sphere

Overview

The sphere is one of the three standard personal items—“the bolt, the chord, and the sphere”—carried by Avout within a Math. Made of Newmatter and controlled by touch, it can be shrunk for carrying or expanded for practical tasks. Under guidance given for Voco travel, Evoked avout keep spheres small and avoid using them to make light under the open sky. In the field it can be rapidly expanded to create space, provide cover, or assist in movement.

Description and Use

• Material and control: A porous membrane whose pores act as tiny pumps, the sphere can move air in or out. It recognizes hand gestures; an “unscrewing” motion expands it, and a counterclockwise circling motion has been shown to shrink it to palm size. Its springiness (stiff versus stretchy) can be adjusted, letting it behave like a hard pill or a supple, deformable cushion.
• Everyday practice: Common uses include seating, balance practice, and carrying when reduced. It is described as “pilled‑up” when compact enough to be stowed discreetly.
• Rapid expansion and pressure: An avout expanded a sphere under a pinned hand, forcing a foot off it; the enlarging sphere can act as a wedge to push weight away and create room to move.
• Cover and balance: In a street melee, a suur or fraa doubled a roughly five‑foot sphere over a person to shield against blows, then perched one‑legged atop it to hold it in place. Standing atop a sphere is noted as balance training some avout practice from youth.
• Field improvisation: Observed extramuros uses include wedging the expanded sphere between ice walls as part of a crevasse self‑rescue, and forming a cocooning air‑bed when wrapped in a bolt and tied with a chord to tow an injured companion over snow.

Provenance/Ownership

• Property limits: For millennia, avout accounts describe a ban limiting personal property to the bolt, the chord, and the sphere.
• Production: Limited quantities are made within maths from Newmatter for these permitted items.
• Loss and replacement: Avout acknowledge that a bolt, chord, and sphere can be lost during extramuros incidents; new ones can be issued when that occurs.

Notable Mentions

• Inside the walls, avout have been seen shrinking a sphere to hand size by circling motions, balancing on a head‑sized sphere, and tossing it to demonstrate a resilient bounce.
• In a live‑fire demonstration, an avout tested a sphere against bullets, noting deep stretch and rebound and theorizing about safer extraction of projectiles.
• During an arduous crossing in the mountains, an avout used a sphere’s gesture control and adjustable stiffness for crevasse escape and later to immobilize and transport an injured man across snow.
• In Old Mahsht during a mob incident, an avout enlarged a sphere to free a pinned hand and escape; Ringing Vale avout later used a large, doubled sphere as a temporary shield before withdrawing. In the confusion, the avout’s bolt, chord, and sphere were taken and not recovered.