(urth) Do the Hierogrammates *care* about the Megatherians?

[Gerry Quinn]

From: "Andrew Mason" <andrew.mason53 at googlemail.com>
> Gerry Quinn  wrote:
>
> > What is the basis for saying the flood is universal? It is not predicted 
> > to
> > be such in Dr. Talos's play - he says in fact that new continents will 
> > rise
> > from the sea. The old Autarch says the Ascians will survive the advent 
> > of
> > the White Fountain better than the Commonwealth. And there obviously 
> > isn't
> > enough water to drown the continents anyway unless they are all 
> > flattened
> > somehow to the same altitude.

> I think the main evidence of effective universality is that
> Baldanders, when asked 'Who will survive?' says 'Those on ships,
> possibly. Those whose ships are in the air or in the void, certainly'.
> This suggests that not many people will survive on land.

Okay, that certainly suggests it - though might Baldanders be referring only 
to people in particular parts of the world?


> It doesn't rule out the new continents, nor does it mean that some
> mountain tops won't continue to stick out, since they are probably
> uninhabited anyway. It's also compatible with the Ascians adapting
> better, if they have better ships and planes (though I'm not sure
> whether the Autarch had a clear idea of what the effect of the flood
> would be. That he had some idea that there was going to be a cataclysm
> of some kind is suggested by the line 'Many will seek to flee by this
> path if the pelagic argosy sights land'.) Certainly I don't think only
> the people Severian meets survived.

I thought the phrase referred to a possible invasion of the Commonwealth by 
ships of the undersea monsters.  (By the way didn't somebody say they saw a 
mysterious ship travelling up Gyoll?  It might be such a ship.)

- Gerry Quinn