Prestor John and the Autarch of Urth

Recently I was reviewing the legends of Prestor John and a new thought came, that Severian's situation has similarities.

Prestor John was said to be a Christian priest-king with a vast realm just over the horizon. During the Second Crusade, the Christian warriors thought he might show up to help in the fight. By the Fifth Crusade, seventy years later, the Pope and others were pretty sure he would.

The legends went through a cycle of revision over the centuries: a rise, a fall, and a shrinking. During the rising part, Prestor John's kingdom took on elements from the semi-historical fantasy work The Alexander Romance, adding griffons and Greek fire and maybe even bronze robots; adding classical details to the medieval.

So, the similarities. Granted that many might be generic to genre, having been used to create fantasy of the 20th century, but I am watching how Severian differs from, say, Moorcock's Elric (a sorcerer king) and Moorcock's Hawkmoon (a pyrotechnic warlord).

The exotic peoples of Prestor John's realm remind me of the strange allies that Severian meets at the frontlines.

The technology of Prestor John (Greek fire and machinery) recalls to me all the pyrotechnic weaponry in the Commonwealth.

The allied fantastic creatures of Prestor John (the griffons) remind me of the anpiels, the beast men, and the other "normalized" beings within Severian's narrative.

The "sort of Christianity" (initially thought to be Nestorianism) of Prestor John seems to me like the "sort of Christianity" of the Commonwealth.

On the "sort of Christian" side in a "sort of holy war" applies to Prestor John and the Autarchs of Urth.

Those are my paltry notes.