From: "Kieran Cleary" <kcleary@nwlabs.ie>
Subject: (whorl) Long Sun/Short Sun possible tie-ins
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 11:23:19 +0000


[Posted from Whorl, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

Perhaps someone can help me out on this one:

In tBotNS, Typhon gets his head grafted onto poor Piatus's (?) body 
obviously in order to prolong his life and reign. Since he seems to 
have had the technology to copy/store his consciousness in a computer 
and thus posess people at will, surely this would have been a better 
method of achieving the same thing with Piatus or whoever. I do remember that 
Typhon made a big deal about his face, and that it was important for 
the leader's face to remain, but he could have gone the Lemur et al. route 
and fashioned himself a chem.

Which leads me to suggest that, since he didn't, perhaps Mainframe 
represents Inhumi technology which, for some reason, Typhon himself 
has access to. I know that, certainly by Severain's time, there is 
nothing new under the sun, but maybe it's possible?

On another note, I can't help liking Xury's idea about Blue being 
Ushas, perhaps, like others, because I'd prefer to see a stronger tie 
in with tBotNS. The current Pas/Typhon is such a weak link on its 
own. Perhaps it could have happened like this:

Typhon is getting worried: the exultants are fleeing Urth and a 
miracle worker has arisen telling everyone about the New Sun and 
spreading foment. So as a gamble on the future he builds a generation 
starship, fills it with Urthers who, by the end of the journey, 
will worship him as a god, and sleepers who will have all the technical 
know-how necessary to rebuild the Empire, while Typhon et famille
are copied into the ship's mainframe (problem above still thorny, 
though), the plan being that Typhon will posess some unlucky 
individual and resume his activities once they reach Urth (sort of a 
"Carry On Despot!")
After a subjective near light speed journey of 300 years, the ship returns to 
Urth, now Ushas. The coming of the New Sun has caused the old 
continents to sink, and according to Dr. Talos play, a new race of 
monsters has arisen? Another effect of the New Sun's arrival is 
gravitational upheaval throughout the system, causing Lune's orbit 
around Ushas to become eccentric, thus they periodically meet in 
conjunction.

Kieran

____________________________________________________________
Kieran Cleary
Senior Research Engineer
North West Labs
Finisklin Industrial Estate
Sligo
Republic of Ireland

Tel. +353 71 69441
Fax. +353 71 69451
email kcleary@tinet.ie
___________________________________________________________


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