Known in later centuries as Thalor the Interlocutor, this philosopher lived during the twilight of Alendria’s golden age, roughly six centuries before the fall of King Theodor the Dreamer. Born to a modest family of marble-cutters in the capital, Thalor rose to prominence not through lineage, but through relentless questioning. He wandered the colonnades of Sphaira barefoot, engaging citizens, priests, and nobles alike in spirited debate. His method—called the Spiral Inquiry—was a form of dialogue that sought not to win arguments, but to uncover the nested truths hidden within contradiction, much like the concentric spheres described in Eremos’ Aionitita.
Thalor believed that wisdom was not a possession, but a pilgrimage. He taught that the soul was a garden planted by the gods, and that philosophy was the act of tending it—pulling weeds of falsehood, pruning branches of pride, and watering the roots of wonder. His most famous work, The The Silence of the Sea, often quoted in Alendrian courts and academies even under Hesan occupation. In it, he describes a dialogue between Thalor and a fisherman, exploring grief, the unknowable, and whether silence is a form of speech.
Though revered now, Thalor was controversial in his time. He openly criticized the priesthood’s dogma and questioned the moral authority of kings. Some say he was poisoned by a noble whose son he publicly humiliated in debate; others claim he vanished into the sea after declaring that the ocean was the final teacher. His legacy endures in the Thaloric Schools—small circles of philosophers who gather in gardens and ruins to debate, reflect, and seek the music behind the world.