(urth) Urth-Earth links

[Lee Berman]

>larry miller: It was always my understanding that there were many alien 
>beings on Urth and part of Severians unreliability as narrator was his 
>inability to distinguish them from other beings.
 
Yes, but I think the question is whether these aliens are entirely a product
of evolution on other planets or whether they are humans who left Urth in
earlier waves, mutated, evolved and are now returned.
 
>Marc Aramini: I think the Vanished People and the inhumi are man and their 
>modifications of themselves. Tree genetic template + mankind = vanished people, 
>etc.  The tree integration is simply a modification of man and the lower animals.
>But that's just me I guess.

I think the model makes sense. The thing is, if this story is going to retain a
semblance of Judeo-Christian relevance, I think a human occupied universe makes
some sense. Nobody really wants a green blob or crystalline structure Jesus 
(well at least not Gene Wolfe, I guess).
 
 
>Jeff Wilson: I'm not seeing any evidence the undines are squeezed off: Idas and 
>Juturna seem to have distinct personalities.
 
So, I would say, does Tinkerbell Tzadkiel and it seems likely she was squeezed off.
Do you have any theory on what was going on with Great Scylla and the small army of
presumably detachable women that seem to be growing from her back?
 
>The pandours also seem to be undines, and their armored state heavily suggests they are 
>either few in number or individually valuable or both, rather than pinched off a 
>mountain-sized mass at need.
 
Well, I think we agree that the pandours of Erebus are akin to the undines of Abaia, 
pinched off or not. But since we don't see them in action, the armor could be a mostly a
literary device to show they are warriors (as their pale skin is to show they are from
the south/antarctic).
 
On the other, it may be that the pinching off process isn't quite a snap for megatherians
as Tzadkiel makes it appear.  If Seawrack is a pinched off agent from the Mother (and I 
know that isn't a certain thing) it would seem The Mother decided it was more expedient to
use the already created siren after her arm got shot off, rather than create a new one.
 
 
>Juturna could have been equally likely as Jolenta to be expelled from 
>the witches for being too lustful (she only wants the humans' love, 
>recall) and fallen in with the Abaians.
>Or she could have returned to her original family, the Abaians. It is 
>very suspicious that Dorcas is seen to revive when she is put in the 
>lake water, that the boatman has such a long life in frequent contact 
>with the water, and they previously lived in a neighborhood surrounded 
>by the river on three sides.
 
I think this is an interesting theory. I especially like the observation of the
riverine nature of Dorcas and her husband's house. It kinda feeds into my own
theories actually. 
 
There are three old boatmen who all seem to have a special interest in undines. 
One is Dorcas' husband. Another is on the dock after Severian is rescued from drowning. 
The third is Maxellindis' "uncle". I suspect all three are (essentially) the same person.