Findings: Questionnaire: Director's Cut

And it came to pass, in the time when there was no lord at the Citadel, that a survey went out from the Landmark of Atlantis. In that survey were as many questions as necessary dimensions of the snowflake, and also some questions that were never to be asked. Here is one version of that survey.

01. What is your own strongest memory of the Citadel?

The smells! The dust and old shoes, the scents of the wardens, the sulphurous stench of the temple guardbeasts, the jasmine and the frangipani at dawn.

02. What is your most treasured possession?

I remember possessing a class of young novices. They were delicious and later on went on to far better things in life.

03. If not yourself, who would you want to be?

Many mornings there were when I was not myself. On most of those mornings, I had no idea who I wanted to be, or indeed whether I was or not. But there were sharp twinges in the direction of the Last Alchemist and also of the Hound of God. I was very sad when the latter passed on recently.

04. What did you learn about life in the Citadel?

Never play cards with a dwarf named Doc. Never eat at a place of tombs. And never sleep where your mother can catch you and make your troubles worse than her own.

05. When and where were you happiest?

Mud, floods, and running away to the City to bum around at various plazas and points.

06. What is your idea of misery?

Being stingy and hoarding your wealth; misery does not love company, for all misers live alone.

07. What do you think the Citadel stands for?

He who stands for nothing will fall for everything; he who stands on ceremony will die in ceremony. Oh yes, this I learnt from the Hound, who reminded me that 'ceremony' is a religious term, and that 'cerements' are grave-wrappings.

08. What qualities do you most admire in others?

Refraction, reflection and absorption.

09. What do you appreciate the most in friends?

Convection, conduction and radiation.

10. How would you make the Citadel a better institution?

I had words with my friend Severian, and he rather humorlessly said that the point of the Citadel was to produce torturers, and anything that made the Citadel better would also make it worse for somebody else.

11. What natural talent do you have and what other talent would you like to have?

I have a talent for making lists; I am a lister by nature. If I had another talent, it would be one for alchemy or other art beyond the powers of my nature.

12. Where would you like to live?

Where lived that mind forever voyaging, whose marble index gained height from giants. And is there honey still for tea? There are many angles there, and yet it is the East, and Juliet (one supposes) is the sun.

13. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

An achievement is a full armorial bearing, and so... party per pale Azure and Or, the Citadel's secret name in blood; in chief Azure a beast of splendour Or armed Gules and wreathed in flames. The shield has no crest, nor supporters, for it needs neither, and its motto is one that never ends.

14. What will the Citadel be like two centuries after the Dauntless?

The tumult and the shouting dies—
The captains and the kings depart—
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget, lest we forget!

Far-call'd our navies melt away—
On dune and headland sinks the fire—
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget, lest we forget!

15. What is your favourite way of occupying yourself?