Mucor and the devils

Lee Berman · 26 Nov 2010, 14:48 · from 2010-November.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2010 09:48:36 -0500
Subject: (urth) Mucor and the devils
Message-ID: <SNT123-W38A5E4718A631D5A2317C3CF210 at phx.gbl>

>Andrew Mason: Next, what are devils? The 'devils' about which Pike warned Silk are
> clearly inhumi. But as I understand it, inhumi were not present on the
> Whorl from the start, so what are the devils mentioned in the Chrasmologic writings?

>Gerry Quinn: I interpret them as fallen spirits of some sort.  I don't think they 
>necessarily refer to any specific kind of being.

I don't see the need for being parsimonious and embracing ambiguity here. I think the 
clues are pointing to a specific answer- there were Inhumi on the Whorl from the 
beginning, meaning there were Inhumi on Urth.

Such vampiric creatures are, of course, not on the forestage of the story in BotNS but
I think there are hints of them in some sections related to Dorcas and Jolenta. There is
a hint of mystery in the discussion of blood bats (including that we see their results but 
we never quite see them). And there is the vampiric Jahi in Dr. Talos' play.

Moreover, the similarities between Inhumi and the Shadow Children from 5HoC suggest to 
me that these sort of creatures were on Wolfe's mind before and after writing BotNS and
thus by inference, during.

I certainly agree with Gerry that they may be seen as "fallen spirits". Without this in
place I find no purpose for Severian and his flushing of Urth. The Bible implies that 
the Flood here on Earth was necessary because fallen angels/demons had come down and mated 
with human women, creating a giant race of Nephilim and all manner of wickedness among humans.
Dr. Talos' play contains allusions to all this.

I have found this view reinforced by some incidents in the Long Sun series. When inhumi are 
brought to Urth and convert to true human form, they show some interest in finding out what 
it is like to eat our sort of food. But mostly they have an intense desire to copulate with 
people as much as possible. (to the point that a human-inhumi war is instigated when one is 
denied the opportunity to copulate). The theme of extremely large size as a pre-requisite to
(false) godhood is found throughout the Sun series.

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