The People of A'râf

The name given to those living in the settlements on the ledges of the Mountain of Being. The people’s name for the mountain, the Mountain of A’râf, comes from the name of those ledges: urf.

Who they are

They come from all four nations and have fitted fully into none. The scribe counts three conditions:

• those worn from within by the quarrel of two elements,
• those who settle into no mould at all by the balance of four,
• those who merely could not meet the expectation of their own people.

They have one thing in common: belonging nowhere entirely. The scribe writes that this is not a condition that later mends. — A Treatise Upon Devran, leaf 12b

The scribe’s judgement

Writing of this people, the man takes a side openly:

If no door will admit a person, the fault should be sought in the doors before it is sought in the person. Those who climbed the mountain were not cast out; no door was ever enough for them.

— A Treatise Upon Devran, leaf 12b

What I do not know

How many they are, how they live, how one comes to climb: none of it is in the source I hold. Not having passed the gate, I could not see for myself.