Warden of Heaven

Overview

The Warden of Heaven is an older Sæcular (outside‑the‑math world) authority figure, addressed by attendants as “His Serenity.” Capsule (state) footage shows him departing alone to approach the visitors aboard the icosahedral Cousins craft (the Cousins’ ship). After egress, communications are jammed; hours later the crew recover him, deceased, after he is expelled from the visitors’ craft. According to a later shipboard account from a visiting “Gan,” the Warden insisted on removing his suit in a ceremonial room aboard the Daban Urnud, became short of breath, and suffered the rupture of a major blood vessel; attempts to re‑suit him and then to use a cold hyperbaric therapy were unsuccessful, and his body was subsequently returned to orbit.

Context and in‑world mentions

• The episode is discussed during a Plenary (all‑hands Convox session) where speelies (recorded moving‑images) are shown to the assembled avout (cloistered scholar‑monks). Speakers later refer to “what happened to the Warden of Heaven,” reflecting that the event is widely known in Convox circles at Tredegarh.
• In a subsequent Plenary dialog at the Convox hosted at Tredegarh, a suggestion to defer to the Sæcular Power in deciding how to deal with the visitors prompted audible mirth; the Warden of Heaven was implicitly cited as the prior instance of that approach.
• In discussion at a Plurality of Worlds messal, participants cite “throwing the Warden of Heaven out the airlock” alongside other headline incidents attributed to the visitors, showing the ejection as a recent shared point of reference.
• A later exchange aboard the visitors’ vessel yields additional particulars: the ship’s ceremonial leader characterized the Warden as eager to doff his suit on the grounds of faith; physicians attempted urgent measures after a sudden vascular failure; and the manner of the body’s return was decided for political effect within the visitors’ own hierarchy. These statements are preserved as that speaker’s account rather than settled findings.
• In private Lucub networks, some speakers use “people like the Warden of Heaven” as shorthand for entrenched Sæcular leadership when arguing that power should be taken back by “the smart people”; others warn such talk risks provoking violent counter‑measures.
• The title itself is not explained in available material; sources do not clarify what “Heaven” denotes in this office’s name.

Appearance and Traits

• Older male; in weightlessness his hair stands oddly and his face appears puffy and greenish from nausea before egress.
• Attendants use the honorific “His Serenity.” He prays briefly with aides before airlock procedures.
• Earlier second‑hand descriptions had portrayed a robed, priest‑like figure; the capsule speely (moving‑image recording) instead depicts modern suit‑up procedures and a standard pressure helmet.
• Later avout compare newer matte‑black suits to the gear seen on him in capsule footage, noting that his earlier suit used a tubular under‑garment (“tube garment”) for thermal regulation, whereas the later design obviates it.

Roles and Actions

• Designated as the single representative to leave the capsule when the visitors stipulated “send one.” Crew and aides assemble a pressure suit over a tubular under‑garment, complete checks, and move him into the airlock.
• A robotic manipulator from the visitors’ probe grapples his suit’s lifting bracket and carries him toward the icosahedron. Wideband jamming cuts voice contact soon after; later even suit telemetry ceases.
• After several hours, a port on the visitors’ pusher‑plate face opens and ejects an unclothed human form; capsule crew identify and retrieve the Warden’s body.
• Per the later shipboard account mentioned above: inside a ceremonial room aboard the Daban Urnud, he removed his suit against advice; he then experienced breathing distress and, according to that source, the bursting of a major blood vessel. Physicians tried to re‑suit him and then prepared a cold hyperbaric treatment, but he died before it could help. Researchers had already taken blood and tissue samples, and an autopsy had begun; the body’s return style was then chosen to demonstrate contempt, as part of internal politics.

Relationships

• Aides and clergy: Attendants refer to him as “His Serenity,” attempt to shield him from the camera, and lead a short prayer before egress.
• Fraa Jesry: Present in the capsule crew and poses pragmatic, observational questions to guide first contact; later remarks explicitly note that Jesry had gone up with the Warden of Heaven on that mission.
• Ignetha Foral: A high‑ranking Sæcular figure addressed as “Madame Secretary.” Avout sources report that the Warden dismissed her from office prior to the spacecraft encounter; she is now active at Tredegarh during the Convox.
• The visitors: Referred to by avout and Convox travelers as the Cousins; the craft itself is documented as the Cousins’ ship. A later account by a shipboard ceremonial leader asserts that the Warden died after removing his suit; a tactical leader in that hierarchy reportedly decided how to return the body. These are attributions to in‑story speakers.

Current Status

Deceased upon recovery by the capsule crew after ejection from the visitors’ craft. The visitors’ later account places his death moments after removing his suit aboard the Daban Urnud from a sudden internal failure consistent with a burst blood vessel; whether death preceded ejection is asserted in that telling and remains an attributed claim.

Notes

• The specific jurisdiction or location implied by “Heaven” is not defined in the sources available here.
• The “blood for blood” exchange later proposed by visitors aligned with their ceremonial leader involved conveying samples of their own blood down to Ecba in symbolic reciprocity; this context is included here because it was explicitly presented as a reaction to how the Warden’s body was handled. These points are preserved as contemporaneous accounts, not adjudications of motive.

Legacy and political impact

• During formal interactions aboard the Daban Urnud, Emman Beldo remarks that Sæcular politics have improved since the Warden’s removal—often phrased colloquially as having been “thrown out the airlock”—and that the Antiswarm has since gained influence. The airlock phrasing coexists with the shipboard account that attributes death to a sudden internal failure after suit removal; the disparity reflects differing in‑world narrations rather than a settled conclusion.
• In later personal accounts, the episode is said to have thrown Artisan Flec “into a tailspin,” exemplifying the destabilizing effect it had on some Sæcular believers.