Grand Master Finitan
Names: Grand Master FinitanFinitanthe Grand MasterMaster FinitanMayorMayor Finitanold Eggshaper Guild Master
First appears in Book 1: The Dreaming Void, chapter 9 (Inigo’s fourth dream)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: The Dreaming Void
- Ch 9Finitan is the tall, slim, grey-touched Grand Master of the Eggshaper Guild, calm and affable, with a powerful farsight.
- Ch 9Finitan was apprenticed to Akeem as a young man, and mourns his death.
- Ch 9Finitan will only accept Edeard as a junior apprentice, requiring seven years to regain journeyman rank, to avoid charges of favouritism.
- Ch 9Grand Master of the Eggshaper Guild, he says he is trapped by the political system and cannot make changes he once wanted.
- Ch 9He tells Edeard that nobody under a hundred years old has ever been Grand Master, and offers to sponsor him into the constables.
- Ch 13Finitan is Master of the Eggshaper Guild and sponsored Edeard; he offers to sign Edeard's letter for officer promotion.
- Ch 13Finitan often clashes with the Mayor in Council and is Mistress Florell's great-great-nephew, twice removed.
Book 2: The Temporal Void
- Ch 2Finitan, a Grand Master, warned Edeard that an offer coming after the trial tests whether he plays by the city's political rules.
- Ch 2Finitan had warned Edeard of a test, and is a friend of Edeard whom Salrana jokes could not plausibly intercede for her.
- Ch 2Grand Master Finitan lent Edeard fifteen genistars, ge-cats placed under bridges, which let Edeard track the switched ingots.
- Ch 4Finitan advises building broad support from street-level associations, since a law banishing gang members would never pass Council because of the costs and destabilization.
- Ch 4Finitan explains that merchant families pay Ivarl to keep dockers in line, so removing gangs would raise wages and prices.
- Ch 4Finitan leads Grand Council Masters arguing for the exclusion warrants and is under pressure to produce a conclusion to the campaign.
- Ch 4Finitan, Florrel's nephew, says he could force a plebiscite in Council and promises Edeard his support whatever happens.
- Ch 7Finitan taught Edeard to build goodwill politically, and used the kidnapping to win the Grand Council result after the Festival of Guidance.
- Ch 7Finitan leads a group of District Masters backing the exclusion campaign and announces he will run for Mayor on a pledge to banish the gangs.
- Ch 7Grand Master Finitan has declared his candidacy for Mayor with a campaign centered on banishing the gangs.
- Ch 7Finitan is Edeard's patron, supports banishment and is Owain's long-time adversary; Owain says he thinks only of the city.
- Ch 9Finitan is the current Mayor of Makkathran, supported by the Tarmorl family.
- Ch 9Finitan, Grand Master of the Eggshaper Guild, will be Edeard's nominee in the Upper Council and is campaigning for votes.
- Ch 9Finitan sent Topar to Ashwell to confirm Edeard's story and now fears the bandits as the greatest threat since Rah led the people to Makkathran.
- Ch 9Finitan suspects the Weapons Guild's deep vaults may hold knowledge or artifacts left from the ships that brought humans to Querencia.
- Ch 9Finitan is running for Mayor against Owain and wants the city secured before making alliances with the provinces.
- Ch 9Finitan gifts Edeard a method of seeing through concealment while pretending no such thing exists, and agrees to sculpt a small scouting genistar.
- Ch 9Finitan plans emergency legislation to extend detention to a month, taking the arrests past the election.
- Ch 9Finitan is a candidate in the coming election; Buate fears that if he wins, the gangs will be banished from Makkathran.
- Ch 9Finitan warns Edeard not to use force against the militia and says Owain has won; he is considering allying with Owain.
- Ch 9Finitan, the Grand Master, advises that Edeard must accept the law's constraints and plan a strategy until the election.
- Ch 12Finitan is a mayoral candidate who has gambled everything on the election; he is exhausted and anxious but leading in early indications.
- Ch 12Finitan wins the mayoral election, taking the city with a large margin and about fifty-one percent in Sampalok.
- Ch 12Finitan, now Mayor, has kept Owain's old sanctum furnishings; the city is prospering under him but the provinces are not.
- Ch 12Finitan tells Edeard he has the strongest psychic ability Finitan has ever known.
- Ch 12Finitan, the elected Mayor, was killed under unexplained circumstances during Owain's seizure of power.
- Ch 12Finitan is a Herusis and a great-uncle of Edeard's mother, so he is Edeard's relative.
- Ch 14Finitan is now responsible for Makkathran's governance problems; Kristabel says he will be angry that Edeard abandoned the bandit hunt.
Book 3: The Evolutionary Void
- Ch 5Finitan served an unprecedented six terms as Mayor and created the special Grand Council committee on organized crime.
- Ch 5Finitan, former Mayor and Eggshaper Guild Grand Master, is dying of malignant growths around his lungs and thorax, and hates the pain-numbing potions.
- Ch 5Finitan agrees to be guided by the Skylord to the Heart, since he is dying anyway.
- Ch 5Finitan is a dying old master, the former Eggshaper Guild Master, who chose to be carried up the tower to be claimed by a Skylord.
- Ch 5Finitan is afraid of death and wonders what the Heart is, but refuses the painkiller potion so he stays alert for the Skylord.
- Ch 9Finitan once told Edeard that people who fail at life often become politicians.
Connections
- has memberTopardeputy to Finitan
- related toAkeemMaster of Finitan when he was an apprentice
- leadsEggshaper Guild
- ally ofEdeardsponsored his constable entry
- family ofMistress Florellgreat-great-nephew
- member ofUpper Council
- ally ofDistrict Master Vologral
- family ofMistress Florrelnephew
- ally ofJulan
- related toEdeardprotégé of his patron
- enemy ofOwainpolitical adversaries
- ally ofTarmorl family
- related toTopardeputy in the Eggshaper Guild
- createdge-mouse
- ally ofTopar
- family ofEdearddistant relative through his mother's Herusis family
- createdSpecial Grand Council committee on organized crime
- friend ofEdeard
- ally ofKristabelpart of his voting bloc
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 9Edeard meets Grand Master Finitan
Edeard tells Finitan of Akeem's death and the village's slaughter. Finitan, once Akeem's apprentice, offers only junior apprentice status, requiring seven years.
- Book 1 · Ch 9Finitan steers Edeard toward the constables
Finitan explains the Guild's political stagnation and offers Edeard either a Guild place or sponsorship into the constables, advising him to explore the city first.
- Book 1 · Ch 13Constables' graduation ceremony
Nearly eighty probationers receive bronze epaulettes from Mayor Owain in the Malfit Hall; Edeard pledges not to let the city down.
- Book 1 · Ch 13Reception meetings
Edeard meets Masters Graley and Imilan, the Pythia, who finds his potential strong, and is confronted by Mistress Florell, whom the Mayor steers away.
- Book 2 · Ch 4Legal route found
After Finitan advises building street-level support, Master Solarin finds the district exclusion bylaw and the petition right; Edeard organizes chambers of trade to petition District Masters.
- Book 2 · Ch 4Escape from the mansion
Edeard evades Florrel, Julan, and Finitan's political pressure, persuades Homelt to lock the squad in a cellar, then takes them through the floor to the canal tunnels.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Constable graduation ceremony
Mayor Owain awards epaulets to new constables, including Felax of Jeavons. Afterwards Masters divide into political groups at the reception.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Finitan's Mayoral plan
Edeard tells Finitan and Julan he favors banishment of gang members; Finitan decides to run for Mayor on that pledge and plans a public announcement.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Owain explains his policy to Edeard
Owain tells Edeard he supports banishment but wants a nationwide approach, promises to bring Bise round on Sampalok warrants, and argues for provincial taxes funding militias.
- Book 2 · Ch 9Finitan and Topar reveal the Ashwell findings
At the Blue Tower, Topar returns the recovered gun and confirms Ashwell's ruin and the spreading invasion in Rulan. Finitan rejects an immediate military campaign.
- Book 2 · Ch 9Meeting with Finitan and Topar
Edeard, Finitan and Topar discuss the invaders' gun, its origin, and strategy. Finitan keeps Edeard in the city to defeat the gangs and gifts him a technique to see through concealment.
- Book 2 · Ch 9Planning mass arrests
At Jeavons station, Edeard's team reviews files on seventy-two identified gang leaders. He aims for a hundred and plans to detain them twenty-two days without charge to break the gangs before the election.
- Book 2 · Ch 9Militia sent into Sampalok
The Mayor orders armed militia against the rioters. Edeard, defying orders, travels underground with his squad to stop them, while Finitan explains Owain's political maneuvering.
- Book 2 · Ch 12Election day in Makkathran
Voting opens across the city's districts. Edeard inspects the ballot boxes in Jeavons, votes, and monitors other districts by farsight, finding trouble only in Sampalok. Finitan is leading in early indications.
- Book 2 · Ch 12Election results
After voting ends with 80% turnout, Malfit Hall counts the ballots; Finitan wins every major tally, reaching about seventy-two percent, and Sampalok elects Gregorie. Crowds celebrate in Golden Park.
- Book 2 · Ch 12Finitan and Topar reveal the pattern of raids
Finitan and Topar tell Edeard that bandit raids target Finitan's allies' estates, suggesting collaborators in the city who accessed the treasury registry and a source of advanced guns.
- Book 2 · Ch 12Edeard returns to a fallen Makkathran
Edeard races back, learns of Owain's coup and Finitan's death, bypasses the militia by jumping through the crystal wall, and finds Kristabel dead.
- Book 3 · Ch 5Finitan agrees to be guided
Edeard tells the dying Finitan a Skylord is coming and begs him to ascend a tower to be guided to the Heart. Finitan agrees.
- Book 3 · Ch 5Edeard announces the Skylord
Edeard publicly announces the Skylord's arrival, causing uproar; Yrance's team mocks it while Dinlay's counterclaims spread. Five days later Finitan is carried to the tower.
- Book 3 · Ch 5Procession to the tower
Edeard lifts Finitan, and with Dinlay and the doctor they go by gondola to the Lady's church, where the Pythia, Kanseen, Kristabel and Macsen join them heading to a tower.
- Book 3 · Ch 5Finitan's ascent of the tower
Edeard carries the dying Finitan up the tower, they discuss what the Heart might be, and Edeard leaves him on the platform before leaping off and being caught by the city.
- Book 3 · Ch 5The Skylord claims Finitan
A vast Skylord flies over Makkathran. The tower flares with light, Finitan's body turns to ash and his spectral soul is taken up by the Skylord to the Heart. The Skylord promises its kindred will return, and Edeard feels he has won.
- Book 3 · Ch 9Edeard's outburst and return in time
Enraged, Edeard shouts that he must unmake Our City's formation and the voyage, then jumps back to a memory at the foot of the Eyrie tower as a Skylord arrives.