Fraa Orolo

First Appearance and Context

Orolo is shown leading structured conversations in the New Library as Apert approaches, opening with pointed questions drawn from leaves of an old questionnaire. During the opening of the gates, a fid recalls Orolo's yarn about a math that "floated freely in time," a teaching device tied to his idea of slight time slippage between loosely linked causal domains.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• An Avout in a Decenarian Math, he is a cosmographer and theorician who organizes and conducts structured interviews with artisans from Extramuros. He asks Fraa Erasmas to serve as his amanuensis during these exchanges.
• Leads a practical observing program described by a fid as “orbital mechanics,” carried out praxically using the community’s instruments at the Starhenge. Calculations from his group point to a nearby target observable with their telescopes; one fid speculates it may be an asteroid (not confirmed in‑text).
• Supervises and teaches in workspaces connected to the Mynster, including a small heated chapel on the starhenge roof where he lectures his fids. As part of instruction he provided a photo‑mnemonic tablet bearing the image of Saunt Tancred's Nebula to a fid for study.
• Coordinates observing access through hierarchs: when he needs consecutive clear nights, he presents a plan to the Primate, who can direct the Master of the Keys to set portcullis access so that his math may reach the rooftop instruments.
• During Apert, he reserved the large telescope known as the Telescope of Saunts Mithra & Mylax for a night of observing, aimed it in advance, and prepared a photomnemonic tablet despite earlier storms, predicting good seeing. At the rooftop portcullis he and a fid encountered Fraa Gredick (Master of the Keys) and Suur Trestanas (Warden Regulant); Trestanas then spoke to Orolo in private, after which he appeared tightly wound.
• During the opening, he heard Quin’s account of a so‑called "spine clamp" device seen on a sline attacker; the description was shared with him and a fid for awareness.
• At the Tenth Night feast beneath the canopy, he joined a mixed table of avout and visitors, steered discussion by posing oblique questions (e.g., about tiny “pinprick” maths), let a foundling wrestle with answers, and later made a dry interjection during the mayor’s formal remarks (questioning the term "Tetrarchs"). He also remarked—without judgment—on spending some time watching speelys during the opening.

Relationships

• Mentor to Fraa Erasmas, whom he invites to act as amanuensis and whom he tutors in cosmography.
• Leads a working group that includes fids contributing calculations (e.g., a peer who reports computing orbital trajectories).
• Holds formal interactions with Suur Trestanas (Warden Regulant) and Fraa Gredick (Master of the Keys) regarding access and discipline at the starhenge; the exchange left him visibly tense.
• Peers report he has been speaking with many Tenners ahead of Eliger; they characterize his approach as conversation rather than recruitment.
• Called “Pa Orolo” by some fids. One fid recalls learning a classic geometry proof from him early in training and later uses it to guide a visitor through fair division during dessert.

Descriptions/Characteristics

Methodical, probing, and precise in speech, Orolo favors firsthand observation rendered into words over mechanical capture, consistent with the Cartasian Discipline. He employs teaching devices such as “Causal Domain Shear” while marking them as illustrative. Though usually unsentimental, he can be strikingly poetic: at sunset he urged a fid to notice beauty “like a ray through the clouds” as a defense against ugliness, and his cosmographer’s eye for changing sky conditions is noted. He often teaches obliquely—planting questions and letting students work—prompting a quip that this is how “Pa Orolo does his dirty work.” Even when peeved by glib public rhetoric, he balances critique with fairness, acknowledging when such moments smooth over awkwardness.

Current Status/Location

Active within a Decenarian community during a decennial Apert, mentoring fids and directing a praxic observing effort tied to the starhenge. He continues to coordinate within Discipline and through hierarchs for access and security, and during the opening he was seen heading toward the Decade Gate for another day outside the walls. He is present beneath the canopy during Tenth Night festivities and continues to converse widely with peers and visitors.