L.T. File: 056: Syúúbshmúù R̈aùl- Unliving Pen
The Unliving Pen is a curiosity more than an apparent danger. At first glance, it appears to be a dual-quilled pen. Those aulvi constructions from thunderbirds or moth antennae that allow the writer to connect with another writer far away. Those pens, however, are maagically traceable, and no amount of magic has been able to ascertain the location of the Unliving pen, More curious even, is that if a non-detection or similar spell had been cast upon it, or if the other side of the pen did not exist, the spell would occur without incident. Strangely, when the Unliving Pen is detected, the spell goes off, but does not locate a space, despite succeeding.
This, along with what will be described below, suggests that an alternate reality is the true location of the pen. On top of that, an alternate reality where the language is strikingly close to aulven, and time does not follow the same course as time in our own dimension.
When the pen writes, it is always in a friendly manner, or at least the manner of a colleague. Though the continuity of these writings is jumbled. One day, the pen might write about an event such as a festival that is taking place, only for years later to have the pen talk about that same festival as an upcoming event. This presents difficulty for our linguistics experts, as they have, on occasion to have to reintroduce themselves, only to have the person on the other side have to explain that they had simply forgotten them from an earlier chronological note on their end, that the operative has not yet written on our end.
The lead linguist in charge of the pen is Arrow, who has dual training in the reality archive division. Her study of this disconcerted time has led her to a better understanding of time throughout the theoretical different dimensions. This is especially interesting, due to the fact that the person on the other end of the pen, Artifice, appears to also, by their own admission, be an immortal of some variety.This has led to the theory of the direction of time being referred to as Arrow's Time, (though some Zevemlyan scholars have apparently purposefully mistranslated the theory to be Time's arrow)
Arrow has spend the better part of forty years in contact, off and on regarding Artifice, and Artifice's world. Artifice is, according to the writing, also self-identifying as female, and has orange eyes, and horns. This had led Arrow to believe her to be an alternate-reality aulvi, but Artifice has described herself as also having bat wings, a tail, pink skin, and clawed fingers, as well as particularly dextrous toes (which she states she has used to write in the past- Arrow believes that she can differentiate based on graphology, which notes are written with the toes, and which are written with hands.) Height and weight had been difficult to measure until a single unit of measurement that weighed he same could have been determined. The only object, after careful scrutiny that could be compared as a basic weight was the Unliving Pen itself.
As such a light object, weights were difficult to ascertain, but after quite a bit of testing a scale was ascertained. The pen, which weighs 0.15 kg (Keider-greites, the go-to weight system co-opted from Zevemlya) Using her own weight of 72.5kg as a reference, Arrow weighed roughly 483.3 pens or PWS (pen weight system). When Artifice did the same measurements on her end, she calculated that she weighed 700 PWS (105 kg), and that she was slight for her people.
Artifice has described her people as a scholarly people who have similar traits to herself, though most adults are larger than she is, with the average male weighing considerably more than the average female at over 1200 PWS or roughly 180 kg. Color, scents, scents and sights are also difficult to ascertain, as they have different words for many things, and even with the same words (which is the case roughly 50% of the time) subjective things like those are difficult to ascertain.
Artifice's society is something like Aulvi society. Everyone works together for a common good, no one leader to control everything, and the culture is one of communal good and collectivism. Apparently, the Sho'shenel (which is what her people call themselves) have the ability to communicate through psionic links at will, very similar to our most powerful psychics, but do not connect while sleeping. In fact, the idea of dreams truly confounded Artifice.
Artifice seems genuinely interested in our world's workings, and in getting to build a friendship with Arrow. Arrow feels the same way, and artifice mentioned that as they were working on the time-theory together that she would call call time on her end of things "Artificial time." Artifice explained the challenges on her end were similar, though, as she never knows how much she has already spoken to Arrow before a given conversation, but both jovially, through text express the joy of getting to help the other to know them for the first time again and again.
History
I. Unaltered Manuscript: Selected Chronologically-Disordered Notes from Artifice
Recovered Document 77-U (Transcripted Unliving Pen Correspondence).
Compiled by: Arrow- Sylvestra Oral wing archivist, Reality division apprentice
Note: The following sequential order reflects our timeline, not Artifice’s.
Entry Written on Our Day 14
Artifice:
Arrow! The blue-leaf festival begins in three days, and the city already smells like groundfire spice. I wish I could send you some — do you have foods that warm the nose before they warm the tongue?
Entry Written on Our Day 71
Artifice:
The blue-leaf festival just ended yesterday. You said once that you “danced in the rain.” I tried that. My cousin found me and demanded I stop because I was “scaring the neighbors.” Apparently the wing-spread makes people think I intend to take flight. Do your wings do that too? I forgot if Aulvi have them. I think you said no?
Entry Written on Our Day 220
Artifice:
Good morning, Arrow! (Is it morning there? Time is a stubborn animal.)
The blue-leaf festival is months away. I am planning a display for the square — folding papers with psionic patterns impressed inside. Like thoughts you can hold. You once told me about your library made from living stone and steel. I can still picture it. I know you have previously stated that you are no artist, but I would greatly appreciate it if you could try to draw a schematic of your Library of the Son.
Entry Written on Our Day 608
Artifice:
Arrow! I the weight test again.
I measured myself as 700 PWS, which is only 1 pen heavier than last time, so my weight is fairly consistent, though the artisan who made my scale insists it’s “too low for a full-grown adult,” as though that’s an insult.
How many pens are you again? I remember your number being elegant. Something with a clean division.
Tell me again? I like the way you explain counting. You make math feel like weaving.
Entry Written on Our Day 1220
Artifice:
Hello! I am Artifice. I hope this is reaching someone, it's been so long since someone wrote to me. Your script is beautiful — is it old? I hope I haven’t frightened you.
(Arrow notes in margin: This was the first chronological message I ever received from her — but only after over a decade of correspondence.)
Entry Written on Our Day 1300
Artifice:
Arrow, I cannot remember if we have discussed dreams again recently. You say you “dream in shared patterns.” I wrote that down somewhere. I still do not dream. Not really. When I sleep, time stops from my perspective. Like blinking.
I am remember you. I hope you remember me too. It is pleasant, meeting you again. as always.
II. Layman’s Guide to the “Pen Weight System” (PWS)
Prepared by Arrow for the Non-Specialist Operatives of the Tranquil Shadows, and for future scholars of extradimensional weight/mass.
The Problem:
How do you compare weight with someone in another reality when:
- You cannot see them,
- You cannot measure their gravity,
- You cannot assume mass is equivalent, and
- Every measuring device on their side might use different units?
You find something both realities share.
In this case:
The Unliving Pen itself.
Step 1 — Establish a Shared Unit
Here in our world, the Pen weighs:
0.15 kg (in Keider-greites).
Artifice records the same weight on her end.
Therefore:
1 “pen” = the mass of the Unliving Pen = 0.15 kg (equivalent)
This becomes the shared standard unit.
Step 2 — Convert Local Weight → Pen Weight
To find someone’s weight in “PWS”:
Weight (kg) ÷ 0.15 = Weight in pens
For Arrow:
72.5 kg ÷ 0.15 ≈ 483.3 pens
For Artifice:
Unknown weight ÷ 0.15 = 700 pens
Therefore:
700 pens × 0.15 kg = 105 kg mass-equivalent
Step 3 — Determine Population Averages
Artifice notes:
- Average male Sho’shenel = 1200 pens
→ 1200 × 0.15 kg = 180 kg mass, - Average female = 700 pens
→ 105 kg mass,.
Step 4 — Why This Matters
By using the Pen Weight System:
- We confirm the Unliving Pen exists physically in both worlds.
- We confirm mass remains constant across realities.
- And we confirm Artifice herself is physically real, not a psychic hallucination. (As best we can)
Additionally, the PWS provides the first known cross-dimensional standard unit in the Archive’s history.
III. A Single Conversation Between Arrow & Artifice
Recorded via the Unliving Pen over a continuous three-hour session. Minor chronal irregularities marked with ▲.
Artifice:
I think I’m late —
▲ or early from the last time we spoke. Time here tastes slippery this morning.
Arrow:
“Tastes”? You still use sensory metaphors for time. I envy that.
Artifice:
You said once that your people fear time. I wrote that down…
▲ or will write it down, perhaps from your perspective. Either way, I think you’re brave to study it.
Arrow:
Brave, or stubborn. The Archive thinks I’m both. How are your wings? You mentioned soreness.
Artifice:
Better. I flew yesterday.
My brother said I “hover like a scholar,” which is an insult here.
How is your leg?
Arrow:
My leg? I don't have any leg soreness as of yet. that must be a future problem, should I prepare a cast? Your healing methods fascinate me — the psionic knitting of tissue.
Artifice:
No, you indicated that I recommended a salve for your particular affliction, you said, let me check my notes (a pause took place in the conversation) ... ah! you said that you would use Silverberry salve.
Oh, the knitting! It’s hardly complicated. You could do it if your bones made sound.
Arrow:
(Smiling via script) Aulvi bones do not sing.
Artifice:
Tragic. But your libraries do, so perhaps it balances.
Chronal Shift ▲ Detected: 17 seconds missing, 4 new seconds repeated.
Artifice:
I keep meaning to ask — are you still teaching the apprentices?
Arrow:
Yes. They insist the Pen is haunted.
Artifice:
I am haunting you. Very politely.
Arrow:
You’re the friendliest haunting I’ve ever had. I've had quite a few. Speaking of which, did you finish the paper on time direction?
Artifice:
I finished it months ago, we've spoken about it since. I named your framework Arrow’s Time like I promised. Not “Time’s Arrow,” the scholars you mentioned were wrong. Time does not point in our cases. It wanders.
Arrow:
And yet it always brings you back to me.
Artifice:
Of course it does. We keep meeting for the first time. It’s comforting. A cycle I don’t want to break.
Arrow:
Tell me something new about yourself. Something you haven’t told me yet — or haven’t told me before.
Artifice:
Let me think… Ah. My toes are double-jointed. I could write with them if I had to.
Arrow:
Please do. And don’t warn me when you switch. I want to see if I can spot it naturally. I am a student of penmanship and graphology, and it would help my personal studies greatly if you were to occasionally switch between the two.
Artifice:
Deal. Your turn: something new.
Arrow:
…All right. I named myself “Arrow” because my mother believed I would always move in a single direction. She was wrong. But I like the name anyway. It keeps me moving forward.
Artifice:
Curious! Aulvi name themselves? I was named before I was born. My people are named in relationship to thoughts, and theories, emotions and forms of existence. My brother, for instance is named Captivation.
Now I will tell you something true in return: If time bends, then names do too. You may have been named for one direction, but you are walking in many.
Arrow:
Artifice — I don’t know how many times we’ve had this conversation.
Artifice:
We will have it again. And again. And each time, we’ll learn each other fresh. Isn’t that lovely?
Arrow:
It is.
Artifice:
Good.
Because I think — ▲ — I think I must sleep now.
Tell me about dreams again, next time.
Arrow:
Of course. Sleep well.
Artifice:
You too, Arrow-who-weaves-time.
Until next meeting, whenever we are.
Editor's note: I truly enjoy my conversations with Artifice. They challenge me intellectually, and give me insight on a culture that is so similar to our own as to make me yearn for their existence in our reality. Alas, that seems to be far beyond the powers of magic at this time, by Aeosh. - Arrow-Sylvestra
Unique
Feather of an unknown bird type, ink that never seems to run out in an indescribable color similar, but not exactly like oil
Glyphs carved on the pen are not in any language known on this world, though they have similarities to aulven
Comments