Chord

Overview

The chord is a personal cord carried by avout as part of the minimal kit commonly recited as “the bolt, the chord, and the Sphere.” It is worn at the waist to manage the bolt and used generally as a compact, versatile line. Chords are made in small quantities from Newmatter within the maths under longstanding allowances.

Description and Use

• Variable geometry: chords and bolts are described as being made of the same fiber that can coil into a tight helix (becoming short, bulky, and springy) or relax into a straight filament (becoming long, lean, and inelastic). This lets a chord change its effective length and feel.
• Energy storage and “ratchet” use: a chord can store a modest amount of energy when coiled; by commanding it to shorten, it can help haul a line—a simple version of a known trick sometimes called “Saunt Ablavan’s Ratchet.” Accounts note the stored energy is limited and can be restored with time in sunlight.
• Common handling: as a waist cord to anchor and adjust a bolt; to tie a rolled bolt for slinging; as an improvised tether or belay; for lashing a bolt around a sphere to create a wedge, stretcher, or cocoon; for roping travelers together at intervals when crossing hazardous ground.

Provenance/Ownership

Within the Discipline, avout personal property is traditionally restricted to the bolt, the chord, and the sphere. Chords are produced in small quantities inside maths as an allowed use of newmatter. When avout travel extramuros under close scrutiny, some accounts mention instructions to conceal bolts and chords until under cover.

Notable Mentions

• A first-person account of a winter mountain crossing describes using a chord to anchor to an improvised ice belay, to keep a party roped together, and to assist in hauling a toboggan and retrieving a companion after a crevasse accident by triggering controlled shortening (“ratchet”) to take up slack.
• In the same account, the chord was tied around a bolt and used with a sphere to wedge between ice walls for incremental ascent, and later to cocoon and tow an injured traveler on an inflatable air-bed fashioned from bolt and sphere.