speely

First Appearance and Context

While describing the interior screens of the Mynster, the narrator notes that extramuros people use a “screen” to watch a speely or play a game, whereas for avout a screen is a carved barrier of stone or wood through which one sees and hears. On the same day, an artisan from outside the walls is present in the north nave with a speelycaptor during the aut of Provener, underscoring that this medium belongs to the outside world. Later conversation with an extramuros artisan clarifies that speely content is also distributed as “casts,” and that an attempt to make a speely of Provener was refused due to the capturing device’s capabilities.

In a later public Plenary held in the largest nave of a major concent, crews erected a temporary stage and unfurled a projection surface explicitly called a speely screen. A live view from a speelycaptor was carried to it as a magnified speely feed so the whole assembly could see the speakers. When the microphones were cut at the end of the exchange, the speely screen went dark.

Description and Role

“Speely” refers to moving‑picture content—recordings or real‑time feeds meant to be displayed on devices common outside the walls. It is associated with extramuros media, entertainment, reportage, and announcements. Within the mathic world it mostly appears as a point of contrast to the avout’s preference for words, direct observation, and enduring materials. Accounts also show it used for informal instruction: the narrator remarks that childhood speelies gave a general idea of how the wireless works. In casual speech, some use “speely” metonymically for the viewing unit or the projection surface itself (e.g., “speely screen”).

Recent accounts also show speely displays integrated into specialized equipment: a small flat‑panel speely screen mounted on the chest of a suit showed a live view of the wearer’s face captured by a helmet‑mounted speelycaptor, with status readouts nearby. Wraparound speely screens have been used to present simulated exterior views for training. Operationally, camera views can be routed to a speely feed to aid maneuvering and retrieval (e.g., a rear‑facing grapnel camera driven by a speelycaptor). Conversely, one improvised launch vehicle is noted as having no windows and no speely feeds, highlighting that such displays may be treated as nonessential in ad‑hoc craft.

Relationships and Functions

• Viewing and display: A speely can be watched on a viewer or projection surface (often described generically as a “speely‑device” or “speely screen”). In certain suits, a chest‑mounted speely screen presents live images from an internal speelycaptor.
• Recording devices: Moving‑picture recordings are captured with a speelycaptor. One described speelycaptor is a sleek, silver tube roughly the size of a finger, carried by an artisan from outside the walls.
• Compatibility: Older systems such as “Farspark” are distinct; content from those systems cannot be watched directly on a speely without conversion, according to extramuros artisans.
• Broadcast/distribution: Speely content may be disseminated as “casts” followed by listeners extramuros, or carried as a live feed to large audiences during public sessions.

Usage

• As an event or pastime: avout recount “going to speelys” when extramuros; travelers also pass time by watching speelies when conditions permit.
• Practical limits: on a rough overland sledge ride, vibration made watching speelies hardly worth it, and among one small group of passengers no one had a speely to hand.
• Public proceedings: during a large Plenary at the Convox, a live speely feed was used to magnify an on‑stage dialog for thousands gathered in a nave; when the session ended, the on‑site feed was terminated. Attendees also referred to having watched a speely recorded by an Ita collaborator of the eyewitness, and to reviewing other speelies concerning the “Visitation of Orithena.”
• Training and operations: wraparound speely screens have been used in a simulation environment to teach suit control and orbital maneuver practice; the displays present an external view with readouts superimposed by built‑in devices.
• Orbital work: when crew were restrained beneath a large structure during a long burn, a speely feed provided the only external view of separation events, such as a balloon and a decoy receding “downrange.” In other tasks, operators relied on a rear‑facing grapnel camera whose image was carried as a speely feed to assist rendezvous and capture.

Cultural Discourse

During a Plurality of Worlds messal, some participants suggested that the Geometers may have watched “our speelies,” while others worried that excessive exposure could distort or “contaminate” the visitors’ culture; these remarks were offered as arguments within first‑contact strategy debates and remain unproven.

Terminology

• “Speel in” is a Fluccish expression for engaging with moving‑picture media.
• “Speely feed” and “speely screen” appear in accounts for a live transmission to a projection surface. Within suits, the chest display is also called a speely screen and the integrated camera a speelycaptor.
• Terminology for related media technologies varies by era; different cohorts may use different names for devices and systems.

Current Status

Speelies are common extramuros but are not part of ordinary practice inside the maths. Avout living under the Cartasian Discipline do not keep or use speely‑devices. Requests to record within the math may be declined and permitted uses, if any, remain supervised. Under exceptional circumstances—such as a Convox plenary hosted in a great nave—temporary equipment and a live speely feed have been set up by visiting crews so large assemblies can see and hear proceedings. In specialized training and operational preparation, wraparound displays and suit‑mounted speely screens have been encountered; these remain purpose‑built and overseen, not a standing practice.