(urth) Typhon's nature

[David Stockhoff]

On 10/10/2011 11:12 PM, Jeff Wilson wrote:
> On 10/10/2011 12:59 PM, David Stockhoff wrote:
>> On 10/10/2011 1:29 PM, Jeff Wilson wrote:
>>> The talking machines could intercept intelligence from the Asciians'
>>> transmissions and preserve it for their master's review. Jonas, for
>>> example, is a machine that knows about the great beasts without being
>>> currently at the south pole or under the sea. He probably lost his
>>> antennas for far communication, though.
>> It's possible. It's just a lot to expect the reader to guess. And
>> Typhon, by his own account, is not one to speak indirectly.
>
> But neither is he given to elaborate for the benefit of others.
>
> It's not so much to guess; Mt Typhon itself is such an outpost and 
> Typhon is master of its numerous machines by word.  Since he allows 
> Severian to transcend distance and "see" distant parts of the Urth as 
> if present above them, it's not such a stretch to think that he can do 
> that for himself and more besides when he's not busy putting on a show 
> to secure his hold on the unsuspecting Conciliator.
OK, but how does it explain talking to the monsters in the abyss, who 
were not there before he slept, as he stated he did? Why make this 
complicated?
>
> On 10/10/2011 4:56 PM, David Stockhoff wrote:
> > Unless there is scanning of the older clone and uploading into the 
> younger.
> >
> > If Typhon has superpowers that are genetic in origin, he'd lose them if
> > he transferred to another brain, unless that brain also has that
> > genetically-derived infrastructure. Might this explain his 
> reluctance to
> > lose his "face"?
>
> The nature of his mental powers might include the ability to impress 
> his brain's pattern upon another.  He does this a bit, when Sev feels 
> his mind gripped by a vise when Typhon tries to make him submit to an 
> oath.
Definitely. Typhon can't read Sev's thoughts but he can do other things.


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