Summary of the case for Silk as Typhon's clone

António Pedro Marques · 19 Jan 2011, 19:53 · from 2011-January.txt.gz

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From: entonio at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?B?QW50w7NuaW8gUGVkcm8gTWFycXVlcw==?=)
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 19:53:59 +0000
Subject: (urth) Summary of the case for Silk as Typhon's clone
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Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote (19-01-2011 18:52):
> Suppose that Silk were Pas's son of the body, or even his clone.

No, please. First thing off: separate those two cases.

> Would
> people point at him and say, "There goes Pas"?
>
> Not necessarily.
>
> If this were the case then Silk would look -- modulo
> environmental/developmental differences -- like young Typhon, to be
> sure.
>
> But does Pas look like young Typhon? I question this. We know that at
> least _some_ of the other gods of Mainframe present as god-forms,
> either idealized versions of themselves or otherwise different. Why
> would Pas be different? I suspect that Pas-in-Mainframe does _not_
> look enough like Typhon for a much-younger version of himself to
> attract that much notice.

Disagree. Unless Typhon's image of himself was wildly at odds with what 
others saw, I think the default assumption is that Pas looks like Typhon. 
People have asked about other gods forgetting that it's Pas who called the 
shots. If he wanted one of his family to look like a mouse, that's what they 
would have looked like.

> This leaves two special cases: Mamelta and Rigoglio.
>
> Rigoglio we can dismiss; the Silk (body) he sees is missing an eye and
> otherwise scarred by time and sorrow.

There was also no special connection between Roger and Typhon, so no special 
reason to suppose he'd think much of it - he merely mentions wakers don't 
know how to honour the gods and they sleepers knew them best.

> Which leaves Mamelta -- whose memories may have been tampered with,
> and who has been possessed by Mucor. Is it that unreasonable to
> suppose that she wouldn't recognize a much-younger version of the
> Monarch?

I think so. Not impossible, but not very reasonable.

> I believe then that there is no serious bar to Silk being Pas's son,
> or even his clone. But that's not the same as positive evidence.
>
> Why then would I believe that Silk is Typhon's clone?
>
> Typhon is psychically adept in some way. And he isn't willing to have
> his consciousness downloaded into another (such as Piaton), though the
> technology is clearly available to him.
>
> I suggest that it isn't just (though Typhon seems to say so) that
> people are "accustomed" to obeying that particular face; it is that
> Typhon has psychic ability to make people follow him. He was unwilling
> to give this up, so he had to preserve his brain -- and a brain
> transplant was too risky for a number of reasons. So he sought to
> immortalize himself by having his head put onto Piaton's body.
>
> But also he sought to be the Father-God of the _Whorl_; and I suggest
> that he was not going to give that authority up when the _Whorl_
> reached its destination. He intended to lead the Cargo to its new
> home, and to do so required a body. What body would Typhon want?
>
> Why, one with the psychic ability to make people follow him. He may be
> a god, but he isn't giving up any advantage. That body would be a
> clone of the one he left behind.
>
> Now, who has an uncanny ability to make people follow him? Why, Silk...

Pas is not Typhon. Typhon created Pas as his tool. A clone of Typhon is also 
not Typhon. And not a single person leads the exodus from the Whorl.

*Why* ever would Typhon clone himself? Does he want two Typhons?

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