Anthony Granier
General
- Is associated with The War.
- Was a politician.
- Became a Brilliant Novelist.
- Supervised the reconstruction of the city's sewer system.
- Was just a bit of a lech at times.
- He was quite close to Vianne Adamek, current Master of the Academy, referring to her as "My Master" in writing.
- Married at least twice, with his second wife rumoured to have left him because she was jealous of his relationship with Adamek.
- Had two children: Edward and Amaithe.
- May have been part of The Third Power
- He built a house, on which he included a beautifully inscribed Third Power symbol (which is simply referred to as "The Granier Mark").
- While staying in the house,Scarlett finds a puzzle and a note written by Granier to his children.
- Kurt solves the puzzle which leads to the Lancewood Archipelago.
- Violet translates the note. Granier tells his children if they want to know more about him, the puzzle will lead them to a place with more information.
- See main article: Granier House
- His diary is on display at the Academy Museum exhibit on The War.
- It was reviewed and transcribed by Violet & Cymbalisty
- This resulted, however, in Cymbalisty being killed by Miranda who wished for the knowledge on the last page to not be uncovered.
- When at last the true final page was found, it was transcribed by Violet and Anna.
Note to children and puzzle
- The note as translated by Violet reads:
My dear children, Edward and Amaithe -
As I write this, my time draws near. I have passed too many hours away from you, indeed, and never conceived a manner in which to tell you of all I had seen and done. I am sorry for it. I love you and kiss you both. If your heart is in the matter and you wish to learn more of your father, there is a place which contains much knowledge. I cannot write its name, but this puzzle will lead you to it. I am confident you will find out its secret. Should you travel there at last, go safely and forgive me.
Your ever-loving, Papa
- Along with the note was this puzzle which leads us to the Lancewood Archipelago.
Diary
Violet Kiteway uploaded this onto her weblog, Quirky Acuity. But the final pages, containing Edwina Mounting's secret, were missing, presumed in the hands of the Police, following the mysterious death of Isaac Cymbalisty. Violet translates the pages the Police have, only to find out that Miranda murdered Cymbalisty and substituted a false ending. Violet gets the true final pages from Miranda's bag and she and Anna translate them.
13 March 1736 Have embarked upon Northern expedition. Accompanied by Edwina Mountling, an Academy scholar of about fifty despatched by my Master. "Accompanied", but not "companioned", for she is a woman of little conversation, preferring her mathematical calculations to civil discourse. Three days journeying and we are still only halfway to our destination. Exceeding weary. Provisions provided tiresomely similar. I relish a leg of mutton as well as any man, but cannot feast upon it for lunch and dinner every day without some decline in appetite. The lands through which we journey are as well-formed as I have been led to expect, but pleasant vistas give no relief from the awful task which confronts us. I find my heart is heavy indeed, despite the serving girl's charming attempts to lift my spirits.
17 March 1736 At last, the castle is reached. I find the hospitality very fine. My lord is an excellent host, and the feast with which he greeted our arrival would have honoured nobler men than we. I have writ to my Master that the first part of the journey is successfully completed. It is odd to muse upon my Master in this place. She would take some pleasure in this locale, I think; she has ever delighted in new landscapes and the new creatures found there. I recall her once, above ten years past, taking such pains to instruct me in some new specimen of hive-bee she had found, enumerating its parts and elaborating upon its society. Had the times not needed her resolve, she might have remained merely a fine naturalist. Would that it had been so. My Master has never visited this place, I think, nor ever will do now, but the fate of all the people within one dozen miles of here rests with her.
19 March 1736 I visited the mining works this day. Almost as much as can be done, has been done. They have extracted sufficient of the material for my Master's experiments. There is so little, so very little, and almost all of it will be needed if the thing is to be done. The men and women working at the mine know nothing of this, of course. They are so cheerful and so resolute. They tell me that they are honoured to work at an occupation which may prove the salvation of the City - this, of course, they have been told. Wanion!
21 March 1736 Today we feasted for The Builders Celebration, a festival of the Way of the Cube. Excellent sport, with several bouts of combat between the people of the village, divers plays and masques, and three boar roasted whole upon the fire. Ground struck for a new general store on the Green. A figure of the Holy Cube, along with images of Gyvann paraded through the streets. The matter struck me as curious. I shall write more upon this anon.
22 March 1736 Passed several hours in company with Mistress Mountling today. She, attempting to explain the convolutions of number which allow her, she declares, to know with certainty the effect of any mining before that operation has begun. I declared that if she can predict the future using numbers, she is surely a numerologist or fortune-teller of the kind employed at country fairs to entertain the simple-minded. She did not appreciate this witticism. I own that, once she had explained to me the basis for her calculations, her claim seemed less an idle boast. My Master's preparations have been long in the making. Nonetheless, certainty is needed. There will, Mistress Mountling informed me, have to be an experiment here, during our visit. This, it appears, is the reason that she accompanies me on this expedition. To her credit, Mistress Mountling seems to suffer some of the same pangs and regrets as I regarding this matter. She is a handsome woman. When not frowning over her books, one can see that she cannot be more than five-and-thirty.
24 March 1736 Hunting with my lord, while Mistress Mountling completed certain preliminary surveys of the mine site. Took some very fine game by the edges of the lake - banded ducks and seven Burg Fowl - and my lord proved excellent company, good-humoured and full of tales. Put to him EM's notion regarding an experiment. He agreed the thing must be done. Returned home to feast upon the game we had taken, but afflicted by an unaccountable melancholy. My lord, noting my mood, supplied the cure in the form of a chamber-maid sent to my rooms for sport.
25 March 1736 Dined upon a fine ham with spiced plums and roast parsnips. Rain all day, mining impossible. All but EM downcast. She positively delighted in her calculations and rather astonished I could not find useful work to undertake despite the rain. Mockery ensued. I see now that I was mistaken in my estimation of her age: she is at least forty.
28 March 1736 Rain past two days. Have occupied my mind reading once more the Essays of Varkin: On Love, On Marriage, On the Existence of the Celestial Bodies, On the Ancient Myths, and so on. Certain passages very fine.
30 March 1736 Rain at last begins to pass. Accompanied by my lord and EM, made a visit to the village. Charming rural scenes of agriculture and village life such as one rarely sees any longer in the City. Small children playing at Pyramid in the street. Pausing to observe the game, I notice that the pieces are cube in form, rather than the triangular forms common in the City. Conversed on this topic with my lord, who noted that the old forms of worship still retain much of their force here, while in the City they have waned these hundred years past, at the least. Recalling the excellent Builder's Celebrations, I suppose this to be but natural. Many of these children's fathers and mothers have worked daily in the mine, or have observed the place themselves. This shape has retained with them the significance it had for our ancestors, who journeyed out to this spot to observe the phenomenon for themselves and saw in it the hand of magic, or of an immortal force. It is curious. I am no man of science, I have no gifts in physic or alchymical minglings, but the old modes of worship have ever seemed lacking to me. But my Master, though of a deep and perceiving intellect in scientific matters, still holds to the religion we learned as children. Even though she has seen the root of it, even though she has - of all people - the greatest understanding of the mystery, sees that it is no mystery. I have spoken with her on this matter. She is of the view that even the deepest knowledge can penetrate only the "how" and not the "why", that the "why" is a matter for religion, not science. But what would her religion make of what we are to do here?
31 March 1736 Dined on a dish I have never before encountered: a soft-fleshed river fish steeped in a sauce of ale and cream, served with little radishes and onions. On inquiring the provenance of the recipe, discovered that the cook is a native of Machiantes. I inquired of my lord whether he did not fear for his life, but he replied jestingly, that he keeps the man so busy that he could scarce have time to plot or plan.
2 April 1736 EM's preparations for her experiment continue. She has become peevish and irritable, and appears tired. Today, when I made to fetch her for dinner, she barked that "unlike you, I am not constantly concerned with the needs of my stomach and the desires of my...." [here she used a low word which startled me considerably]. When I expressed my astonishment at being spoken to in this fashion, she began to cry. Women are a constant mystery.
3 April 1736 The reason for EM's sullen and inconstant mood today became clear. We are to select the subjects for the experiment ourselves. The thing is dreadful. We have been given a list of suitable persons, given such matters as health, strength and height. EM and I examined this list for above two hours today, but were unable to reach any conclusion. It is intolerable that the decision should rest with us; doubly so because we do not know these men and women, and have no notion of their situations. I have requested from my lord that he should at least tell us which of them have children or aged parents in their care. He has agreed.
6 April 1736 Received grave news today from the City. The peace with Viehattle is disintegrating. There have been incursions and breaches of treaty. Our spies indicate that Viehattle may even now be allying with Anjsbourg. My mood is so much depressed by this that even the girl's most sincere efforts to enliven me brought no relief.
'7 April 1736 Today, the final preparations for the experiment have been made. After much converse with EM, we have selected two men in their middle years, unmarried and without living parents. This brings us but little comfort. Edwina said: "all men touch one another's lives", and she speaks truly. To make such a choice! It brings to mind the worst excesses which one hears occur in Machiantes. My lord appears not one whit disturbed, however, and dined heartily this evening while Edwina and I ate but little.
"Come come," he said, "they do but go on ahead of their fellows, who will follow them soon enough, if you have figured your sums sharply, Mistress Mountling."
She nodded gravely at this. We have talked upon the matter a good deal these past few days. If some must be sacrificed that others may live free, is that so hard to bear? And if we should spare these few, only for them to perish at the hands of our enemies, would we be thanked? It is better that they do not know, that the children continue to play innocent in the streets. We who bear the knowledge shall do so as our burden.
8 April 1736 Experiment conducted today. An awful spectacle. I have no energy to write more this night.
13 April 1736 Edwina has been busy with her calculations these three days. She tells me that she has taken many useful readings which go to prove what we have long suspected: the entire place will be destroyed. There is no help for it. We walked today upon the upland slopes and around the lake. She intimated that she was grateful for my continued counsel and I was glad to hear it. These days since the experiment have brought us into closer intercourse than I had ever envisaged. She finds the companionship of my lord and his household hard to bear - they regard the people of this place as their possessions, to do with as they please. The City has given them free hand here, so far from our own environs, and it has led to this unwelcome circumstance.
15 April 1736 Edwina and I dined heartily this night upon fine cakes of cornmeal, with figs and venison sliced thin. Talked long into the night upon divers subjects: art, literature, philosophy and science. She confessed that she had admired several of my short writings - declared that I should attempt longer works, perhaps a novel. I found myself delighted by this news. Felt no need for the attentions of the serving girl and told her that she need not return for several days.
17 April 1736 Despatched news of our progress to my Master. We are almost finished here - but a few more days, and Edwina's calculations will be completed. We have only then to agree with my lord a time for this matter to be concluded. It will not be long now.
21 April 1736 Abed this morning, Edwina most disconsolate. Upon inquiring of her what the trouble might be she, with a most mournful countenance, explained that she had been concealing a secret from me. I teased her a little upon this point, maintaining that she must have some other gallant gentleman admirer. She laughed a little at this. I entreated her, again, to entrust her secret to me. She replied that she desired to do so, but wished to ponder on the matter, taking her own counsel until to-morrow. My bed remains forlorn and lonely this night.
29 April 1736
| False version, given to us by Miranda, 16-JAN-06 | True version, given to us by Violet, 24-MAY-06 |
| At last, stole several minutes with Edwina in the great refectory at about the third hour after dawn when my lord's men had broken their fast and gone on their way. She, sighing mightily, declared that she did not wish for my company. I would not brook this and held her fast demanding she should explain to me why she had disdained my society and my bed these past days.
She, sighing again, said: "I cannot speak the words. For then, surely, you would disdain me." I assured her that this could never be. She, smiling, asked if I could not let the matter bide, pretend that all that had been between we two had never been. I declared that I could not. "Then," she said, "I will confess the matter to you, and you will no longer wish for my society." So saying, she made this speech: "My lord," she said, "I am with child. I did not know for certain these few days but now the matter seems to me right clear. The child is yours, my lord." I could not conceal my horror and alarm at this. Ah, wanion. That such things should be. I wished to look upon her but could not. I cast my eyes downward and muttered some words of consolation but made my good-byes sharply. I must think on this and these pages are no longer secure enough to do so. |
At last, stole several minutes with Edwina in the great refectory at about the third hour after dawn when my lord's men had broken their fast and gone on their way. She, sighing mightily, declared that she did not wish for my company. I would not brook this and held her fast demanding she should explain to me why she had disdained my society and my bed these past days.
She, sighing again, said: "I cannot speak the words. For then, surely, you would disdain me." I assured her that this could never be. She, smiling, asked if I could not let the matter bide, pretend that all that had been between we two had never been. I declared that I could not. "Then," she said, "I will confess the matter to you, and you will no longer wish for my society." So saying, she made this speech: "My lord," she said, "I know only a little, but what I know I can no longer hide, with all that has been between us. Your master..." she paused there and tears started in her eyes. "Your master I believe does not wish that our experiments here should benefit only the city. To be blunt, my lord, I have been sent here to ensure that certain matters, certain elements of knowledge should be kept only for her, and for the group of loyal scholars she has formed. She wishes the power for herself. To do what, I know not." I could not conceal my horror and alarm at this. Ah, wanion. That such things should be. I wished to look upon her but could not. I cast my eyes downward and muttered some words of consolation but made my good-byes sharply. I must think on this and these pages are no longer secure enough to do so. |
Links
- This section comprises links to Granier's diary, as given us by Violet Kiteway.
- blog, 04-JAN-06 "Granier diaries, installment one" link
- blog, 05-JAN-06 "Granier diaries, installment two" link
- blog, 06-JAN-06 "Granier diaries, installment three" link
- blog, 10-JAN-06 "Granier diaries, installment four" link
- blog, 11-JAN-06 "Granier diaries, installment five" link
- blog, 12-JAN-06 "Granier diaries, installment six" link
- blog, 16-JAN-06 "Granier diaries, installment seven" link
- blog, 24-MAY-06 "Deja Vu Granier diaries, installment seven" link
In the news
| Granier Biographer Angry
Diana Coh, author of "Granier: A Man for Our Times" and leading Anthony Granier biographer, has added her voice to the protests against the Academy Museum's new exhibit. In a speech to fellow protesters over the weekend, she said: "Anthony Granier helped lift this city out of the dark times and into the light. It is ridiculous that his name should be linked to the conflict in this way." |
References
- The Perplex City Sentinel
- Quirky Acuity
- Anna Heath's Personal Site
- My Writing, 13-MAR-06, "Proof of Life" link
- The Scarlett Kite
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