Are those the pups at the base that I've read about agaves producing as they bloom, then die?

Yes indeed, they are pups. Even though the plant was barely able to flower (zero irrigation in our dry summer climate) it still had enough energy to put out offsets, ensuring the continuation of the line.

I hope at least some of the pups survived. Do fluids from the dying mother plant nourish the pups? If not, that seems like quite a waste, especially when the parent has grown quite large. One question answered...many more pop up.

I think there is probably some help from the mother plant to give the pups a strong start. In this case the mother plant looks unusually scrappy because it flowered after going a whole summer (and most of the spring) without any water. By the time the offsets are as big as they are in the picture, they have their own roots, so I have started watering again to get them over the hump... then down the road I'll leave them to their own devices.