Cord

Cord is an extramuros artisan—practical, technically skilled, and direct—introduced when she reconnects with her sib Fraa Erasmas outside the Concent of Saunt Edhar during an Apert. She is found at an old river‑served metalworks compound and later enters the grounds to see the clock from within and accompany Erasmas to winding.

First Appearance and Context

• Met by Erasmas and a peer in the town outside the walls during an Apert, after a stop at his former home. Cord is located at an ancient, steel‑framed machine hall built over a canal slip not far from the Century Gate. She later visits inside to observe the upper works and to be present around the time of Provener.
• During the same Apert she returns more than once, including for a meal in the Refectory, a stroll through the grounds, and a permitted look into the upper labyrinth.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Machinist: Operates a large five‑axis electrical‑discharge mill, using a syntactic controller to carve complex shapes from solid metal. In one instance, she produces a precision part and hands it off to an Ita customer.
• Visitor and observer: Accompanies Erasmas up through the tower to the roof, examining the mechanism and instruments of the Mynster and the Starhenge. She compares design choices, voices practical critiques of wear‑prone linkages, and asks pointed questions about the rules governing Ita contact and device usage.
• Practical helper: On encountering avout who have been roughed up outside the walls, she calmly applies first‑aid basics and assists others in getting them presentable for communal duties around Provener.
• Ongoing ties to the Ita: She makes items for them and follows the parts of the concent that concern their work with particular interest.
• Authorized visitor: During Apert she joins avout for a supervised meal in the Refectory and is shown interior areas (including the upper labyrinth) as a permitted guest.

Relationships

• Fraa Erasmas: Her younger sib; they meet during Apert, visit her workplace, and then tour the clockworks together from within the tower and on the roof. During the same period, Erasmas describes a non‑romantic “crush” on his sib; she keeps a certain distance with the coming closure of the gate in view.
• Fraa Jesry: Meets him alongside Erasmas; he shares her curiosity about her machinery.
• Fraa Lio and Fraa Arsibalt: She helps tend to their injuries after an attack extramuros.
• Suur Ala: Brief, appraising exchange while administering first aid; mutual respect is evident.
• Rosk: A young man with whom she is having some sort of liaison; she visits alongside him and later returns without him.
• Ita: Professional contact at her shop; she also observes Ita at work and asks about limits around interacting with them.

Descriptions/Characteristics

• Appearance and bearing: Short‑cropped hair; sturdy forearms; a solid, deliberate stance. She often wears a tool‑harness but, on a later visit, wore fewer wrenches and more jewelry—pieces she made herself from titanium.
• Tools and skill: Moves confidently among heavy machines; handles measurement readouts and parametric motions; carries small instruments when needed. She favors practical, durable materials and shows a craftsman’s pride in self‑made work.
• Temperament: Direct, curious, and pragmatic; comfortable at heights and fascinated by mechanisms. She questions received explanations and thinks in terms of reliability, maintenance burden, and what a design is “really for.”

Current Status/Location

• Lives and works extramuros at a sprawling metalworks compound reached by a canal slip near the Century Gate. During the present Apert she makes repeated visits inside the walls, including supper in the Refectory and a look into the upper labyrinth, and speaks about where she hopes to be by the next Apert.