From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" 
Subject: (urth) Thecla's Lunatic Irritation
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 09:30:41 -0800

> > Thecla (p. 239) correction, she did not exactly take her own life to
> > avoid another session with the revolutionary, rather, she did so to
> > avoid further torment by the in-dwelling demon summoned by the device. 

> I think that this bears closer examination. Rather than a device that
> literally summons demons (just as the Book contains hierodules rather
> than literal angels), 

... I am thus far in agreement ...

> I think that the Rev is meant to be an electroshock device of fiendish
> refinement that divides the brain by damaging tissue electrically and
> leaves the non-speaking part greatly resentful of the trauma and
> perhaps envious of the speaking part. 
> 	This would agree somewhat with studies of people who have had
> their brains divided by damage or surgical severing of the corpus
> callosum, which GW already used in "The Death of Doctor Island." This
> would explain the image of the demon as having Thecla's face, since it
> is part of herself. 

Alas, it would disagree far more with these studies - while the "two
brains" do indeed appear to have independent "behavior" and possibly
even independent "personalities" (giving rise to a host of questions
for soulists like myself, which have never to date been really 
adequately answered), the "non-speaking" portion does not appear to
resent the "speaking" portion, and certainly neither portion becomes
self-destructive in the way described here. 

I think Mantis's "magical thinking" idea may have some merit, but even
so - what happens to the victims of the Revolutionary isn't merely 
suicidal depression; the "demon" is actively sadistic and seeks to 
make the "host" _suffer_. (Suicidally depressed persons, deprived of
the means of suicide, do not in general begin clawing at their own
skin.) Whatever the Revolutionary does is significantly more complex
than this.

Nonetheless, there is at least some hope for a solution in the 
magical thinking idea. If the Lupiverse contains angel-equivalents
like the hierodules, then magical thinking not only permits but
seems to _require_ that we hypothesize demon-equivalents: and I
see no reason why the Revolutionary might not actually summon one
and instil it into the victim.

--Blattid
	The division of functions is not the same as that in the RL
documented
procedure, but this can be attributed to the refinement of the device by
Urthly science, the general scientific accuracy of the Book, and perhaps
an effort on Wolfe's part to display an internal division within human
nature. The Revolutionary turns one against one's self by separating the
devil already inside from the mitigating moral conscience, or perhaps it
involves original sin.

-- 
Jeff Wilson
How Am I Posting? 1-800-555-6789
"If your SecOp can see you, so can the enemy." -Cpt Law


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