Felice vs. Marc

Tim Ebling

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Feb 21, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/21/97

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I haven't finished the whole series (still on Jack The Bodiless), but I'm
sort of
mystified by how strong Felice (and Aiken) seem compared to the Remillards.
May went to great lengths to devise a genetic heritage for Marc (and Jack
for
that matter) which made him out to be a unique entity, destined to be one
of the
greatest (if not the greatest) operant human of all time.

In retrospect, it seems sort of weird that Felice and Aiken are able to
prove some-
thing of a match to Marc and the other rebels. After all, no mention is
made of
any special lineage (except in Aiken's case, as I gathered from a recent
post here)
which would contribute to Felice's power.

Any insights?

Tim

s.pritchard

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Feb 25, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/25/97

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As I remember Jack was more metaphysically powerful than Marc but I also
remember that Felice was refered to as the most powerful mind that had
ever existed, obviously more so than jack.As to Aiken we were never really
told how strong he had become after the subsumption of Mercy and Nodonn's
metaphysic portions.There was a fleeting comment at the end of the Advesary
when Marc commented on Aikens metaphysic strength. I hope that May writes
more on the Pliocene exiles as there was so many loose ends.

Stuart Pritchard

Ashley Montanaro

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Feb 26, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/26/97

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Well, Felice's powers weren't that exceptional until she was tortured, which raised her to a very high level... and we don't really know how Aiken/Felice would stand up to Jack because they do very different things, especially as psychokinesis+creativity are not used much by metapsychics of the Milieu. I agree with you that it's a bit strange though. But they had to be powerful to make the books exciting...

Ashley.

Ashley Montanaro

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Feb 26, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/26/97

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Nick Battam

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Feb 26, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/26/97

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On 25 Feb 1997, s.pritchard wrote:

What a novelty... a mail on alt.books.julian-may relevant to the author
and/or her works. May there be many more...

I tend to agree on the Jack more powerful than Marc decision, but Felices
stupendous power was only possible greater than both, being so clouded by
her madness as it was. Aikens power, before the subsumptions of Mercy and
Nodonn, I always had pegged as being somewhere up there with the best of
the Remillard's, and after, who can say... I recall Marc telling him, as
he shows him how to use the brain-board that 'you a tough little one' or
some such, and Marcs abiding respect for him throught their encounters
implies, i thinks at least, that he was as powerful if not more so than
Abaddon.

The other mind always overlooked, as is made increasingly clear in the
Galactic Mileu series was Denis, variously described as as genius, and as
having many marginally suboperant paramout skills...

As to more writings on the Pliocene... is there enough adventure left for
another book? Or is Julian Mays genius in leaving us all thinking "I
wonder how it all turned out" and "What happened when...." and "What did
she meen about Mercy's daughter...". These are the questions which should
keeps news groups like this alive rather than being answered definitely by
the author herself....

NIck

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Mike Percival

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Feb 27, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/27/97

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>
>Well, Felice's powers weren't that exceptional until she was tortured, which
>raised her to a very high level... and we don't really know how Aiken/Felice
>would stand up to Jack because they do very different things, especially as
>psychokinesis+creativity are not used much by metapsychics of the Milieu. I
>agree with you that it's a bit strange though. But they had to be powerful to
>make the books exciting...

Actually I think it has less to do with the nature of her powers and
rather more to do with her level of operancy. The implication is that
before she was tortured (the extreme agony she went through made her
operant) Felice had very strong latent powers - they were there, but she
couldn't access them, although one does get the impression that in
coercian the powers were so powerful that she could utilise them to some
extent even though she was latent. Think of her career before she went
to the Pliocene and the way she got the authorities to agree with her
even going (it wasn't just down to the fact that she snapped the
interviewer's collar bone). Then think how she managed to persuade
Epona (who if I remember rightly wore coercer colours herself) that she
was in no fit state to undergo the test for latent powers when they
first arrived. Then, of course, she was able to overcome the bear dogs
on the trip to the city of Finiah - and all this even though she was
latent. Basically, she was fairly bursting with power, but she could
not get at it to use it properly.
Maggie Percival

Damian Maguire

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Feb 27, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/27/97

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"Tim Ebling" <t...@surrealsoft.com> wrote:

>
>I haven't finished the whole series (still on Jack The Bodiless), but I'm
>sort of
>mystified by how strong Felice (and Aiken) seem compared to the Remillards.
>May went to great lengths to devise a genetic heritage for Marc (and Jack
>for
>that matter) which made him out to be a unique entity, destined to be one
>of the
>greatest (if not the greatest) operant human of all time.
>
>In retrospect, it seems sort of weird that Felice and Aiken are able to
>prove some-
>thing of a match to Marc and the other rebels. After all, no mention is
>made of
>any special lineage (except in Aiken's case, as I gathered from a recent
>post here)
>which would contribute to Felice's power.
>
>Any insights?
>
>Tim
>

I would have thought that Marc / Atoning Unifex would have been the
most powerful metaphysic human/lymlik, after all he had six million
years to develop and was responsible for two galactic milieu.

Tim Ebling

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Feb 28, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/28/97

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Damian Maguire <dam...@iol.ie> wrote in article
<3316188d...@news.iol.ie>...

> I would have thought that Marc / Atoning Unifex would have been the
> most powerful metaphysic human/lymlik, after all he had six million
> years to develop and was responsible for two galactic milieu.

That's true, but I was referring to the Marc of the Exile books (quite a
bit younger
back then) :)

Tim

Gerry Cassidy

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Mar 2, 1997, 3:00:00 AM3/2/97

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"Tim Ebling" <t...@surrealsoft.com> wrote:

>
>I haven't finished the whole series (still on Jack The Bodiless), but I'm
>sort of
>mystified by how strong Felice (and Aiken) seem compared to the Remillards.
>May went to great lengths to devise a genetic heritage for Marc (and Jack
>for
>that matter) which made him out to be a unique entity, destined to be one
>of the
>greatest (if not the greatest) operant human of all time.
>
>In retrospect, it seems sort of weird that Felice and Aiken are able to
>prove some-
>thing of a match to Marc and the other rebels. After all, no mention is
>made of
>any special lineage (except in Aiken's case, as I gathered from a recent
>post here)
>which would contribute to Felice's power.
>
>Any insights?
>
>Tim
>

I seem to remember a few references to meta 'supernova' extremely
bright minds that sort of fizzled out. In Felice's case I would
imagine that May would have thrown in a few evolutionary oddities to
help the metaphysic line along. What about the youth from one of the
black worlds who was the only documented case of d-jumping.

Indeed genetic law would seem to suggest that these anomoies should
opo-up every none and again. Look at Jack

Pleasant to me is the glittering of the sun today upon these margins, because it flickers so.

Irish;marginal note by an unknown scribe; ninth century