Fraa Erasmas

First Appearance and Context

Fraa Erasmas is an avout in the Decenarian community at the Concent of Saunt Edhar. Around Apert, he is seen assisting Fraa Orolo in supervised conversations and observing the opening rites and daily routine.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Serves as assistant to Fraa Orolo in study and interviews, and works on the clock-winding team during Provener.
• During the present opening, he is confined to a penance cell under the Warden Regulant’s authority and sentenced to chapters of the Book; he spends days copying and memorizing text, recording a private journal, and watching activity in the Mynster courts.
• From his cell he decodes bell changes for Eliger and later hears the aut of Voco, after which visiting Inquisitors depart with an Evoked Centenarian.
• While the community is gathered for Voco, he briefly leaves his cell to ascend to the rooftop Starhenge and quietly inserts a photomnemonic tablet into Clesthyra’s Eye to record the sky. He returns undetected and later completes examination on his assigned chapter, ending the penance.
• After release he is welcomed in the Refectory, receives a celebratory toast from a New Circle leader, and—after discussions with peers and a local FAE—agrees to join the Edharian Chapter.
• Joins a dialog led by Orolo on “worry” and plausibility; he connects the idea to Hemn space and action principles, showing comfort bridging practical examples and theoric framing among peers (Jesry, Arsibalt, Tulia, Lio, Ala).
• Is interviewed in Saunt Zenla’s by hierarchs (Fraa Spelikon with a recorder). Using his seized journal and an earlier transcript, they question him about a speelycaptor’s capabilities; he clarifies, as an educated inference, that zoom, low‑light detection, and stabilization together could reveal details through bright screens that a naked eye could not.
• Before a bell‑announced aut, he hides near the Regulant court and later ascends toward the starhenge. During the aut of Anathem that expels Orolo, Erasmas retrieves the photomnemonic tablet he had placed in Clesthyra’s Eye, discovers that a second tablet in the M & M is already gone, briefly witnesses Orolo depart extramuros, and conceals his tablet for later viewing.
• In the aftermath, he and close peers compare recollections of Orolo’s recent work and debate hypotheses about an object under observation; they begin a quiet plan to bring the tablet down and examine it safely. Erasmas states he will accept responsibility if discovered and asserts his trust in Orolo’s judgment.
• Separately, he agrees to help Lio stage a living “re‑enactment” in the meadow, using invasive plants to model the Battle of Trantae over the coming season; he prepares a grid frame to document changes from a fixed vantage.
• Establishes a hidden workspace with Arsibalt in a damp sub‑cellar beneath Shuf’s Dowment. Using a hollowed book prepared with help from Tulia and Lio, he moves and conceals the photomnemonic tablet there and relies on a simple window‑signal with Arsibalt to approach when the building is empty.
• While reviewing the recording, he sees an Ita—Sammann—clean instruments on the Pinnacle and recover the tablet’s discarded dust jacket, indicating possible awareness of the device; Erasmas trims the recording to remove images identifying himself.
• Begins systematic night‑by‑night analysis by integrating long exposures around the pole star, identifying several polar‑orbiting “birds” and, with Jesry, defining a plan to compile a census so that anomalies can be noticed.
• Keeps a low profile in the day—lectures and problem‑work with Barb, time in the meadow preparing the “weed war,” then quiet walks to the Dowment when signaled—while maintaining ordinary duties inside the concent.
• Notes rumor among some Edharians that Orolo was Thrown Back over politics around Eliger; he rejects such talk as unsound, tries to act as a peacemaker between orders by helping at the Dowment, and channels anger over Orolo’s fate into careful work instead of confrontation.
• Observes Arsibalt using a stack of Fraa Paphlagon’s writings as a semaphore in the Dowment window; through Jesry he learns that Tulia is reviewing secondary works (including those by a Unarian suur at Baritoe) to see who, extramuros, engaged with Paphlagon’s ideas.

Relationships

• Mentor: Fraa Orolo (instruction, observation, and cosmography).
• Close peers: Jesry, Lio, Arsibalt, Tulia, and Ala (study, winding, and post‑aut coordination). He now coordinates covertly with Arsibalt at Shuf’s Dowment and with Jesry on analysis; Tulia assists with materials. An Ita named Sammann appears in the recording he reviews.
• Hierarchs and officials: interviewed by Fraa Spelikon (with a recorder named Rotha); previously overseen by Suur Trestanas during the opening. He later harbors resentment toward the Regulant staff in connection with Orolo’s expulsion.
• Family: Cord, his sib from outside the walls, an artisan who visits during the opening.

Descriptions/Characteristics

Known to peers by the nickname “Raz,” and formerly called “Vit” in his birth family. Conscientious, observant, and discreet; capable of practical improvisation when sensitive topics arise. In recent events he shows leadership among peers, emotional intensity kept in check by planning, and a willingness to assume personal risk to pursue a line of inquiry he believes rightful.

Current Status/Location

Active among the Tenners after completing Book penance. Following the aut of Anathem that expelled Orolo, he studies the concealed photomnemonic tablet in a sub‑cellar at Shuf’s Dowment, integrating night skies to begin a census of polar‑orbiting satellites while keeping daily duties and the meadow project. He is aware that an Ita likely noticed the tablet’s dust cover on the Pinnacle and proceeds cautiously.