Inhumi in the Whorl

Lee Berman · 18 Aug 2010, 18:02 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:02:08 -0400
Subject: (urth) Inhumi in the Whorl
Message-ID: <SNT123-W11CD4DC2B57A64F8E9231DCF9D0 at phx.gbl>

James, I'm sensing a misunderstanding of my general framework for BotNS,
which Roy derisively calls the "Grand Unified Theory". I have one which
works pretty well for me but I understand it doesn't always jibe with 
the theories of others causing misunderstandings. I'll post my G.U.T.
sometime soon if it seems worth it but for now I'll try to just answer
your questions, hoping it is understood there is a supporting framework
beneath it, perhaps unseen.

>James Wynn- Look, in the five New Sun books, we never meet a megatherian...

I disagree. By naming convention alone I think we do meet one. The acknowledged 
megatherians generally have the names of giant mythological monsters (Arioch,
the fallen angel, is an exception but that's a different part of the G.U.T).
And yes, we seem never meet them as we meet other giagantic creatures like
Tzadkiel and The Mother. (I do think we do meet a very small one named Juturna
and another even smaller named Idas)

But we have another character who is unequivocally named for a mythological monster. 
And this one we do meet. Typhon of course. By his name alone we can group him with 
the others. His human form should not fool us. That was a common trick of the 
ancient gods. (We actually do see The Mother and Tzadkiel do a certain pinching 
technique to create a human form)

When we add the fact that Typhon has superhuman powers of telepathy and 
clairvoyance (just like the mandragora in the bottle) and his claim that he "was 
not born" in the sense that Severian understands the term I think his status as 
megatherian is solidified. His poor sense of identity with his own body, and 
willingness to be grafted onto Piaton's adds more.

One might wonder about his resurrection. Severian can only resurrect human beings.
It is my general thinking that megatherian monster/gods have a component of 
immortality. It is only Piaton that Severian resurrects. 

>Scylla on the Whorl is software entity and she came with the Whorl.

Yes, it is my understanding that The Whorl was built by Typhon (Pas) on Urth and 
the gods of The Whorl are the uploaded minds/personalities of Typhon and his family. 
Kinda like Mr. Million. As Typhon was fleshly real, so were Echidna, Scylla, Tartaros, etc.
Unlike Mr. Million I think the uploading needn't have killed the donor. Thus, copies of 
Scylla, both biological and electronic, can exist simultaneously on Urth and the Whorl 
and Blue.

>It's the one [Scylla] named after a Greek female monster. And then we have huge undersea 
>creature on Blue named Mother.

Agreed on the connection. But Echidna is also female and was "*The Mother* of all Monsters". 
Moreover the Whorl humans have shifted worship toward Echidna now that they are on Blue. 
I don't know if the evidence for Scylla or Echidna as The Mother is stronger, I'm only 
suggesting both are there for me.

I think if the megatherians on Blue and Urth are related, the more original source is Blue 
(and perhaps other planets).  From that source they were spread to Urth during its First 
Empire (the black beans). After a while, Typhon realized Urth was no longer hospitable 
(black hole) and perhaps that he was contending with powers too great for him and decided 
to send a ship of the delightful Urthly human worshipers and slaves he treasured back to 
the home planet(s) before he escaped himself.

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