Support - Beadcord

Beadcord is the 'braille' system of the Wise. It is a form of 'writing' which allows the Wise to use their only sense, touch, to read and 'write' Quyan texts without using their homunculi as intermediaries.

Beadcord consists of a sequence of beads threaded on to a cord. The resulting cord can be woven into brocades, tapestries and wound on to reels to form books. The Library of the Wise consists of a large collection of these books which are stored and catalogued on specially constructed, portable 'benches'.

Beads are distinguished by shape, texture and even by how cold or warm they feel depending on the material of which they are made. These characteristics are applied to a great variety of materials: shell, amber, semi-precious stones, metals. The resulting jewelled and multicoloured strands would utterly confuse the sighted.

Beads used to encode particularly secret texts are often subtly shaped, textured so that even the Wise have to imbibe haptic increasing drugs to read them

• Wise index page

• Beadcord Reels
• Beadcord Benches
• The Library of the Wise