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Bakker XXXII: The Acts of Fane


Anatúrinbor

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Forunately I operate on a much smaller scale, so I need not fear the one God. Although sometimes i find myself tempted to prank call them and say that i have put out my eyes and can now bear Indara's water.

It would be creepy if you did that, and they got the joke.

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I just read The Four Revelations of Cinial’jin for the first time, and I’m a bit confused by what the four revelations are supposed to be. (I know I’ve seen this discussed before, but I can’t remember the details.)

I think the two that are most ambiguous are,

And,

Am I right to assume that this final revelation comes at the moment of his death? Something about his damnation? :dunno:

I've posited before that the non men had to turn cannibal to gain immortality and blaming the inchoroi for teaching them to burn and consume all their women is a way to avoid blaming themselves.

Or perhaps the lie and betrayal the wight speaks of was that the inchoroi promised if the male cunoroi qirried the females that the females would not be damned and the males would avoid dam nation by not dying.

And never forget how cute it is that qirri equals query. Literally, it's a question. ;)

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The scene in The Darkness That Comes Before where a consult agent has sex with Esme suggests that the Sranc's black semen derives from the Inchoroi and not the Nonmen. It isn't clear exactly what the agent of the consult is. Is there a consensus on this?

The short answer is that we do not know and there’s no consensus. There is no reason to assume that it’s Scranc, though.

My assumption is that Esme mates with a glamoured Inchoroi, probably Aurang. After their encounter, she hears flapping wings:

She stared at the coin and the Emperor’s profile across it, remote and golden against downy pubic hair and slopes of bare skin—skin threaded and smeared by glistening pitch. Bile flooded the back of her throat. The room became brighter. He’s opening the shutters. But when she looked up, he was gone. She heard the arid slap of wings receding into the dawn.

So the thing flies. I believe that if we had witnessed the scene without the glamour, it may have been the Synthese. (Aurang himself wouldn’t fit through the window.)

The best evidence to the identity comes from the Thing called Sarcellus, when it thinks of Esmi:

He freed his fingers and gently clutched her knees. He thought of her cunny, pressed tight and greasy between her legs, and shivered with hunger. To simply be where the Architect had been! To thrust where he had thrust. It at once humbled and engorged. To plunge into a furnace stoked by the Old Father!

“The Old Father”, “Architect”—that’s Consult-speak for Inchoroi.

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4c. Why no Black Nonmen, or distinct Nonman Races?

Even among Nine Nonman Mansions, they never appear to reach the level of the heterogeneous-ness of the Emwama or Eannean Men {who vary widely in phenotype}. Do their genes lack the potential to mutate or change over time?

We don’t know, and we don’t even know if the question is valid. We have no idea about genetics in Eärwa, remember that it is deliberately constructed by the author so that the physical reality is actually what we used to believe. Damnation is real, etc. We have no evidence that evolution works. Men vary phenotypically because their five tribes descended from some mountain range. Imagine that! We have no idea how those five tribes came about. They could all have been genetically engineered that way, rather than evolved.

On the other hand, there could be huge phenotypical variation among Nonmen, but there’s no reason to assume that skin colour should be the interesting parameter. Plausibly, Zeümi and Norsirai look the same to a Nonman.

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We don’t know, and we don’t even know if the question is valid. We have no idea about genetics in Eärwa, remember that it is deliberately constructed by the author so that the physical reality is actually what we used to believe. Damnation is real, etc. We have no evidence that evolution works. Men vary phenotypically because their five tribes descended from some mountain range. Imagine that! We have no idea how those five tribes came about. They could all have been genetically engineered that way, rather than evolved.

On the other hand, there could be huge phenotypical variation among Nonmen, but there’s no reason to assume that skin colour should be the interesting parameter. Plausibly, Zeümi and Norsirai look the same to a Nonman.

Good point about variation among the Nonmen.... they could have various races but all look the same to a human...

But doesn't the Principle of Before and After kind of imply that evolution, to some extent, works? Even though the Gods were real and everything the Dunyain Causality still allows Kellhus to subvert all of the nations of men to his command: when he looks at the worldborn he sees through the thin veneer of their modernity and into their bestial past {a passage in TWP implies this}. Don't principles of Causality imply some degree of evolution? Elsewise how are Men so easily deceived?

Although at the same time Earwean genetics IS pretty weird.... if a Scylvendi impregnates a Norsirai woman, the child will be Scylvendi, etc. etc...

Like the Y Chromosome is always the dominant force.

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For a Skin-spy, an “Old Father,” or an “Architect,” could be as much the Mangecca as the Inchoroi, or even more likely. Not that the thing with Esmi was a human.

Old Father is specifically used to refer to Aurang many times through the series, whereas I don't think we've once seen it applied to any Mangaecca (we don't even know of any specific Mangaecca aside from Shae, for that matter).

From TWP:

The shell of the Old Father...Aurang, Great General of the World-Breaker, Ancient Prince of the Inchoroi.

In addition, Aurang appears to Esmi as the same "handsome, god-like man" in TTT, before the confrontation with Kellhus.

We also know that the Synthese is limited in its abilities, and glamours are mentioned specifically as one of the things they'd be able to use. I think most of the evidence pretty clearly points to it being Aurang, even though there's absolute no confirmation.

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I was talking about the phrase “Old Father” more than Esmenet’s visitor. The Skin-Spies themselves say that the Synthese is a vessel of the Old Fathers. Also, the glossary says it houses the souls of "senior Consult figures". Aurang is one of the Old Father and he's a senior Consult figure, but he's not all of them.

I think the idea that the Syntheses that have appeared thus far are all Aurang (including the one in WLW), because one of them was Aurang in PON will turn out to be one of the many ways Bakker has easily fooled his readers (including myself).

Generally speaking, I assume the SS use Old Father to refer to their creators, and since the Mangaecca were taught the Tekne ages ago my guess is that the SS were primarily created by them. Not that the Inchoroi weren’t involved, Aurang does say that he stands among the SS makers.

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I was talking about the phrase Old Father more than Esmenets visitor. The Skin-Spies themselves say that the Synthese is a vessel of the Old Fathers. Also, the glossary says it houses the souls of "senior Consult figures". Aurang is one of the Old Father and he's a senior Consult figure, but he's not all of them.

I think the idea that the Syntheses that have appeared thus far are all Aurang (including the one in WLW), because one of them was Aurang in PON will turn out to be one of the many ways Bakker has easily fooled his readers (including myself).

Generally speaking, I assume the SS use Old Father to refer to their creators, and since the Mangaecca were taught the Tekne ages ago my guess is that the SS were primarily created by them. Not that the Inchoroi werent involved, Aurang does say that he stands among the SS makers.

I said the same exact thing two threads ago, that it felt as if there was different identities in the Synthese. That idea was shot down with, " No, you're wrong!"

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I'll just cross post my reading from the almanac at the other site

(worth noting, not once on screen do we see Sarcellus and Esmenet have sex and not once off screen does either perspective mention they had sex. Sarcellus is excited by the future anticipation in the above quoted scene, but we have nothing to confirm that a consummation took place, I'm guessing it did not).

And the Nonman King cried words that sting:

“Now to me you must confess,

For death above you hovers!”

And the Emissary answered ever wary:

“We are the race of flesh,

We are the race of lovers.”

—“BALLAD OF THE INCHOROI,” ANCIENT KÛNIÜRI FOLK SONG

Early Winter, 4110 Year-of-the-Tusk, Sumna

§9.1: Esmenet and a client, reflections on Achamian & Inrau, arrival of the Consult, attempt at negotiation, interrogated during rape, black seed, a gold coin, vomit.

§9.2: Esmenet leaves her apartment, wanders the city, decides to leave, remembers Achamian's warnings, finds a threadbare child similar to her daughter and gives her the gold coin.

§9.3: Achamian arrives in the valley of Sudica in Nansur, reflections on architectural ruins and arrival at the ruined fortress-temple of Batathent (a former sanctuary during the first Apocalypse), dreams off-screen of the summoning of the No-God, morning ablutions and reflections on Inrau's death and leaving Sumna, reflections on Esmenet, a Shiradi proverb & overwhelmed by circumstances, makes a map of known players in the game (see appendices), reflections on Proyas.

§9.4: Esmenet reaches the edges of the city, reflects on her whore's tattoo, prays to Gierra, gathers resolve from confidence in her trade, leaves the city.

*******

And here is the first clue as to what the Inchoroi are, the nonmen of ancient times did not know what/who they were when they appeared, so they're a mystery, but apparently they are a race of lovers. It's important that we get this song now, considering the events of §9.1 when Esmenet encounters the Consult/Inchoroi as Inrau did earlier in the book.

There is a possible inconsistency here, in that Esmenet perceives the Consult to be man sized but later he vanishes through the window and she hears wings. A couple options:

1. Esmenet is seeing a glamour of the horrible Inchoroi form seen later in TWP, WLW and False Sun, so she sees a man rather than an outerspace rape demon. Pretty fucking huge window to allow something 12 feet tall to escape it.

2. A skin spy is connected to the synthese seen in the Inrau chapter. The synthese has taken over the skin spy to interrogate Esmenet. however I don't think skin spies leave black seed, though the next couple chapters when Esmenet connects to TTCSarcellus should clarify whether or not their seed is black. When the interrogator leaves, the Skin spy jumps out of the window and the synthese flies off.

3. Esmenet is interrogated by another kind of synthese not seen since this event.

4. Esmenet is interrogated because the synthese took control of a random dude or Consult Conspirator human, just like Esmenet is taken control of by the synthese in TTT when they try to kill Kellhus. The seed is black cuz magic.

5. Authorial inconsistency and the Inchoroi form was not yet fully fleshed out, heh. This is perhaps the most likely as the text says, “He was standing above her, his godlike frame shining in the glow of the remaining candle,” at the end of the interro-rape. Interesting that this invocation of godlike frame comes so soon on the heels of Conphas thinking of himself as a God. Also, Frames are really important to Bakker, so godlike Frame is a very loaded phrase regardless of whether or not this visitor is consistent with later portrayals of the Inchoroi, and the phrase could indicate the presence of glamour. And considering the invocation of this chapter names the Inchoroi as the race of lovers and the first significant event of the chapter is Esmenet being completely overwhelmed and in her words ‘mastered’ by the stranger’s ability as a lover, I think it is clear we’re to take this iteration of the Inchoroi as distinct from the Skin Spies and Synthese we have already seen.

This first passage begins with Esmenet reflecting on her and DA’s relationship as she bids farewell to a priest client. She eventually admits to herself that it’s not DA she loves, it’s his life, she wants to be important more than she wants to be loved.

Obviously the interro-rape is extremely important, but perhaps it is a macguffin for a few other significant events in this chapter. Does this event blind us to some other things? I think that is possible. As readers, we do not learn much from this scene, in terms of what Esme tells the inchoroi, but it does provide motive for her to leave Sumna, and it gives us another glimpse into the Consult—Bakker is very consistent at establishing the enemy in this book, starting with Mekeritrig, onto Geshrunni, the synthese, Sarcellus, and now this he reminds us every few chapters of their presence, and once we know future revelations more, we realize that the Consult is participating in other scenes behind the mask of skin spies. We don’t lose sight of who the enemy is in this book.

So, the first scene after the Interro-rape, we have Esme give away all she has. This should recall a few parables from the bible--she gives away the wages of her sin (I think the text makes clear she basically leaves behind her apartment with only the clothes on her back and the gold in her hand), and I think this is theologically and metaphysically significant. What if the gold she gave the girl was a gift to Gierra or to Yatwer? Esmenet at the end of the chapter will reflect on how she is not a true temple priestess, but what if she effectively became a priestess of Gierra with the gift of the Gold. This gold coin has significance. I also wonder if Esement is being set into a the sort of narrative we would expect a hero to undertake, a journey of discovery in which the young lad grows into manhood and discovers his secret heritage or destiny to become the ruler of all. It feels very Genre-classic to me. She winds up in a position of unfathomable power, compared to the point she begins the journey, literally she has nothing and gains everything. It’s sad that a lot of misogynistic internet types have decided to take agency away from Esmenet and deride all her achievements because they can’t stand to see such a successful woman. ;)

§9.3 brings us to DA’s perspective again. He is traveling to sleep amongst some ruins. In the chapter for Unholy Consult we are admonished to consider the TIMING of DA’s dreams, and that is important here, in light of the events of this chapter, and the events of the Unholy Consult excerpt. Bakker here reminds us that DA and Seswatha are two men, before he gives us the new dream (which he keeps off screen), “For them to wander among half-walls and fallen pillars, or through words of an ancient treatise, was in a way to travel in peace with their other memories, to be one man instead of two.” And then our intrepid author reminds us of the unreliability and profound fallibility of the DA perspective, with this especial gem of his own inflated and distorting vision of himself, “Achamian wandered across the site, awed by the conjunction of old stone and his own learning.”

Thus having primed the reader, DA dreams:

In his sleep, he dreamed of that day when every child was stillborn, that day when the Consult, beaten back to the black ramparts of Golgotterath by the Nonmen and the ancient Norsirai, brought emptiness, absolute and terrible, into the world: Mog-Pharau, the No-God. In his sleep, Achamian watched glory after glory flicker out through Seswatha’s anguished eyes. And he awoke, as he always awoke, a witness to the end of the world.

There are several curious things about this construction, ‘emptiness, absolute and terrible,” is a damned good explanation of what the NoGod is, imo: the anthropomorphic personification of meaninglessness, the opposite of a God which is an anthropomorphic personification of meaning (meanings in their forms as varied as the gods are). Another interesting construction here is that Seswatha somehow saw every innumerable defeats of the war after the No God’s summoning yet somehow survived, I wonder about that… and then the final construction suggests Akka is a witness to the end of the world he lives in, it’s very cleverly written. Akka is a witness to the end of the world Seswatha lives in, but that’s not what the text explicitly says, it says he awoke a witness to the end of the world. It’s a nice piece of buried foreshadowing.

But we should not be talking about the second dream—held offscreen—but about the timing. The dream was about the Summoning of the No-God, and timing wise this occurs right after Esmenet is interro-raped. Why might that timing be important? The summoning of the No-God was facilitated by the capture of Nau Cayuti—Nau Cayuti’s capture was enabled by his wife Ieva.

In the question of timing, is Bakker here suggesting that the betrayer of the Great Ordeal of either Achamian or of Kellhus will be Esmenet? That she will play the key role of Ieva in the summoning of the NoGod? Does the world conspire so much? This might explain why the Narindar is alongside Esmenet, because she will be the Ieva of the story of the Second Apocalypse.

extensive thoughts on esmenet continued here:

http://www.second-apocalypse.com/index.php?topic=24.msg337#msg337

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I was talking about the phrase Old Father more than Esmenets visitor. The Skin-Spies themselves say that the Synthese is a vessel of the Old Fathers. Also, the glossary says it houses the souls of "senior Consult figures". Aurang is one of the Old Father and he's a senior Consult figure, but he's not all of them.

I think the idea that the Syntheses that have appeared thus far are all Aurang (including the one in WLW), because one of them was Aurang in PON will turn out to be one of the many ways Bakker has easily fooled his readers (including myself).

Generally speaking, I assume the SS use Old Father to refer to their creators, and since the Mangaecca were taught the Tekne ages ago my guess is that the SS were primarily created by them. Not that the Inchoroi werent involved, Aurang does say that he stands among the SS makers.

Aurang does place himself among the makers of the SS. From his POV in TTT, chapter 11

They grovelled before him, their grooms slick from their victims. His eyes flared and they clutched themselves in anguish and ecstacy. His children. His followers.

...

...

His children continued straining and clutching, their cracked faces bent to the stars.

"Prepare this place," he commanded.

"But, Old Father," the daring one Ûssirta, said, "how could you be certain?"

Still doesn't prove others can't or don't appear as the Synthese, but this is explicitly Aurang. And he calls them children and they call him Old Father.

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Aurang does place himself among the makers of the SS.

Yeah, that's what I said. In fact, in WP he says “I stand among your makers, and yet the genius of your manufacture still moves me to incredulity.”

I know the SS call Aurang Old Father, but he's not the only one, as the line above implies. It stands to reason that the SS would refer to all their makers as Old Fathers, which is what the SS in WLW implied: "A Synthese... vessel of the Old Fathers..."

If I had to put my money on a Synthese not being Aurang, I would pick the WLW one, especially because of his line that all prophecies must be respected, which contradicts something Aurang said in WP/TT when he basically said that he Celmomian Prophecy is a joke. Also, this might mean that not everyone in the Consult agrees on everything, could be that the Inchoroi do not believe in all that prophecy bullshit, but Shaeonanra has different views.

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Yeah, that's what I said. In fact, in WP he says I stand among your makers, and yet the genius of your manufacture still moves me to incredulity.

I know the SS call Aurang Old Father, but he's not the only one, as the line above implies. It stands to reason that the SS would refer to all their makers as Old Fathers, which is what the SS in WLW implied: "A Synthese... vessel of the Old Fathers..."

If I had to put my money on a Synthese not being Aurang, I would pick the WLW one, especially because of his line that all prophecies must be respected, which contradicts something Aurang said in WP/TT when he basically said that he Celmomian Prophecy is a joke. Also, this might mean that not everyone in the Consult agrees on everything, could be that the Inchoroi do not believe in all that prophecy bullshit, but Shaeonanra has different views.

i like that explanation. :) And when I had made the comment that the Synthese seemed different at Momemn w/ Sarcellus, it had been awhile since I read. Just read that and it does seem the same as we encounter previously and in TWP. I will keep an eye out for your interpretation. I just love the little bits we get of the Consult, so interesting and so much to take in......I scrutinize every word for some hidden clue. As @Madness has said, TUC is huge info dump and hopefully a majority of that is about the Consult (I assume it will be). They are the perfect antagonist IMHO. Loving every sentence of this reread.
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