Biography:
Eden Blues: Manasseh first emanated in 3607, the second Goliath emanation after the death of Ari. Because he became the intercessor between the K’ntasari and their god/leader Ari the Wise, Manasseh was designated a prophet – a rather ironic title since Manasseh is neither articulate nor insightful – honestly, he’s a bit of an airhead.
At the time, Goliath had not connected with Atlas, and memories were not shared between the two trees. Manasseh was completely disoriented upon emanation, with only an impulse to dig beneath the roots, where he found a mirror. When he knew his name, which also ironically means “causing to forget,” he was able to communicate with Ari, who shared his experience of the K’ntasari situation.
Manasseh goes to Miranda, the leader of the K’ntasari. The K’ntasari, taking him for a Terran, threaten to kill him, but Manasseh is able to prove himself because he knows that the true name of God is Davy and the name of the Mover is Ashtara. Miranda accepts him, and he becomes her advisor.
Manasseh helps the K’ntasari even though he is deeply depressed. He lacks purpose in life and suffers under the weight of information overload. Lacking Ari’s strength, it is perhaps Manasseh’s lack of real intellectual depth that saved him from madness at this point. Both Ari and Manasseh are aware that there is supposed to be something called “the second sun,” but they have no knowledge of it. and feel a void in their lives. This was by Dermot’s design – he was afraid that if they remembered Tara, they would go in search of her and abandon their task to aid the K’ntasari.
The war between Terrans and K’ntasari continues, something which Manasseh finds traumatic. Later, he will volitionally refuse to remember it.
Miranda has a crush of Manasseh and attempts to seduce him. Manasseh is, of course, unable to respond, and Ari suggests that he tell her, “A prophet is supposed to be pure.” When Tara lands, Manasseh knows by instinct that he has been waiting for her. Tara recognizes his eyes even though she had been expecting to find Ari. She is able to ascertain that Manasseh’s memory is not functioning properly. Reasoning that sex usually helps Ashtara realign with his chosen, she approaches Manasseh, who is mortified by his physical attraction. When he explains what Ari has told him, Tara laughs and straightens him out.
Manasseh explains to Tara that “the world tree” is on Eden. This panics Tara as she realizes that he cannot be referring to Atlas. She and Clive go with Manasseh to see Goliath. She is put somewhat at ease when Clive mentions Davy and Manasseh recognizes the name; she also connects the names Davy and Goliath. When the tree comes into view, Clive analyzes it and realizes it has exactly the same mass and volume as Atlas. Tara is shocked to find that Goliath has twenty-five branches, but apparently only two have emanated, unique in her knowledge of Cu’enashti. Tara resolves to test Goliath by using the Staff of the Matriarch to summon the Archon. This causes the emanation of Aran.
Much later, after the Atlas branches have regained control of the emanation, Chase uses Gyre in an attempt to contact the Goliath branches. He is able to enter the Goliath pleroma, but Ari and Aran are in stasis – only Manasseh awakens because he is Chase’s half-brother. This also was planned by Dermot – Manasseh was constructed from Chase, who was able to survive without memory and without Tara, and Daniel, who, like Manasseh, was the first emanation from his tree to directly encounter her. Chase explains the situation to Manasseh, who is terrified – either he will be alone, or he will go back into stasis. Chase awakes in distress, vowing to help his brother.
Chase’s obvious sympathy convinces Manasseh that Atlas is not the enemy, and he takes a stand against Ari and Aran. Manasseh does not emanate again until Atlas and Goliath connect roots. He then takes part of a television interview of the new emanations where he says a lot of nothing. The hosts are stunned at this completely vacuous manifestation of the Living God of the Domha’vei; however, he is popular with the people due to his striking good looks.
The Poison Garden: Manasseh does not take part in the events of the main story, but he is the subject of “The Prophecy of Dogs.” Manasseh wants to understand why humans have pets; Cüinn suggests that he buy a dog to find out. He is manipulated by Lorcan into getting a dobergator – a vicious, genetically engineered attack species illegal on most civilized worlds. Manasseh tries keeping the dobergator in the tub, but it bites off his thumb, breaks free, and eats one of Premma’s ra’aabits. Premma kills the dobergator by puncturing its brain with a unicorn statue.
The Perpetual Rose: Manasseh has no important role in the events.
The Portable Grove: Manasseh is one of the subjects of the fifth experiment. His psychological baseline tests come back indicating that he is naïve and indiscreet, but well within healthy parameters. The experiment found that Sparkle had no effect on Manasseh’s ability to increase nau’gshtamine production in the pollinated branch, Black Opium-27 had a negative effect, and blue moth mushrooms a positive effect. Lammian highweed rendered Manasseh too incoherent to pollinate normally. Manasseh is concerned about Chase’s apathy and depression and tries to cheer and motivate him, but he fails dismally.
Manasseh participates in the fifth stress test, playing the character of Ariel in Axel’s play The Tempestuous Alchemist. Davy has requested Manasseh as a cross-pollination partner and tries to entice him into squirrel puppet kink.
Correspondence Chart Entries from The Portable Grove
| Denotation | Manasseh del Eden’d (Hebrew: causing to forget; all Goliath emanations have the surname del Eden’d, Skarsian: of Eden.) |
| Numeration | 27th emanation of Ashtara; 2nd branch of Goliath; 47 in the correspondence chart. |
| Age | 25 |
| Hotness | 9/10 |
| Vital Statistics | 1.684 meters tall, cock size 15.85 cm when erect. |
| Description | Sweet-faced, adorable. Really quite beautiful, but the overwhelming impression is cuteness, needing to be protected. His hair is light brown, cut and feathered in a way which makes him look cute but hard to take seriously. Wears sweaters, chinos and dock shoes. Looks like a college student from the 1970s. |
| Skills | Prophet and holy fool of the Archonist Church. |
| Sexual Prowess and Kinks | Innocence is sexy. |
| Average Duration of Play | 9 minutes, 42 seconds. |
| Totem Tree | Amelanchier arborea, the downy serviceberry. |
| Fixed Star | Miaplacidus, placid waters (β Car). |
| Color |  |
| Esoteric Symbol | The Etruscan letter (m): |
| Function | Analytic gravity. |
| Official Title | St. Manasseh. |
| His Prophecy | One who wants to do right. |
| Dessert | Honey muffins with nau’gsh fool. |
Persistence of Weeds Addendum
| Branch Growth Characteristics | Goliath was synthesized fully grown. Manasseh’s branch was constructed by Davy and Dermot from pieces of his “brothers” on Atlas, Chase and Daniel. |
| Nul-history | Tried to bond with Aran and Ari before bonding with Stephen. Then all of them were drawn into a unified entity by synchronizing with Thomas, synthesized by Atlas. |
| Proto-conscious Root Concept | Sweetness, designated Stupid-Sweet-Candy. |
| Prime Number of Energy Resonance | 211 |
| From Self-Portraits Not-of-Me II: Baby Pictures by Driscoll Garrett |  |