tussah bought the embryo, right?

James Wynn · 20 Dec 2010, 20:32 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:32:31 -0600
Subject: (urth) tussah bought the embryo, right?
In-Reply-To: <59992.69315.qm at web58208.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
References: <59992.69315.qm at web58208.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <4D0FBD5F.9030101 at gmail.com>

> Marc Aramini-
> Sorry to keep responding, but didn't Tussah BUY the embryo? Wasn't 
> that one of the scandals of his reign? That's why I don't think he is 
> Typhon, but just Silk's adopted father or purchaser.  Need to re-read 
> Long Sun again.
>
>

I don't deny that Tussah is Silk's adopted father, but there were 
reasons that he adopted him. Yes, he bought the embryo for an enormous 
sum. Remora says he knew he was buying something "extraordinary" 
although no else knew in what way.

    "Most of the beasts, and men, are--ah--commonplace. Or nearly, eh? A
    few--um--monstrosities, eh? Pitiful. Or fearful. Extraordinary
    prices for those. Give ear now, Patera...This was common knowledge,
    eh? Fifteen years ago. The calde's folly, we called it. Forgotten
    now, hum? And you're not to speak about it to anyone, Patera. Not to
    stir it up, hey?..Before he--ah--collected his reward from the gods,
    Patera, the calde paid out a sum of that--um--magnitude, hey? But a
    human embryo. Something--ah--extraordinary...A successor, eh? Or
    an--ah--weapon. Nobody knows, Patera. The Ayuntamiento's no wiser
    than yourself, Patera, now that I've told you."

Many readers seem to assume that the embryos were a total crap-shoot. 
You paid for one and hoped for the best. But actually it is clear that 
there were ways to know that that some of the embryos were guaranteed to 
be "extraordinary". Those claimed much higher prices.
But WHY did Tussah buy it? There's no hint from the text that producing 
a male heir was a worry for him. The fact is that he inexplicably (even 
to those who knew of it) wanted /that/ embryo. I say that Silk's birth 
repeated, in a way, the birth of his "original". The calde 
(Typhon/Tussah) emplanted a clone in his mistress (Mother/Mamelta). And 
this is the meaning of Tussah's announcement:

    "Although he is not the son of my body, my son shall be calde' after
    me."

Tussah's successor /was/ his son. It was just the minor point that his 
son was not produced from his own body. But, I repeat, he /was/ his son. 
That's a paradox, and this is the only resolution for it that I can 
think of that doesn't drain the water from Tussah's declaration.

u+16b9

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