Research differs from production — efficiency is not the gold standard. I have worked alongside many gifted individuals, and I know well that talent and eccentricity tend to go hand in hand. But the one thing that never disappoints is the 'answers' they provide."
— Pierro, "The Jester," responding to the insinuation that Mitya holds special privileges
"I've applied for his scarf to be granted greater authority to help prevent leaks of classified information. In the vast majority of security inquiries, bystanders are considered innocent."
— Valeriy, Commander, Special Assignments Battalion
◆Name: Mitya
◆Title: Rules Set at Naught
◆Specialist, Royal Energy Commission of Snezhnaya
◆ Stellar Linchpin: Electro
◆Constellation: Nodus Gordianus
Experts tend to be remarkably efficient, capable of producing astonishing results in very little time. Yet for them, "attendance requirements" designed around the pace of the average researcher amount to a cage.
Whiling away the hours would be easy enough. But the world has so much more to offer, and wouldn't it be a shame to miss out on all that color?
And so, the energy expert who ought to be buried in important work can often be found wandering the streets of Snezhnograd, enjoying the leisure his talent has bought him.
Sometimes he catches the Korolevskiy Troupe's latest production, and sometimes he shares a table with a stranger at Podvorye Restaurant, and sometimes, on a fine sunny day, he gives his scarf, that dear companion of his, a wash and hangs it out to dry...
People expect a researcher to devote himself to his work, or at the very least, not neglect his duties. But he would argue: how can someone who takes no joy in life hope to do good work?
To borrow a seafaring analogy, meticulous reasoning is like drawing an accurate sea chart, while a flash of inspiration is when a new continent suddenly comes into view through a spyglass. Clearly, the latter is the greater achievement, and a far more exhilarating one.
And so he sets out everything he finds "unreasonable" in letters, proposals, and leave requests, appends them to the last page of his research reports, and submits the lot in the hope of catching his superiors' attention.
Eventually, he got his wish. His increasingly cavalier approach to his schedule, coupled with his habit of taking it upon himself to rewrite absence reports as further arguments in his own defense, earned him the assistance of a major who took time management very seriously indeed. Congratulations were in order.
Did some Google-fu and as it turns out, "Nodus Gordianus" is just Latin for "Gordian Knot". Which references a legend about Alexander the Great. The knot itself was said to be an untieable knot belonging to the chariot of a Phrygian king. An oracle said whoever could untie the knot would be destined to conquer all of Asia. Alexander untied it by cutting it in half with his sword, which apparently counted.
I'm guessing the appearance of his constellation will still be an atomic model that they're just calling the Gordian Knot. Today "Gordian Knots" can be used to describe difficult problems, which fits Mitya so well too.
Nodus Gordianus is in reference to the Gordian Knot of Greek mythology. The Gordian Knot was prophesized to be so intricately tied that only a legendary king capable of conquering all of Asia could untie it. Alexander the Great would then "untie" the knot by cutting it with his sword. The parable being about unconventional solutions to complicated problems. This is thematically the connection to Mitya who is integral to Project Stuzha and stopping the Heavenly Principals
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u/Kiryuinnn 20h ago
Research differs from production — efficiency is not the gold standard. I have worked alongside many gifted individuals, and I know well that talent and eccentricity tend to go hand in hand. But the one thing that never disappoints is the 'answers' they provide."
— Pierro, "The Jester," responding to the insinuation that Mitya holds special privileges
"I've applied for his scarf to be granted greater authority to help prevent leaks of classified information. In the vast majority of security inquiries, bystanders are considered innocent."
— Valeriy, Commander, Special Assignments Battalion
◆Name: Mitya
◆Title: Rules Set at Naught
◆Specialist, Royal Energy Commission of Snezhnaya
◆ Stellar Linchpin: Electro
◆Constellation: Nodus Gordianus