Quin

Quin is an extramuros craftsman admitted to the New Library shortly before Apert to perform repair work and to answer questions from Fraa Orolo, with Fraa Erasmas acting as amanuensis. Quin is candid and quick to laugh, comfortable speaking on behalf of his crew and engaging with avout about how life outside the concent has been changing.

First Appearance and Context

Quin is first seen inside the New Library during preparations on the eve of a Decenarian opening. While present to mend a window, he participates in Orolo's questionnaire about conditions extramuros, providing practical, firsthand answers.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Shares observations about extramuros technology, media, literacy, and justice as part of Orolo's ongoing questionnaire.
• Notes the paradox of conditions outside the walls as "starving to death and dying from being too fat at the same time"; Erasmas later reflects on it while walking extramuros.
• Professional colleague of Artisan Flec, the extramuros worker previously admitted for urgent repair work.
• Reports that Flec was prevented by the Ita from recording a speely of a service from the north nave because the speelycaptor's zoom, stabilization, and low-light features would have revealed areas beyond the screen; this account is later cited during a Regulant inquiry with Fraa Erasmas.
• Accompanies Fraa Orolo to confer with the Warden Fendant when concerns about outside developments are reviewed ahead of the opening.
• Describes to Erasmas and Fraa Orolo the extramuros "spine clamps" sometimes worn by visitors; a guide later recognizes a clamp matching that description during a tour.
• During the establishment of the site named for Saunt Orolo, helps haul stake bundles to the crater rim for survey lines and discusses boundary placement, walls with gateways, and material sourcing.
• Crosses to the island for the foundation ceremony and adds his name to the cornerstone inaugurating the new center.
• Arrives together with his son Barb and Artisan Flec; raises questions about religious participation and hears that Deolaters uncertain of their rightness are welcome.
• Asks about timekeeping for the ceremony and learns a clock is being built; hears the view that the renewed order will recognize two coequal Magisteria, with naming to follow as practices settle.
• In conversation about family and continuity after recent changes, reacts with warm urgency when it is pointed out that Barb might one day become a father, making Quin a grandfather.

Relationships

• Father of Barb, who accompanies him and shows a keen eye for mechanical details; Quin later reacts enthusiastically to the prospect of becoming a grandfather.
• Ex-wife (name not given); together they appear to allow Barb wide freedom within the concent during the opening, which avout interpret as tacit openness to Collection.
• Works alongside Artisan Flec; the two are later seen arriving together at Orolo during the early reconstruction and foundation-laying.
• Engages with Fraa Orolo in structured interviews, with Fraa Erasmas recording; he observes the Discipline when reminded.

Descriptions/Characteristics

Tall and bearded, Quin presents as a long-limbed, work-hardened artisan. He is talkative, quick-witted, and willing to joke, yet deferential to mathic rules when boundaries are made explicit. At the reconstruction site he shows a hands-on willingness to haul materials and an inquisitive, civic-minded streak—asking practical questions about walls, property, and naming.

Current Status/Location

Present with his son and ex-wife during the opening; afterward, seen at the crater site named for Saunt Orolo, where he stays in a fetch with Barb, assists with early groundwork, and witnesses the laying of the cornerstone on the island. He otherwise continues to live and work extramuros, with intermittent access to the Reticulum.