From: Matthew Malthouse <matthew.malthouse@guardian.co.uk>
Subject: Re: (urth) Re:The two Typhons
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 11:34:11 +0000

Thomas Jeenicke wrote:
> 
> Nicholas Gevers wrote (message dated 14 Mar 2000 06:06:7):
> >... How, then, could Typhon have mustered the technical and economic
> >resources invested in the "Whorl", resources clearly infinitely beyond
> those
> >available to the Autarchs of one or two thousend years later? ...
> 
> I mostly agree with Your explanation, but like to add a thought: Typhon and
> his followers are probably not Urth-natives but came from another planet in
> the same system (Mars or Venus). While constructing the Whorl, Typhon might
> very well still rule other worlds besides Urth and could have used their
> resources, too.


I might be dreaming, conflating other stories or just
misunderstanding but I have the recollection that Typhon came to and
'conquered' Urth determined to make it the centre of his 'empire'
the planet having previously been something of a backwater.

I took this as Typhon wanting to add some grandure or legitimacy to
his title by establishing himself on human-kind's ancient
homeworld.  And at the same time an indication (to us) of the
'retrenchment' of humanity as it (or at least the Urth part of it
that we see) withdraws into the near isolation of Severian's time.

It had never occured to me that Typhon might have dificulty
constructing the Whorl - apart from those problems consistant with
the narative itself - because I'd always assumed him to have
inter-stella capability anyway.

Am I completely mistaken?

If I am not then the contradiction is not in resources or technology
but the question why he might have chosen the ark-ship method of
establishing his new colony to which I might suggest (a) sending it
beyond previously know space (the time scale is wrong) or that the
choices were deliberate to enable the social engineering he wanted
for the greater glorification of the god Pas.

Matthew

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