The Second Apocalypse
Earwa => General Earwa => Topic started by: Francis Buck on October 31, 2013, 02:29:24 am
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ETA: I posted this here as opposed to the writing section, since the actual point is to discuss and hopefully iron-out some details about the world and metaphysics.
Tough for me, anyway.
I've decided to write an Earwa fanfiction while also continuing work on my novel. I've had an Earwa story brimming in my head for a while now, but a few things came to me recently that really gave me the itch to do it. My goals are to utilize several aspects of the metaphysics, without breaking any established rules, and also without interfering with the series itself. This is hard, of course, because so much of the world and metaphysics are still a mystery. Nonetheless, I think I can pull it off (the actual story itself will take place thousands of years before PON begins, and is set in a remote part of the world -- all the characters will be brand new creations).
I'm also writing it, in a way, for practice. I want to really attempt to improve my prose and characterization, which a short story like the one I'm developing should be a good channel for.
I'm rambling though. The point of this thread is that I want to ask some questions about lore, history, and metaphysics (things I'm having trouble deducing myself) because, as I said, I really want the story to work within the canonical framework of the series. So, my questions:
The story takes place at the foot of the Kayarsus mountain range, in the little nook that exists to the east of the Sea of Cerish. What time period (this will take after the Fall of the No-God, and the Ancient North should by now mostly be in shambles) should I choose that would allow for a decent amount of sranc populations -- enough that it's something to worry about. Am I correct in assuming that sranc were still pretty much all over the north, even after the No-God's demise, but they were simply disbanded and roaming around doing their own thing?
Next up: Nonman names. Do we know anything about their naming practices? Why does Cujara Cin'moi have "two" names, whil Nil'Giccas or Gin'Yursis do not?
When did the whole Siqu thing happen, and how long did it last? Were there still Siqu after the No-God was killed?
Is there any consolidated source of information on the daimos? This seems like a very vague bit of metaphysics in the story so far, and it's quite important to the story I'm gestating.
How could a sorcerer -- a powerful one (and thus one with a significant mark) -- transport a Chorae without killing himself? Could they carry it an large chest, for example, with it somehow fixed in the very center of it? I mean I could just have them dragging it around on a chain or something, but it needs to be "secure", since it's so valuable.
There are more things, but that's it for now. Any and all feedback is much appreciated. I'd also like to point out that I'm open to the idea of a collaboration if anyones interested. I've never done it before and it's something I'd like to try, and since this is, after all, just a fanfic, there's not much to worry about in regards to taking credit or whatever. It's just a fun project.
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You raise great questions, each of which could become the basis for lengthy discussion and speculation. I am especially interested in Nonman naming schemes, though I have no initial thoughts at the moment.
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The story takes place at the foot of the Kayarsus mountain range, in the little nook that exists to the east of the Sea of Cerish. What time period (this will take after the Fall of the No-God, and the Ancient North should by now mostly be in shambles) should I choose that would allow for a decent amount of sranc populations -- enough that it's something to worry about. Am I correct in assuming that sranc were still pretty much all over the north, even after the No-God's demise, but they were simply disbanded and roaming around doing their own thing?
Anything that remains North of the Three-Seas save Sakarpus and Atrithau is open roaming for the creatures of the Tekne. There is Mandate conjecture in the Apocalypse entry of the Glossary, which suggests that the Mangaecca produced and used a great number of Sranc before the rise of the No-God so I'd hazard that the Yokes have historical relevancy as a unit. Sorweel also reminisces that Sakarpus has been directly under siege by Sranc tribes five times since the No-God.
So I'd hazard the Sranc would be right out there right after the Apocalypse, doing their thing where they can. Leweth suggests that Atrithau regularly repels assault and Sorweel's culture is entirely dominated by the existence of the Sranc.
Just offering you fodder as I go.
Next up: Nonman names. Do we know anything about their naming practices? Why does Cujara Cin'moi have "two" names, whil Nil'Giccas or Gin'Yursis do not?
I don't think anyone has asked Bakker that before. There is the language tree in TDTCB but all this allows you to do is discern that Nonmen languages are far older than even man's root language, which is supposed to account for both the Emwama and the Halaroi.
Probably because Cu'jara Cinmoi is epic.
When did the whole Siqu thing happen, and how long did it last? Were there still Siqu after the No-God was killed?
555 to 825, right out of the Glossary. No-God doesn't incarnate for another millenia or so - though Seswatha tells Mekeritrig that Celmomas had Mekeritrig images struck from the High White Halls. Tutelage is largely culturally relevant to the Ancient North and the Norsirai.
Is there any consolidated source of information on the daimos? This seems like a very vague bit of metaphysics in the story so far, and it's quite important to the story I'm gestating.
No? There's the ZTS quote about the Nonmen deciding not to engage with 'agencies' because of the volatility of the exercise. And there's Iyokus explicitly narrated dealings and Kellhus implicitly narrated dealings. Nonmen had Gnostic Daimos, Spires have Anagogic Daimos.
How could a sorcerer -- a powerful one (and thus one with a significant mark) -- transport a Chorae without killing himself? Could they carry it an large chest, for example, with it somehow fixed in the very center of it? I mean I could just have them dragging it around on a chain or something, but it needs to be "secure", since it's so valuable.
Well, I'm torn on this. The Mihtrul clearly excelled as the 'makers' of sorcerous artifacts but is Sorweel's bag actually a sorcerous artifact or is it instead blessed? I wish we understood the jnan of the Spires' Javreh more.
Good luck, FB.
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Thanks guys, this helped. I did not know that the Nonmen had Gnostic Daimos, and that's definitely relevant for me.
What are the Mihtrul? I'm drawing a blank on Sorweel's bag. What did it do?
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I'll try and find the relevant ZTS quote. It's something other than the one where Bakker writes that the Nonmen call the Gods 'agencies,' and he writes specifically about them not fucking with the Daimos after a time.
The Mihtrul School was one of the twelve ancient Gnostic Schools based in Sauglish who specialized in sorcerous artifacts.
The Goddess unearths a buried pouch for Sorweel, which contains a Chorae. When Sorweel goes to see Serwa after she saves him, she tells him the pattern on the pouch is a motif of the Anasurimbor of Tryse. However, Sorweel walks away with the certainty that she was unable to detect the Chorae within. He leaves it with Zsoronga when he leaves for Ishterebinth, tells him never to look inside, and Serwa doesn't touch the bag so no help for you there.
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I did not catch that he didn't take the chorae with him.
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I did not catch that he didn't take the chorae with him.
+1.... I'm sure that will be very important later. An undetectable chorae in the midst of the Aspect Emperor
Regarding sranc:
Depending on what year it is after the fall there could be huge differences in sranc population. Consider first: distance. based on what we know, all of the sranc were drawn to Mog, not to mention that all the humans in the world where pretty much in the same place. This places all of the sranc west of 2 mountain ranges. Once they 'killed' the No-God, they sranc fled. Well how fast did they flee? That depends on how pressed they where. We saw the Ordeal push the sranc thousands of miles in a short time, but I doubt the living humans did much more than passvly hunt the sranc. It may have taken years, decades, or even a few centuries before the sranc where pushed back to the North.
Once the sranc where confortably past the edges of civilization, they then probably bred extremely quickly. They would have greatly reduced numbers for years, but with no real predators and ample food (grubs, worms, etc.) it would have been an exponential population explosion. Depending on what you want to do with your story, you could go from barely any sranc to hundreds to thousands in a time span of a few centuries.
Also recall that sranc are drawn to certain places over others. I think ancient ruins draw them in for some reason... remember those ruins that sorweel and his horny friends end up in where someone mention to be carful because sranc are "drawn to places like this" or some such? Sorry for the vague reference, my point being that some places could be strangly empty of sranc while other places close by could be teaming with them.
You can probably do whatever you want with sranc and their numbers and there will be plenty of reasonable justifications for it.
Siqu:
Madness covered most of it. As for whether or not there were any left... probably not many. Intact Nonmen might be slightly more common close to the fall of the NG, so there might be some tutors left roaming around.
Diamos:
Nothing consolidated. Iyokus might talk a bit about it during/before his little tussle with Super Saiyan Achamian in TWP
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Cool, thanks Wilshire. The timeline is pretty fuzzy in my head, despite having been checking up on it on the wiki.
Also I completely forgot to ask one of the more important questions I had, though like the Daimos I suspect there's not much to go on, but nonetheless: Do we have any idea of just how long qirri might extend someone's life? Iyokus is what now, 120 or something? I can't remember any descriptions of him, or whether he's aged at all, in TAE. The other thing about qirri I'm vague on is how long one can go without other sustenance. The Skin Eaters seemed to go a pretty decent amount of time without food, correct?
ETA: Then again going purely off of Iyokus might be risky, since we don't yet know what chanv actually is. I actually suspect it isn't qirri, but instead sorcerer salt (but that's another topic).
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I don't believe Qirri is Chanv, either, so I don't think Iyokus would be good at enumerating effects.
I'm also not terribly sure why everyone jumped on Chanv being Sorcerer's Salt...
And I know I've quoted Iyokus' age somewhere around here :S.
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I'm also not terribly sure why everyone jumped on Chanv being Sorcerer's Salt...
blame the monkey.
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I just think sorceror salt having some kind of effect when ingested would be an interesting piece of world-building, and kind of a cool dynamic (Iyokus literally eating his brethren, for example). It could also explain the difficulty in acquiring it, and why the true nature/source of it would be kept a secret (so people don't start killing sorcerors just for their salt, and also because a lot of people that take chanv might not be into the idea of eating a dead sorceror). Of course, those latter two points could also apply to qirri and, perhaps to a lesser extent, Sranc. In the case of Sranc though, I really feel like that's going to have some horrible, grotesque negative effect in the long run. Eating Srancflesh is just way too freaking ominous. Maybe it will almost be like crack to the Nonman's cocaine?
Remind me, whose ashes was it that Cleric had?
ETA: Another dumb question: Are sorcerers able to tell that someone is one of the Few even before they've done any actual magic? Like, how does the Mandate know which children to acquire from the Nroni, for example? Is there some kind of test? Do they have to grasp the onta first or whatever? Drawing a blank on this topic, though I feel like I remember Achamian mentioning it as some point when thinking about his childhood.
Then again as I write this I'm remembering that no one knew Kellhus was one of the Few...
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I'm also not terribly sure why everyone jumped on Chanv being Sorcerer's Salt...
blame the monkey.
It just occurred to me that the ashes of nonmen and the salt sorcerers bares a striking resemblance. Maybe this is why it seems so plausible?
ETA: Another dumb question: Are sorcerers able to tell that someone is one of the Few even before they've done any actual magic? Like, how does the Mandate know which children to acquire from the Nroni, for example? Is there some kind of test? Do they have to grasp the onta first or whatever? Drawing a blank on this topic, though I feel like I remember Achamian mentioning it as some point when thinking about his childhood.
Then again as I write this I'm remembering that no one knew Kellhus was one of the Few...
Recall the scene with Maithanet and Achamian near the beginning. Akka is suprised that he knows that he is a schoolman spy (Maithanet can see the mark, but since he himself has never preformed any magic he does not bare the mark). So there is no outward change that is visible until you are bruised.
There is at least one test that we are told about. Akka mentions it when he tests Kellhus with the wathi doll. He says something along the lines of it being a test that won't mark you, and that they use it to test children for the gift.
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Ah, that's right, forgot about the Wathi doll test. I suppose theoretically another test that wouldn't mark the person could be seeing if they can "maintain" a spell, like Mimara does with the light source in Cil-Aujas.
As to the "chanva-as-salt" idea, I was wondering if perhaps qirri isn't actually special because it's a Nonman, but if it's special because it comes from a sorceror, which is why I was wondering if we know of any qirri that has come from a non-sorcerous Nonman.
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In the case of Sranc though, I really feel like that's going to have some horrible, grotesque negative effect in the long run. Eating Srancflesh is just way too freaking ominous. Maybe it will almost be like crack to the Nonman's cocaine?
Um... Huge +1.
Remind me, whose ashes was it that Cleric had?
Cu'jara Cinmoi!
ETA: Another dumb question: Are sorcerers able to tell that someone is one of the Few even before they've done any actual magic? Like, how does the Mandate know which children to acquire from the Nroni, for example? Is there some kind of test? Do they have to grasp the onta first or whatever? Drawing a blank on this topic, though I feel like I remember Achamian mentioning it as some point when thinking about his childhood.
Then again as I write this I'm remembering that no one knew Kellhus was one of the Few...
Recall the scene with Maithanet and Achamian near the beginning. Akka is suprised that he knows that he is a schoolman spy (Maithanet can see the mark, but since he himself has never preformed any magic he does not bare the mark). So there is no outward change that is visible until you are bruised.
There is at least one test that we are told about. Akka mentions it when he tests Kellhus with the wathi doll. He says something along the lines of it being a test that won't mark you, and that they use it to test children for the gift.
Mimara is able to hold Achamian's Surillic Point in Cil-Aujas without being Marked, as well. FB mentioned this above.
In answer to your question, FB, I don't think there is a definitive way for the Few to recognize the non-Marked Few. I'm sure all the sorcerous Schools have developed a battery of tests they administer to those they would recruit. And, of course, Achamian apparently knew enough about the Few's perspective to know, immediately, that he was of them. So that information enjoys dissemination.
It just occurred to me that the ashes of nonmen and the salt sorcerers bares a striking resemblance. Maybe this is why it seems so plausible?
Hm... not so much, friend, not to this guy.
As to the "chanva-as-salt" idea, I was wondering if perhaps qirri isn't actually special because it's a Nonman, but if it's special because it comes from a sorceror, which is why I was wondering if we know of any qirri that has come from a non-sorcerous Nonman.
Well, Curethan has a seemingly sound dissociation that either Nin'janjin or Cu'jara Cinmoi weren't of the Few.
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Well, Curethan has a seemingly sound dissociation that either Nin'janjin or Cu'jara Cinmoi weren't of the Few.
Where? :)
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What language do the Nonmen of Ishterebinth speak?
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Well, Curethan has a seemingly sound dissociation that either Nin'janjin or Cu'jara Cinmoi weren't of the Few.
Where? :)
Nonmen Society thread - Curethan's Post (http://second-apocalypse.com/index.php?topic=1034.msg9520#msg9520):
There are more references to Ishroi than Quya in general when we read through the Cuno-Inchoroi wars Neither CC or NJ show any indication of being more than Ishroi. NJ cuts off CC's head in their final encounter, in4Revelations we see CC struck down by a nimil spear. This suggests physical combat rather than sorcerous. So if CC was Quya, then NJ must've held a chorae, in which case NJ could not be Quya. Logically, it appears at least one nonman king was not Quya.
NJ = Nin'janjin, CC = Cu'jara Cinmoi.
What language do the Nonmen of Ishterebinth speak?
Ihrimsu.
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EDIT: Moved to more relevant topic.
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Which culture is it that thinks peacocks are holy and lets them roam free? I'm pretty sure it's either the Nansur or Ainoni, but I don't know for certain. Thanks to anyone who can help.
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The Nansur thought the bird holy and allowed them to roam free in their cities.
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Damn, that was fast! Thanks buddy.
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Lol, I'm breaking my moratorium on posting more than once today. Studying for my exam is killing me.
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Lol, I'm breaking my moratorium on posting more than once today. Studying for my exam is killing me.
Hah, I hear you man. Gotta let loose somehow though!
Anyways, I have another question. Could anyone point to me where Akka first "comprehends the onta"? I know it's in TDTCB...at least I think it is....but I can't find it. As always, any help is appreciated.
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TDTCB, p85.
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I choose to believe that the Nansur revering peacocks is some double-entendre for Conphas spending much of his life preening and admiring himself.
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Seems quite similar to cows being holy (in some places (IRL)).
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Yeah, assuming that they're literally holy (in the way snakes are, for example), I'd think it was more meant to be a symbol of masculine superiority.
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Lol, I'm breaking my moratorium on posting more than once today. Studying for my exam is killing me.
Hah, I hear you man. Gotta let loose somehow though!
Anyways, I have another question. Could anyone point to me where Akka first "comprehends the onta"? I know it's in TDTCB...at least I think it is....but I can't find it. As always, any help is appreciated.
An image struck Achamian: himself as a boy, climbing on the big rocks, the ones his father had used to dry the nets, pausing every few breathless instants simply to look around him. Something had happened. It was as though he’d opened different eyelids, ones beneath those he normally opened each morning. Everything was so agonizingly tight, as though the flesh of the world had been dried taut across the gaps between bone: the net against stone, the grid of shadows cast over the hollows, the watery beads cupped between the flex of tendons on his hands—so clear! And within this tightness, the sensation of inner blooming, of the collapse of seeing into being, as though his eyes had been wrung into the very heart of things. From the surface of the stone, he could see himself, a dark child towering across the disc of the sun.
The very fabric of existence. The onta. He had—and he could still never adequately express this—“experienced” it. Unlike most others, he’d known immediately he was one of the Few, known with a child’s stubborn certainty. “Atyersus!” he could remember crying, feeling the vertigo of a life no longer to be determined by his caste, by his father, or by the past.
Bakker, R. Scott (2008-09-02 04:00:00+00:00). The Darkness that Comes Before (Kindle Locations 1356-1360). Overlook. Kindle Edition.
I wish I could convert kindle locations to book pages, but its near the beginning, as Madness said. M
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How come he never sees himself from a rocks point of view again (nor do any other schoolmen give any such accounts)?
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Bakker, R. Scott (2008-09-02 04:00:00+00:00). The Darkness that Comes Before (Kindle Locations 1356-1360). Overlook. Kindle Edition.
I wish I could convert kindle locations to book pages, but its near the beginning, as Madness said. M
Thanks for that, was having trouble finding it in my copy.
And yeah, thats one of the few things that annoys me about Kindle (along with not being able to copy/paste passages, or even brief lines).
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How come he never sees himself from a rocks point of view again (nor do any other schoolmen give any such accounts)?
Good question. A lot of onta-related stuff kinda bemuses me. One thing I found strange is that the Inchoroi grafted themselves with the ability to grasp the onta. What the hell did they graft?
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Let me be the first to say what is on all of our minds:
Sorcerous Phalli.
But seriously... good question, FB.
I'd gather that they either had preexisting knowledge about the so-called "Promised Ground" and sorcery's existence on Earwa allowed them to run a bunch of previously programmed grafting trials that might work only on Earwa or still had enough knowledge of the Tekne collectively at that point to actively figure out what makes the brain/body "see" the onta (they do most of their thinkenearing with the Tekne over the latter part of Cu'jara Cinmoi's life).
As per Pat's Part 2, 2011 interview (http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.ca/2011/07/r-scott-bakker-interview-part-2.html) and the Cuno-Inchoroi Wars entry of TTT Glossary:
- There is no evidence of the surviving Inchoroi using sorcery during the two major battles with the Nonmen (or in the Glossary's telling of the Cuno Inchoroi Wars:
- Battle of Pir Pahal (first conflict): Nonmen of Viri and Inchoroi turn on each other, the hosts of Cu'jara Cinmoi save some of the Virian Nonmen, and the Inchoroi are beaten back to the Ark.
- Battle of Inniur-Shigogli (Post-Womb Plague): inside the Ring Mountains raised by the Ark's Fall; weapons races are unleashed, surviving Inchoroi still using weapons of light and protected by Chorae (which actually doesn't give us an indication as to whether or not the Inchoroi have already attempted the graft).
However, major clues from the interview:
The Inchoroi only possessed the Tekne when they arrived in Eärwa. All of the Inchoroi are the products of successive Graftings, species-wide rewrites of their genotype, meant to enhance various abilities and capacities, such as the ability to elicit certain sexual responses from their victims (via pheromone locks), or the capacity to ‘tune sensations’ and so explore the vagaries and vicissitudes of carnal pleasure. The addition of anthropomorphic vocal apparatuses is perhaps the most famous of these enhancements.
The Grafting that produced Aurang and Aurax was also devised during the age-long Cûno-Inchoroi Wars, one of many failed attempts to biologically redesign themselves to overcome the Nonmen. But they had been outrun by their debauchery by this time, and had lost any comprehensive understanding of the Tekne. The Graftings had become a matter of guesswork, more likely to kill than enhance those who received them. The Inchoroi filled the Wells of the Aborted with their own in those days.
Aurang and Aurax are two of six who survived the attempt to Graft the ability to see the onta.
- only possessed Tekne when they arrived in Earwa.
- successive Graftings, species-wide rewrites of their genotype.
- during the Cuno-Inchoroi Wars.
- two of six who survived the attempt to Graft the ability to see the onta.
There are five hundred years after the Battle of Inniur-Shigogli of Cuno-Inchoroi Wars before the Nonmen trap the Inchoroi in the Ark and then another twenty years fighting inside before Nil'giccas instructs the Artisan and other Quya to fashion the Barricades (thinking they got them all?).
I'd say, considering the above points that each successive Grafting is a species-wide rewrite and that two of six survived, this must have been a late-game Hail Mary, probably during those twenty years fighting inside the labyrinthine Ark...
EDIT: I really didn't do your question justice, FB. Maybe it's like Bakker's Blind Mary/Red Argument: the ability to see the onta requires a specific neural architectural pattern?
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Thanks Madness, lots of interesting info there I didn't know about (or at least, I knew about it but didn't have context for it in the way you arranged).
Presumably, then, whatever it is that the Inchoroi had to graft is the same genetic thing that the Few possess, and normal people don't?
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Lol, no worries, FB.
I'd hazard so (no real idea as to the actual mechanics). Bakker's said on ZTS that the sight of the Few relies on certain innate cognitive capacities (I should find the quote but I believe memory is one specifically). But yeah, again, my guess is they had to impose a certain kind of neural pattern or signature on themselves.
EDIT:
The idea is that pertains to a certain kind of ability to remember. Since memory, like other cognitive capacities, seems to be somewhat heritable, so is the ability - but only somewhat. The thing with the Dunyain, however, is that they have spent millennia breeding for certain cognitive capacities.
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Interesting, this also brings up another question I've had for awhile (unrelated to my fanfic); is Serwa the only one of Kellhus's children that's one of the Few? Could Kelmomas be one without anyone realizing it (aside, perhaps, from Kellhus himself)?
Just seems odd that only one of...what, six children?...were one of the Few. Then again, someone I believe calculated that about 1 in 30,000 or so Earwans are members of the Few. Really, even that number seems a bitt high (though I wonder if it compensates for the gender issue).
But, we are dealing with Dunyain genetics.
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Interesting, this also brings up another question I've had for awhile (unrelated to my fanfic); is Serwa the only one of Kellhus's children that's one of the Few? Could Kelmomas be one without anyone realizing it (aside, perhaps, from Kellhus himself)?
Just seems odd that only one of...what, six children?...were one of the Few. Then again, someone I believe calculated that about 1 in 30,000 or so Earwans are members of the Few. Really, even that number seems a bitt high (though I wonder if it compensates for the gender issue).
But, we are dealing with Dunyain genetics.
Hmm... I don't remember us having any indication that Kelmomas is of the Few (however, only Kelmomas' perspective would be able to tell us that as there is no Mark without Canting). Equally strange as Mimara is of the Few (and I've put forth the thought that Astrology is something Few related in Earwa - while I was corrected that Esmenet did not say her Mother was a Witch).
But you'd think there'd be a higher probability of Few children if both parents are of the Few (if Esmenet's matrilineal actually is).
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Here's a question for the timeline: when had the Inchies added their human faces within their oyster shell heads? Because depending on what the answer is, I might crackpot that they grafted the faces and frontal cortexes (or something) if humans who were of the Few.
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Ingalira called these captives Inchoroi, or "People of Emptiness," both because the sounds they made were empty of meaning and because they fell from the emptiness of the sky.
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Years passed, and the power of Cu'jara Cinmoi and the High Mansion of Siol waxed.
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Either because of original inconsistencies or because of subsequent corruptions, extant versions of the Isuphiryas are unclear as to the subsequent order of events. At some point a secret embassy of Inchoroi reached Nin'janjin at Viri. Unlike the Inchoroi brought before Cu'jara Cinmoi, these possessed the ability to speak Ihrimsu.
The Inchoroi only possessed the Tekne when they arrived in Eärwa. All of the Inchoroi are the products of successive Graftings, species-wide rewrites of their genotype, meant to enhance various abilities and capacities, such as the ability to elicit certain sexual responses from their victims (via pheromone locks), or the capacity to ‘tune sensations’ and so explore the vagaries and vicissitudes of carnal pleasure. The addition of anthropomorphic vocal apparatuses is perhaps the most famous of these enhancements.
Second one doesn't really indicate time but it gives some context.
Where's the "birthed mouths" quote from? ZTS? I should go back and read a bunch of Bakker's interviews in my holiday reading.
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How come he never sees himself from a rocks point of view again (nor do any other schoolmen give any such accounts)?
Because of how BEAUTIFUL the onta is.
And sorcery is all about ripping, tearing, shreading, raping, stabbing, destroying the onta.
The mark is not called the blood of the onta for nothing. They literally make the world bleed with the desecrations of their changes.
So the onta is beautiful, sorcery is an ugly desecration of that beauty. Naturally sorcerers do not want to remember what it is they do, the destruction of the sacred, so they constantly avoid taking internal responsibility for their crimes.
Just like Akka avoids thinking about how he was responsible for Inrau's damnation. Or how he avoids thinking about the rape of Proyas (when accused of this by the Scarlet Spires, he only thinks of how news spreads and they know how to hit him where it hurts most with their accusations before swiftly pushing his thoughts to less painful, less self-accusatory directions). Akka deliberately avoids thinking about how he embodies desecration in his very being.
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Fairly sure speech graft is in the cuno-inchoroi wars section of the TTT glossary. Pretty early on in the piece - second contact with CC, after they make secret contact with NJ and Viri then NJ petitions an audience for them with CC and they have a limited ability to speak Imrihsu.
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@ Francis Buck - I think the preferred method for a sorcerer to carry a chorae is to have a slave do it, a la Scarlet Spires/Cadres.
@ Triskele - I have to agree with you. I think a few Inchoroi became sorcerous because they were able to graft on a person's head (perhaps soul) who was one of the few.
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they wouldn't graft a head, they'd graft the organ that has a point of contact with the outside.
They graft on the heart of a sorcerer, not the head.
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Your speculation is based on Seswatha's heart I would guess.
They wouldn't need the head, the head is just for speaking the utteral string. BTW is there reference to how the Inchoroi learned sorcery? Wondering how they figured out the inutterals.
Some organ with a point of contact to the outside is an interesting notation. The Inchroi's Tekne is some kind of extreme genetic manipulation so it has to be coded for in the DNA. I don't know if it has to be the heart, as I think "seswatha's heart" could be a metaphor, but it could be that or something else.
One option is that there is some kind of physical embodiment of the "soul" (or whatever it is that connects with the Outside).
Another option would be the Eyes. Seeing/Watching is important in Earwa. Even the Psuke requires sight, through the eyes of other animals. Eyes are what lets you see the Onta, and perhaps the reason it can be accessed at all. Even Titirga wasn't a schoolman until he could see
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they wouldn't graft a head, they'd graft the organ that has a point of contact with the outside.
They graft on the heart of a sorcerer, not the head.
graftalltheorgans.png
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Gotta graft them all?
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The typical pet for an Ark resident is a single, hopping foot, covered in penises and eyeballs, screaming with a toothless mouth set in the sole.
They are called Ark Bunnies.