Biography:
Wooden Heart: Sloane is Ashtara’s second branch, emanating after the death of Daniel. Tara has been taken to Volparnu, and he is not yet strong enough to join her there, so he is forced to exist without her. Anticipating that Tara will probably visit her uncle, he manages to get to Sideria – difficult but within the range of a powerful Cu’endhari – and manages to live there for a dozen years, taking a job as Cetin Urhu’s Master of Horse. During that time, he does the only thing he can do for Tara within his power – he makes her pony, El Mooney, immortal.
Due to Johannon’s intercession, Tara is able to move back to her uncle’s palace in Vuernaco. Sloane is in a quandary – he can’t reveal his identity, and as a servant, he is beneath her notice. She is also having an affair with Johannon, which breaks Sloane’s heart. Sloane is despondent, and fails to recognize that Tara likes him (as she will recount in “The Prophecy of Wailing,” she remembers that he caught her when she drunkenly broke the heel of her shoe); she gives him a copy of The Poetry of W.B. Yeats for Solstice – an oddly literary and antiquarian gift for a servant. In Eden Blues, Daniel theorizes that this act “messed up” Sloane: “He got sucked into the land of faery and never came back.”
Wooden Heart only mentions briefly the story of Sloane – somehow, he died to protect Tara. In retrospect, she believes that he was in love with her. We later learn that it was an assassination attempt, and that Tara suspects her husband. The story is recounted in more detail in the short story “The Prophecy of Wailing,” at the end of The Poison Garden.
When Cetin Urhu wants to dispose of Sloane’s body in a common graveyard, Tara sits with the body for three days to prevent it. It draws attention to the events, which have political ramifications for Urhu. He is forced to let Tara return to Dolparessa, where she inters Sloane’s corpse beneath a gigantic stone effigy and posthumously awards him the title of Lord Redmond of Skalisia. Unbeknownst to Tara, as long as the body was attended, Ash was unable to escape, and his consciousness was forced to occupy the corpse. When he is finally buried, he returns to Atlas, and soon emanates as Evan, a Festival Exchange in Tara’s family.
Sloane does not emanate again until a year after Tara’s marriage to Ash. She is full of regrets and carelessly says that she wants it to be different. Sloane, a hopeless romantic, leads Tara to retcon their mutual history. He becomes delusional, refusing to admit that the alternate history does not exist. Out of a mixture of guilt and empathy, Tara and the other emanations indulge him.
Eden Blues: Sloane’s testimony to the SongLuminants is a complete fiction – a romance with Tara. The Floatfish protests, not understanding why Sloane would make up a story. Tommy argues that although he personally prefers the painful history which made him who he is, Sloane is a delusional romantic, and the fiction is his nature. In reality, Ailann has encouraged Sloane to talk because he knows it will be a distraction which will buy them time.
The Poison Garden: Ari makes a comment that Sloane is so delusional he wouldn’t notice if Tara were replaced by an AI. This provokes the normally equable Sloane into a fistfight.
“The First Blood Vision” is recounted by Sloane, but the story isn’t really about him. In it, he confronts Ta’al Erich – he is aware that Erich monitored everything in the Tenzin’s Palace through a series of rigged mirrors. He demands to know about Tara’s wedding night. Erich calls him a masochist, but Sloane says he needs to know in order to face the painful truth. Erich recounts the story – Merkht hits Tara and they end up in a brawl which Tara wins. She then threatened to kill him if he raised a hand against her again. When Sloane asks if the story is a secret, Erich insinuates that he is hoping the humiliating tale will get back to his wife – Merkht’s lover – Meliss.
Sloane’s backstory is told in “The Prophecy of Wailing.” Tara reveals that she had a vision of the assassination attempt under the influence of Gyre, but when she asks for help from her uncle and Johannon, they refuse her. When the assassin strikes, Tara manages to slash him with poisoned scissors, but he shoots at her. Sloane rescues her from the bullet, and they barricade themselves behind a secret panel in the library. The assassin, dying from the poison, enters the room and shoots wildly in a circle. The rounds penetrate the panel and hit Sloane, killing him, but Tara is shielded by his body. As he dies in her arms, Tara realizes that Sloane loved her, but she had been too preoccupied to notice. She emerges when the assassin is dead, vowing to break her addiction to Gyre in respect of Sloane’s sacrifice.
The Perpetual Rose: Sloane emanates to comfort Tara after the Terran attack at Nightside. He tells her that he is ready to let go of the past; intuitively, he realizes that this is why he was chosen to emanate. They make love until they are interrupted by Thermidor calling them to dinner. Tensions are high – Sloane detests Johannon, and Clive believes that Johannon is trying to kill him. They are additionally disconcerted by the discovery that the soup was made from the body of a Hreck – the Hreck eat their honored dead. Clive insults Sloane, provoking Tara’s anger; Sloane decides it’s best if they leave before violence ensues. Back in the bedroom, they end up having a heartfelt conversation, forgiving each other of the past. Sloane then acquiesces to Tara’s request to visit the pleroma with him.
The Portable Grove: Sloane is called to take part in the twelfth experiment. Tarlach wants him to be part of the Big Budders program – since he has been through a lot of trauma, Tarlach supposes that he can help other branches in trouble. Sloane is assigned to help Lorcan, who has failed to produce any fruit, but, as it turns out, Lorcan doesn’t need help – he just agreed to be in the program because he is trolling for pollen partners. Sloane and Lorcan end up hooking up.
The liaison with Lorcan has ramifications – Lorcan wants to have get-togethers with his entourage, but his own flat is inhospitable, so he ends up using Sloane’s. As a result, Sloane abandons his place on Daniel’s bed (which was getting crowded since Quennel had joined Evan) and becomes the host to a more-or-less constant sex party at his apartment with Lorcan, Jamey, Driscoll, Beat, Harsh, Whirljack, BJ and Seth as the usual attendees.
Sloane, feeling a little overwhelmed by his sudden popularity, does not request cross-pollinators. He is involved in the seventh stress-test, setting up the banquet, but does not plan a major role.
Correspondence Chart Entries from The Portable Grove
| Denotation | Sloane Redmond (Gaelic: Warrior; Anglicized form of Gaelic Réamann, wise protector). |
| Numeration | 2nd emanation of Ashtara; 2nd branch of Atlas; 73 in the correspondence chart. |
| Age | 33 |
| Hotness | 8/10 |
| Vital Statistics | 1.755 meters tall, cock size 17.09 cm when erect. |
| Description | Handsome, regular features, strong but wistful. Ideally built, a rugged, romantic hero, has light brown hair, efficiently cropped. Wears formal shirts, breeches and boots, but in an unaffected way. |
| Skills | Good with horses. Self-sacrificing, occasionally delusional. Possesses a calm inner strength. |
| Sexual Prowess and Kinks | Gets off on soft-porn romance novels. Surprisingly good at getting laid. |
| Average Duration of Play | 19 minutes, 13 seconds. |
| Totem Tree | Acacia (Vachellia) tortilis, the umbrella thorn acacia. |
| Fixed Star | Kurhah, the blaze upon the horse’s brow (ξ Cep). |
| Color |  |
| Esoteric Symbol | The Minchiate trump L'impiccato, the Hanged or Suspended Man. |
| Function | Facilitative initiation. |
| Official Title | Lord Redmond of Skalisia; Master of Horse of Tara del D’myn, Empress of Skarsia. |
| His Prophecy | What is real is real. |
| Dessert | A heart-shaped assortment: truffles with surprise fillings, chocolate-covered candied nau’gsh, and various hard sweets. |
Persistence of Weeds Addendum
| Branch Growth Characteristics | Natural branch growth resulting from trauma of Daniel’s death. Used as a template for his half-brothers on Goliath, Alexander and Jesse. |
| Nul-history | Was joined to Evan and Hurley, and was in process of synchronization with Owen/Lugh-Tarlach when they were all drawn into Atlas. |
| Proto-conscious Root Concept | Romance, designated Devoted. |
| Prime Number of Energy Resonance | 367 |
| From Self-Portraits Not-of-Me II: Baby Pictures by Driscoll Garrett |  |