The Spineweavers

Naming Traditions

Those born into the spineweavers, are born with no names referred to by only numbers. Only named during the first stitching with their Threadname. Drawn from sacred scripture, ancestors, or litanies, these names represent the soul-path of the weaver and are kept secret from outsiders. Very rarely used, these names are earmarked for sacred rites or for death.

• Aevel the Bound Page
• Serrath of the Folded Spine

• Binder Vertebral
• Cartilach of Vault IX

• Ghost of the Broken margin
• Fraystitch of the Misbound Word

Cultural Heritage

Form is Salvation

The origins of the spineweavers are traced back to the Threadmother, the first of their kind the one who stitched chaos into form. This event culminated in the Binding language, a glyphic tongue focused on form and scripture. As well as the Vertebrae litany, a collection of rules and psalms for worship.

Ancestry and Lineage

Lineage and ancestry is traced by blood and by transmission of form, often through tutelage, binding and inscription. Children referred to by their numbers are raised communally in Codecies, often extended familial clans. Codecies are where teachings, memories and history are passed down. Often histories are passed down through inscription on skin and bone, very rarily are there oral histories. One can honor their codex by wearing bone-charms, inscribing ancestral names and offering verses at rites.

Architecture

Homes, temples and halls are all formed as living texts. With a rhythm to follow and gestures to open. Some rooms bind occupants into meditative postures to facilitate thoughts and ideas. Buildings are grown and respond to glyphs painted in them. Sacred sites are common in spineweaver communities. With Vault IX being where structure and form thin, a place where unwritten thoughts, half-truths and forgotten belongings remain, not all return as they left. As well as the Hollow Lexicon being a cathedral for occupants to worship the Motherbook at.

Rites of Passage

Life is divided by the sacraments, a collection of rites that emphasis a person's life.

• The First Stitching, when a child gains their Threadname.
• The Spine Cutting, when an adolescent is inducted to the Pagebound.
• The Fraying Virgil, the rite of ordination where one must survive in Vault IX for one night. Upon return they inscribe the glyph that represents their journey.
• The Weaving, the rite before death when a life-text is read aloud and their body is made into form.

Ritual Practices

• Script Weaving: embroidering glyphs to preserve knowledge and structure
• Flesh Binding: grafting texts onto the body
• Mourning Looms: machines that weave the names of Inksaints into cloaks and relics

Taboos

-Unstructured Expression: spontaneous music, unmetered poetry, et cetera
• Laughter without form
• Told Stories: Stories are to be stitched or inscribed

Deific Concepts

Motherbook

Many argue about the actual origins of the Motherbook. Some argue the library is an echo of her voice, doomed to repeat itself for eternity. While others argue the library is her desiccated corpse brought back to life by new ideas and knowledge. All agree that the Motherbook is the first and last book, the origin of structure itself. She is the blueprint for all who come after her, everything made is to attempt to reach a imperfect version of her.

The Null Flame

The Null Flame is the unbinding, the force to un-form and create nothing. A metaphysical fire that races through the library, most spineweavers try to counteract its flame by rebinding and repairing tomes. Forbidden by clergy, any caught with its sigil bound into skin is lost to time. The sigil is said to consume inward, eating away the soul and form on the individual.

The Threadmother

An oppressed entity, she is seen hidden behind veiled chants and visions in dreams. Often seen as a Mother crying rings of ink, holding thousands of arms out. She is said to be the first weaver, turning chaos and memory into flesh and being. Some secretive worshippers or rebellious spineweavers revere and worship her. She is said to have weave the first spine from dead stars and when the time comes she will weave the final binding closed.

Clergy | Hierarchy

• The Master Binders, the ultimate doctrinal authority. With only seven in rotation at a time they dictate laws, reconstructions, and are the living scriptures of the library.
• The Redweavers, the enforcers who enact rebindings of the Unbound, cleanse texts and fend off dis-order.
• The Whitebinders, the architects and engineers responsible for repairing and inscribing.
• The Fleshwrights, the healers and body-writers who bind scripture to flesh and convert the dead to artificats. Many take vows of suffering to further the connection with the Motherbook.
• The Pagebound, initiates and lay clergy who perform minor rites and are on the path to Fleshwrights.
• The Inksaints, those who are martyred or relics. Deceased clergy who complete the final binding.