Brajj

Overview

Brajj is an extramuros passenger who boards a one‑sledge smuggler run shadowing a polar sledge train. Alongside other migrants Laro and Dag and Erasmas, he rides toward an icebound coastal port. He appears practiced in mountain travel and crevasse safety and quickly assumes a leadership role among the passengers when circumstances turn dangerous.

Appearance and Traits

• Sturdy build (a little larger than the narrator), bundled in cold‑weather gear; initially sits nearest the tent flaps, taking extra space with a bulky suitcase.
• Carries a small weapon and a long knife he calls a “sticker,” and uses a tent‑pole as a probing staff on the ice.
• His suitcase is lashed with yellow rope and contains many small vials; he laconically describes this as “Child support.”
• Demeanor is calm, dour, and highly attentive to risk; he shows contempt when fellow passengers, identified as Deolaters, begin praying.
• When viewing a vast convoy, he briskly identifies it as military and distinguishes mountain units from “flatlanders,” speaking with apparent authority. Erasmas suspects he may be retired military—or a deserter.

Roles and Actions

• Border run and smuggler choice: Observes the driver’s sonic gear and destination options, then boards a short smuggler train bound for a coastal town, favoring a vehicle equipped with a crevasse‑detection sonic.
• Abandonment on the pass: When the drivers detach the sledge and depart to seek fuel, Brajj watches the time and insists on a self‑rescue plan if they do not return within hours. He has everyone take on water and fuel and eat, then directs salvage and fabrication: cutting tent‑poles for frames, gathering rope, and making improvised snowshoes and a toboggan.
• Roped travel and probing: Leads the party roped at intervals, uses a tent‑pole to probe for hidden crevasses, and sets a cautious, steady pace despite pressure from others to hurry.
• Crevasse accident and rescue: During a steep descent, a crevasse swallow catches the line. Evidence suggests the rope between Brajj and Dag parted at the exact point his sticker would have cut it; when asked if he cut it, he answers, “Maybe I did.” He then aids Erasmas’s escape by anchoring the line with his sticker while Erasmas uses a sphere and chord to ratchet up, after which they recover the toboggan and haul Laro (badly injured but alive) to the surface.
• Improvised stretcher: Helps cocoon Laro using bolt‑and‑sphere techniques into an air‑bed bundle for towing downhill while he himself tows the salvaged sledge supplies. He continues to lead, probing for crevasses.
• Parting: Near the valley floor on a trampled military route where crevasse danger is low, he cuts the rope linking him to the others and sets off alone toward the port. Erasmas does not see him again.

Relationships

• Erasmas: Interacts closely during the crisis; explicitly recognizes him as avout (“You’re avout”) and treats his kit and skills as assets for survival. Their exchanges show mutual, wary pragmatism.
• Laro and Dag: Fellow passengers roped into his plan; he shows scorn for their prayer (as Deolaters) and prioritizes practical survival. He helps retrieve Laro after the fall; Dag is presumed dead in the crevasse.
• Smuggler drivers: Treats them warily; waits to step off the sledge until their cab is empty and assumes they might not return.
• Military convoy: Correctly identifies the column as military and infers unit types and capabilities, implying prior familiarity with such matters.

Current Status

Unknown. He separates from the group on the valley road leading to the coastal port and is not seen again by avout observers. His survival and later movements are unreported in current accounts.