jeejah

Overview

A jeejah is a hand-sized extramuros (outside the walls) device with a screen and built-in communications features. Inside a Math (walled scholarly enclave), communications are disabled per the Discipline (intramuros rules), but the device remains useful as a timepiece and media player.

Description and Use

• Screen-based personal device used for everyday tasks outside the walls.
• Functions observed: time display; media playback (including viewing a speely (screen drama)); audio output via earphones; phototype (photo) capture; audible alerts.
• Video capture in "speelycaptor" mode (moving-picture recording) used to document events continuously.
• Low-light imaging: the device's camera and screen can serve as a night-vision viewer when aimed into dark spaces.
• Live broadcast over the Reticulum (planetary communications network) when service is available; transmissions can be jammed by the Sæcular Power (state authority outside maths).
• Accepts on-device input; observers note people "thumbing" entries into a jeejah while working through phototypes.
• Onscreen sketching/drawing (finger or stylus) that can be captured and transmitted over the Reticulum when available.
• Used as a scratchpad for calculations; the screen can display ongoing arithmetic and theorical work.
• Supports headsets for two-way audio (listening and speaking) when connected.
• Ruggedized or "military‑style" variants exist; device status may show "jammed" when wireless is blocked.
• Commonly carried on a shoulder strap (often "unslung"); easily passed hand-to-hand.
• When linked through specialized nodes, interfaces described as "jeejah-displays" can appear as overlays in helmets and suits, carrying the same feeds, checklists, and guidance normally seen on a handheld device over the Reticulum.
• Analogous handhelds exist among visiting civilizations; Arbrans colloquially describe them as "versions of jeejahs," and they are used for voice communications within administrative spaces.
• High‑grade variants milled from solid alloy are noted, described as very expensive and not mass‑produced.

Provenance/Ownership

• Ubiquitous among people living extramuros; visitors commonly carry them when admitted.
• Avout (monastic scholars) do not habitually keep jeejahs; when visitors bring them into a math, communications features are disabled under the Discipline, but other functions (timekeeping, offline media) continue to work.
• The Ita (practical order allied to maths) are often seen operating jeejahs and other tolerated devices on behalf of or alongside avout.
• High‑grade alloy units have been observed in the hands of selected Sæcular representatives and were issued to certain mission participants; an avout associated with the orbital launch was said to have received one immediately beforehand.

Notable Mentions

• Earlier use: an artisan consulted a jeejah for the time while working in a library; public-tour visitors used jeejahs to play recorded guides and take phototypes; many people in town scenes were seen carrying them. A driver wore earphones plugged into a jeejah while receiving real-time guidance, and a companion later used a jeejah to show a recorded speely.
• At Orithena (temple complex), during the arrival of the Geometers (visitors in orbit) probe, an Ita used a jeejah in speelycaptor mode to document the scene, employed its screen as a low-light viewer inside the capsule, and briefly streamed over the Reticulum until access was jammed by the Sæcular Power.
• During a messal at the Convox, a participant was seen thumbing entries into a jeejah while reviewing phototypes and listening to dialog.
• During later travel with avout and allies, a rugged unit reported "jammed" while airborne; once stationary in a walled complex, the Ita restored Reticulum access via land lines. In the same period, a jeejah was used for live sketching and for on-device calculations that were then shared and discussed.
• During a coordinated low‑orbit operation, a line‑of‑sight node reconnected a team to the Reticulum; status lights and "jeejah‑displays" appeared within their suit view, and an avout likened the always‑on audio, displays, and telemetry to living "inside a jeejah."
• Aboard the Daban Urnud, a small silver object in Fraa Jad's hand was likened to a jeejah, underscoring its compact, hand-sized form factor. Later, during opening ceremonies in an Orb Four meeting center, translation staff were seen talking into their own versions of jeejahs inside glass‑walled pavilions; on the same occasion, a newly issued milled‑alloy unit was noted in the hands of a Sæcular technologist, and a second official was identified carrying an identical unit.

Status/Access

Common and widely available extramuros. Permitted inside a math only under restricted settings (comms disabled); other basic functions remain usable. Wireless Reticulum links can be interrupted by jamming; when stationary, the Ita can sometimes provide access via land lines or other infrastructure. Offline functions—timekeeping, playback, calculations, and note-taking—continue during outages. Avout sometimes remark that constant jeejah feeds can be overwhelming after long stretches under the Discipline; after reconnecting to network services, one described the experience as like “living inside a jeejah.”