(urth) Resurrections

[brunians at brunians.org]

In very deed.

.

> Some autarchs may have ruled for only a week.
>
> Jeff Wilson wrote:
>> On 7/31/2010 12:52 PM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
>>> On Sat, Jul 31, 2010 at 2:41 AM, Jeff Wilson<jwilson at io.com>  wrote:
>>>
>>>> Whatever "they" are, I don't think they are meant to have a truly
>>>> objective
>>>> identity and feelings apart from Severian, any more than the
>>>> aquastors have
>>>> from their Yesodi controllers. Maybe an eidolon, which has to be
>>>> reconstructed with as perfect fidelity to the original as possible,
>>>> would
>>>> count as "an" objective person, if not the same objective person.
>>>
>>> Actually I suspect that Severian is supposed to be an exception to the
>>> general principle you laid down (and I agree with). Through his Magic
>>> Resurrection Ability, Thecla at least lives again in him. I'm not so
>>> sure about the prior Autarchs.
>>
>> The old Autarch does claim he will live, and re-reading reveals his
>> mention of cells that will take up residence in Severian's body. So
>> technically, some living tissue may survive though the mandrake in the
>> Autarch's Citadel quarters disagrees that constitutes life.
>>
>> There are said to be hundreds of personalities, but a thousand years
>> is not really long enough for that many Autarchs. The old leech says
>> that many men of learning use the alzabo extract, and "confine
>> ourselves to the most retentive tissues."  The old Autarch says "The
>> drug is in the vial I wear at my neck, and that blade will split the
>> bones of my skull like pine. I have had occasion to use it, and I
>> promise it."
>>
>> So the Autarchs may have occasion to use the analeptic to add other
>> minds to theirs outside the line of succession. It would seem the
>> ideal way to interrogate a subject whose debrief must be absolutely
>> reliable or may involve complex and nuanced answers, but the time to
>> recover from use of the drug would make it difficult to schedule.
>> Still, I don't think it is something that would go on if the subjects
>> literally lived on in the host, with significant volition and
>> initiative. Sev records Thecla acting in his absence, but that still
>> remains but a single will even if it is confused about which set of
>> memories it should act on.
>>
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