(urth) Typhon & Whorl

Pedro Pereira domus_artemis at hotmail.com
Thu Dec 20 04:58:00 PST 2007


The reason why Typhon had two heads is explained in TBotNS. He needed a new body, but just tranfering the brain would not do any good, because a Leader is recognized by his Face. Thats why he had his own face grafted to the body of a slave. 
 
As for the FTL. Some people mentioned here that there was FTL technologie available and that Typhon even brought doctors from far away places. Now, I don't remember (please confirm this) that those doctors were brought from outside the solar system. If they were brought from inside the Solar System (say Venus, the birth place of Typhon) then there would be no need for FTL travel. 
 
Also, even if they were coming from outside our system, they could have been brought by ships that were not part of Typhon's empire, even by the Tzadskiel ship. Don't forget that the hierodules, hierogrammates, etc,  help the New Sun AND the New Sun's enemies at the same time, for uncertain reasons, which could mean that they could provide the means for bringing Typhon's doctors to him for whatever reason (even if they destroyed the First Empire). Typhon's reign is not the peak of the Empire. He WANTS to create a new empire. Much of the technology comes from other planets, its not produced on earth anymore like it was during the peak of the First Empire. The reason why the Whorl is STL can be simply because there are no FTL technology easily available to Typhon.
 
As for the reason for constructing the Whorl, the major reason is that Wolfe wanted to write a story about a generation starship. The second is that Typhon wanted Immortality, he wanted to be Remembered. He was a megalomaniac. He wanted to be worshiped for Eternity. So he built the Whorl. Wolfe states so as the main reason in one of his interviews. Whith the whorl he installs a new colony in which people adore him as a god. As his empire grows, so does his cult. His name will not be a distant thing of no importance to people on the fringes of a nominal-only empire. People will actively worship him even if he never pays a visit in 100 years. 
 
Pedro
 
 
> Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:28:07 +1100> To: urth at lists.urth.net> CC: > From: thalassocrat at nym.hush.com> Subject: (urth) Typhon & Whorl> > I just find it really difficult to match up the NS and LS/SS > scenarios.> > If you just took LS/SS by itself, you'd have something like this: > > Typhon was a guy who quickly rose to take over the *Earth*. No hint > AFAIK in LS/SS of anything like an existing instellar empire, with > Typhon trapped on Urth through bad luck & force of circumstances. > The Duko says: "... when there was a war with one ***country*** > stronger than the other, he was generally for the weak one ..."> > He had two heads, for some unexplained reason, and a dysfunctional > family.> > The Whorl was very likely the first & only interstellar > colonization project. It obviously took a long time and large > resources to build. There is no hint of FTL capability. A > generation ship was seemingly the only way to do it, and any > reasonable size estimates I think lead to the conclusion that > originally it must have been Ceres, the biggest asteroid in the > solar system (pace those who don't think it worthwhile to look at > dimensions etc).> > Typhon was close enough to us in time for Latin & French to be > known languages; for people to have names like "Warren"; for > familiar ethnic groups to still exist; for our religious writings > to still be available. > > Abaia etc are in the oceans of Urth during Typhon's reign, and > given that his family knows about them, presumably he does too > (whereas in NS their presence seems to be a new thing for the > "resurrected" Typhon).> > If it wasn't for the tie in to Sev and Nessus I'd think that Wolfe > was just recycling some images and narrative themes from NS to > LS/SS; or that maybe Pas was actually "Typhon I" (as he is referred > to by one of the councillors of Viron), versus Sev's "Typhon LXXIV" > or whatever. > > As it is, I have to think that Wolfe didn't care very much about > making the two series consistent. But if he didn't, then why the > tie in at all? So maybe he had something else in mind which I can't > figure out.> > > _______________________________________________> Urth Mailing List> To post, write urth at urth.net> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
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