Do the Hierogrammates care about the Megatherians?

Andrew Mason · 20 May 2011, 13:51 · from 2011-May.txt.gz

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From: andrew.mason53 at googlemail.com (Andrew Mason)
Date: Fri, 20 May 2011 14:51:45 +0100
Subject: (urth) Do the Hierogrammates *care* about the Megatherians?
Message-ID: <BANLkTim1qCqO0Ro7vCZLQjX8rfc0Da=3ZQ at mail.gmail.com>

James Wynn wrote:

> Somehow I think an Ascian book is more likely to be a book of political
> history.

Is it an Ascian book? The author's name is given as Blaithmaic -
apparently a saint's name, so presumably a Commonwealth citizen.

Gerry Quinn  wrote:
>
> What is the basis for saying the flood is universal? ?It is not predicted to
> be such in Dr. Talos's play - he says in fact that new continents will rise
> from the sea. ?The old Autarch says the Ascians will survive the advent of
> the White Fountain better than the Commonwealth. ?And there obviously isn't
> enough water to drown the continents anyway unless they are all flattened
> somehow to the same altitude.

I think the main evidence of effective universality is that
Baldanders, when asked 'Who will survive?' says 'Those on ships,
possibly. Those whose ships are in the air or in the void, certainly'.
This suggests that not many people will survive on land.

It doesn't rule out the new continents, nor does it mean that some
mountain tops won't continue to stick out, since they are probably
uninhabited anyway. It's also compatible with the Ascians adapting
better, if they have better ships and planes (though I'm not sure
whether the Autarch had a clear idea of what the effect of the flood
would be. That he had some idea that there was going to be a cataclysm
of some kind is suggested by the line 'Many will seek to flee by this
path if the pelagic argosy sights land'.) Certainly I don't think only
the people Severian meets survived.

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