Fraa Orolo

Fraa Orolo is an avout living within a Decenarian math. A cosmographer and theorician, he is active in the New Library organizing and conducting structured interviews with artisans from extramuros admitted to address maintenance needs shortly before Apert. He asks Fraa Erasmas to serve as his amanuensis during these exchanges.

First appearance and context

Orolo leads conversations in the New Library, opening with pointed questions drawn from leaves of an old questionnaire. These visits occur as the community prepares for imminent observances, and attention is drawn to the great clock as it chimes Provener; Apert is imminent.

Approach and views

Living under the Cartasian Discipline, Orolo emphasizes that the community’s media are limited to chalk, ink, and stone, and that simply aiming a device at the world does not capture what is meaningful; he prefers a person to gather experience with all senses and “make it over into words.” He jokingly claims to suffer from “attention surplus disorder.”

He employs a centuries-old questionnaire (an eight-hundred-year-old copy of an eleven-hundred-year-old original) to probe how practices extramuros have changed. He introduces and discusses “Causal Domain Shear,” a thought about slight time slippage between loosely linked causal domains, using it to motivate careful, long-baseline checks for change. In a related vein, he invokes a story about a “wandering ten-thousand-year math” as a teaching device, without presenting it as literal history.

In dialog with Erasmas, Orolo insists on precise use of terms: he resists describing post-Sack adjustments as “reforms,” preferring the neutral phrase “changes in the maths.” He frames the mathic world as a counterbalance to the Sæculum in the spirit of Saunt Cartas and urges reading Cartas in the original Old Orth rather than relying on later selections and translations.

Activities and roles

• Sets and reviews cosmography problems for fids, for example analyzing a photo-mnemonic image of Saunt Tancred’s Nebula to reason about the formation of heavy nuclei in stellar cores.
• Spends whole days in small chalk halls working through equations and diagrams with Edharians who assist in his theorics.
• Seen leaving a chalk hall with a sheaf of calculations and heading toward the Mynster; a fid worries he will notice an unfinished Saunt Tancred's Nebula tablet in a workroom up in the starhenge.
• Conducts structured inquiries into extramuros beliefs and practices, closely observing visitors and recording terminology.
• In a dream recounted on the eve of Decennial Apert, others seem to sense that he is troubled; the dream associates him with noticing a mismatch between the orrery’s display and what small telescopes show in the sky, a matter rumored to involve Ita-run mechanisms beneath the Mynster.
• Revisits the questionnaire with Artisan Quin, comparing Kinagrams to Logotype, puncturing claims with an ancient Orth word he glosses as “bulshytt,” and rapidly canvassing judicial practices to understand how crimes are named and judged.
• When conversation strays toward information conveyed by the Ita, he halts it and reminds the visitor that such disclosures are prohibited under Discipline.
• Responds to mention of the “Warden of Heaven” by stating that claims of mathic origin are fraudulent, classifying such figures as either Throwbacks turned Mystagogues or Bottle Shakers, and warning that the former can be dangerous.
• Accounts from outside suggest a visitor (Artisan Flec) was told a high-spec speelycaptor would not be allowed; other accounts emphasize strict conditions and oversight for any such recording. Orolo keeps the focus on meaning rather than device minutiae.
• States he has lived in the math for nearly thirty years; he observes that Unarians and Decenarians will celebrate Apert imminently and says he hopes, if found worthy, to be on the inside when the Centenarian Gate closes. He expects to be summoned to the upper labyrinth to answer questions from Hundreders in preparation for their own observances.
• Meets with the Warden Fendant (Fraa Delrakhones) to consult on security concerns and expects increased precautions at Apert.
• Advises moving valued materials to the labyrinths ahead of Apert and predicts only some roughhousing on Tenth Night, not a Sack.
• On at least one occasion, he addressed dead languages rather than stars, surprising peers who typically associate him with cosmography.

Relationships and affiliations

• Works closely with Fraa Erasmas, whom he invites to take notes as amanuensis. Erasmas entered the math ten years prior, while Orolo has nearly three decades inside the walls.
• Engages artisans such as Quin (and earlier, Flec) as interview subjects, switching between Fluccish and Orth for clarity. He is respectful of institutional boundaries, particularly concerning the Ita.
• Tutors fids through lively dialog; during kitchen work he and Erasmas spar verbally while others listen. Erasmas compares Orolo’s style to that of Lio.
• Among peers, Erasmas is regarded as a fid of Orolo; others sometimes seek to draw Orolo into discussion by inviting correction.

Traits and language

Methodical, probing, and precise in speech; he sometimes prefaces what he is about to say and uses theatrical gestures to make points. He favors dry humor, including references to the avout’s bolt, chord, and sphere, and he is comfortable switching languages to communicate clearly. He shows limited interest in the technical minutiae of extramuros device formats, focusing instead on comprehension and meaning. Peers call him the cosmographer, and he has shown enthusiasm for discussions of dead languages as well as the stars.

Current status

Active within the New Library of a Decenarian math, mindful of Discipline rules and coordinating visitor access under supervision as Apert approaches. Following consultation with the Warden Fendant, he anticipates heightened precautions during Apert, sees a general or even local Sack as unlikely, and encourages moving critical items into the labyrinths ahead of the observances.