(urth) Sev's common lineage

[thalassocrat at nym.hush.com]

On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 15:25:42 +1000 thalassocrat at nym.hush.com wrote:
>Sev's lineage is a problem which I'm sure Wolfe intended people to 

>
>drive themselves crazy over, and I don't think there's enough info 

>
>to get really definitive. But on the flip side, I think he's 
>inviting us to have fun making up stories, so what the hell ...
>
>I want Sev to be related to Casdoe and Li'l Sev. "Casdoe" is so 
>similar to "Dorcas", with the syllables reversed. Li'l Sev asks 
>Sev 
>if he's his uncle, which I don't think makes a lot of sense unless 

>
>Li'l Sev does in fact have an Uncle Sev. If I'm right and Fechin 
>is 
>Dorcas' father, then at the very least the families have known 
>each 
>other for 70+ years.
>
>Most characters, even if relatively minor, get named. Two 
>exceptions are Casdoe's father and Dorcas' husband. I don't know 
>what the first was called, but I think I know the name of the 
>second: Severian.
>
>Here's how it works.  Say Fechin is Dorcas' father. The ages work 
>out OK. Base-lining against the time when Sev left the Citadel, we 

>
>have Dorcas born 55-60 years previously (she died 40+ years ago, 
>according to her husband, and I think we can assume that Sev is 17-

>
>18). Rudesind was painted by Fechin as a boy; Rudesind is 70 years 

>
>+ a boy's age old, say early 80's. Estimate Fechin as having been 
>born 85-90 years ago, so he had Dorcas when he was 30-40. 
>
>Casdoe's father is a contemporary of Fechin, so he's 85-90 also. 
>Quite old enough for Dorcas' husband, the old boatman, to in fact 
>be his son. Eg: say he has the old boatman when he's about 20, 
>which makes the guy 65-70. 
>
>It's a very plausible story: Casdoe's father is close to Fechin, 
>and obviously neighbors, at least when young. Their kids grow up 
>together and marry each other.
>
>Casdoe must be a late offspring for her father: she has twins who 
>seem to be about 6 years old. Say she was born 26 years ago; or 
>when her father was around 60. Not impossible, of course, but it 
>does perhaps suggest other things which I won't go into here.
>
>In any case, this ties everybody together, and the guess of 
>"Severian" as Dorcas' husband's name explains why Li'l Sev asked 
>Our Sev if he was his uncle. Dorcas' husband is his uncle, on this 

>
>theory, and Li'l Sev presumably knows he has an uncle with this 
>name. Our Sev and Li'l Sev are in fact second cousins.

Pushing this story along, let's make Catherine Ouen's sister. 
Dorcas died in childbirth, after 4 years or so of marriage, during 
part of which Ouen was a toddler. If the child lived, she would be 
about 40 when Sev leaves the Citadel. If it was a girl, she would 
have been the right age to be Sev's mother: a couple of years 
younger than Ouen.

The story: Old Boatman falls to pieces when Dorcas dies. Baby 
Catherine is taken by Dorcas' family - (ie, Fechin's family, in my 
story, but Fechin as Dorcas' father isn't ssential for this part). 
Old Boatman slides down to skid row & is lost to them.

Fechin etc are the same kind of optimate family as Ava's. They are 
religious; witness eg the notorious enamelled religious work which 
Thecla requests, no doubt a piece produced by Fechin & son. Dorcas 
reborn seems to retain a religious sensibility. 

Agia seemes to know more about religious matters than you'd expect 
from somebody like her, and it's at least plausible that Agia & 
brother are Dorcas' brother's grandchildren (their shop, inherited 
from their mother like the shop given by Fechin to Dorcas; an eye 
for quality craft work; a hint of more education than you'd expect 
from guttersnipes etc.)

So Fechin's family may well have had the kind of long-standing 
relationship wih the Pelerines which Ava describes as necessary for 
an optimate daughter to be accepted into the order. 

As Ava, so Catherine. She joins the Pelerines, and however it 
happens, she and Ouen meet, not realising they're siblings. Sev 
results.

This doesn't seem to deliver us any exultant genes for Sev, but you 
can't have everything :) Anyway, there's nothing which suggests any 
particular exultant characteristics for Catherine, and it's hard 
for me to imagine an exultant being sent to the torturers for any 
crime less serious than treason or lese majesty.