(urth) Roche

[Stanislaus]

Tuesday, September 19, 2006, 1:56:11 PM, you wrote:

...

> Stanislaus explains Vodalus' counterfeit coin as:

>>Because Vodalus is counterfeit New Sun.

> I think Vodalus' dreams of a new galactic empire suggest he is more of a
> counterfeit Typhon.

> -bsharp


Typhon is also a counterfeit saviour.

The situation of the human civilisation in the Sun-cycles is best
explained, I think, by the Toynbee's theory about civilisation. The
dying sun is only a symptom of a deeper malady. The civilisation of
humanity had been declaining long before this, as we can learn from
Cyriaca's story.

Toynbee describes three false, and one true, kinds of saviours trying to support a dying
civilisation. Saviour with a Sword. Saviour with a Time-Machine,
Philosopher masked by a King, and God incarnate in a Man.

http://nobsblog.blogspot.com/1999/03/study-of-history.html   (table of
context with some excerpts)

1. Saviour with a sword - most straightforward method, exemplified by
Typhon. He tries to rebuild the empire by military means. The wars can
succeed and fail, but since that kind of saviour never tries to cure
the source of the malady, only the symptoms, he is ultimately futile.

2. Saviour with a Time Machine - he tries to return the society to an
earlier, healthy state. But since the present situation is the result
of the former, it will appear again - even if he managed to restore
the past, which is impossible.

Typhon tries to do something of the kind in the Whorl. He knows,
however, of the above mentioned problem (his advisors,
at least, must have posessed an unimaginable learning) and have a more
reasonable plan. He suspects that the present society is doomed -
although he will try his imperial plan despite of this.

But building the Whorl, his secondary attempt to save humanity, he assumes that the
civilisation of his time has some flaw which doomed it. Maybe it took
a wrong decision at some time (Cyriaca's thinking machines?, or enmity
to tradition?). Anyhow, he assumes that if his empire should fail (and that
is eventuality for which the Whorl is prepared) it would mean that he
did not know or couldn't remedy this fault.

Therefore, he tries to begin again - the societies of the Whorl are new
ones, disconnected from Urth. What's more, Whorl is divided into separate
cities, each with a different culture. (Some quite original, like
Amazons, some copied from history).  Typhon's intention is to dump
them all on the surface of some far away planet, not contaminated
by his own, doomed civilisation, and allow them to fight for survival,
in a Darwinian fashion.

3 Philosopher masked by a King. He has an idea how to organize the state in
accordance with reason - he wants to be a Philosopher-King. Unfortunately,
he is unable to persuade the people, and must use strength - so in the end he
is merely a King, not a Philosopher. Ymar the Almost Just is a very succesful
example of a would-be Philosopher King.

4. The God incarnate in a Man. A prophet, who knows the society is
doomed, and who creates a new religion, which will carry the light and
allow a new, more advanced civilisation to form after a period of
barbarism. - This is the true New Sun, who destroys to create.


PS. You are right. Vodalus is, as you noted, a counterfeit Typhon - empty propaganda.
Typhon nearly managed to create his empire. Vodalus couldn't
even imagine how to go about trying to do it.

PPS. Most rich people had chrisos. Few have managed to unmask
different personalities of the old Autarch (or of Severian). We must
assume that they didn't look very similar to the official image.
-- 
Best regards,
 Stanislaus                           mailto:sbocian at poczta.fm


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