huh? No one else. The face on the bad coins was the same as on the good
ones. Who would try to pass counterfeit coins with an unknown's face on
them? It would draw unwanted attention.

> I just thought that, since Tzadkiel is a hierogrammate, that androgynous
or feminine could apply to him as well, combined with his ship. It would
mean the coin came from somewhere else, and might have some meaning.<

I knew better than to get involved. <g> This is the title of the relevant
chapter in SHADOW: "The Autarch's Face". That should be enough, I hope. As
for the flying ship on the reverse side of the coin, the Old Autarch had
gone to Yesod the same way Sev would.

BTW, if I had to guess who had dropped a false coin at the play that night,
it would be Hildegrin. Somewhere, IIRC, he said that he had been keeping an
eye on Sev for Vodalus, and Vodalus was shown to pass bad coins.

-Roy

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