Fraa Orolo

Orolo is an avout (cloistered scholar) and cosmographer of the Decenarian Math (ten-year order) at the Concent of Saunt Edhar (walled monastic complex). He serves as mentor to Fraa Erasmas and is addressed by him as "Pa Orolo," signaling a close, paternal rapport. Orolo resides for a time within Orithena, among a cloister that identifies as a Lineage (pre-Cartasian tradition) rather than a formal math.

Context and first appearance

• Known as a deliberate, exacting teacher who favors firsthand observation and sharp distinctions between givens and conjecture. Earlier accounts place him organizing observing work and praxic followups associated with a high object in the sky, traveling north, and later reuniting with Erasmas at Orithena.
• Within Orithena he participates in ordinary duties and in the night excavation of the buried temple precincts.

Roles and actions

• During the descent and landing of the Geometers’ (presumed alien envoys) probe into the Orithena pit, Orolo takes quick, practical steps to maximize learning time before the arrival of the Sæcular Power (secular authorities). He calls for the gate to be opened only briefly, dispatches tasks to named helpers, and urges that the community “learn” while it can.
• He instructs Yulassetar Crade and others to retrieve and spread the parachute as a canopy to hinder helicopters, assigns Sammann (an Ita, technical support order) to record with his device, and encourages Cord to examine the probe’s hatch hardware methodically.
• Approaches the craft himself, assesses the exhaust as hydrogen/oxygen, and keeps Landasher focused on buying time rather than arguing procedure.
• When Cord and Yul extract the occupant, he urges immediate aid if there is any chance of life. He later surveys a container of blood-like vials found in the capsule before soldiers confiscate it. He accepts a tracking collar without resistance and avoids interfering with soldiers as they secure the area.
• Anticipating a second “drop,” he remarks that an orbital period has passed and warns that another object may be incoming. He also speculates about conflict among the Geometers’ factions based on the wounded messenger.

Ideas and theoric views

• In dialog with Erasmas, Orolo develops a model of consciousness that uses polycosmic quantum theorics: instead of a brain running a heavy internal model in superposition, he frames it as many nearby, real cosmi linked by interference, with consciousness spanning them and exploiting that crosstalk. He contrasts older fid‑level wording (wavefunction collapse) with a polycosmic restatement, always labeling unverified parts as speculation.
• By analogy to “Saunt Grod’s Machines,” he compares thinking to a syntactic device that can explore many possibilities at once; he illustrates with the “Lazy Peregrin” route problem (Peregrin: sanctioned travel outside the walls). He repeatedly distinguishes what he has observed from what he infers.
• He hints—without claiming proof—that certain senior avout may already know and test aspects of this, couching it as a centuries-long praxis conducted under constrained conditions.

Relationships and affiliations

• Mentor and debating partner to Fraa Erasmas, with their dynamic shifting from Pa/fid to collegial exchange at Orithena.
• Works alongside Cord (extramuros machinist), Yulassetar Crade (wilderness driver and cousin of Ganelial Crade), and Sammann (Ita, technical support order) during the probe landing.
• Interacts with Orithena’s internal leaders; he keeps Fraa Landasher informed while prioritizing knowledge-gathering before Sæcular intervention.

Description

• Plain-spoken, precise, and pragmatic; quick to translate abstract points into testable, operational steps. In the field he balances caution (e.g., clearing back from a potential overpressure at the hatch) with boldness (approaching the hot probe once hazards appear manageable).

Current status and fate

• Present at Orithena during the probe landing and initial Sæcular presence. After a second object strikes the nearby volcano, a fast, glowing ash cloud (volcanic surge) overruns the site. Orolo is last seen stepping to the center of the analemma he traces in the soil outside the gates; he is killed moments later as the surge engulfs the concent.

Notes

• Communications context: Sammann’s recording is said to be streaming on the Reticulum (planetary network) until military jamming begins; soldiers’ closed systems delay their awareness of events outside their reticule. The above sequence relies on eyewitness narration; where motives or internal states are implied, they are attributed to speakers’ inferences.
• Terminology: avout (cloistered scholar); math (scholastic order); Concent (walled monastic complex); Ita (technical support order); Sæcular Power (secular authorities); Reticulum (planetary network).