Cord

Overview

Cord is an extramuros (outside math walls) machinist and the sib (close companion) of Fraa Erasmas. She provides hands-on driving, repairs, and route-minded logistics for the company pursuing Fraa Orolo, favoring fixes and gear that work in the field.

Appearance and Traits

Direct, capable, and pragmatic. She thinks in terms of tools, parts, and procedures; prefers machines that can be disassembled and repaired; and stays steady under pressure. Plain-spoken, with dry humor and an affectionate bluntness toward close companions. On Ecba she keeps tools close at hand (e.g., long-nosed pliers) and is candid about unease when a place feels wrong, pushing for a clear plan.

Roles and Actions

• Preparation for deep-cold travel: earlier, helps pivot plans toward an over-ice approach by emphasizing winterization, field-repairable gear, and careful staging of loads and spares.
• Old Mahsht encounter and extraction: driving a fetch (rugged utility truck), joins Yulassetar Crade in reaching the crowded old docks of Mahsht. When street violence flares, she helps pull Erasmas clear as avout (monastic scholars) from the Ringing Vale (Math) break up the mob; she then drives out of the district while the group packs Valers onto two fetches and a three-wheeler.
• Riverfront triage and regrouping: at a quieter site upriver, remains calm while practical first aid is organized; reacts strongly on seeing the extent of Erasmas’s injuries but keeps to task.
• Coordination and onward travel: coordinates routing with Sammann and transport with Ganelial Crade; after police formalities, departs Mahsht by road in a fetch with companions.
• Southbound transit and ferry to Ecba: during an overland drive through dense fauxburbs and older countryside, camps to save funds; with Yulassetar Crade, buys food from local farmers for breakfast; then helps get the vehicles onto a ferry and crosses the Sea of Seas to Ecba.
• Ecba camp and planning: at a shaded cove on Ecba, lends tools and helps with practical camp routines; voices that the place feels "creepy" and prompts the group to settle the day’s plan. In discussion, she sketches how a regular Apert (open day) could enable long-term coordination with a Sæcular (non-math world) Dowment (funding trust) to sponsor the Orithena project, with supporters rising to Tenner and Hundreder (donor tiers) over time.
• Approach to Orithena: waits outside the main gate by a souvenir stand, in the shade of Yulassetar Crade’s fetch, and signals to Erasmas while gatekeepers confer. Part of an agreed plan with Yulassetar Crade, Ganelial Crade, and Sammann to wait briefly and, if no word, to reconvene after several days so that Erasmas can try to send guidance.
• Guest at Orithena: accepts invitation inside the gates with Yulassetar Crade, Ganelial Crade, and Sammann; assigned a room in a guest lodge set apart from the cloister; allowed to keep jeejahs (handheld communicators) and other Sæcular (non-math world) goods; joins a formal welcome at dinner and takes a guided tour of the dig the following morning.
• Orithena probe landing and hatch work: when a Geometers (alien visitors in orbit) probe descends into the pit at Orithena, Cord drives a three-wheeler to illuminate it, then climbs improvised ladders to examine the hatch. She identifies stenciled instructions, removes four small access panels, and operates T-handles to equalize pressure before the door drops free. She describes the occupant as “close, but not from Arbre,” reports that the body is still warm, and—with Yulassetar Crade and others—helps extract the figure for the physician. Throughout, she communicates practical details while Sammann records a live capture; when the authorities move to secure the site, she continues assisting calmly and warns onlookers back from the hatch for safety.
• Evacuation posture: as authorities begin an urgent clearance of the pit and grounds, she is seen in the front seat of Yulassetar Crade’s vehicle helping gather people for departure.

Relationships

• Erasmas: sib; protective and candid. In Mahsht, she is visibly shaken by his injuries even as she keeps driving and helping with the exit.
• Yulassetar Crade: close partner in outfitting and travel; the two collaborate smoothly in city traffic and on field logistics. At the probe, Yul moves to check the capsule first and acts protectively; the narrator characterizes Cord as "his girl" in that moment.
• Sammann and Ganelial Crade: ongoing, practical collaboration bridging information work and vehicle operations; in the past she machined parts for a clock associated with Sammann. During the probe work, Sammann (an Ita—technical support order) prompts Cord to narrate what she is seeing while recording.

Current Status

Last seen at Orithena assisting evacuation from the pit area in the front seat of Yulassetar Crade’s vehicle; subsequent whereabouts are not stated.