(urth) Typhon's nature

[Jerry Friedman]

> From: David Stockhoff <dstockhoff at verizon.net>

> On 10/12/2011 11:57 PM, Jerry Friedman wrote:
>>>  From: David Stockhoff<dstockhoff at verizon.net>
>>>  On 10/11/2011 1:25 AM, Jerry Friedman wrote:
>>>>  Do we know Mucor's talent is genetic?  Maybe it's the 
> result of an implant or  brain surgery or magic performed on her embryo.  Or are 
> you using "genetic" as a shorthand for some broader idea? It seems to 
> me Typhon's psionic talents are quite possible for humans in Briah, 
> considering Mucor and Decuman.  We have no idea what enhancement and special 
> training Typhon might have. Jerry Friedman

>>>  The councilors' discussion of Mucor and the missing embryo that was 
> Silk makes it very clear that they are much the same. Surgery can't explain 
> a "magic" embryo. But the very fact that it's an embryo is a clear 
> signal that the origin of its magic is fundamentally genetic.

>>  I don't have time to argue with you and Lee about this, so I hope we 
> can agree to disagree.
>> 
>>  Jerry Friedman

> Sure, but can you at least put forth an alternative theory that explains what is 
> special about Mucor, and Mucor's embryo, etc.? Otherwise, we're not 
> actually even disagreeing. It seems to me you are suggesting that a surgical 
> implant into an embryo is an equally likely source of Mucor's abilities vs 
> breeding/splicing. Is that right?

Okay, I've got some time.

In the real world, I'd say a surgical implant was the obvious possibility.  How can producing different proteins make a brain capable of taking over other brains?  In sf, that doesn't apply.

In Chapter 6 of RttW, Silkhorn tells Hound the embryos were "the products of carefully controlled matings in his workshops".  I suppose there could have been no more intervention than that.  On the other hand, Crane tells Silk that Mucor's brain was not recognizably human (LotLS, Chapter 11).  That sounds like a lot to get out of selective breeding, and makes me suspect that Typhon's scientists did something more in the labs.  Genetic engineering, implants, surgery, and changing the environment in the uterine replicators (as we call them here in the wormhole nexus) all seem like possibilities and are compatible with each other.

One speculation: There's an sf cliche that we'd all have superpowers, but we inhibit them.  (The mandragora tells Severian that Sev's continued psychic shrieking from being abandoned as an infant inhibits his telepathy, which is along the same lines but not the same.)  Maybe someone did a little surgery on Mucor's embryo to disable the part of the brain that would have inhibited her powers.

Anyway, I don't see that it matters to the story.

> To me, that's like a murder mystery where the killer happens to have a 
> mysterious superpoison he inserts into a tomato seed so he can grow a single 
> poisoned tomato he serves to his wife in a salad. It explains nothing, makes no 
> sense on any level, and greatly overcomplicates everything without making a good 
> story. The killer would be caught just the same as if he used a hammer.

To me it's more like saying, "We can't find any trace of the weapon--it might have been the hammer we're told he had, or a rock, or a frozen leg of lamb.  But we know the husband did it anyway."

Jerry Friedman
I'd forgotten about the conversation between