Anathem

From Reboil

A book by Neal Stephenson about weaponized and applied platonic epistemology.

Page numbers are based on the First Edition hardcover (ISBN-13: 978-0-06-147409-5).

Note, if you want to puzzle out the story without spoilers, do not read this page. This page is intended to be a memory aide for people wishing to review people, places, and things, in detail without needing to read the text again.

Definitions

With the exception of in-text quotes of The Dictionary, in-text quoting such as from the glossary is avoided where possible.

People

Ala, Suur
An Edharian Decenarian Suur in cohort of Erasmus. Girlfriend of Erasmus. Later works at Convox to design the Anti-Swarm.
Alwash
A big man who gives Erasmus clothes while traveling on an icebreaker(?) ship to Mahsht, in exchange for Erasmus attending Magister Sark's sermon.
Arsibalt, Fraa
Fellow decenarian friend of Erasmas.
Asquin, Suur
A Suur Erasmus meets during Messel. Acts as a social facilitator
Atamant
A fictional character made up by Zhʼvaern to lure the Plurality of Worlds Messel into leaking information about the Incanters and Rhetors. Loosely based on the Laterran Edmund Husserl.
Barb
(a.k.a. Fraa Tavener). Neurodivergent son of artisan Quin. Tutored by Erasmus.
Brajj
An intelligent man who Erasmus travels with across the north pole. Saves themselves at the cost of letting Dag, Laro, and Erasmus fall into a crevasse after Dag foolishly walks across snow Brajj had not probed. Later is roped into helping save Laro by Erasmus after Erasmus saves themselves with their bolt, sphere, and cord.
Bucker, Saunt
(First mentioned on page 708). Arbran inventor or namesake of the Saunt Bucker's Basket (a.k.a. "Faraday cage").
Conderline, Saunt
(See pg. 637) An avout who theorized that cosmi with fundamental constants of nature compatible with the development of intelligent life were as an oil sheen floating above a deep ocean of uninhabitable cosmi.
Edhar, Saunt
A Fraa who helped develop Complex Protism. Their name was later used to name the concent at which Erasmus is a Fraa.
Emman Beldo
Assistant to Madame Secretary Ignetha Foral.
Cord
Sib of Erasmus. Sline praxic who specializes in mechanical engineering.
Dag
A Geeth (?) who crosses the north pole with Erasmus. Dies from falling down a crevasse due to walking over unprobed snow. Brother of Laro.
Erasmus, Fraa
(a.k.a. Raz, Vit) An Edharian Decenarian Fraa. Student of Orolo. Born of sline background.
Eshwar, Prag
The Prag of the Pedestal. Receives horrifying premonitions of the consequences of not seeking a peaceful resolution to the Advent of Arbre when Cell 317 breaches the Daban Urnud's security and destroys the World Burner. Their counterpart is Gan Odru.
Esma, Suur
Valer.
Estemard
A decenarian of the order of Saunt Edhar who taught Fraa Orolo. Tiled the floor of the concent's laundry area. Later left the concent to become a diolator at Bly's Butte with the Samblites. Housed Orolo after Orolo was thrown back.
Flec, Artisan
(See pg. 3) Interviewed by Orolo in preparation for Apert. A coworker of Artisan Quin. Devotee of the Warden of Heaven. Tried to take a speely of Provener at Saunt Edhar during Apert.
Fraa
A male avout. (Baltakatei: A title roughly equivalent to "scientist").
Fthosians
People from Fthos.
Ganelial Crade
(a.k.a. Gnel). Brother of Yulassetar Crade. An intelligent Samblite who is one of the first extramuros diolator (?) to offer transport services to the freshly Evoked avout of Saunt Edhar following the laser illumination of the concent's thousander tower.
Gratho, Fraa
Valer.
Ignetha Foral.
Called the Plurality of Worlds messal in Part 10. Has ties to The Lineage.
Jad, Fraa
An Edharian Millennarian Fraa. Is Incanter.
Jesry, Fraa
An Edharian Decenarian Fraa in cohort of Erasmus. Born of Berger background.
Jules Verne Durand
(a.k.a. Zhʼvaern) A descendant of immigrants from Laterre. A linguist assigned to learn Orth by the Pedestal. Husband to Lise.
Karval, Suur
A bald (?) avout whose doin was Suur Moyra (?).
Laro
An uneducated Geeth sline. Brother of Dag. Injured by Dag's fall into a crevasse but is saved by Erasmus. Blames Erasmus for failing to use avout sorcery to save Dag. In retribution upon arriving safely at Mahsht, summons a Geeth mob to lynch Erasmus.
Laterrans
People from Laterre. See Antarct or Earth.
Lio, Fraa
An Edharian Decenarian Fraa in cohort of Erasmus.
Lise
Husband to Jules Verne Durand.
Malter
A Kedev who meets Erasmus after Erasmus attends a Kelx service led by Magister Sark. Says it is an honor to meet an avout.
Matarrhite
An order of centenarian avout who believe in God and wear veiled outfits.
Mentaxenes, Fraa
An Edharian Decenarian Fraa who often opened the door to the Chansel (?) for Erasmus and other clock winders.
Millenarians
(See pg. 5; a.k.a. thousanders). Avout of Maths that celebrate Apert every one thousand years.
Moyra, Suur
A Lorite who describes herself as a "Plurality of Worlds" Lorite. Described by Erasmus as a "closet Halikarnian".
Odru, Gan
The Gan of the Fulcrum. Meets with Erasmus and Jad (pg. 826) and recounts how one of his predecessor Urnudans
Orhan
Servitor and minder of Zhʼvaern.
Orolo, Fraa
(See pg. 3) An Edharian Decenarian Fraa of cosmology. Pa of Erasmus.
Osa, Fraa
First Among Equals of the Valers.
Lodoghir, Fraa
A Procian (?) Centenarian Fraa. Becomes Doin of Erasmus at Convox. Is Rhetor.
Paphlagon, Fraa
An Edharian centenarian Fraa. Cosmographer specializing in polycosmic theory.
Quin, Artisan
Co-worker of Artisan Flec and father of Fraa Tavener.
Sark, Magister
A Kelx magister whom Erasmus recounts Dag's death while crossing the north pole.
Statho, Fraa
Reads the Voco orders for Erasmus.
Tavener, Fraa
See Barb.
Trestanas, Suur
Newly appointed hierarch who assigned Erasmus chapter 5 of The Book of Penance after Erasmus talked back to her when she threatened to anathematize Lio after his brawl with sæculars on 10th night of Apert.
Troäns
People of Tro.
Tris, Suur
A Suur Erasmus meets at Tredegarh and is present during the Messels.
Tulia, Suur
A female avout who Erasmus fancied at Saunt Edhar. Due to a deal brokered by Orlo, Tulia gave up her seat in The Order of the New Circle so Erasmus could work under Orlo in the Edharian Order. She later becomes a remote operator for Erasmus and others during Advent.
Varax, Inquisitor
Inquisitor who visited Saunt Edhar during Apert.
Vay, Suur
Valer.
Vit
See Erasmus, Fraa.
Warden of Heaven
Charlatan bottleshaker identified by Fraa Orolo via the survey questions he asked during Apert to Artisan Flec.
Yulassetar Crade
(a.k.a. Yul). Brother of Ganelial Crade. Samblite heretic and experienced outdoorsman and tourist guide. Joines Erasmus and company, seeming to already have met Cord. Their fetch is destroyed in the events of Orithena. Later marries Cord.
Zhʼvaern
(a.k.a. Jules Verne Durand). A madderite who is actually an Orth-speaking Geometer from Antarct.

Places

Antarct
See Laterre.
Daban Urnud
(pg. 712). The Geometer's intercosmic spacecraft. Consists of an icosahedron shell around a stack of habitat spheres rotating around a central axis. Inhabited by Urnudans of Urnud (a.k.a. Pangae (?)), Troäns (?) of Tro (a.k.a. Diasp), Laterrans of Laterre (a.k.a. Earth, Antarct), and Fthosians of Fthos (a.k.a. Quator).
Diasp
(See pg. 638) A planet whose most prominent geographical feature is that most of its surface land is comprised of many small landmasses separated by ocean.
Earth
See Antarct, Laterre.
Edhar, Consent of Saunt
The math of Erasmus. One of the three Inviolates.
Fthos
(See pg. 713; a.k.a. Quator (pg. 638)). A planet whose most prominent feature is having four large continents. Victim of the Third Advent.
Great Orrery, The
A place in Saunt Edhar.
Kolya
A place related to Erasmus's journey across the north pole.
Laterre
(See pg. 709; a.k.a. Antarct (pg. 638), Earth (pg. 829)) A planet whose most prominent geographical feature is a continent at its south pole. The victim of the Second Advent.
Mahsht
A northern latitude icebreaker port town roughly four times the size of the town surrounding Saunt Edhar.
Norslof
Where Erasmus and company purchased snow tires before traveling towards the north pole. (pg. 430)
Orithena
Analogous to Earth's "Athens" (where many ancient pre-Roman philosophers lived) or "Pompeii". The destruction of Orithena by a volcanic eruption in -2621 marked the beginning of the Peregrin epoch which ended with the Golden Age of Ethras.
Pangee
See Urnud.
Quator
See Fthos.
Rambalf, Consent of Saunt
One of the three Inviolates.
Samble
A small diolator town on Bly's Butte. Home of the Samblite ark. Hometown of Ganelial Crade and Yulassetar Crade. Received Estemard following their departure from Saunt Edhar.
Samblite
A person from Samble.
Shuf's Dowment
A place in Saunt Edhar.
Tredegarh, Consent of Saunt
2000 miles away from Consent of Saunt Edhar. One of the three Inviolates.
Tro
The victim of the First Advent. (a.k.a. Diasp).
Urnud
(a.k.a. Pangee (pg. 638)) The origin planet of the Daban Urnud. A planet whose most prominent feature is one large mega continent surrounded by ocean.

Things

Adrakhonic Theorem
Analaogous to Earth's "Pythagorean Theorem".
Advent
First contact, conflict, and eventual cultural assimilation of a planet with that of the inhabitants of the Daban Urnud.
amanuensis
A "consciousness-bearing system" whose observations "has effects in other [cosmi downwick]". (see explanation by Fraa Jad on pg. 827).
Apert
(See pg. 3) A 10-day long period of time in which the gates of a Math are opened in order to allow limited co-mingling of people and ideas.
Arbre
The planet in which the events of the book Anathem take place.
Asamocra
Acronym for “Asynchronous, symmetrically anonymized, moderated open-cry repute auction”. According to Sammann, the last true asamocra occurred 3600 years prior. (pg. 430).
Big Nugget, The
A large asteroid that was discovered to be an existential threat to Arbre. Moved the Powers that Be to call a Convox so theors could plan countermeasures. Ultimately, the asteroid did not impact Arbre.
Cartasian Discipline
(See pg. 5). A set of rules restricting personal freedom followed by avout. Named after Saunt Cartas, an ancient avout who helped start the Old Mathic Age during the -1500s.
causal domain
From Part 11, “Advent”:

A collection of things mutually linked in a web of cause-and-effect relationships. —The Dictionary, 4th edition, A.R. 3000

Century Gate
See Gate, Century
Clesthyra's Eye
A fisheye lens telescope installed at the Consent of Saunt Edhar as a result of the events of The Big Nugget.
Cold Black Mirror
A refrigerated surface designed to reflect all radio and light waves.
Collect, to
(See pg. 4) The act of a Math adopting unwanted orphans from extramuros in order to maintain a stable population, especially since avout are artificially celibate due to their diet.
Convox
A gathering of theors called to deal with some threat beyond the capabilities of The Powers That Be.
Day Gate
See Gate, Day
Decade Gate
See Gate, Decade
doyn
A senior avout who is served at a messal by a typically more junior servitor in a sort of mentor relationship.
Farspark
A moving picture praxis and predecessor to a speely.
Fulcrum, The
The more mathic faction of the Daban Urnud; led by the Gan.
Gan
A rank of Urnudan whose closest word in Orth is "Admiral". Gans specialize in strategy while their counterparts, the Prags specialize in tactics. Introduced on page 829.
Gate, Century
The main entrance and exit of a centenarian math. Celebrates Apert once every century.
Gate, Day
The main entrance and exit of a day math. Celebrates Apert once every day.
Gate, Decade
The main entrance and exit of a decenarian math. Celebrates Apert once every decade.
Gate, Year
The main entrance and exit of a unarian math. Celebrates Apert once every year.
Geometrodynamics
(pg. 711). A model of gravity that takes into account how mass-energy bends space-time. (a.k.a. "Special Relativity").
Icosahedron, The
(a.k.a. Hedron). An alien object found in a polar orbit by sæculars who secretly leaked its existence to Orolo via Sammann. Later found to be called the Daban Urnud.
Inbrase
An aut during which a peregrin avout is welcomed back into a mathic order after a journey through the sæculum.
The Inquisition
A political system operating for the benefit of The Powers that Be whose mission is to ensure theors obey the Mathic Discipline under threat of expulsion. Made up of inquisitors.
inquisitors
A class of people reporting to The Powers that Be that comprise The Inquisition.
Inviolates, The Three
One of the three millenarian maths that were not breached during The Third Sack.
Kelx
An ark whose doctrine centers around the the triangular arrangement of relationships between a mythic Magistrate, a Condemned Man, and Innocent. Followers of a Kelx are called Kedevs. Its local ministers are called Magistrates.
Laboratorium
During a Convox, a period of time during which avout are assigned specific, usually praxic tasks.
Lucub
During a Convox, a period of independent study time during which an avout is not assigned any particular work. Compare with Laboratorium.
messal
A meal at which doyns and their servitors share information.
messallan
A room in which a messel is conducted.
Pedestal, The
The more sæcular faction of the Daban Urnud, led by the Praag. Supported mainly by those of Urnud and Tro.
peregrin
From Anathem, Part 6 "Peregrin":

(1) In ancient usage, the epoch beginning with the destruction of the Temple of Orithena in -2621 and ending several decades later with the flourishing of the Golden Age of Ethras. (2) A theor who survived Orithena and wandered about the ancient world, sometimes alone and sometimes in the company of other such. (3) A Dialog supposedly dating to this epoch. Many were later written down and incorporated into the literature of the mathic world. (4) In modern usage, an avout who, under certain exceptional circumstances, leave the confines of the math and travels through the Sæcular world while trying to observe the spirit, if not the letter, of the Discipline. —THE DICTIONARY, 4th Edition, A.R. 3000

photomneumonic tablet
A praxis that captures coherent images of light using a syndev and capable of reproducing and manipulating these light patterns during later analysis.
præsidium
A prominent tall structure of a math such as that of Saunt Edhar.
Provener
(See pg. 6) A daily ritual involving the winding of the Clock and a repeating of The Liturgy (?) reinforcing historic propaganda.
praxis
(See pg. 4) (Baltakatei:Analogous to Earth's "technology"). Application of knowledge to manipulate reality.
praxics
A social class analogous to Earth's "engineers". Devoted to application of theorics
The Powers that Be
(a.k.a. The Sæcular Power, The Panjandrum) The world government of Arbre at any given point in history.
refectory
A central eating place in some maths such as those of Saunt Edhar.
sack
In the context of math vs. sæcular politics, the conquering of a math and murder of a significant number of its inhabitants, often for irrational fears of one or more mathic iconogrpahies. See First Sack, Second Sack, and Third Sack.
Sack, The First
A sack of the mathic world caused by sæcular fears of potential misuse of nucleosynthesis of newmatter.
Sack, The Second
A sack of the mathic world caused by sæcular fears of potential misuse of genetic sequence manipulation.
Sack, The Third
A sack of the mathic world caused by sæcular fears of potential misuse of .
sæculum
The domain, physical and political, outside of a Math. See extramuros.
servitor
A junior avout who serves a senior avout known as a doyn during a messel.
speely
(See pg. 4). A moving picture (Baltakatei: Basically "video"). According to Artisan Flec, an extramuros method for obtaining information about a subject is called "to speel in".
speelycaptor
(See pg. 6). A speely input device.
syndev
An abbreviation of "syntactic device". Analogous to Earth's "computer". A praxic artifact capable of fast information processing. Not usable by theors following the Second Sack after which the Ita are created and assigned to maintain syntactic devices. Examples include the control systems of the Millennial Clocks.
theorics
Analgous to Earth's "Science". The creation of models of reality with actionable predictive power.
theors
A social class analogous to Earth's "scientists". Generally devoted to the discovery of more accurate theorics. Development of advanced praxis required to prove new theorical models, especially that commissioned by the military, led to the Terrible Events.
The Terrible Events
A poorly documented worldwide catastrophe that resulted in the end of the Praxic Age and the immediate imprisonment of theors to Maths as part of the Reconstitution. Involved deployment of Everything Killers.
Year Gate
See Gate, Year

Plot

Part 1: Provener

Pages 1 to 52.

Orolo interviews an Artisan. Erasmus is emanuensis (?) until he must wind the clock with Lio, Arsibalt, and Jesry. Orolo interviews another Artisan with Erasmus. Artisan Quin talks about speelycaptors.

Part 2: Apert

Pages 53 to 152.

The Concent of Saunt Edhar celebrates Apert. Erasmus explores extramuros with Jesry. Erasmus meets his biological sib Kord with Sammann, an Ita, at Kord's workshop. Erasmus and Jesry relax at Jesry's berger home. Lio and Arsibalt are set upon by rapscallions. Erasmus gives a tour to some slines, suvin children (?), and two travelers.

Orolo encourages Erasmus to look for beauty. The Starhenge is closed, interfering with Orolo's observation with the M&M.

The cast attend tenth night. Erasmus discovers the two travelers were Inquisitors. Barb joins the math. Lio gets revenge. Hierarch Suur Trestenas throws the book at Erasmus for talking back.

Part 3: Eliger

Pages 153 to 182.

Erasmus is imprisoned. Erasmus toils up to Chapter 5 of The Book. Paphlegon is evoked. During the Voco ceremony, Erasmus attempts to retrieve the photomneumonic tablet from the M & M telescope pointed north but finds the telescope empty; Erasmus instead inserts a photomneumonic tablet into Clesthyra's Eye in order to gather what information he can.

Erasmus mentors Barb.

Lio and Erasmus start a weed war. Hierarchs interview Erasmus about speelycaptors.

Part 4: Anathem

Pages 183 to 232.

Orolo is thrown back for making illicit astronomical observations. During the Anathem ceremony, Erasmus retrieves the photomnemonic tablet from Clesthyra's Eye.

Part 5: Voco

Pages 233 to 308.

Erasmus and company speculate on what Orolo was observing. Barb embarasses everyone for suggesting extraterrestrial visitors. Erasmus studies the tablet from Klesthora's Eye. Ala notices Erasmus' clandestine visits to Shuf's Dowment. Ala confronts Erasmus and Jesry at Shuf's Dowment, spooking Erasmus and breaking Ala's heart. Erasmus brings Ala forbidden flowers; they coincidentally witness an alien spaceship via a camera obscura effect. Erasmus and Ala announce a liason. Ala is Evoked along with Jesry and the now absent Orolo. Erasmus explains the alien spaceship discovery, motivating the concent to study Praxic Age Exoatmospheric Weapon Systems. Erasmus, and friends are Evoked along with some centenarians and the millenarian Fraa Jad.

Part 6: Peregrin

Pages 309 to 386.

Erasmus and company meet up with Cord and Sammann extramuros. Erasmus and other avout make a detour to find Orolo at Bly's (?) Butte, parting ways with Tulia and others bound directly for Tredegarh. Arsibalt explains to Beller the how Sconic Discipline puts discussion about the existence of God out of bounds. Erasmus examines the M & M photomnemonic tablet data containing the image of the icosahedron. Fraa Jad reveals his supernatural age to Erasmus and Lio. Erasmus and company stop for food and sleep at a Bazian monastery. Arsibalt leads a sconic dialog with Ferman Bellar (?) about The Fly, The Bat, and The Worm.

Part 7: Feral

Pages 387 to 506.

Erasmus describes the Muncoster parking ramp dinosaur to Yul. (pg. 424). Erasmus discovers Jesry accompanied the Warden of Heaven to space. (pg. 433). Erasmus travels alone across the pole. Erasmus and some strangers improvise transport after a military convoy disrupts their journey. Erasmus saves a Geeth. Erasmus meets Minister Sark. Erasmus arrives at Mahsht. A mob lynches Erasmus. Valers save Erasmus and reunite him with his company.

Part 8: Orithena

Pages 507 to 570.

Erasmus arrives at the excavation site of the Temple of Orithena with Cord, Yul, Sammann, and Ganelial Crade. Erasmus enters the Lineage and meets Orolo. Erasmus visits the Teglon and Analemma. Orlo declines an invitation to Tredegarh. Erasmus invites the rest of his company inside. Orolo explains evanadritian deitonony (?). Orithena receives a visitor. The Sæcular Power is interrupted. Orlo secures some important givens.

Part 9: Inbrase

Pages 571 to 620.

The party parts ways. Erasmus arrives at Tredegarh. Erasmus cries in a shower. Erasmus bakes bread. Erasmus meets a smelling Suur. Erasmus talks to Arsibalt, Lio, and Jesry through a hermetic barrier. Tulia wakes Erasmus who is late for Inbrase. The Convox celebrates Inbrace for Erasmus who sings a surprising song. Erasmus faces Lodogir in a Plenary. Lodogir weaves a plausible tale about how Orolo invited the Geometers by messaging them an image of the Analemma so they would visit Orithena which has a prominent outdoor analemma. Lodogir becomes Erasmus's Doin.

Part 10: Messel

Pages 621 to 722.

Messel 1: Lodogir tries to steer the Messel into supporting Procian thought. Suur Moyra the Lorite is a closet Halikarnian. Jad describes narratives. Paphlegon translates. Zhʼvaern breaks a taboo.

Messel 2: ?

Erasmus describes ice inside a star to Emman Beldo (?). The Sæcular Power retaliates with a cloaked bird. The icosahedron is prototyped and analyzed by the avout. Erasmus estimates the inertial tensor. Ala confesses to Erasmus that she made a terrible but necessary mistake. Ala shares that Orolo used the M&M's guide star laser to draw an Analemma in space for the Icosahedron. Erasmus suspects Rhetor machinations. Jad warns Erasmus about the cloaked ones. Barb and Arsibalt report the Icosahedron is an archeological dig of new matter types and it's polycosmic drive is missing. Erasmus reports the Icosahedron sloshed. Erasmus shares Jad's warning to Arsibalt.

Messel 3: Paphlegon describes the Hylean flow along the Wick. Erasmus eats Madderite food to impress some Suurs and win a bet with Arsibalt. Erasmus shares Orolo's observations. Paphlegon compares conscious to a spotlight on a surface of similar cross-talking cosmi. Zhʼvaern recounts the research of an introspectionist who changed a copper bowl. Jad and Lodogir nearly agree on crosstalk and feedback loops. Zhʼvaern claims Adamont changed his bowl. Ignetha Foral terminates the messel.

Erasmus, Arsibalt, and other servitors hatch a plan.

Messel 4:

Part 11: Advent

Pages 723 to 834.

Erasmus and Cell 317 arrive at Elk Hazg (?). Jad solves the Teglon. Sammann shares chronological analysis of Urnudans. Arsibalt demonstrates suit praxis. Cell 317 train on the Manyufiks.

Part 12: Requiem

Pages 835 to 876.

Part 13: Reconstitution

Pages 877 to 890.

Calca 1: Cutting the Cake

Page 911 to 916.

Calca 2: Hemm (Configuration Space)

Pages 917 to 926.

Calca 3: Complex Versus Simple Protism

Pages 927 to 935.

Summary

Erasmus is studying to become a theor in the Math of Saunt Edhar under Fraa Orolo, a theor in cosmology. Erasmus lives roughly three thousand years after human civilization on Arbre quickly shot up the tech tree to weapons of mass destruction and programmatic nucleosynthesis (i.e. alchemy) so fast that civilization collapsed. Science and its application has since been regulated by The Powers That Be (i.e. government) which restrict knowledge to within the Maths. The Maths are informationally isolated (insert "hermetically sealed" pun here) monastaries in which theors curate and safeguard history and technological blueprints.

One day, Orolo is banished from the Math, presumably for illegal astronomy.

Erasmus and his fellow students work to determine why Orolo was ejected from the Math.

Their studies help them make full use of the observation of an spaceship performing an orbital plane change maneuver while in line of sight between Arbre and the Sun. The Powers that Be call various theors, including Erasmus' girlfriend, to work outside the Math, presumably to never return. When the ship acknowledges the existence of the Maths by shining laser light on, among others, Saunt Edhar, The Powers that Be call Erasmus and many others to travel to a Convox located on the other side of Arbre to study the ship and decide what actions to take.

Erasmus travels with others until he decides to search for where Fraa Orolo went, believing Orolo had special knowledge of the ship. After a nearby clue proves fruitless, Jad, a millenarian, convinces Erasmus to search for Orolo at a Math-like archeological dig named Ekba on the other side of the planet. After a dangerous journey across the north pole in order to illegally cross borders, Erasmus finds Orolo at Ekba.

Orolo informs Erasmus that the details of his astronomical observations were not as significant as Orolo's conclusion that the ship was not of Arbre. Orolo tells Erasmus of a many-worlds theory of consciousness that he believes allows humans to think with limited amounts of nerve tissue by leveraging crosstalk between parallel worlds that are similar but not quite the same; Orolo hypothesizes that the millenarians developed a praxis (i.e. technology) that enabled them to send and receive information from other worlds. Erasmus is worried that Orolo is talking about Incanters, a mythical group of theors that could change the future around which talk is prohibited by the Inquisition; the Incanters are contrasted in earlier parts of the book with the Rhetors, who have the power to change the past. Orolo's dialogue with Erasmus on the many-worlds (i.e. "polycosmic") topic is abruptly terminated when he is killed by the heat from a pyroclastic flow from an Ekba volcano that was triggered into activity by an orbital kinetic strike by the ship after a human-shaped alien escaped to land dead at the archeological site.

Erasmus then attends Convox after being retrieved by The Powers that Be. Liquids in vials retrieved by Orolo from the dead alien during the chaos of the Ekba evacuation are analyzed and found to contain alien blood made of atoms with nuclei not natural to Arbre. Unlike artificial nuclei produced by ancient Arbre nucleosynthesis technology in order to achieve superior materials science ends (e.g. high tensile strength low density fabrics), the nuclei in an alien parachute had no extraordinarily useful properties. Erasmus is debriefed during a public interview and is then assigned as assistant to a prominent theor Doin named Fraa Lodogir who, in turn, is assigned to a "Many Worlds" messel (i.e. think tank workshop). Erasmus and some of his Edharian colleagues, including the mysterious millenarian Fraa Jad, discuss with representatives of other Maths the possibility that the aliens are from another cosmos.

The history of polycosmic theory is explained at various sessions of the messel with analogy lubrication provided by a Lorite (a theor dedicated to preventing duplicated academic effort). Orolo's theory of polycosmic crosstalk, independently predicted by him but also independently predicted by many other Edharians throughout time, is fleshed out as a fundamental property of matter that is so ubiquitous that its nature was not properly identified when quantum superposition theory was refined. However, Erasmus's doin Fraa Lodogir, argues that predictions require confirmation through experiment; polycosmic crosstalk can't be detected because its results average out to noise. Fraa Paflagon, a centinarian Edharian who was called out of Edhar shortly before Orolo was anathemitized, argues that polycosmic theory couldn't be confirmed until the aliens "down wick" traveled up to visit Arbre. A Maderite, Fraa Zh'vaern, reveals that a fraa in his mathic order discovered a polycosmic praxis that allowed him to erase a scratch on a bowl. The Messal is immediately shut down due to worries that The Powers that Be may infer that the Maderite was claiming the existence of Incanters and Rhetors.

Erasmus and company, with some hints from Fraa Jad, successfully reveal that Fraa Zh'vaern is an alien after Erasmus eats some of Zh'vaern's food and discovers his body's digestive enzymes were unable to alter the food's chemistry normally after shitting it out. Despite informationally-isolating the Messelin room with a Saunt Bucker's basket (which Zh'vaern announces is called on his world a "Faraday cage") and preparing commandos to neutralize other alien spies, Zh'vaern warns that The Pedestal, the alien faction in control of the ship, will retaliate with an orbital strike on the Convox location. Erasmus's military-minded colleague, Lio, announces the existence of an evacuation plan prepared by Erasmus's girlfriend, Ala, and helps evacuate the Convox attendees.

After some brief training, Erasmus, Jesry, Lio, Arsibalt, Jad, Sammann, and various martial artist Fraas are sent into space on some of Arbre's last orbital launch vehicles before the remaining launch facilities are rodded out of existence by the ship. They form a commando mission to disable the World Burner, a fission bomb capable of sterilizing a planet, installed on the Dabun Urnud, the alien ship. Using distraction confetti to hide their initial position and a cold dark mirror to hide their trajectory, they approach the Dabun Urnud. On the way, Jad disables a communication relay that he claimed was interfering with his control of narrative. Erasmus reveals that Jad is basically an Incanter who can communicate with many versions of himself across different branches of history.

Erasmus and company board the ship surreptitiously in two groups. One group is composed of the martial artist Fraas (members of the order of the ringing vale; "valers") who go directly to disable the World Burner and threaten to destroy the ship. The other group is composed of Erasmus, Jad, and company whose mission is to establish contact with the friendly faction on board the ship (the faction that attempted to share information at Ekba).

In one version of events, everyone died except for Erasmus and Jad, who don firefighter suits and infiltrate the command habitat. After Jad brute-forces a 4-digit PIN securing a door, a sentry detects them and Everything Killers secretly embedded in their guts by The Powers That Be activate, presumably killing everyone on the Dabun Urnud with neutron radiation.

In another version of events, Jad fails to open the door and is apprehended by less trigger-happy sentries who instead take them to meet with a powerless strategist who describes to them the history of the Dabun Urnud's various conquests across the polycosm. The strategist told them that basically the Incanters, in a panic as they were being exterminated by The Powers That Be in ancient times, summoned the Dabun Urnud.

In another version of events, Jad had died shortly after launch, the valers successfully disabled the World Burner before ultimately dying, and Erasmus with the others lost consciousness upon breathing the ship's oxygen mix and not being able to become acclimatized quickly enough. The Powers that Be threatened further action to the Dabun Urnud so the leaders of the Dabun Urnud agreed to a cease fire and peace talks (their leader in particular had nightmares of what could happen).

The book concludes following this last version of events. Erasmus attends peace talks aboard the Dabun Urnud, reunites with his sister who helped him cross the arctic, and meets the Rhetor Fraa Lodoghir who indirectly tells him in secret that Jad cannot return without undoing the success of the peace talks. Erasmus marries his girlfriend, Ala, and they found a new Math, Saunt Orolo, in a world with fewer restrictions from The Powers that Be now that technology from the mathic world escaped during the evacuation of the Convox.

Errors

  • In Part 7, Feral, following his discovery that Jesry was accompanying the Warden of Heaven to space and a discussion with Kraid on how the Warden led a religion splintered off from that of the Samblites, Erasmus realizes Orolo departed Bly's Butte the morning after laser light had shown down upon the Three Inviolates; Erasmus imagines Orolo packing up his bolt, cord, and sphere despite the fact that Orolo possessing these items at this point in time is inconsistent with how he is described leaving the Concent of Saint Erasmus: with minimal clothing following the Anathem ceremony. (pg. 439)

He had departed for the north only a couple days before we had—the morning after the lasers had shone down upon the Three Inviolates. Why would that cause him to pack up his bolt, chord, and sphere, and hurry to Ecba, of all places?

References


See Also

Ext. Links

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