Oh, one last thing I think is important (until the next thing):<br><br>You said in your post that<br><div class="quoteheader"><br></div><div class="quote">>I suppose you're right about Severian being the Conciliator all the time, just as he is Apu Punchau.</div>
<br>On
a semantic level, I think it's actually important to reverse that and
say that the Conciliator is Severian the whole time and Apu Punchau is
Severian the whole time. Because in a certain sense (outside of the
giant singular hypercube of time <img src="http://www.webofmimicry.com/wom2/Smileys/classic/shocked.gif" alt="Shocked" border="0">) Severian <i>isn't</i>
the Conciliator or Apu Pinchau yet, in BothNS. That is why the
manipulation, both by mundane/infernal forces and the increate, is
necessary: To set up the drama by which Severian can become the man
who will become the Conciliator and the New Sun. The reason BotNS is
the most important part of all of Sev's time journeys to focus on is that it
is the journey that prepares him to become the Conciliator (in the
past) and the New Sun (in the future). It is the ground which sets the
stage for the past reconciliation with the Increate, and the rebirth of
the Urth as Ushas. To use terminology you've used before, it is only THIS PART of Severians Journey (BotNS), in a sense, which represents the Cross, the Ratio, the conjunction of Time and Eternity, the Horizontal and the Vertical.<br>
<br>Also, how great is it that Severian acts in a
play (Eschatology and Genesis) about the Cosmological play in which he
is the central character. Super Duper Meta!<br><br><br>