Excession

"Adrian Tupper" <adrian.tupper.RemoveThis@totalise.co.uk> writes:

 > "mule" <mule.RemoveThis@suxamethonium.relax.org> wrote in message
 > news:9b80t-gae.ln1@suxamethonium.relax.org...
  >> Hi. I've read Excession twice now, but I still don't get the last chapter
  >> thing entirely. Anyone translated it?
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > Grey Area plunges toward the grid, apparently commiting suicide. FATC
 > notices something
 > odd but didn't understand it. Grey ARea appears "somewhere else",
 > presumably the other
 > side of the Excession. The Elencher craft were there also. Could all be in
 > the "Mind" of
 > the Excession though.
 >
 > Is that the bit you mean? I don't have the book handy and IIRC there were a
 > couple of
 > eplilogue-style chapters in an order I have forgotten.

I think he means the last page, which is a monologue by the excession
itself. It has some weird words and imagery. I think the point is
that it can't be translated.

--
Paul
IMO<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Excession 

"Paul Dean" <paul_ng RemoveThis @redeemed.org.uk> wrote in message
news:87d6gw0yod.fsf@debian.deancentral.net...
 > "Adrian Tupper" <adrian.tupper RemoveThis @totalise.co.uk> writes:
 >
  > > "mule" <mule RemoveThis @suxamethonium.relax.org> wrote in message
  > > news:9b80t-gae.ln1@suxamethonium.relax.org...
   > >> Hi. I've read Excession twice now, but I still don't get the last
chapter
   > >> thing entirely. Anyone translated it?
  > > .
  > > .
  > > .
  > > .
  > > .
  > > .
  > > .
  > > .
  > > .
  > > .
  > > .
  > > .
  > > Grey Area plunges toward the grid, apparently commiting suicide. FATC
  > > notices something
  > > odd but didn't understand it. Grey ARea appears "somewhere else",
  > > presumably the other
  > > side of the Excession. The Elencher craft were there also. Could all
be in
  > > the "Mind" of
  > > the Excession though.
  > >
  > > Is that the bit you mean? I don't have the book handy and IIRC there
were a
  > > couple of
  > > eplilogue-style chapters in an order I have forgotten.
 >
 > I think he means the last page, which is a monologue by the excession
 > itself. It has some weird words and imagery. I think the point is
 > that it can't be translated.

In which case I don't know

--
Adrian<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Excession 

"Paul Dean" <paul_ng RemoveThis @redeemed.org.uk> wrote in message
news:87d6gw0yod.fsf@debian.deancentral.net...
 > I think he means the last page, which is a monologue by the excession
 > itself. It has some weird words and imagery. I think the point is
 > that it can't be translated.

It's really not that obscure.


"call me highway call me conduit call my lightning rod scout catalyst
observer"

The Excession is listing its main functions. "highway" and "conduit" are
pretty obvious; the Excession is a means for travelers to pass from one
universe to another, as the Culture has hypothesized. "scout" and
"observer"; well, the Excession obviously observed the local part of our
universe where it appeared, for reasons that it mentions later. "lightning
rod" and "catalyst" are a bit tougher, but you can make up your own theories
for those. The main question is whether the Excession is listing part of
its universe-connecting function, or whether it means that it's catalyzing
something in the local social situation. By guess is the first.

"call me what you will i was there when i was required"

The Excession is mainly motivated by its task or job, it seems.

"through me passed the overarch bedeckants in their great sequential
migration across the universes of [no translation] the marriage parties of
the universe groupings of [no translation] and the emissaries of the lone
bearing the laws of the new from the pulsing core the absolute center of our
nested home"

The Excession is referring to the set of nested universes with a Big Bang
going off in the center that features in Culture universe cosmology. The
"overarch bedeckants" and the other parties mentioned all sound like
varieties of what the Culture might call equiv-tech cultures; different
groups that all know enough to know how to use the Excession to travel from
one universe to another. Marriage parties and emissaries are mentioned, but
are both probably figurative or philosophical roles rather than literal
ones. "Overarch bedeckants" comes from two actual words; "overarching" can
mean either "forming an arch overhead" or "dominating or embracing all
else", "bedeck" means "to clothe with finery" (Merriam-Webster). The
Excession referring to the set of universes as "our nested home" makes it
clear that these groups live there, travel from one universe to another is
routine for them.

"all this the rest and the others I received as i was asked and transmitted
as i was expected without fear favor or failure"

The Excession views its main purpose as the carrying out of its job or task
of transportation for all comers (all comers who know enough about
inter-universal travel, that is).

"and only in the final routing of the channel i was part of did i discharge
my duty beyond normal procedures"

Now we get to the plot of the book.

"when i moved from a position where my presence was causing conflict in the
micro-environment concerned (see attached)

The Excession, as we already guessed, realized that people were about to
start fighting over it. Of course its location is a "micro-environment";
it's a small part of one galaxy in one universe. Note that the Excession
has someone to make reports to.

"considering it prudent to withdraw and reposition myself and my
channel-tract where for some long time at least it was again unlikely i
would be discovered"

The Excession just moved its apparent position from one place in our
universe to another, because it didn't want to cause trouble.

"the initial association with the original entity _peace makes plenty_ and
the (minor) information-loss ensuing was not as i would have wished but as
it represented the first full such liaison in said micro-environment i
assert hereby it fell within acceptable parameters"

The Excession treats what we would think of as death as information-loss,
since if it has a full mind-state pattern for someone, it can always just
make a copy of them anyway (and it considers perfect copies to be equivalent
to the original). Here it's confirmed that the Excession is not really
bloodthirsty or expansionist, it regrets having to destroy the entities that
were trying to probe it. Note that this bit of its report, amusingly, is
what is currently known as CYA.

"i present the entity _peace makes plenty_ and the other above-mentioned
collected / embraced / captured / self-submitted entities as evidence of the
environment's general demeanor within its advanced / chaotic
spectrum-section"

The Excession has captured (recreated from their mind-states) a grab bag of
what the Culture would call Involveds (that's what advanced / chaotic
spectrum-section means). Some really were self-submitted, like the _Gray
Area_ and the _Sleeper Service_. _peace makes plenty_ gets pride of place
because it was first captured, apparently.

"and urge that they be observed and studied free"

i.e. free to move about within the Excession's interior, or within its
associated civilization(s), presumably. The entities are going to be
recreated as entities, not just studied as inactive mind-states.

"with the suggested proviso that any return to their home environment is
potentially accompanied by postassociation memory confiscation"

i.e. if they want to go home, they'll have their memories of the interior of
the Excession blanked out.

"in the linked matter of the suitability of the relevant inhabitants of the
micro-environment for (further or ordered) communication or association it
is my opinion that the reaction to my presence indicates a fundamental
unreadiness as yet for such a signal honor"

As the Minds discussing the incident afterwards guessed, the irresponsible
plot had helped to convince the Excession that the Culture and other local
Involveds were not yet ready for contact.

"lastly in recognition of the foregoing i wish now to be known hereafter as
_the excession_
thank you
end"

The Excession has taken a name from this incident. I found this to be the
single most interesting part of this page, because almost everything else is
just a confirmation of what some character has already guessed at previously
in the book. It implies that the excession is not as "liberated" as the
Culture's Minds, perhaps considered by its society to be more like what the
Culture would consider an AI. It didn't have a name to change, it adopted a
name where it had none. Did the Culture inadvertently start something?

Also note that this kind of thing must be fairly unusual for the Excession,
or it wouldn't be recognizing it in this way. In most of its universal
linkings, it probably doesn't get noticed by the locals.

That's pretty much it.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Excession 

Adrian Tupper wrote:

 >
 > "mule" <mule.RemoveThis@suxamethonium.relax.org> wrote in message
 > news:9b80t-gae.ln1@suxamethonium.relax.org...
  >> Hi. I've read Excession twice now, but I still don't get the last chapter
  >> thing entirely. Anyone translated it?
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > .
 > Grey Area plunges toward the grid, apparently commiting suicide. FATC
 > notices something
 > odd but didn't understand it. Grey ARea appears "somewhere else",
 > presumably the other
 > side of the Excession. The Elencher craft were there also. Could all be
 > in the "Mind" of
 > the Excession though.
 >
 > Is that the bit you mean? I don't have the book handy and IIRC there were
 > a couple of
 > eplilogue-style chapters in an order I have forgotten.
 >
 > --
 > Adrian

Yes, after that there is a monologue from the Excession itself. 'Call me
highway call me conduit...' explaining its role in the proceedings. It's a
page long and unpunctuated and starting to make sense on the 20th reading.

I like the idea that the Excession just stored their Minds.

--
mule, the<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Excession 

Richard Puchalsky wrote:

 > "Paul Dean" <paul_ng.RemoveThis@redeemed.org.uk> wrote in message
 > news:87d6gw0yod.fsf@debian.deancentral.net...
  > > I think he means the last page, which is a monologue by the excession
  > > itself. It has some weird words and imagery. I think the point is
  > > that it can't be translated.
 >
 > It's really not that obscure.
 >
 >
 > "call me highway call me conduit call my lightning rod scout catalyst
 > observer"
 >
 > The Excession is listing its main functions. "highway" and "conduit" are
 > pretty obvious; the Excession is a means for travelers to pass from one
 > universe to another, as the Culture has hypothesized. "scout" and
 > "observer"; well, the Excession obviously observed the local part of our
 > universe where it appeared, for reasons that it mentions later. "lightning
 > rod" and "catalyst" are a bit tougher, but you can make up your own theories
 > for those. The main question is whether the Excession is listing part of
 > its universe-connecting function, or whether it means that it's catalyzing
 > something in the local social situation. By guess is the first.
 >
 > "call me what you will i was there when i was required"
 >
 > The Excession is mainly motivated by its task or job, it seems.
 >
 > "through me passed the overarch bedeckants in their great sequential
 > migration across the universes of [no translation] the marriage parties of
 > the universe groupings of [no translation] and the emissaries of the lone
 > bearing the laws of the new from the pulsing core the absolute center of our
 > nested home"
 >
 > The Excession is referring to the set of nested universes with a Big Bang
 > going off in the center that features in Culture universe cosmology. The
 > "overarch bedeckants" and the other parties mentioned all sound like
 > varieties of what the Culture might call equiv-tech cultures; different
 > groups that all know enough to know how to use the Excession to travel from
 > one universe to another. Marriage parties and emissaries are mentioned, but
 > are both probably figurative or philosophical roles rather than literal
 > ones. "Overarch bedeckants" comes from two actual words; "overarching" can
 > mean either "forming an arch overhead" or "dominating or embracing all
 > else", "bedeck" means "to clothe with finery" (Merriam-Webster). The
 > Excession referring to the set of universes as "our nested home" makes it
 > clear that these groups live there, travel from one universe to another is
 > routine for them.
 >
 > "all this the rest and the others I received as i was asked and transmitted
 > as i was expected without fear favor or failure"
 >
 > The Excession views its main purpose as the carrying out of its job or task
 > of transportation for all comers (all comers who know enough about
 > inter-universal travel, that is).
 >
 > "and only in the final routing of the channel i was part of did i discharge
 > my duty beyond normal procedures"
 >
 > Now we get to the plot of the book.
 >
 > "when i moved from a position where my presence was causing conflict in the
 > micro-environment concerned (see attached)
 >
 > The Excession, as we already guessed, realized that people were about to
 > start fighting over it. Of course its location is a "micro-environment";
 > it's a small part of one galaxy in one universe. Note that the Excession
 > has someone to make reports to.
 >
 > "considering it prudent to withdraw and reposition myself and my
 > channel-tract where for some long time at least it was again unlikely i
 > would be discovered"
 >
 > The Excession just moved its apparent position from one place in our
 > universe to another, because it didn't want to cause trouble.
 >
 > "the initial association with the original entity _peace makes plenty_ and
 > the (minor) information-loss ensuing was not as i would have wished but as
 > it represented the first full such liaison in said micro-environment i
 > assert hereby it fell within acceptable parameters"
 >
 > The Excession treats what we would think of as death as information-loss,
 > since if it has a full mind-state pattern for someone, it can always just
 > make a copy of them anyway (and it considers perfect copies to be equivalent
 > to the original). Here it's confirmed that the Excession is not really
 > bloodthirsty or expansionist, it regrets having to destroy the entities that
 > were trying to probe it. Note that this bit of its report, amusingly, is
 > what is currently known as CYA.
 >
 > "i present the entity _peace makes plenty_ and the other above-mentioned
 > collected / embraced / captured / self-submitted entities as evidence of the
 > environment's general demeanor within its advanced / chaotic
 > spectrum-section"
 >
 > The Excession has captured (recreated from their mind-states) a grab bag of
 > what the Culture would call Involveds (that's what advanced / chaotic
 > spectrum-section means). Some really were self-submitted, like the _Gray
 > Area_ and the _Sleeper Service_. _peace makes plenty_ gets pride of place
 > because it was first captured, apparently.
 >
 > "and urge that they be observed and studied free"
 >
 > i.e. free to move about within the Excession's interior, or within its
 > associated civilization(s), presumably. The entities are going to be
 > recreated as entities, not just studied as inactive mind-states.
 >
 > "with the suggested proviso that any return to their home environment is
 > potentially accompanied by postassociation memory confiscation"
 >
 > i.e. if they want to go home, they'll have their memories of the interior of
 > the Excession blanked out.
 >
 > "in the linked matter of the suitability of the relevant inhabitants of the
 > micro-environment for (further or ordered) communication or association it
 > is my opinion that the reaction to my presence indicates a fundamental
 > unreadiness as yet for such a signal honor"
 >
 > As the Minds discussing the incident afterwards guessed, the irresponsible
 > plot had helped to convince the Excession that the Culture and other local
 > Involveds were not yet ready for contact.
 >
 > "lastly in recognition of the foregoing i wish now to be known hereafter as
 > _the excession_
 > thank you
 > end"
 >
 > The Excession has taken a name from this incident. I found this to be the
 > single most interesting part of this page, because almost everything else is
 > just a confirmation of what some character has already guessed at previously
 > in the book. It implies that the excession is not as "liberated" as the
 > Culture's Minds, perhaps considered by its society to be more like what the
 > Culture would consider an AI. It didn't have a name to change, it adopted a
 > name where it had none. Did the Culture inadvertently start something?
 >
 > Also note that this kind of thing must be fairly unusual for the Excession,
 > or it wouldn't be recognizing it in this way. In most of its universal
 > linkings, it probably doesn't get noticed by the locals.
 >
 > That's pretty much it.
 >
 >

---------------
Excellent description guy hat actually helped me to understand a
whole lot more of the complete story instead of taking my understanding
of the story the book tells from a few of the sub plots.
Thanks
Hyperion out
---------------<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Excession 

I realized on re-reading this that I wasn't clear.

 > "the initial association with the original entity _peace makes plenty_ and
 > the (minor) information-loss ensuing was not as i would have wished but as
 > it represented the first full such liaison in said micro-environment i
 > assert hereby it fell within acceptable parameters"
 >
 > The Excession treats what we would think of as death as information-loss,
 > since if it has a full mind-state pattern for someone, it can always just
 > make a copy of them anyway (and it considers perfect copies to be
equivalent
 > to the original).

What I meant was that the Excession does not consider what we would think of
as death to be death, as long as it got a copy of an entity's mind-state
just before death. "Information-loss" would consist of two things:

1) Most seriously, any entity that died without having its mind-state saved
at all.

2) Less seriously, the time that elapsed between when an entity's mind-state
was saved and when it died.

All of the information-loss caused directly by the Excession was of the
second type -- as it points out to the Zentetic Elench drone that doesn't
escape, "there have been no mind-state total losses at all except that
brought about by your displacer".<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Excession 

"Richard Puchalsky" <rpuchalsky.TakeThisOut@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:PhYLa.29681$0v4.2206132@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> I realized on re-reading this that I wasn't clear.
>
> > "the initial association with the original entity _peace makes plenty_
and
> > the (minor) information-loss ensuing was not as i would have wished but
as
> > it represented the first full such liaison in said micro-environment i
> > assert hereby it fell within acceptable parameters"
> >
> > The Excession treats what we would think of as death as
information-loss,
> > since if it has a full mind-state pattern for someone, it can always
just
> > make a copy of them anyway (and it considers perfect copies to be
> equivalent
> > to the original).
>
> What I meant was that the Excession does not consider what we would think
of
> as death to be death, as long as it got a copy of an entity's mind-state
> just before death. "Information-loss" would consist of two things:
>
> 1) Most seriously, any entity that died without having its mind-state
saved
> at all.
>
> 2) Less seriously, the time that elapsed between when an entity's
mind-state
> was saved and when it died.
>
> All of the information-loss caused directly by the Excession was of the
> second type -- as it points out to the Zentetic Elench drone that doesn't
> escape, "there have been no mind-state total losses at all except that
> brought about by your displacer".

Yes. Curious that the Excession was out-witted by this drone.

--
Adrian
 >> Stay informed about: Excession 

"Adrian Tupper" <adrian.tupper DeleteThis @totalise.co.uk> wrote in message
news:bdpogn$9mm$6@sparta.btinternet.com...
>
> "Richard Puchalsky" <rpuchalsky DeleteThis @worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> news:PhYLa.29681$0v4.2206132@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> > I realized on re-reading this that I wasn't clear.
> >
> > All of the information-loss caused directly by the Excession was of
the
> > second type -- as it points out to the Zentetic Elench drone that
doesn't
> > escape, "there have been no mind-state total losses at all except
that
> > brought about by your displacer".
>
> Yes. Curious that the Excession was out-witted by this drone.
>

Perhaps the Excession did not expect anyone to knowingly cause total
mind-state loss, no matter what?

Bonzi
 >> Stay informed about: Excession 

"Dragi Bonzi Raos" <bonzi.DeleteThis@email.hinet.hr> wrote in message
news:bdppum$vi7bv$1@ID-72093.news.dfncis.de...
> "Adrian Tupper" <adrian.tupper.DeleteThis@totalise.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:bdpogn$9mm$6@sparta.btinternet.com...
> >
> > "Richard Puchalsky" <rpuchalsky.DeleteThis@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> > news:PhYLa.29681$0v4.2206132@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> > > I realized on re-reading this that I wasn't clear.
> > >
> > > All of the information-loss caused directly by the Excession was of
> the
> > > second type -- as it points out to the Zentetic Elench drone that
> doesn't
> > > escape, "there have been no mind-state total losses at all except
> that
> > > brought about by your displacer".
> >
> > Yes. Curious that the Excession was out-witted by this drone.
> >
>
> Perhaps the Excession did not expect anyone to knowingly cause total
> mind-state loss, no matter what?

First of all, the Excession probably wasn't outwitted by the drone. The
Excession mentions that it couldn't find any trace of the plan in the ship's
mind; that could just mean that the ship made the plan and then carefully
erased its memory of it, either long before, or just before it approached
the Excession. The drone could have made the plan, but it probably would
have needed the ship's cooperation with it at some point, to prepare the
Displacer and the positioning of the second drone.

Second, it's not clear that the Excession is really correct when it says
that a total mind-state loss was caused by the Displacer. The taken-over
drone's mind-state appears to have been placed in a memory core within its
former body, so when the Displacer copied the first drone's mind-state, it
seems to have isolated the second drone's rather than overwriting it. It's
possible that the "total mind-state loss" that the Excession refers to is
the one caused by the Affront destroying the drone, and it is listing the
displacement as a non-proximate cause, but this doesn't seem likely.

Third, the Excession never really shows unusually great intelligence. It
has unusually powerful meme weapons, yes, but those could have been
programmed by someone else. As mentioned at the end, it doesn't even have a
name. Clearly it is intelligent, but there's nothing to indicate that it
has more than Mind intelligence, and it may have less.

Basically, the Culture and other ships may have gotten captured by an entity
with the equivalent of the kind of intelligence that the Culture might put
in a household drone, but with really effective defensive weapons.
 >> Stay informed about: Excession 

This message is not archived
 >> Stay informed about: Excession 

Just like to say thank you. This helps exlpain alot about the book that I
had previously not quite grasped even after reading it for the fifth time.

Cheers
ngf



"Richard Puchalsky" <rpuchalsky DeleteThis @worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:o%_La.28784$3o3.2193598@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> "Dragi Bonzi Raos" <bonzi DeleteThis @email.hinet.hr> wrote in message
> news:bdppum$vi7bv$1@ID-72093.news.dfncis.de...
> > "Adrian Tupper" <adrian.tupper DeleteThis @totalise.co.uk> wrote in message
> > news:bdpogn$9mm$6@sparta.btinternet.com...
> > >
> > > "Richard Puchalsky" <rpuchalsky DeleteThis @worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> > > news:PhYLa.29681$0v4.2206132@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> > > > I realized on re-reading this that I wasn't clear.
> > > >
> > > > All of the information-loss caused directly by the Excession was of
> > the
> > > > second type -- as it points out to the Zentetic Elench drone that
> > doesn't
> > > > escape, "there have been no mind-state total losses at all except
> > that
> > > > brought about by your displacer".
> > >
> > > Yes. Curious that the Excession was out-witted by this drone.
> > >
> >
> > Perhaps the Excession did not expect anyone to knowingly cause total
> > mind-state loss, no matter what?
>
> First of all, the Excession probably wasn't outwitted by the drone. The
> Excession mentions that it couldn't find any trace of the plan in the
ship's
> mind; that could just mean that the ship made the plan and then carefully
> erased its memory of it, either long before, or just before it approached
> the Excession. The drone could have made the plan, but it probably would
> have needed the ship's cooperation with it at some point, to prepare the
> Displacer and the positioning of the second drone.
>
> Second, it's not clear that the Excession is really correct when it says
> that a total mind-state loss was caused by the Displacer. The taken-over
> drone's mind-state appears to have been placed in a memory core within its
> former body, so when the Displacer copied the first drone's mind-state, it
> seems to have isolated the second drone's rather than overwriting it.
It's
> possible that the "total mind-state loss" that the Excession refers to is
> the one caused by the Affront destroying the drone, and it is listing the
> displacement as a non-proximate cause, but this doesn't seem likely.
>
> Third, the Excession never really shows unusually great intelligence. It
> has unusually powerful meme weapons, yes, but those could have been
> programmed by someone else. As mentioned at the end, it doesn't even have
a
> name. Clearly it is intelligent, but there's nothing to indicate that it
> has more than Mind intelligence, and it may have less.
>
> Basically, the Culture and other ships may have gotten captured by an
entity
> with the equivalent of the kind of intelligence that the Culture might put
> in a household drone, but with really effective defensive weapons.
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Excession 

Hi Richard,

I've added your excellent response to the question about Excession's last
page (below) to my Culture faq. Is this ok? Of course I have credited you
as author.

See here:

<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.mattstan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/culture/culturefaq.html#EXCESSIONLASTPAGE" target="_blank">http://www.mattstan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/culture/culturefaq.html#EXCES...NLASTPA</a>

Regards,

...matthew


Richard Puchalsky wrote:
 >
  >>I think he means the last page, which is a monologue by the excession
  >>itself. It has some weird words and imagery. I think the point is
  >>that it can't be translated.
 >
 >
 > It's really not that obscure.
 >
 >
 > "call me highway call me conduit call my lightning rod scout catalyst
 > observer"
 >
 > The Excession is listing its main functions. "highway" and "conduit" are
 > pretty obvious; the Excession is a means for travelers to pass from one
 > universe to another, as the Culture has hypothesized. "scout" and
 > "observer"; well, the Excession obviously observed the local part of our
 > universe where it appeared, for reasons that it mentions later. "lightning
 > rod" and "catalyst" are a bit tougher, but you can make up your own theories
 > for those. The main question is whether the Excession is listing part of
 > its universe-connecting function, or whether it means that it's catalyzing
 > something in the local social situation. By guess is the first.
 >
 > "call me what you will i was there when i was required"
 >
 > The Excession is mainly motivated by its task or job, it seems.
 >
 > "through me passed the overarch bedeckants in their great sequential
 > migration across the universes of [no translation] the marriage parties of
 > the universe groupings of [no translation] and the emissaries of the lone
 > bearing the laws of the new from the pulsing core the absolute center of our
 > nested home"
 >
 > The Excession is referring to the set of nested universes with a Big Bang
 > going off in the center that features in Culture universe cosmology. The
 > "overarch bedeckants" and the other parties mentioned all sound like
 > varieties of what the Culture might call equiv-tech cultures; different
 > groups that all know enough to know how to use the Excession to travel from
 > one universe to another. Marriage parties and emissaries are mentioned, but
 > are both probably figurative or philosophical roles rather than literal
 > ones. "Overarch bedeckants" comes from two actual words; "overarching" can
 > mean either "forming an arch overhead" or "dominating or embracing all
 > else", "bedeck" means "to clothe with finery" (Merriam-Webster). The
 > Excession referring to the set of universes as "our nested home" makes it
 > clear that these groups live there, travel from one universe to another is
 > routine for them.
 >
 > "all this the rest and the others I received as i was asked and transmitted
 > as i was expected without fear favor or failure"
 >
 > The Excession views its main purpose as the carrying out of its job or task
 > of transportation for all comers (all comers who know enough about
 > inter-universal travel, that is).
 >
 > "and only in the final routing of the channel i was part of did i discharge
 > my duty beyond normal procedures"
 >
 > Now we get to the plot of the book.
 >
 > "when i moved from a position where my presence was causing conflict in the
 > micro-environment concerned (see attached)
 >
 > The Excession, as we already guessed, realized that people were about to
 > start fighting over it. Of course its location is a "micro-environment";
 > it's a small part of one galaxy in one universe. Note that the Excession
 > has someone to make reports to.
 >
 > "considering it prudent to withdraw and reposition myself and my
 > channel-tract where for some long time at least it was again unlikely i
 > would be discovered"
 >
 > The Excession just moved its apparent position from one place in our
 > universe to another, because it didn't want to cause trouble.
 >
 > "the initial association with the original entity _peace makes plenty_ and
 > the (minor) information-loss ensuing was not as i would have wished but as
 > it represented the first full such liaison in said micro-environment i
 > assert hereby it fell within acceptable parameters"
 >
 > The Excession treats what we would think of as death as information-loss,
 > since if it has a full mind-state pattern for someone, it can always just
 > make a copy of them anyway (and it considers perfect copies to be equivalent
 > to the original). Here it's confirmed that the Excession is not really
 > bloodthirsty or expansionist, it regrets having to destroy the entities that
 > were trying to probe it. Note that this bit of its report, amusingly, is
 > what is currently known as CYA.
 >
 > "i present the entity _peace makes plenty_ and the other above-mentioned
 > collected / embraced / captured / self-submitted entities as evidence of the
 > environment's general demeanor within its advanced / chaotic
 > spectrum-section"
 >
 > The Excession has captured (recreated from their mind-states) a grab bag of
 > what the Culture would call Involveds (that's what advanced / chaotic
 > spectrum-section means). Some really were self-submitted, like the _Gray
 > Area_ and the _Sleeper Service_. _peace makes plenty_ gets pride of place
 > because it was first captured, apparently.
 >
 > "and urge that they be observed and studied free"
 >
 > i.e. free to move about within the Excession's interior, or within its
 > associated civilization(s), presumably. The entities are going to be
 > recreated as entities, not just studied as inactive mind-states.
 >
 > "with the suggested proviso that any return to their home environment is
 > potentially accompanied by postassociation memory confiscation"
 >
 > i.e. if they want to go home, they'll have their memories of the interior of
 > the Excession blanked out.
 >
 > "in the linked matter of the suitability of the relevant inhabitants of the
 > micro-environment for (further or ordered) communication or association it
 > is my opinion that the reaction to my presence indicates a fundamental
 > unreadiness as yet for such a signal honor"
 >
 > As the Minds discussing the incident afterwards guessed, the irresponsible
 > plot had helped to convince the Excession that the Culture and other local
 > Involveds were not yet ready for contact.
 >
 > "lastly in recognition of the foregoing i wish now to be known hereafter as
 > _the excession_
 > thank you
 > end"
 >
 > The Excession has taken a name from this incident. I found this to be the
 > single most interesting part of this page, because almost everything else is
 > just a confirmation of what some character has already guessed at previously
 > in the book. It implies that the excession is not as "liberated" as the
 > Culture's Minds, perhaps considered by its society to be more like what the
 > Culture would consider an AI. It didn't have a name to change, it adopted a
 > name where it had none. Did the Culture inadvertently start something?
 >
 > Also note that this kind of thing must be fairly unusual for the Excession,
 > or it wouldn't be recognizing it in this way. In most of its universal
 > linkings, it probably doesn't get noticed by the locals.
 >
 > That's pretty much it.
 >
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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