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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=severiansola@hotmail.com
href="mailto:severiansola@hotmail.com">Lee Berman</A> </DIV>
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Good question on the secret words. I was always under the impression that there
was a<BR>> complex collection of words which were unique to each Autarchial
gateway to secret <BR>> places.<BR>> <BR>> It would be more
efficient if there was only one word for all of them. But in UotNS, on<BR>>
Flood Day, when Severian is in the secret passage which takes him to the throne
room (and<BR>> allows him to encounter his mother and Agia (the assassin), he
notes that many Autarchial<BR>> lovers were given the secret words to allow
trysts and those lovers gave the words to their<BR>> own paramours, and so
on. Thecla's cadre having access to the Antechamber supports the idea <BR>>
that some of the secret words were given out, and thus it would be better to
have distinct <BR>> words for each secret portal.</DIV></DIV>
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style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">There
is no reason to suppose either that there is one word for all, or that each
portal has its own word. Something in between is most probable. In
any case, one fact we do know is that Severian did indeed know the words for the
ancient suite. [Perhaps it it had been used more often, the password would
have been changed occasionally.]</DIV></DIV>
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<DIV><BR>> Yes, I don't think we are really given enough information to know
for sure if any autarchs<BR>> had used that suite. </DIV>
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<DIV>Except the bit where Severian tells us they used the suite. Of course
he could have been wrong and they just stored a lot of stuff there, and
obviously there’s no proof that they didn’t inherit some stuff from Typhon
whether they used it or not, just as some of the books in the library
undoubtedly date from Typhon’s time. </DIV>
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<DIV>> We know it wasn't used much and, as you say, the information we do get
<BR>> supports larry's theory that the Mandragora and the rest date back to
Typhon's time.</DIV>
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<DIV>The information we get is that it was ancient, and the decor is
described. Does anyone know if the decor in Typhon’s time is described in
Urth (and Typhon’s quarters in the mountains), and whether it matches the
suite? If not, the information supports only the idea that the suite and
its contents are ancient. On the other hand, if for example chairs were
typically used in Typhon’s time, we would know that the suite was furnished long
after.</DIV>
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<DIV>- Gerry Quinn</DIV>
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