[H]

No reasons explicitly why Earwa is their Promised Land. Maybe because of the existence of magic? But even then, at least for the nonmen its a hereditary trait, make it something that, once grafted, they could take to different worlds. So I'm not really sure we are any closer now to knowing what makes Earwa the place they sought, or how they might have been able to identify it.

Seems to me that they might have thought every world that they exterminated was their Eden until their plans didn't work, so they moved on. Revisionist history that the last one they were able to make it to, the one they all died trying to cleanse/prepare/whatever just so happened to be the magical holy land.

Wouldn't it be the promised land because the Outside is connected to the inside via souls? Hence, magic...and also a way to disconnect the link between the two and leave the Gods howling at the gates for your soul.

I think the real key is that Eärwa is a place where meaning is mutable.  Sorcery is just a symptom of that.

How the hell they knew this before "landing," I don't know though.  Unless, of course, they didn't...

[Wilshire]

Must be a case of revisionist history, almost certainly. How much may be unclear.

Does sorcery exist beyond Earwa? A curious thought. What IS the Onta, how do you see it, and how does that let you manipulate it. Does that interaction of the meta-real and the real only occur in Earwa? And even if yes, just Earwa, then how would the Inchoroi have known before they crashed?

Ostensibly they were in a hurry. Their ship was in disrepair, they couldn't even land properly, yet they came barreling in anyway. To me that  suggests they were either fleeing somewhere that over matched them, or they were pretty damn excited to land. How did they know though...

[H]

Must be a case of revisionist history, almost certainly. How much may be unclear.

Does sorcery exist beyond Earwa? A curious thought. What IS the Onta, how do you see it, and how does that let you manipulate it. Does that interaction of the meta-real and the real only occur in Earwa? And even if yes, just Earwa, then how would the Inchoroi have known before they crashed?

Ostensibly they were in a hurry. Their ship was in disrepair, they couldn't even land properly, yet they came barreling in anyway. To me that  suggests they were either fleeing somewhere that over matched them, or they were pretty damn excited to land. How did they know though...

It certainly does seem that the ship malfunctioned.  Perhaps it was their haste in attempting to land?

Wutteät gives us the best clues of all of them:

"SUCH THINGS THAT I REMEMBER, CÛNUROI! TWISTING IN THE VOID FOR SAILING AGES! WATCHING MY MAKERS DESCEND AS LOCUSTS UPON WORLD AFTER WORLD, REDUCING EACH TO ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND—AND WAILING TO FIND THEMSELVES STILL DAMNED!"

So, the 144,000 "prophecy" predates Eärwa by a good bit.  Unless what we think is prophecy is actually something more of a mathematical fact?

"Only to arrive here broken and exhausted!" Cleric cried.
"YES—YES! AT LAST, THE PROMISED WORLD! I WAS THE FIRST—THE FIRST! WITH DREAD SIL UPON MY SHOULDERS, I WAS THE FIRST TO STEP FROM OUR HALLOWED ARK, TO SET EYES UPON THE LAND OF OUR REDEMPTION!"

So, he does acknowledge that when they arrived, something had already "broken and exhausted" them.  Perhaps some other world, perhaps an extra long journey.  This could account for the crash.  I agree though, I think the "land of our redemption" is an ex post facto here, or at least, post Ark-fall.  Once on the planet, they might have realized something was different there.  Perhaps something in the character of the Inverse Fire changed?

[TaoHorror]

Yeah, still don't know how they came up with 144,000 ... outside of it's the square of 12 times 1,000 ... maybe Bakker liked it as it was the last number on his times tables he studied in 4th grade ...

[Wilshire]

Just google 144,000 and you'll get a lot of hits. Theres plenty of religious etymology around that number - and I imagine that's how Bakker came to it.

As for the inchoroi, no idea. Its in one of the chapter epigraphs - Ganas(?) the Blind, or whatever his name was - and it seems to be an indication that they had that number from whence they originally left their home planet. Or at least that's what I got from the little paragraph.

[H]

Just google 144,000 and you'll get a lot of hits. Theres plenty of religious etymology around that number - and I imagine that's how Bakker came to it.

As for the inchoroi, no idea. Its in one of the chapter epigraphs - Ganas(?) the Blind, or whatever his name was - and it seems to be an indication that they had that number from whence they originally left their home planet. Or at least that's what I got from the little paragraph.

Yeah, there are plenty of Biblical allusions in the books.  Meant to "evoke the scriptural" in Bakker's words.

On Ganus, indeed, we are left to wonder how Ganus found out about it.  The presumption though is he suffered some kind of revelation in blindness, yet another ever-present theme.