Earwa > The Almanac: PON Edition

TDTCB, Ch. 2

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What Came Before:

--- Quote from: Madness ---Good day. I thought I'd make this now, just in case I don't get around to posting. But I'll try not to make it two days.
--- End quote ---

What Came Before:

--- Quote from: sologdin ---i'm a bad summarizer, so merely a few items of interest:

a ) the anonymous mandate scholar who gives us the epigraph does not appear to share DA’s collapsing of the recent and the ancient, as the scholar has reported on his “recent audience” (I.2 at 55).  the scholar opines that the mandate knows of the consult only in the “secrets” of third parties.  we should make a note, cf. prologue re: “no one, not even the no-god, could besiege a secret”, here.  the scholar concludes with a nansur aphorism regarding a hunter who extinguishes the hunt by virtue of hunting (id.), and we should add next to that cf. DA re: “when a man chases a hare, he finds a hare.  but when many men chase a hare, they find a dragon..

impressions regarding the epigraph: 

1 ) DA is different insofar as his education has collapsed certain binary concepts, whereas this scholar still relies on them. 

2 ) when a man chases a hare, he finds a hare and extinguishes all hope of running it down.  when many men chase a hare, they find a dragon, and extinguish all hope of running it down.


b ) DA responds “surely you jest” (I.2 at 57) in response to


--- Quote ---There is to be Holy War. [emphasis original]
--- End quote ---
he is responding this way because of the structure that has collapsed, holy/unholy, as noted in chapter 1?  it makes little sense to assume that he can’t believe such things are possible--it is rather an insult to the conceptual apparatus of his superior, whom he informs later:  “before you were too harsh, but now you are simply too stupid” (I.2 at 64).

and yet: 


--- Quote ---Nautzera strode from the shadows, pausing only when he stood close enough to tower over him.  Achamian resisted the urge to step back.  The ancient sorcerer had always possessed a disconcerting presence.
--- End quote ---
(I.2 at 57).  perhaps the binary is not very well collapsed, after all.  Or:  ancient is given several significances?  i assume that RSB is not poorly drafting this--that the collapsing of binaries was not forgotten by the author merely one chapter later:  therefore either the character is wrong or the word does not mean what we think it means.

c )
--- Quote ---”Cut from them their tongues,” the holy words said, “for their blasphemy is an abomination like no other.”
--- End quote ---
(I.2. at 58).


--- Quote ---”What better way to secure his power than by inciting hatred against those condemned by the Tusk?
--- End quote ---
(I.2 at 59).

I’m surly enough to disagree with the characters who actually live under this system.  on the showing made (“an abomination”), this does not appear to be a “condemnation.”  compare the most famous “abomination” that we know:


--- Quote ---Leviticus 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
--- End quote ---
there’s a nice theological debate out there whether this is a criminal prohibition or a rule of ritual purity.  certainly lev 18:22 carries no criminal prohibition (but lev 20:13 does--though deuteronomy does not.  i personally don’t read lev 18:22 to be a criminal prohibition, and the language of lev 20:13 reads unclearly--this leads me down the ritual impurity path.

it is the same for the quoted Tusk passage.  “cut out their tongues” is, first of all, not a death sentence or a condemnation to hell.  “abomination” places us out of crime and into impurity.  it’s an important theological distinction, and those who seek to sweep up “abomination” into “sin” (i.e., crime) might be a bit hasty.

the entire “damnation” bit in the story has always bothered me, and it will become a very stupid story overall if all that crap ends up being true. 

d )
--- Quote ---Simas had been his teacher, the one to bury the innocence of a Nroni fisherman’s son in the mad revelations of the Mandate.
--- End quote ---
(I.2 at 59).

the ideology of innocence.  noted here, for analysis, incidentally, if it may arise again.  we have glimmers of it in the prologue, with the high king’s bastard, without specific invocation.  we see it again, regarding mr. inrau (I.2 at 68).

e ) we see that nautzera collapses the rational/irrational binary on behalf of the thousand temples (I.2 at 61).  this collapse is presented by that character as a bad thing.  we shall see.

f )
--- Quote ---We are alienated in advance.
--- End quote ---
(I.2 at 63).

or, sorcerers are always already estranged.  merely noted for now.

g ) “we pursue ghosts” (id.).  the figure of the ghost arises in chapter I.  there do not appear to be any literal ghosts yet.

h ) “rolling the dice of apocalypse” (id.).  gaming metaphor. 
(click to show/hide)is it benjuka, gandochi, or viramsata? we shall see.

i ) “he could distinguish his age from the one he dreamt night after night.  He could see the difference.” (I.2 at 64).  and yet the recent, as we have been told already, is merely a repetition of the ancient.  something bizarre here.

j ) “He’d never seen Simas like this” (I.2 at 65) and “the man’s eyes had yet to fail” (I.2 at 71) - noted for now.

k ) “His? But that was just it: these memories weren’t his!” (I.2 at 65).  it’s the nietzsche epigraph.

l ) “Only the Mandate remembers” and “the Mandate could never forget” (I.2 at 67).  as discussed regarding the prologue--memory as keystone.

likely plenty of other items that I’ve missed--but that’s what stands out for me this time around.
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What Came Before:

--- Quote from: Tony P ---Here's my summary. Less quotes, because is more a "set-up" chapter.

Chapter II: The Sorceror (Atyersus)

Chapter heading:
I write to inform you that during my most recent audience, the Nansur Emperor, quite without provocation, publicly addressed me as “fool”. You are, no doubt, unmoved by this. It has become a common occurrence. The Consult eludes us now more than ever. We hear them only in the secrets of others. We glimpse them only through the eyes of those who deny their very existence. Why should we not be called fools? The deeper the Consults secretes itself among the Great Factions, the madder our rantings sound to their ears. We are, the damned Nansur would say, “a hunter in the thicket”-one who, by the very act of hunting, extinguishes all hope of running down its prey.
ANONYMOUS MANDATE SCHOOLMAN, LETTER TO ATYERSUS


Akka returns, summoned back home, and he notes few places are more heartless than Atyersus. The only ones he can think of are Golgotterath, certainly, and the Scarlet Spires, maybe.
Akka is called before the Quorum, and is immediately annoyed by their scrutiny. The Quorum informs him that the Thousand Temples have a new leader, who has shaken up things:


--- Quote ---“The Thuosand Temples is no longer to be ignored, Achamian, at least since this Maithanet has seized the Seat and declared himself Shriah.” Inevitably it had been Nautzera who’d broached the silence. The last man Achamian wanted to hear speak was always the first.
…
“[Maithanet] survives,” Nautzera said. “Flourishes, in fact. All the Cults have come to him in Sumna. All have kissed his knee. And with none of the political manoeuvring olbligatory to such transitions of power. No petty boycotts. Not even a single abstention.” He paused to allow Achamian time to appreciate the significance of this. “He has stirred something”-the grand old sorcerer pursed his lips, as though leashing his next word like a dangerous dog-“something novel … And not merely within the Thousand Temples.”
…
“None has moved this fast, or with such cunning. Maithanet is no mere enthusiast. Within the first three weeks of his tenure two plots to poison him were uncovered-and here’s the thing-by Maithanet himself. No fewer than seven of the emperor’s agents were exposed and executed in Sumna. This man is more than simply shrewd. Much more.”
--- End quote ---

The clinching bombshell is that there is to be a Holy War, but the Mandate does not know it’s target. Maithanet has yet to declare. Previous Holy Wars had sorcerers as their targets, but the Fanim of Kian, heathens, are also a possible target. Except, the Fanim are extremely powerful, and they have the Cishaurim as their allies. They do not stand apart, as do the Schools amongst the Inrithi. Without sorcerers, there would be no defense against the Cishaurim. Simas, Achamian’s old teacher, speaks up, and says that a Holy War against the Fanim could not succeed, therefore the target has to be the Schools.

Akka is sent to Sumna to find out what the target of the Holy War is to be. He argues that he has no assets there (even though he is reminded of Esmenet, a whore who he used to visit in Sumna). It turns out Simas has told Nautzera that Akka does have an asset in Sumna: Inrau, a young priest. Inrau was once Akka’s student, but he had defected from the Mandate. Akka says to the Quorum that “Inrau was born with the sensitivities of the Few, and the sensibilities of  a priest. Our ways would have killed him.” Nautzera is not amused, and reminds Akka that Inrau should be eliminated for compromising the Gnosis. It turns out Akka helped Inrau escape, and Simas knew about it and informed Nautzera. So Achamian is blackmailed into using Inrau as an agent in Sumna. Standing on the parapets of Atyersus, the evening before his departure, he reflects:


--- Quote ---Filled by a wan loneliness, Achamian looked beyond the straits in the direction of far-away Sumna. He yearned to once again see these two people, one whom he’d loved only to lose to the Thousand Temples, the other whom he thought he might love…
Were he a man, and not a sorcerer and a spy.
--- End quote ---

As an aside, we get to see a meeting between Nautzera and Simas. Achamian thinks of Nautzera as menacing and ruthless, but it appears Nautzera has followed Simas’  lead. Nautzera wants to tell Akka that all of their assets are being eliminated, but Simas tells him it would only ensure that Akka would refuse to seek Inrau out. Nautzera argues that they owe Achamian more than that, but Simas is relentless. They conclude that, since their spies are taken out so effortlessly, there must be a traitor amongst the Mandate.
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What Came Before:

--- Quote from: lockesnow ---haven't yet re-read the chapter, but I'd like to remind everyone reading this chapter of the massive revelation of Chapter 13 of TTT, which is the next time there is a POV on Atyersus.  It should effect our point of view of DA, of what he thinks of these two men, Nautzera and Simas and perhaps indicates that the Consult had an interest in DA's career--in particular--long before his career became so impactful.

spoilers TTT (click to show/hide)Nautzera narrates the perspective, and Maithanet arrives on Atyersus.  Maithanet reveals that Simas is a skin spy.
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What Came Before:

--- Quote from: Happy Ent ---Secret Simas:
(click to show/hide)Yes, Simas wants Akka do go meet the Shriah because the Consult themselves have no idea what’s going on. Maitha has purged the Thousand Temples of skin spies, so the Consult is understandably concerned about what is going on. They still think it’s Cishaurium magic, as far as I understand. They should also have figured out that the Shriah has a connection to Shimeh, because Shimeh (and in particular Cishaurim central command) is the other place where the skin spies are disappearing. And everybody knows that Maitha comes from the South, as far as I remember.
--- End quote ---

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