Teccam

6 ~ Teccam

Masters and Puppets

The Archives are the very heart of the University, and the exact place where the Great Stone Road ends. It is also the location of the mysterious four-plate door, so named by puppet which he admonishes ‘shouldn’t be of any concern to a student’. Clearly Masters only stuff lies beyond . Whoever founded the University did so at this exact location for a very specific reason, so who did originally found it?

The current masters live in their chambers in Masters Hall above the entrance of which is  a stained glass window depicting Teccam in a classic pose, barefoot in front of his cave teaching students. Who else would occupy such a revered place other than a famous alumnus, a former master and quite probably arch-chancellor. A figure of note from the buildings past history for sure, probably it’s founding father. No other name in academia is so celebrated and revered as Teccam’s, the most educated man of which we hear in all the history of the world. Teccam himself is all over these books like a rash. Elodin makes Kvothe read his classic work The Theophony from cover to cover whist drunk on applejack, and its not a small book to absorb. He is mentioned in Elxa Dal’s story of the ignorant edema and was also an architect, lending his name to a superior kind of winch. All the best quotes in these books come from Teccam, even the actual words ‘The Wise Man’s Fear’ are his. Kvothe quotes heavily from The Theophany in the chapter Blood and Ink…

‘Mysteries…are not secrets. Neither are little known facts or forgotten truths. A secret, Teccam explains, is true knowledge actively hidden.’

This sounds exactly like what Kvothe has discovered in his search for books about the Amyr. Someone, with access, has pruned the archives for any record of them, and as Kvothe concluded…

‘Who would benefit most from the destruction of the information on the Amyr?

‘Who else but the Amyr themselves?

True knowledge has been actively hidden. Books have been altered or removed. Teccam’s words are uncannily accurate in this instance, the Amyr may have learnt a thing or two from his observations.

We are also told of Teccam that ‘philosophers have quibbled over his definition for centuries’, giving us a vague idea of when he lived, a long time ago when old men taught barefoot in front of caves, just like the old man of the mountains in Hespe’s story The Broken Road. That old man was a powerful listener who refused point blank to give his name when pressed, and his cave was high in the stormwal mountains which, coincidently, are situated at the other end of The Great Stone Road.

At This end of the road are the archives and deep underground lie Puppets chambers which could also be described as a cave. In a nice parallel, this old man declares himself a See’er and also avoids revealing his true name. Kvothe interestingly notices a pair of curtains on one wall suggesting a window despite them being so far underground, we also hear the bell tower chime which seems strange, there must be sygaldry at work for the sound to carry so far underground. The curtains make little sense as the other walls are crowded to overflowing with books, candles and puppets, so why leave one wall blank? There must be something behind this curtains, something hidden yet accessible, his bed room perhaps? Some private and hidden extension of his chambers no doubt.

Puppet is a See’er and kindly gives us the translation of the word and also tells of its origins. It was a university title awarded of old, in a langauage of old, and Puppet gives the boys a prediction from a master of the art by regarding Kvothe and surmising that he ‘shall never see what is in front of him.’ which I take as meaning the secret truth that lies hidden within the walls of his search. He also gives various deep looks of the kind we associate with the power of naming and indeed witness ourselves from various interactions with Skarpi, Elodin and Magwyn et al. Puppet knows names.

As well as being a namer, Selitos was also a see’er, the greatest see’er the world has ever seen.

If Skarpi did speak with Selitos and Tehlu, then extreme old age can be discounted as a barrier for some people. Haliax may not be the only name-knower from the creation war still alive, it may apply to all namers, or maybe to all of the Ruach, or the Order Amyr or it could just be Selitos himself, still out confounding Lanre and his chandrian after all this time. Which of these, if any, is true shall come later, but 5000 years of living would give Selitos a view of the world like no other, which brings us back to Master Teccam…

‘Modern Philosophers scorn Teccam, but they are vultures picking at the bones of a giant.

Quibble all you like, Teccam understood the shape of the world.

It is also worth noting that Felurian, who knows little of the mortal realm, pretty much quotes Teccam when talking of the moon when she speaks the line ‘a wise man views a moonless night with fear.’ maybe she has a copy of his theophony hidden in a tree somewhere, or perhaps she and Teccam just both share the same beliefs in the way things really are.

I believe that there is a lot more to Teccam than meets the eye. Too many clues show him as either the greatest mortal thinker ever to have existed, or that he is not actually mortal and has had a few centuries to polish his ideas and pass them on to all those who are, all the time hiding his true name. Similar to Skarpi with his recording of history, he has moved quietly about the world since Myr Tariniel fell and has been teaching others to think. He is another of the Ruach who was present before Aleph, but his fame has made him need to hide his own, unnatual immortality.

It is my belief that the Teccam of old is still alive and well, still in front of his cave, still teaching students, and still knowing more about the shape of the world than any one else. He is calling himself puppet now and the Archives belong to him. He has made his home at the very heart of the university which has sprung up around him. The preservation of Knowledge is his domain now, but only certain knowledge of certain things. He is the guardian of all it’s secrets. He ordered it’s construction and oversaw the project from within, like a spider in his web. He wrote Vorfelan Rhiata Morie above it’s door in a language now removed from the curriculum which would only aid the secrecy. It’s meaning is significant only to him and his ilk.

The road and the archive were possibly built by the same architect for the same reason. The 4-plate door. Anything less would be too coincidental, and we don’t believe in coincidences here.

He is one of the Amyr and he is moreso. He is their leader. He is Selitos himself. He changed his name from Selitos to Teccam and from Teccam to Puppet. He was probably many other names in between, Tolem perhaps? We don’t know. But he has slowly been dissapearing from the pages of history as he wrote them and is now continuing his work from out of sight, buried in the archives where only select members of the arcanum even know that he exists. Teccam is the Real Head Master of the University. A university that He founded for his own reasons, long ago, when he used another name. Every master throughout history has answered to him directly, from day one right up to the present moment, and they call him Puppet.

riddles

‘They call me Puppet.’

‘ Who is they? Who are they?’

‘Who are they then? Who were they then?’

‘Who are they now?’

‘You know, them. People.’

Puppet is very clever with words, very correct and very truthful.

Students call him puppet, and non-students have no reason to know of him at all, he doesn’t get out much which means these people he cites must be members of the Arcanum. Ex-students like Devi and Sleat could well know of him but he basically only interacts with scrivs. Manet was also a scriv once but whether Chronicler and Ben have also met him is unknown.

The first couplet puts the focus in the present tense ‘Who were they then?’ is Puppet correcting Kvothe’s question to make it gramatically correct. It is still asking who calls him puppet in a way that would fit the correct answer. Turning it to past tense also makes the answer historical and so we are talking about past members of the arcanum too, a historical group of people with whom he was aquainted. As well as former scrivs, gillers and masters, the ancient Order Amyr would also fit the demograph since his real work benefits them personally. But when Kvothe changes the original question to a present tense equivalent, which in this case would include a modern day equivalent of the amyr, Puppet stops playing word games and dismisses their clever badinage off-handedly with a non-answer. Kvothe has actually outmanouvered him here.

The evidence is building up now to a level where it cannot be dismissed so easily and each new argument adds a little more weight and sheds a little more light on our exposure.

Kvothe is being watched