The-tyrant-philosophers/Riechy
Archivist Riechy is a junior member of the interrogation apparatus at the Donjon in Ilmar, attached to the technical operation of decanting equipment alongside her senior colleague Archivist Gadders. She appears briefly in City of Last Chances, where she is brought into Yasnic's chamber to assist in the extraction of God from his person. Though her screen time is limited to a single chapter, Riechy crystallises a central theme of the Palleseen state's relationship to the divine: the reduction of what was once a sacred ceremony to a bureaucratic procedure performed by overworked technicians with chipped cups and leather masks.
Her significance lies in that reduction. Where the old rites speak of "cleansing you of your superstition," Riechy calls the whole framework "bunkum" and insists "It's just decanting, is all." She gives her subject a few sips of tea before strapping him in. She is not cruel, not gleeful, not sadistic - she is a woman doing a job, bickering with her coworker about whether healers ought to be fat, and insisting they are not torturers because torturing is a "different department." In her small, upbeat pragmatism, Riechy embodies the most mundane and therefore most chilling form of institutional violence: the kind performed by people who find it tedious.
Her role in the narrative is interrupted almost as quickly as it begins. The arrival of Sage-Invigilator Culvern and his overpowering stench drives both archivists from the room, leaving the decanting of God unfinished and Riechy's small professional routine shattered by something far less pleasant than bureaucracy.
Character
Appearance
Riechy is a younger Palleseen woman who pins her hair in a bun, wears black-painted nails, a slotted leather mask, and goggles as part of her work attire at the Donjon. The mask and goggles suggest the physical and perceptual demands of operating decanting equipment - the pair require a smoked-glass plate to perceive the divine presence they are tasked with removing - ch 23.
Personality
She is more sympathetic and upbeat than her senior colleague Gadders, who is the more dismissive of the two - ch 23. Their working relationship has the texture of long familiarity: they bicker over a chipped cup and whether healers ought to be fat while preparing the apparatus - ch 23. Before beginning the procedure on Yasnic, she gives him a few sips of tea from that chipped cup, a small human gesture folded into an otherwise brutal routine - ch 23. When the old ceremonial language of "cleansing you of your superstition" is invoked, she waves it away as "bunkum," framing the work in flatly technical terms - ch 23.
Beliefs & Motivations
Riechy insists on the bureaucratic separation of her function from outright torture: "Different department," she clarifies, though she concedes they sometimes requisition nipple clamps - ch 23. She rejects the religious or superstitious framing of decanting entirely, reducing the extraction of a deity from a human being to the status of routine mechanical work - ch 23. Her motivation, as far as the text shows, is simply the competent execution of a task assigned to her department.
History
City of Last Chances
Archivist Riechy is a younger Palleseen woman attached to the interrogation apparatus at the Donjon in Ilmar, where she operates the decanting equipment alongside her senior colleague Archivist Gadders - ch 23. She pins her hair in a bun, wears black-painted nails, a slotted leather mask, and goggles, and is the more sympathetic and upbeat of the pair, while Gadders is the more dismissive - ch 23. The two bicker familiarly during their preparations, over the matter of a chipped cup and whether healers ought to be fat - ch 23. When brought into Yasnic's chamber, they give him a few sips of tea from the chipped cup before proceeding - ch 23.
Gadders clarifies that they are not torturers - "Different department" - though they sometimes requisition the nipple clamps - ch 23. Through a smoked-glass plate the pair confirm they can perceive God as a smudge at Yasnic's shoulder - ch 23. They fit wooden pigeonholes full of uncharged tablethi to the chair arms, and Riechy characterises the old ceremony of "cleansing you of your superstition" as "bunkum" - "It's just decanting, is all." - ch 23. Yasnic begs them not to proceed - "You can't decant God. I need Him. Please, I'm all He has." - but they continue regardless - ch 23. Their work is interrupted when Sage-Invigilator Culvern enters and his stench drives both Riechy and Gadders from the room - ch 23.
Relationships
- Archivist Gadders - Senior colleague and co-operator of the decanting apparatus. Their interaction has the easy, squabbling rhythm of people who work side by side daily: Riechy is the more upbeat of the pair, Gadders the more dismissive, and they argue familiarly over a chipped cup and over the proper weight of healers - ch 23.
- Yasnic - The subject brought before them for decanting. Riechy offers him tea before the procedure begins, but proceeds when he begs them to stop, telling him he is all God has - ch 23.
- Sage-Invigilator Culvern - His entrance and overpowering stench drive both Riechy and Gadders from the room, cutting their work short - ch 23.
Notable Quotes
- "Different department" - Riechy, clarifying that they are not torturers, City of Last Chances, ch 23
- "It's just decanting, is all." - Riechy, dismissing the old ceremonial language of "cleansing you of your superstition" as "bunkum," City of Last Chances, ch 23
Tags
- decanter-operator · #archivist · #palleseen-officer