(urth) Original Sin and pagan gods

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes]

On 8/8/06, Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net> wrote:
> The Hieros were/will be in no sense angelic. They were the race
> of humans, cognates of our (and Severian's) race, who sinned on
> a grand scale in producing the race of beings known as
> Hierogrammates, of which latter group Tzadkiel is an example.

Yes. With the possible exception of "sinned on a grand scale" -- is
producing the Hierogrammates actually a sin? It's clearly part of
a huge _trap_, but that's another issue -- this is exactly how I
understand the case.

The two "hiero" races, Hierodules and Hierogrammates, are trapped
in a cycle of producing each other. Humans at the peak of their
development are the Hierodules; they "uplift" (to use Brin's term) --
that is, interfere in and guide the development of -- the race that
becomes the Hierogrammates. The Hierogrammates survive the
Grand Gnab/Big Bang cycle and guide the development of
humanity, thus resulting in the creation of the Hierodules, etc.

Unclear:  _how_ do the Hierogrammates survive across the
GG/BB gap: is Yesod immune to it? If so, then why do they need
to repeat the cycle; they already exist, they don't need to ensure
their own creation _again_.

Equally unclear: if the HGs only exist because the HDs caused
them to exist, and the HDs oly exist because the HGs caused
_them_ to exist, then how did the whole damned thing get started?

But what's quite clear is that this is an exercise in self-perpetuating
futility, like the cycle of clones in 5HC.

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant
-----
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer
"Shovels are essential to the fantasy genre.
However, they are primarily used by the authors rather than the
characters." -- Stephen R. Donaldson