Syntactic Device

First Appearance and Context

During Apert at the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a household note is described as having been generated by a syntactic device. Later the same day, in a metalworking hall near the concent, avout observe a large machining installation whose control head houses a bank of syntactic processors governing a complex cutting operation; the operators refer to syndev control while calling out axes and parametric moves. On the starhenge, a photomnemonic tablet is demonstrated; its interactive functions are recognized as requiring an embedded syntactic device.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Automation and control: Syntactic devices monitor measurements and drive machines accordingly, exemplified by a five-axis electrical discharge mill that executes linear and parametric moves under processor control.
• Text generation: Outside the walls, household documents can be produced by a device that lays out neat rows of letters.
• Embedded instruments: Photomnemonic tablets use an internal device to store layers of images and allow scrolling and zooming through long-running records (e.g., the supernova observed by Saunt Tancred).
• Mathic allowances and limits: Within the maths, certain praxes involving syndevs are permitted while others are not, framed by the Cartasian Discipline and historical settlements following the Sacks. Explicitly permitted examples mentioned alongside syndev use include Newmatter in avout gear and in adaptive telescope mirrors.
• Practical maintenance: The Ita operate and maintain tolerated subsystems tied to the great clock and are seen handling precision parts and cabling while syntactic devices run nearby.

Relationships

• Discipline and history: Decisions about which praxes using syntactic devices are allowed are described as dating from Convoxes following the earlier Sacks, shaping present practice within the walls.
• Operators and maintainers: Artisans extramuros run syndev-controlled machines; inside the concent the Ita tend clock-linked systems where tolerated devices are integrated.

Descriptions/Characteristics

• Capabilities: A syndev serves as the machine’s "brain," enabling decisions based on sensor input, coordinated multi-axis motion, countdowns, and continuously updated numerical readouts.
• Interfaces and readouts: Observed units present changing numeric displays for axes, rotations, tilts, and process timers; during simple moves one value advances while others hold, and during compound moves multiple values evolve together.
• Forms and embedding: Devices may appear as standalone control heads on industrial machines or be embedded within instruments such as photomnemonic tablets.

Current Status/Location

Common extramuros in shops and homes; present within the mathic world only in explicitly permitted contexts (e.g., instrument subsystems and clock-linked mechanisms), under the constraints of the Discipline.

Concent of Saunt Edhar - Apert - Ita - Cartasian Discipline - Newmatter - Saunt Tancred - The Three Sacks