Cord

Known names: ['Cord'] Summary: An extramuros machinist and sib of Fraa Erasmas who works at a metalworks compound near the Century Gate. During Apert she visits inside the Mynster, shows practical curiosity about the clock, and operates a five-axis mill, crafting small items (including titanium jewelry) and also supplying the Ita.

First Appearance and Context

Cord is introduced around a decennial Apert at the Concent of Saunt Edhar, when she reconnects with her sib Fraa Erasmas outside the walls. She works at an old metalworks compound on a canal slip a short walk from the Century Gate. During the same opening, she is admitted as a supervised visitor to see the clockworks inside the Mynster. At the Tenth Night supper under the canopy, she attends with her boyfriend Rosk and their younger cousin Dath, joining conversations that compare everyday tasks with geometric reasoning.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Machinist and artisan: Operates heavy, precise machinery to produce complex metal parts and small crafted items; she has supplied pieces to the Ita.
• Precision machining: Runs a five-axis mill and often thinks about the shapes of parts and the geometry behind them.
• Visitor and observer: Accompanies Erasmas to view mechanisms and upper works, asking practical questions and comparing design choices in terms of wear and reliability.
• Machine-hall: Her machine-hall at the metalworks compound is cited as the place where Jesry and Erasmas encountered the Ita Sammann; during Apert she and Sammann were observed wearing very dark protective goggles to shield their eyes from an extremely bright arc.

Relationships

• Fraa Erasmas: Her younger sib from inside the walls; to him, she is his remaining close biological family. They meet during Apert, visit her workplace, and tour interior spaces together under supervision.
• Rosk: Cord’s boyfriend, a manual therapist who accompanies her during the opening. See Rosk.
• Dath: A younger cousin in their family who attends the Tenth Night meal with them and asks basic questions about mathic life and purpose.

Descriptions/Characteristics

Direct, curious, and technically skilled. She is comfortable around large machines and heights, and describes lying awake thinking about a part’s shape when she is cutting it. Her exacting sense of tolerances is notable; Erasmas uses it as a yardstick when admiring precisely joined woodwork. Others remark on her beauty; one of Erasmas’s peers admiringly calls her “the exquisite.” She responds sensitively when outsiders speak lightly about painful episodes in the concent’s history.

Current Status/Location

Lives and works extramuros at a canal-served metalworks near the Century Gate. During the present opening she has been received as a supervised guest within the walls to observe the clockworks and related spaces, including attending the Tenth Night supper. As the gates closed at the end of the opening, Erasmas briefly imagines that she might have been among the few onlookers outside; the narrative does not confirm her presence.