From: m.driussi@genie.com
Subject: (urth) Did Sev1 fail?
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 99 15:03:00 GMT

Tony Ellis,

Right, there is no proof that Sev1 failed.  But I think there is a
sense of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"--and since Sev2 has been
opitimized, then it stands to reason that Sev1 was flawed.

Then again: the influences on Sev2 come from both camps, New Sun and
Entropy Gang.  So the tampering/tempting isn't one-sided.  Leading us
back to the belief that Sev1 didn't fail; that his success at the
Test is what triggered the Entropy Gang to start messing with his
past; and to counter this the New Sun people began giving little
assists in his past.  All of which escalation produced a new,
improved Severian.

Sev1 is the father of the man; Sev2 is the new son.

(Ooo, which feeds back into that whole "The Tale of the Student and
his Son": we can let the Student be Sev1 and assign the Son to Sev2.)

=mantis=

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