Mathematician at Al-Hakim University — “a little strange, but likely the most knowledgeable regarding mathematics at the university,” per Master Ibek. (S3)
What We Know
- Shown the mathematical material from The Recovered Documents: he called it a line of scholarship he’s not seen before — or perhaps a new presentation — using mathematical notations he’s unfamiliar with. (S3)
- Offered to research it; Ari made him a copy. (S3)
- His result (S8): they are equations. Some of the symbols are old dwarven. The equations require inputs. He translated them into a more standard format, using the ideas of the noted mathematician al-Jabar (the note-taker’s gloss: algebra).
- Read through his work, they appear to involve angles — such as on a round, spherical shape (like the world would be, if it were round; general consensus is that it is flat). (S8)
- Ari, looking at his translation, thinks the orrery can fill in some of the blanks. (S8)
Speculation
Spherical geometry, in a world everyone believes is flat. Either the equations describe something that isn’t the world — the celestial sphere, say, which is what an orrery models — or someone behind them knew something about the world’s shape that the consensus doesn’t. The GM said at the table that the world may not be round. (S8)
Speculation
Handing a copy of Phoenix-seized material to a university scholar has a blast radius if the Eyes ever trace it. Worth remembering the party did this.