(urth) Grand Unified Theory

[David Stockhoff]

  There's certainly plenty of shapeshifting going on---there always 
is---but it doesn't always point to the inhumi. There is Tzadkiel, for 
example. But by "amorphous" I meant at least the ability to possess a 
body. This ability too we know can occur.

I agree about Typhon's parasitic nature. However, I assume he mentally 
enslaved people in the first place. Thus my question---why not enslave 
more? Was it just that everyone left when he was on the operating table, 
and those who remained knew enough to stay away from the 
mountain---which anyway was remote? This might account for it even 
though his mind can range great distances.

Regardless, two big points remain that affect the cloning vs "something 
else" debate:

---If Typhon is a shapeshifter, his DNA is not human; if he is a 
possessor of bodies, his DNA won't carry his powers. UNLESS, of course, 
the ability to mimic is on the genetic level, which ought to be a clue.

But if Typhon is an inhumi, he is somehow managing to mimic both humans 
AND a superhuman species, which seems to set us right back at square 
one. He can't mimic two species at the molecular level. Inhumi don't 
have super mental powers.

---If he's not either of these, his powers are inexplicable.

That's a fair point about scanning, btw.

Finally: who would be the new group of gods? The Hiero-thingies?

On 9/1/2010 2:41 PM, Lee Berman wrote:
> David Stockhoff:
>> Isn't it a part of your theory that Typhon is a Megatherian, thus an amorphous monster from
>> space inhabiting a human body?
>   A shape-shifting monster, yes. But not amorphous, and large; not until they went beneath the waves
> and grew so titan-ic. I think they arrived on Urth in human form, as passengers on spaceships. But
> some literal black bean seed form is not out of the question.
>> If he is a sport like the Asimov's Mule (another kind of monster), how  did a sport suddenly appear
>> with such godlike powers? If Typhon is so smart, why does he rely on his scientists so much?
> The Mule was a sterile human mutant. I think Typhon and his ilk are the opposite. They are not human
> but can reproduce quite well, both asexually and sexually.  They started as simple shapeshifters (okay,
> we might as well guess they were Inhumi) and, as parasites, were able to gain abilities, including
> intelligence, telepathy and clairvoyance, by imitating other species. The megalomania and urge to
> conquer and control..well, I think we can guess which imitated species he got that from.
>
> Typhon, like the Mother on Blue and like Abaia on Urth (and like The Mule). can't really do much on his
> own. Parasites are masters at manipulating their hosts to make them do what they want (Biology is full
> of many unplesant examples of this). Kinda like Krait with Horn. Or Quetzal on the Whorl.  Or Shadow
> Children riding around on shoulders, abos who can't use tools etc. Typhon himself is not strong. His
> natural parasitic inclination is not to get doctors to clone him  or steroid him into a strong man but
> to graft him onto a strong man whom he can completely control. I think we often see Typhonic arrogance
> when Inhumi speak to humans.
>> If Typhon can scan himself into Pas, why not scan himself into another body?
>
> Perhaps an unfair question. BotNS was written in an archaic period of computer history. An era of mainframes
> and terminals and big spools of magnetic tape for memory and paper punch cards for programming. Mr. Million
> had to be killed to be copied. The more modern era of free multiple copies and ease in uploading and
> downloading was the milieu in which Long/Short Sun were written.
>> Why was Typhon, with all his powers, so helpless when his slaves fled with his ships? Why couldn't he break
>> out of his mountain? What disaster were they fleeing anyway?
> After the sun's too rapid decay, Typhon says "Crops failed and there were famines and riots. I should have
> left then.". So maybe it was just the uprising of the populace on Urth. But if there is anything to the
> mythological reference, Typhon and his Titan family would also be struggling with a new group of Olympian
> god types trying to take over Urth.
>
> Typhon is helpless because, like Abaia, he has no power of his own without slaves to manipulate. Intelligence
> and clairvoyance and telepathy without any power of self-action leaves one as impotent as the Mandragora.
> Typhon's political problems coincided with a time period in which he was incapacitated. Piaton's body had to
> be strapped down until Typhon's mind was able to fully control it. Typhon says that Piaton proved to hold
> onto his self-control much longer than anticipated. His people took advantage of their freedom and took off.
> (it seems like there was some loyal servant still there because Severian notes that the straps have been
> unbuckled from the dessicated, two-headed body he finds.
>
> (I don't know if Typhon was aware of Tzadkiel or not. But if Tzadkiel put the black hole in the heart of Urth's
> sun, his/her timing was impeccable with regard to Typhon). 		 	   		
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