Who's Right?

Lee Berman · 03 Dec 2010, 18:24 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2010 13:24:07 -0500
Subject: (urth) Who's Right?
Message-ID: <SNT123-W3525940047FE88828CC45ECF280 at phx.gbl>

>Ryan: But we do know that Inire appears in disguise at least once, right?

Dan'l: Do we? How?

I don't think so. I always thought his most likely appearance was as the cowled servitor 
who guides Severian to the thiasus. Next likely is the little uturuncu guide with the 
monkey-head on a stick. He connects to Isangoma. After that the likelihood drops off 
sharply for such possibilities as the cynocephalus and the uakari, The Boatman, Fechin, 
Rudesind, Hethor, Ossipago, Palaemon etc. on down.

>Antonio Pedro Marques: Well... yes: what makes him [Severian] so special?

An interesting question. Let's apply it to Jesus. Your answer requires information gleaned
from History/The Bible, prayer, religious leaders etc. How would you answer the question if
you were a contemporary of Jesus as a young man in his 20's?

What would you do if you had a time machine which could transport you to the year 20 A.D.? I 
think many would try to get as close to Jesus as possible and watch him for extended periods of
time and try to figure out what was so special about him.

Moreover if the CIA or Putin or Il had such a time machine, what would they do? Perhaps
use secret agents and spies? Advanced surveillance equipment? Perhaps even some experimental testing?

I think Agia (for one) serves nicely in this role. She has access to Hethor and the mirrors and the 
peryton/pterodon for travel and viewing. So she's a little murderous...Actually if you were an 
unethical leader trying to learn the Secret of Life from a person you know cannot die before his 
time, observing a few assassination attempts could be very instructive.

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