From: "Andrew Bollen" 
Subject: Re: (urth) different sev's and silk as seeker
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 16:43:14 +1000


Marc writes:

> As far as I know, Wolfe was not specific about Silk being the only member
of
> the Seekers for Truth and Penitence.

The actual comment from the Q&A:

14. Is there a member (current, former, future) of the Order of Seekers for
Truth and Penitence on the Whorl? -- I'm going to interpret this question in
the broadest possible sense, since that seems to be what Parsons wants. Yes,
there is. It is Silk.

I suppose logcally that doesn't preclude the possibility that other priests
etc might also be members of the Order, in the broadest sense, but it does
seem pretty Silk-specific to me.

I don't think Wolfe intends an identification between Silk's synthetic
church and Sev's guild in this statement; if he did, I think he would have
said, "Yes, there are - the priests of the Vironese Order", or something
like that.

I think it makes moire thematic sense for the Torturers to be distinctly
secular from the start. The historical inquisiition had to hand their
victims over to the secular arm for punishment, for example. The Masters of
the Guild have no priestly functions, as far as I can see, and their
ceremonies don't appear to have much to do with Christian ceremonies.

Silk's Order is clearly a synthetic thing, with bits and pieces taken from
everywhere, as reflected in the Chras Writings. There's a  bit of
Christianity, a bit of Greco-Roman paganism, a bit of Islam ... The Tortuers
on the other hand seem to me to be evolved prison guards - perhaps Ymar
instituted the Order, with a higher sense of mission than the thugs he grew
up with?

There's a clear thematic parallel, of course: both Sev and Silk are raised
within Orders which both come to realize are flawed and which they both grow
out of or betray in some way. Ymar too, I suppose.

> Any explanations for why Silk (possibly with some small fragments of Horn
left
> inside him and blurring his astral appearance) looks like Malrubius?

I've seen this said before, but I don't remember anything from the tet
saying they look alike. Have I missed something?



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