Brutha

Novice Brutha is initially defined by faith and obedience. He accepts, without question, that Omnian scripture is not only true, but the whole of truth. Faced with questions of morality, Brutha repeatedly demonstrates that he can, using his perfect recall, regurgitate scripture from memory, line and verse. Brutha is, in effect, a walking text. At the start of the novel, that text is the Book of Om. As the story progresses, Brutha pages come to hold different "words."

It's interesting to note, however, that Brutha is illiterate. His religious knowledge was transliterated to him via word of mouth. Everything he knows about Om and of his religion, was filtered through his teachers. He has never read scripture with his own eyes, and therefore has never been allowed to engage the text without an intermediary. This dependence on religious authority sets the stage for Brutha's relationship with Vorbis, a...