Sammann

Sammann is an Ita (technical order) technician from the Concent of Saunt Edhar. He travels with an avout (cloistered scholars) Peregrin (sanctioned journey) party, providing practical skills and Reticulum (planetary network) research while the group pursues shared objectives. While at Orithena on Ecba, he continued to handle maps, logistics, and information hygiene; during the Geometers’ (alien visitors) probe landing he acted as documentarian and technical support. After the evacuation from Orithena, he is seen with a small detachment of Ita and indicates he will fly to the Convox (mass convocation), likely in a separate section from companions.

Appearance and Traits

• Long beard and hair; when in ordinary extramuros (outside the walls) clothes he still stands out.
• Methodical, technically fluent, and risk-aware. Works from a jeejah (handheld device), favoring structured searches over speculation and checking source quality.
• Dry humor and a taste for debate; will press companions’ assumptions to test their reasoning. Calm under pressure and task-focused when others are injured.

Roles and Actions

• Island governance briefing at Orithena: After being admitted as a guest with companions, Sammann summarized who runs Ecba. He reports that a wealthy burger (wealthy citizen), shortly after the Third Sack (past upheaval), bought the island and created a foundation (dowment-like fund) with bylaws running to about a thousand pages. Executive power resides with a mixed Sæcular/Mathic (outside-world/monastic) board of governors. He first called it “boring,” then supplied details.
• Guest lodging and welcome: Along with companions, he was let through the gate, given rooms in a guest lodge set apart from the cloister (monastic precinct), allowed to keep jeejahs, and formally toasted at dinner by Fraa Landasher. The next morning he joined a guided look at the excavation at Orithena.
• Ecba research before admission: While camped on Ecba’s northeast shore, he investigated unexpectedly strong network access and traced it to the island being held as a single parcel by a long-lived private foundation; he noted possible ties to the mathic world and left the direction of influence open ("sponsored, or something").
• Research and analysis: Phototyped images from companions and used programs via the Reticulum (planetary network) to match them to live feeds, helping locate a walled site and spiral excavation identified with Orithena.
• Route-finding and logistics: Studied maps and posted road logs to chart courses and pace long travel days; handled driving during tense regroupings.
• Leaked space recording: Shared a low-quality speely captured from a space capsule and explained technical cues (e.g., window outgassing, orientation shifts). He and others refer to the visitors as the “Geometers” (alien visitors). Cause of a body’s later recovery is left ambiguous in discussion.
• Probe landing at Orithena: When a lander descended into the Temple precinct, Sammann arrived on a three-wheeler with Cord, unslung his jeejah (handheld device), and recorded in speelycaptor mode (video recorder). He asked Cord to narrate what she saw and tossed the jeejah up to Yul so it could see inside the capsule. He streamed the scene live over the Reticulum (planetary network) until Sæcular Power (civil authorities) forces arrived and jammed civilian traffic; afterward he stated he could not penetrate their transmissions. With Orolo, he briefly examined a fibrous case from the capsule that held four tubes of red fluid before soldiers confiscated it.
• Convox arrangements: At the military-managed beach camp after evacuation, he remarks that recent events have been “very good for [his] reputation and access,” confers with a small detachment of Ita, and states that he will fly to the Convox (mass convocation), probably not seated with avout companions.
• Tredegarh Plenary reference: During a public dialog at Tredegarh, a speaker said the Convox had already watched the speely recorded by Erasmas's Ita collaborator; Erasmas gave the collaborator's name as Sammann and added that he arrived a few minutes after the probe's landing and began recording.
• Messal isolation and transmitter discovery at Tredegarh: During a Plurality of Worlds messal, he helped a small group—including Lio, Emman Beldo, and Barb—implement a grounded mesh “basket” to shield the messallan from wireless signals. An Ita ally had already cut the room’s microphone line. In the ensuing exchange he located and produced a concealed body transmitter taken from Fraa Orhan.
• Evacuation and cell assignment: As the concent initiated dispersal, he was assigned to a designated cell alongside Valers and peers, sharing transport with Fraa Jesry, Fraa Arsibalt, and later Fraa Jad. Two fellow Ita briefly consulted with him before departure. In transit he handled Reticulum messaging on behalf of Erasmas, forwarding a note to Suur Ala while cautioning that the channel was not private.

Elkhazg and launch preparations

• In transit to a remote city and its historic caravansery, Sammann wore a headset beside Jules Verne Durand, relaying sketches and notes from the Laterran via his jeejah until wireless links were jammed; he showed visible frustration when the connection dropped and returned to local calculations.
• At Elkhazg, after reestablishing access, he worked up a chronology converting Urnud years to the local calendar using timestamps recovered from captured Matarrhite documents and known recent events. He concluded—allowing for uncertainty—that the Daban Urnud began its inter‑cosmic voyage roughly nine centuries ago in local reckoning, aligning with the era surrounding the Third Sack. He offered this as a coincidence worth investigating rather than a proven causal link.
• During equipment issue and training, he engaged actively with the suit and “monyafeek” systems, asking practical questions about cryogenic supplies and manual mechanisms. He quipped that the suit’s front displays would make stealth impossible, prompting a demonstration of a blackout screen that concealed indicators when needed.
• He again assisted Erasmas with a personal message to Ala, noting that the channel would not be private.
• In a quiet exchange he observed that Ita tend toward being family‑oriented; he mentions a few past girlfriends but no long‑term partner.

Low‑orbit assembly and communications

• After ascent he was among the first to establish the short‑range network, hailing companions and confirming who was in range. By arriving early to the rendezvous he assumed the role of “glommer,” keeping station beneath a decoy balloon and using grapnels to collect incoming payloads into a single cluster while others acted as “getters.” He secured a human payload to Esma’s tow and then continued to gather additional cargo.
• He performed star checks—simple, visual confirmations that the balloon remained between the cell and the watchers—and reported that the group stayed covered while the cluster formed up.
• During a difficult recovery he reported that Fraa Jad was alive after being towed in entangled with a blue payload; others handled the heavy thrusting while he managed the capture.
• With Fraa Gratho, he located and mounted a line‑of‑sight device and reconnected the cell to the Reticulum, bringing ground support cells back onto their boards. On orders, he and Gratho remained on duty to maintain links while others ate and slept.
• Before the decoy burn he provided a final star check and confirmed that the cell was still shielded by the balloon. Later, as the group reduced wireless emissions, he configured a narrow, intermittent link to pass essential traffic without broadcasting broadly.
• He strung a simple wired network through the frame so suits could plug in for all‑hands discussions while preserving privacy for small‑group links.
• He diagnosed Reticulum anomalies under Antiswarm stress, explaining that a low‑level bug in reputon handling—amid long‑standing “Artificial Inanity” countermeasures—could cause ground cells and on‑suit screens to see convincing bogons mixed with legitimate messages.
• He monitored the wireless unit’s queue and noted more than a thousand pending items, with large audio/video files being advanced ahead of text. He correlated the creation of those files with the beginnings and ends of private conversations.
• With Fraa Jesry and Fraa Erasmas, he ran controlled tests by disconnecting and reconnecting to see what topics triggered automatic recording. “Everything Killers” and terms such as “attack,” “neutron,” “mass murder,” “insane,” “dishonor,” “refuse,” and “mutiny” proved to be triggers.
• After Fraa Jad physically disabled the transmitter, he confirmed the device still simulated its local functions but could no longer send, reducing the risk of feeding surveillance systems during sensitive discussions.
• In the final approach, after leaving cover behind the Cold Black Mirror, he joined the roped line and helped cast grapnels so the cell could secure a hold on the Daban Urnud’s rubble shield.
• While traversing a darkened facet toward an observatory vertex on the Daban Urnud, he moved methodically along the roped line checking teammates’ connections to the rope/wire.
• At the open telescope dome serving as a large airlock, he asked about observatory staffing and helped conserve air by swapping oxygen canisters with Fraa Arsibalt; once the dome was pressurized, he doffed his suit along with the others in preparation to move deeper inside.

Relationships and Affiliations

• Cord (Cord): cooperative, practical rapport in outfitting and travel; mutual reliance on hands-on skill and research.
• Yulassetar Crade and Ganelial Crade: travel companions who share lodging and logistics roles during movements around Ecba and Orithena.
• Concent of Saunt Edhar: home concent; Sammann’s training and tools reflect Edharian practice.
• Fraa Erasmas: field companion; Sammann says he will be flying to the Convox with Erasmas (likely in a different section of the plane).
• Fraa Landasher: local host who welcomed the group at Orithena.
• Convox organizers at Tredegarh: Coordinates with Suur Ala and works alongside Lio and others during planning, messal service, and the evacuation.
• In orbit he collaborates closely with Valers including Fraa Gratho, Suur Vay, and Fraa Osa, balancing communications work with hands‑on tethering under the decoy balloon.

Current Status

Alive aboard the Daban Urnud following admission through an observatory vertex. Named among the companions for whom an Arbran delegation afterward brought medical support and supplies in orbit (alongside Lio, Jesry, and Arsibalt). His exact whereabouts within the ship during subsequent movements remain unspecified.

Notes

• Terminology: Reticulum (planetary network); Peregrin (sanctioned journey); avout (cloistered scholars); jeejah (handheld device); burger (wealthy citizen); dowment (endowment-like fund); Sæcular/Mathic (outside-world/monastic); Convox (mass convocation). Where the text preserves ambiguity—e.g., sponsorship direction for the Orithena work—Sammann states alternatives without committing to one.
• Orolo asked whether Sammann had ever talked of "Saunt Grod's Machines" (quantum-syntactic devices), suggesting others associate him with such topics; Erasmas reported he had not discussed them with Sammann.