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<pre wrap="">Right, I meant in Severian's time.
Vodalus says Erebus wants humanity to conquer the stars again, only this time as their slaves, "who wait until man is purified again, ready to join with them in the conquest of the universe." So neither he nor Abaia would want to do anything to make humanity impure or otherwise delay that time. Thus, they couldn't be the cause of humanity's disgrace nor the wounding of the sun, unless they are very stupid.
Their main attributes are size and mental powers; Vodalus does not make their physical forms clear: "You mustn't think of them battering at the Wall with their fists, or tossing boulders about." It would make sense if they are aliens who came to Urth seeking to control the Autarchs, whom they knew would eventually produce the New Sun and thus (they think) their galactic empire. So the struggle between them and the Hierodules literally makes pawns of the human species.
Anyway, it is indeed a "handful" of black beans, not 5.
Also, Severian sees the many-headed monster, along with Medusa's head, in an earlier dream brought by Abaia. This seems to favor my own opinion that the vision of "Beasts" after the flood is also a dream. I don't think the many-headed beast and the headless giant are Abaia's gang.
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Message: 6
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:54:37 -0500 (EST)
From: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:brunians@brunians.org">brunians@brunians.org</a>
Subject: Re: (urth) Abaia and the undines
To: "The Urth Mailing List" <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:urth@lists.urth.net"><urth@lists.urth.net></a>
Message-ID: <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:4623.67.142.130.21.1228924477.squirrel@brunians.org"><4623.67.142.130.21.1228924477.squirrel@brunians.org></a>
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</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap=""><span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>Who doesn't know Mount Erebus?
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">></span>
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>... Erebus, fiery-throated on the waste Antarctic shore.
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>---The Lathe of Heaven, by Ursula K. Le Guin
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">></span>
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>Presumably it's no longer an active volcano
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
It is active.
It has a lava lake, even.
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://erebus.nmt.edu/">http://erebus.nmt.edu/</a>
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