(urth) spatial temporal rules of astral travel

[Lee Berman]

>Antonio Pedro Marques: Though I don't see what directing either a fake or real war has to do with 
>the man in the sewer. He might represent the antagonists of the New Sun, how is FI an antagonist of 
>the New Sun?
 
A multi-part question. I think you are on the right track. Yes, if HOrn, armed with sword and a light, 
invokes Severian and the Sewer invokes Urth then the blind, old guy invokes the enemies of the New Sun
who, at surface level, perhaps we can agree, are Abaia and Erebus.
 
So, while it is easier to compare a blind guy in the dark to another BotNS character, it is more difficult
to connect F.I. to the creatures in the ocean (or to Ultan). I've spoken before about the idea that IF
Father Inire appears in various shapes, sizes, genders and species, then he must be connected to the angels 
and monsters. I've been through the chain of connection before so I'll leave that part alone and just focus 
on Erebus and Abaia.
 
To me, the question becomes, why would a Flood be any sort of menace to large sea monsters? If a few humans 
can survive on the ocean surface, Abaia and Erebus should be fine a few kms below the surface.  I've heard 
weak arguments about "waves of gravity" or fresh water killing them and such but I think we need to be honest 
here and admit Gene Wolfe intended us to recognize that nothing makes sense about sea monsters dying in a 
Flood, 
 
Scientific "rational" sense I mean. I think the only real answer can be found in mythological/religious 
allegory. We must look to the Biblical Flood and perhaps the coming of Jesus to understand why Abaia and
Erebus have been vanquished. (I can elaborate, if needed).
 
 
>Antonio- Has anyone explored the idea that instead of dividing et al. these are 
>(spatially and maybe temporally) multidimensional creatures?

A very astute question.  I don't think that has been explored as much as it should be. Again, Wolfe 
doesn't give us the full answer on these things. But the most complete answer we can get is by exploring the 
mirror images. Some of what we don't know about Megatherians can be learned from Tzadkiel and vice versa.
 
So, for Tzadkiel we get the sense he/she has knowledge which transcends our single, uni-directional sense of 
time. He/she illustrates this with the chess analogy. Severian's is a race of pawns when it comes to time 
movement and knowledge. Perhaps Tzadkiel is a queen, moving at will forward, backward, sideways and diagonally 
within the time-space continuum.
 
We never get to talk to Abaia but Juturna, at least, seems to have a multi-dimensional sense of time. She 
expresses this as the reason she saved Severian from drowning at the beginning of the story. I suspect The
Mother on Blue has similar abilities which is why she favors Horn with Seawrack rather than shipwrecking and
eating him, as She could easily have done. I think The Mother has a presentiment of Horn's future.