Vit

Overview

Vit is an alias used by Erasmas, an Avout traveling outside the walls and effectively Feral, to move inconspicuously among smugglers and migrants near a northern sledge port and later aboard a coastal ship. Under this name he joins a Kelx ark’s service held in a crowded shipboard cabin.

Appearance and Traits

Vit is not a distinct persona beyond anonymity. He initially wears a cold‑weather suitsack like other travelers. While recuperating from injuries to his ribs and back, he discards his filthy clothing and accepts a spare set from a fellow passenger before attending the ark’s service.

Roles and Actions

• Uses the alias while arranging passage and paying half the fare up front on a one‑sledge train bound toward Kolya.
• After the two drivers detach the tractor to seek fuel and leave the passengers behind with supplies, cooperates with Brajj to improvise survival gear (snowshoes from tent poles and suitcase panels; a toboggan from a bench) and set out roped together across crevasse‑prone slopes.
• During a fall into a crevasse, uses his kit (sphere, bolt, and chord) to arrest his own fall, wedge a path to the surface, and haul Laro up; Dag appears to have been lost.
• Builds a cushioned “cocoon” with the sphere and bolt to drag the injured Laro downhill toward the coast; a passing military convoy later takes Vit and Laro to the harbor, where Vit buys passage south by sea.
• Aboard ship, accepts clothing from Alwash and attends a Kelx service led by Magister Sark. During the congregational sharing he relates an edited account of the glacier descent; Sark responds that, given the circumstances, it is not clear Vit did wrong, and later addresses him by name during a concluding exhortation.
• After the service, a devotee named Malter asks if Vit is avout; he confirms that he is.

Relationships

• Laro: Co‑passenger who suffers a broken thigh and head trauma; Vit rescues and transports him until soldiers arrive.
• Dag: Co‑passenger who goes over a crevasse edge and is presumed dead.
• Brajj: Co‑passenger and de facto leader in the snow who may have cut the rope to save himself and later departs on his own; he displays contempt for Deolater worshippers.
• Alwash: A large fellow passenger who offers clean clothes and invites Vit to the Kelx service.
• Magister Sark: The shipboard Kelx magister who questions attendees and later names Vit in a sermon.
• Malter: A Kedev who approaches Vit after the service and asks if he is avout; Vit acknowledges that he is.

Current Status

Alias in active use during the over‑ice approach to an icebound port and continuing aboard a civilian transport heading south by sea. After attending a Kelx service and confirming to a fellow passenger that he is avout, he remains aboard the vessel.