(urth) Baldanders

[Chris]

>There does seem to be some misunderstanding of Baldanders' size, however.  
>I
>forget which character first reveals that Baldanders' growing is for the
>purpose of keeping him long-lived not because he wants to be big. He wants
>to grow as little as possible. Growth is the only way for humans to retain
>youth (see exultants?)

Not quite, and I think this is the source of some small confusion here. One 
of the cacogens says that "for your species" it is the only way to extend 
life (or something along those lines). It is not entirely clear whether they 
are addressing Baldanders, Severian or both. Nor is it explicit whether 
"your species" = human.

As a separate question, would their statement be true of humans? Couldn't 
you, say, cut your head off and put it on someone else's body if you were 
really hard up?

But in any event the passage seemed to me a sort of metaphorical reference 
to expansionist states.