A-01 frequent
Pillar vortex
a kilometre of pale stands as a whirlwind in one spot for hours and moves not a grain of dust.
vortex · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-02 frequent
Ring cyclone
a cloud ring the width of the site turns around it; inside there is dead calm and the best light of the day.
sky-funnel · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-03 frequent
Sky funnel
clouds drain into a point above the main building the way water goes down a sink; by morning the sky is scooped dry.
sky-funnel · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-04 frequent
Dust roller
a horizontal vortex rolls along the street like a log; the windows shake one after another, in order of their numbers.
vortex · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-05 frequent
Twin whirlwind
two vortices turn about a shared axis, one lit gold and one blue, and never touch.
vortex · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-06 frequent
Quiet tornado
a vortex without wind: it lifts only light and the fine dust of memory; objects stay put, shadows are wrung.
vortex · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-07 frequent
Moss geyser
a column of ocean substance throws itself hundreds of metres out of the ground and settles back leaving no wet.
gusher · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-08 frequent
Bird vortex
the flock thickens into a black whirlwind with a regular thread to it; at the peak the whole swarm halts for a single frame. [mirroring]
vortex · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-09 frequent
Upturned vortex
the funnel grows downward out of the cloud and stops a metre above the ground; under its point the dust lies untouched.
vortex · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-10 frequent
Round dance
a dozen small vortices walk the boundary of the site, sunwise until noon and widdershins after.
vortex · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-11 rare
Grown block
overnight a new block stands at the edge of town: a copy of an existing one with the errors of a dream, a floor too many, a door in a wall with no room behind it. It thaws away in a week.
grow-mass · S2–S4 · building–horizon
A-12 rare
Stair to nowhere
a staircase grows two hundred metres out of the ground; the top landing is always in pale.
grow-line · S2–S4 · building–horizon
A-13 rare
Sprouting
new floors reach out of a gutted block like branches from a stump, fresh, with no weathering on them.
grow-mass · S2–S4 · building–horizon
A-14 rare
Skeleton
in an hour the frame of a building that was never here rises over the square; by morning only its shadow is left on the dust.
grow-mass · S2–S4 · building–horizon
A-15 rare
Town tide
the whole block lifts a metre and settles; the foundations breathe, the cracks open and close in time.
ground-wave · S2–S4 · building–horizon
A-16 rare
Mirror district
beyond the edge of town a reflected copy of the centre shows through, turned as if in water; you cannot enter it, it is always one row of houses further on.
grow-mass · S2–S4 · building–horizon
A-17 rare
Growth seam
the street has grown longer: a new segment sits between the houses, numbered in fractions.
grow-mass · S2–S4 · building–horizon
A-18 rare
One-day tower
by dawn a tower stands higher than anything on the site; by dusk it is gone, and the birds fly around the empty place all the next day.
grow-mass · S2–S4 · building–horizon
A-19 rare
Bridge into fog
a bridge grows out from the shore; the far end is always in pale, however long you walk it. [testing]
grow-line · S2–S4 · building–horizon
A-20 rare
Honeycomb growth
a blank facade fills with regular six-sided cells; three of them hold light.
grow-field · S2–S4 · building–horizon
A-21 rare
Stone rain
gravel falls out of a clear sky and lands in perfect rings around the buildings without striking one.
fall · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-22 rare
Slow earthquake
a wave a metre high crosses the ground at walking pace; the buildings step over it without cracking.
ground-wave · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-23 rare
Light storm
an hour with no cloud and no thunder: only flashes, shifting the shadows in jerks, like frames.
light-storm · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-24 rare
Hail of spheres
glass balls the size of an apple; they lie a day without melting, then vanish all at once.
fall · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-25 rare
Ash blizzard
a squall of warm grey ash; it heaps dunes on the lee side of memory, where the outbuildings used to stand.
fall · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-26 rare
Backward rain
water rises off the ground to the cloud in thin threads; the puddles shallow as you watch.
gusher · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-27 rare
Lightning grove
a dozen bolts stand frozen as a wood between sky and field; you can walk between the trunks. [eclipse-grade]
grow-field · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-28 rare
Fog flood
pale rises to the roofs in minutes; the town stands as an archipelago, then the ebb.
water-plane · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-29 rare
Cold fire
flame with no heat and no fuel walks the roofs and leaves no soot; only the outline burns.
light-storm · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-30 rare
Ground sag
a crater opens in minutes, shows a layered cut of itself, and closes like a yawn.
ground-wave · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-31 frequent
Magic whirlpool
a funnel a hundred metres across; the walls of water stand sheer, the floor is dry, and on the floor lie things the sea was never given.
water-column · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-32 frequent
Water column
a column of water stands above the sea without turning, smooth as a turned part; light hangs inside it.
water-column · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-33 frequent
Ring of calm
in a storm a perfect circle of smooth water stays around the site, its border drawn as if with a compass.
water-plane · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-34 frequent
Sea stair
the water stands in terraces, level upon level, out to the horizon; each level holds its own reflection.
water-plane · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-35 frequent
Inner wave
a wave runs below the surface, visible only as a shadow on the bottom; the surf goes quiet while it passes.
water-wave · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-36 frequent
Pigment tide
for an hour the water turns brick red: the planet is rinsing her brush. [MEM]
water-plane · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-37 frequent
Withdrawn sea
the water goes out for kilometres for one hour; on the bed lies the trace of a street that continues the main street of the site. [eclipse-grade]
water-plane · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-38 frequent
Double surface
the water has two levels at once: the lower carries waves, the upper carries only reflections.
water-plane · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-39 frequent
Upright lake
a wall of water stands in a doorway and does not spill; behind it the interior is flooded to the ceiling.
water-column · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-40 frequent
Glass storm
the waves halt at their crest for seconds, in glassy ridges, and fall all together.
water-wave · S3–S4 · site–horizon
A-41 rare
Weight lens
inside a circle the dust and litter hang thirty centimetres up; whoever steps in weighs less by one breath.
fold · S1–S3 · room–site
A-42 rare
Echo zone
sound comes back after minutes: you hear your own steps once you have gone.
fold · S1–S3 · room–site
A-43 rare
Fold
the street takes half the steps its length asks for; the facades are whole and in order all the same.
fold · S1–S3 · room–site
A-44 rare
Room with no door
the house has one room more than it has doors; its window is lit, found from outside, not found within.
fold · S1–S3 · room–site
A-45 rare
Late light
shadows lag half a second behind their objects; run, and the lag grows. [mirroring]
fold · S1–S3 · room–site
A-46 rare
Upended circle
inside the circle up and down argue: dust lies on the vaults of the arches, drips fall upward.
fold · S1–S3 · room–site
A-47 rare
Shared dream
everyone standing in the zone catches the same thing at the corner of the eye; in the site thread the accounts match word for word.
fold · S1–S3 · room–site
A-48 rare
Step loop
walk the courtyard round and you come out of the arch you came in by, from whichever side. It breaks if you stop halfway.
fold · S1–S3 · room–site
A-49 rare
Muteness
sound does not carry in the zone: the drone, the steps, the surf all exist and none arrive.
fold · S1–S3 · room–site
A-50 rare
Color sink
inside the zone the world is monochrome, the pigment drunk out of it; at the border you can watch the color come back into things syllable by syllable.
fold · S1–S3 · room–site
R-01 frequent
Pour
the ocean comes in as a tongue and sets as a moss scar; the scar stays for good, and the scars of the world are collected by eye.
flood · S3 · site
R-02 frequent
Cocoon
the tear winds itself in a whitish film, layer on layer, until nothing shows through.
wrap · S3 · site
R-03 frequent
Fog plug
pale packs into the crack until it is solid: the one place where fog can be touched.
flood · S3 · site
R-04 frequent
Salt seal
salt flowers grow along the lip overnight and meet in a rosette.
wrap · S3 · site
R-05 frequent
Ebb inward
the nearest water drains into the rift until it is full; the sea at the site stands a day lower.
flood · S3 · site
R-06 frequent
Geyser weld
a moss geyser (A-07) strikes the seam dead on until it grows over with scale.
stitch-light · S3 · site
R-07 frequent
Dust plaster
an ash blizzard (A-25) heaps a dune into the tear in the shape of the absence.
wrap · S3 · site
R-08 frequent
Ice clamp
the glass bridges of the hail (A-24) freeze across the crack and draw the edges together.
stitch-light · S3 · site
R-09 frequent
Ink cord
the ink stain of the sea crawls ashore and lies in the seam like a cord in a wound.
flood · S3 · site
R-10 frequent
Wrapping tide
a fog flood (A-28) covers the site over the head; when it draws back there is no rift.
flood · S3 · site
R-11 frequent
Darn by lightning
a slow bolt settles into the seam and goes out segment by segment, leaving stitches of cooling light.
stitch-light · S3 · site
R-12 frequent
Double shadow
at double noon the shadows of the two suns cross on the rift and hold it the way fingers hold a cut.
bleach · S3 · site
R-13 frequent
Rivet pillar
a column of light stands up out of the tear and stays until the edges knit around it.
stitch-light · S3 · site
R-14 frequent
Needle star
the daytime star drops to roof height and stitches the seam with a run of flashes.
stitch-light · S3 · site
R-15 frequent
Halo ring
the halo of the sun shrinks to the size of the sky tear and draws it shut like an iris.
bleach · S3 · site
R-16 frequent
Blind day
light without shadows floods the rift; in a world without contrast the tear has nothing to hold on to.
bleach · S3 · site
R-17 frequent
Backward dawn
a green dawn rises on the rift side and fades it out to the background.
bleach · S3 · site
R-18 frequent
Constellation net
at night the lines of the index constellations come down from the sky and lay a net over the tear for one night. [eclipse-grade]
stitch-light · S3 · site
R-19 frequent
THEN patch
a piece of a whole era is pulled over the rift: the one place where the past can be seen without the spill.
patch-then · S3 · site
R-20 frequent
Guest hour by need
for a minute the whole site becomes THEN; in a whole world the tear has nowhere to be; after the cut, a scar.
patch-then · S3 · site
R-21 frequent
Return in a circle
the ground by the seam loops for ninety seconds (the Repeat protocol); after ten cycles the seam is rubbed out.
patch-then · S3 · site
R-22 frequent
Rough plug
the planet knowingly puts an unfinished volume in the tear: a grey blank. Honest poverty is better than a hole.
draft-plug · S3 · site
R-23 frequent
Echo build
the frame of the unbuilt (A-14) grows over the crack and presses it down with the whole weight of the intention.
overbuild · S3 · site
R-24 frequent
Renaming
the block around it rebuilds overnight (A-11) and the rift is left inside a wall, bricked into new memory.
overbuild · S3 · site
R-25 frequent
By a fold
space folds (A-43): the edges of the tear simply come alongside each other and stick.
patch-then · S3 · site
R-26 frequent
Pinpoint forgetting
the planet forgets the rift itself: it goes to rough draft, then to nothing. The most frightening method; after it the place holds a color sink (A-50).
draft-plug · S3 · site
R-27 frequent
Darner
(B-01) walks the seam in figures of eight, dragging a thread of light; she works from dusk to dawn.
bestial · S3 · site
R-28 frequent
Swarm of grinders
(B-80) files the edges of the tear smooth; smooth knits by itself.
bestial · S3 · site
R-29 frequent
Edger
(B-06) lies down in the crack and becomes its floor; the crack remains, but stops being bottomless.
bestial · S3 · site
R-30 frequent
Ash moths
(B-71) cover the sky tear and fold their wings: a living patch for one night.
bestial · S3 · site
R-31 frequent
Glass whale
(B-42) passes under a shoreline rift; for a minute its back is the missing piece of the world.
bestial · S3 · site
R-32 frequent
Mason
(B-64) fills the crack with brick out of nowhere; the courses stay and weather like the real thing.
overbuild · S3 · site
R-33 frequent
Choir
(B-20) stands around the seam and holds a note; on resonance the edges meet. Audible for kilometres.
bestial · S3 · site
R-34 frequent
Keeper
(B-81) simply stands at the rift, and it does not grow while he stands. He does not close it. He guards it. [sheltering]
memorial · S3 · site
R-35 frequent
Standing
the guest keeps still at the lip: the rift draws in at the speed of his calm. Run nearby and it opens again.
witness · S3 · site
R-36 frequent
Ring walk
tread a full circle around the crack; the trail closes and the crack inside the trail goes quiet.
witness · S3 · site
R-37 frequent
Looking away
the tear grows under the gaze; if nobody present looks at it for three minutes it heals over. Cooperation by mistrust.
witness · S3 · site
R-38 frequent
Naming
write the rift into the codex: the named stops growing. The first entry is an honour, the closing is everyone's.
witness · S3 · site
R-39 frequent
Snapshot
save a frame with the tear inside it: a seam once fixed goes still and from then on only wears away.
witness · S3 · site
R-40 frequent
Witness
an account in the site thread (our comments): three independent witnesses and the planet believes the place is whole.
witness · S3 · site
R-41 frequent
Giving the tear
the artefact Tear is set into the lip and melts into the seam; the inventory is poorer, the world is more whole.
witness · S3 · site
R-42 frequent
Returning a find
any artefact found at this site, given back to the rift, closes it with gratitude: warm windows all night.
witness · S3 · site
R-43 frequent
Guest choir
three or more stand at the seam at once: the closing is instant, the one multiplayer method. [eclipse-grade in practice]
witness · S3 · site
R-44 frequent
Silence from the vial
open the Vial of silence at the tear: a minute of muteness in which the seam cannot hear itself and knits.
witness · S3 · site
R-45 eclipse
The builder settles
the giant builds directly over the rift and, unfinished, settles into it with all its mass. The most spectacular closing in the catalogue.
titanic · S4–S5 · horizon–planet
R-46 eclipse
Soft mountain
(B-94) crawls up and lies down on top; the landscape after it is another landscape, and there is no rift in it.
titanic · S4–S5 · horizon–planet
R-47 eclipse
World breath
the continents of pale shudder across the whole planet (visible from orbit) and every open rift draws in by a third at once.
bleach · S4–S5 · horizon–planet
R-48 eclipse
Meridian
the scanning arc crosses the site and reads it again; after the reading the tear is closed, but one building stands differently.
patch-then · S4–S5 · horizon–planet
R-49 eclipse
Verge
in the minute of the waking that does not happen, the rifts close everywhere at once. The morning after the Verge the catalogue is empty.
bleach · S4–S5 · horizon–planet
R-50 eclipse
Leave it open
the rarest of all: the planet leaves the rift and rings it with columns (A-32 in style), salt flowers and a Keeper. A memorial to a wound. Nobody knows by what mark she chooses which wound to keep.
memorial · S4–S5 · horizon–planet
S-01 frequent
Standard pair
gold leads, cobalt bears witness; the default sky of the product.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-02 frequent
Double noon
the suns side by side; everything has two shadows, spread at an angle.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-03 frequent
Wrong sunset
for ninety seconds the suns change roles; the light smells different.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-04 frequent
Blind day
light without direction, shadows without black, the world as if under milk.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-05 frequent
Green dawn
a minute of bottle glass at sunrise; in the Fast dream, at midnight.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-06 frequent
Index night
the constellations of the sites bright and exact: the sky as the atlas contents page.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-07 frequent
Reassembly
the constellations quietly change their shapes; the figures of the sites drift. [DRM]
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-08 frequent
Low sky
the cloud layer sinks below the roofs; from the upper floors you look down on it.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-09 frequent
Glass sky
the minute of the Verge: no fog, no scatter, the shadows absolute.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-10 frequent
Ocean sky
waves cross the clouds with foam and a surf line at the horizon; the reflection below is calm.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-11 frequent
False starlight
three or four daytime stars on the wrong side of the sky; they shift, keeping their bearing.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-12 frequent
Pillared
vertical shafts stand along the horizon like a paling.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-13 frequent
Haloed
rings around one sun or both; the sign of a procedure, or of drowsing.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-14 frequent
Lensed
a round patch of sky magnifies the clouds; it holds above the guest. [ATT · mirroring]
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-15 frequent
Ashen
a sunrise without color, light like paper; the sky of the Doze.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-16 frequent
Pigment hour
for an hour the sky is brick or rose: the planet rinses her brush after Work.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-17 frequent
Nebula
at night half the sky is nebula, pink and lilac; once a week. [eclipse-grade]
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-18 frequent
Lattice
at the limit of sight, a regular net of lines over the stars. Not explained.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-19 frequent
Far works
finished giants stand on the horizon of space; visible only from orbit and from the highest points.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
S-20 frequent
Other sleepers
two or three distant bodies flicker in phase with Mara, minutes behind. Not a word of this anywhere but the sky.
sky-state · S4 · horizon
G-01 rare
Veins of memory
moss lines between the sites of the atlas pulse in time with the mood; the earthbound mirror of the constellations.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-02 rare
Blooms
patches of ocean lighten where Longing or Acceptance has come; a map of the mood in real time.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-03 rare
Scanning meridian
a lit arc from pole to pole; it passes over the sites and they are read.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-04 rare
Dream fronts
nacreous bands run across the ocean in the Fast dream phase.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-05 rare
Breath of the continents
the continents of pale swell and settle with the period of the phases.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-06 rare
Cyclone eye
a cloud spiral a thousand kilometres across with a perfectly round eye; the eye is always over one of the sites of the atlas.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-07 rare
World whirlpool
at the pole the ocean turns in a funnel the size of a country; once a week it makes one turn.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-08 rare
Great wave
a single wave goes around the planet in an hour; on the coasts, that hour brings the sea stair (A-34).
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-09 rare
Shadow with no source
a shadow crosses the disc with nothing to cast it; both suns are where they should be.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-10 rare
Double terminator
the border of day and night doubles: between the two lies a band of second evening as wide as a country.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-11 rare
Polar feather
auroral feathers over the poles in the colors of the pantone; in the Fast dream, down to the equator.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-12 rare
Pulse
the whole globe flares for one frame; only those looking at that moment notice. [mirroring]
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-13 rare
Drift of places
the constellation of sites on the surface shifts a degree overnight and returns; the maps were not lying, the globe was.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-14 rare
Storm archipelago
a ridge of thunderheads draws the outline of a continent that does not exist on Mara. The outline matches one on Earth.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-15 rare
Rift ridge
a glowing seam between the hemispheres opens for a night: a planetary rift she carries herself and holds herself.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-16 rare
Season of works
from orbit dozens of Builders are visible at once, rising along a single arc; once a month. [eclipse-grade]
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-17 rare
Eclipse from within
pale rises so high that it eclipses the sun from below; the day goes out from the ground, not from the sky.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-18 rare
Silence of the veins
the whole network of G-01 goes dark for a minute; the most disturbing thing orbit can see.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-19 rare
Ocean spiral
the whole free ocean winds into one logarithmic spiral for a single turn of the phases; the shores are untouched.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
G-20 rare
Verge from orbit
a second of complete transparency in the atmosphere: the planet shows her surface without the veil, and nobody has yet managed to look.
globe-layer · S5 · planet
B-01 rare
Darner
a many-legged silhouette; she walks the rifts in figures of eight, dragging a thread of light.
mender · S2 · building
B-02 rare
Thread-swallower
swallows the torn threads of coherence and spits out knots like rivets.
mender · S2 · building
B-03 rare
Needler
a hedgehog of needles of clean dark; it pins the edges of cracks with them, spending itself.
mender · S2 · building
B-04 rare
Knot-tier
ties hanging knots in the seams of the air; the knots ring in a wind that is not there.
mender · S2 · building
B-05 rare
Patch
flat, the size of a carpet; it lies down on the tear and grows in, becoming a piece of the world almost in tone.
mender · S2 · building
B-06 rare
Edger
lives in the lips of cracks and lines them with itself; thanks to it the wounds of Mara have smooth edges.
mender · S2 · building
B-07 rare
Hauler
a slow strongman: it draws the edges of a rift together, braced against both, until they meet or the sun comes up.
mender · S2 · building
B-08 rare
Window stitcher
sets glass made of calm (A-33) into empty frames; by morning there is no glass, but the house looks rested.
mender · S2 · building
B-09 rare
Scar snake
crawls only along the old scars of closings, polishing them; the biographer of scars.
mender · S2 · building
B-10 rare
Bandager
at night she winds wounded buildings in bands of fog; by morning the bands harden into cornices like dressings.
mender · S2 · building
B-11 rare
Walker
a silhouette at the edge of the pale; always at the edge. In the Haze it takes one step toward you.
shade · S1–S2 · room–building
B-12 rare
Standing woman
a woman's silhouette at an upper-floor window; the house changes, the window is always the third from the left.
shade · S1–S2 · room–building
B-13 rare
Homecomer
walks from the stop to the entrance with bags; vanishes a metre from the door, every evening.
shade · S1–S2 · room–building
B-14 rare
Minute crowd
for sixty seconds the square fills with transparent people; the sound arrives half a second late.
crowd · S1–S2 · room–building
B-15 rare
Lamplighter
lights lamps that do not exist; the light stays, the lamps do not.
wisp · S1–S2 · room–building
B-16 rare
Swimmer
crosses the bay at an even crawl at dawn; leaves no wake, and the towel on the pier is wet.
shade · S1–S2 · room–building
B-17 rare
Gardener
where he has walked in the night, the compass grass (leaning toward one point) stands combed by a wind that never blew.
shade · S1–S2 · room–building
B-18 rare
Two in a window
in one window two of them dance without music; turn the drone up and they stop and look.
shade · S1–S2 · room–building
B-19 rare
Traffic warden
stands at an empty crossing and waves at nothing; the traffic he leads can be heard as tyres on wet road.
shade · S1–S2 · room–building
B-20 rare
Choir
a dozen silhouettes in a ring; they hold one note; see R-33. You hear the note in the chest before the ear.
crowd · S1–S2 · room–building
B-21 frequent
Moss dog
a dog of dense pale; it walks with the solitary at the edge of sight and never comes near a dwelling.
fog-animal · S1–S3 · room–site
B-22 frequent
Clearing deer
the fog is thinner inside its outline: you see further through the deer than past it.
fog-animal · S1–S3 · room–site
B-23 frequent
Roof cat
flows from ridge to ridge; where it has passed the tiles lie a degree straighter.
fog-animal · S1–S3 · room–site
B-24 frequent
Herd
a wave of fog with hoofbeats; it crosses the town clean through and only the weathervanes shake.
fog-animal · S1–S3 · room–site
B-25 frequent
Boulder bear
sleeps by the road as a stone; once a day it shifts, and that is its only movement.
fog-animal · S1–S3 · room–site
B-26 frequent
Fox fire
a red clot; it steals reflections out of puddles and lays them out in other puddles.
fog-animal · S1–S3 · room–site
B-27 frequent
Mole wave
travels underground, raising a slow swell (A-22 in miniature); it likes the lawns of THEN.
digger · S1–S3 · room–site
B-28 frequent
Cornice snake
a long body winds the building along its floor bands; a building in its hold does not weather for a year.
fog-animal · S1–S3 · room–site
B-29 frequent
Nightjar
a bird that always sits against the light; its call is the creak of a swing in a yard where there is no swing.
fog-animal · S1–S3 · room–site
B-30 frequent
Dawn gadfly
a swarm of one insect: never caught, never seen, and at sunrise every east-facing window is washed.
swarm · S1–S3 · room–site
B-31 rare
Last tram
it runs the overgrown rails once a night; the light in the car is warm, the car is empty, the bell is polite.
machine · S2–S3 · building–site
B-32 rare
Lift
the cabin runs in the shaft of a ruined house; there are more floors than the house had.
machine · S2–S3 · building–site
B-33 rare
Wheel off its axle
the ferris wheel turns with itself lifted off the axle; the cars keep the horizon.
machine · S2–S3 · building–site
B-34 rare
Long-necked crane
the tower crane moves invisible loads; in the mornings something in the ruins stands tidier.
machine · S2–S3 · building–site
B-35 rare
Searchlight
a beam with no source patrols the site; whoever it picks out gets warm windows all evening. [mirroring]
machine · S2–S3 · building–site
B-36 rare
Turnstile
it clicks people through at an entrance with no fence and no queue; the counter on it climbs.
machine · S2–S3 · building–site
B-37 rare
Noon siren
a works siren; it sings at exactly noon in time zones that do not exist on Mara.
machine · S2–S3 · building–site
B-38 rare
Ferry
the shadow of a ferry crosses the strait to a timetable, and the water under the shadow grows heavy.
machine · S2–S3 · building–site
B-39 rare
Square clock
the hands run backward in Longing and forward in Acceptance; in the Verge they show the true time. One on the planet.
machine · S2–S3 · building–site
B-40 rare
Printing press
the knock of setting lines from the basement of the print works; by morning the dust on the sills carries fresh impressions of blank pages.
machine · S2–S3 · building–site
B-41 frequent
Back shadow
a long shadow under the surface, always parallel to the shore; it surfaces exactly once, see G-08.
swimmer · S2–S4 · building–horizon
B-42 frequent
Glass whale
a clear body, visible by the bend it puts in the horizon; it sings at the pitch of the drone.
swimmer · S2–S4 · building–horizon
B-43 frequent
Shepherd wave
one wave runs against the rest, gathering them into straight rows.
swimmer · S2–S4 · building–horizon
B-44 frequent
Seabed lamplighter
carries a patch of light along the bottom (a relative of A-15); in the shallows you can see its hands.
wisp · S2–S4 · building–horizon
B-45 frequent
Surf horse
a crest that does not break: it runs the beach for kilometres until it is spent.
swimmer · S2–S4 · building–horizon
B-46 frequent
Salt mourner
a white figure on the reef at low water; after her, salt flowers on the stones (the A-04 family).
shade · S2–S4 · building–horizon
B-47 frequent
Moon jelly
it surfaces at night the size of a square and glows so exactly in tone with the night sky that only its rim shows.
swimmer · S2–S4 · building–horizon
B-48 frequent
Anchorer
holds in place what ought to drift away: boards, boats, reflections. What it has held makes a small museum on the water.
swimmer · S2–S4 · building–horizon
B-49 frequent
Ebb-bringer
it draws the water after it (A-37 is its full performance); in small doses it merely bares the right pier step for a minute.
swimmer · S2–S4 · building–horizon
B-50 frequent
Two-bottom
lives between the two surfaces of the water (A-38); visible only while there are two.
swimmer · S2–S4 · building–horizon
B-51 rare
Cloak
a cloak of night flying with no owner; under its shadow the night sky falls for a few seconds. [eclipse-grade]
flier · S3–S4 · site–horizon
B-52 rare
Pillar walker
it steps along the pillars of light (S-12) as along piles; where it has stepped, the pillar goes out with dignity.
flier · S3–S4 · site–horizon
B-53 rare
Cloud catfish
a bottom dweller of the low sky (S-08); its whiskers hang below the roofs.
flier · S3–S4 · site–horizon
B-54 rare
Starbeak
it picks off the false stars (S-11) one at a time; by dawn the sky is honest.
flier · S3–S4 · site–horizon
B-55 rare
Flying choir
a flock singing the chord of the drone; its passage is the only modulation in the music of the world.
flier · S3–S4 · site–horizon
B-56 rare
Sheet-lightning bird
it carries heat lightning in its crop and drops it one flash at a time over places where somebody stood still today. [mirroring]
flier · S3–S4 · site–horizon
B-57 rare
Feathered wave
birds flying in the formation of a breaking wave, with foam of white wings.
flier · S3–S4 · site–horizon
B-58 rare
Living star
one of the index stars blinks off the beat; the station astronomers called her the cheerful one. The entry is kept out of respect.
flier · S3–S4 · site–horizon
B-59 rare
Sky ray
a flat shadow slides along the underside of the cloud layer as along the ceiling of a pool.
flier · S3–S4 · site–horizon
B-60 rare
Quiet thunder
a creature made of sound: it crosses the sky with no light and no thunder, and everybody looks up.
flier · S3–S4 · site–horizon
B-61 frequent
Circle worm
it leaves rings in the dust (the A-10 family); it has never been seen, only the freshness of the rings.
earthwork · S1–S3 · room–site
B-62 frequent
Salt gardener
grows salt flowers in rows; the rows point to water.
earthwork · S1–S3 · room–site
B-63 frequent
Dust weaver
weaves runners of dust across the roads; you may step on them, the pattern is a pity.
earthwork · S1–S3 · room–site
B-64 frequent
Mason
lays brick out of nowhere; his courses are known by the joint, too even for people.
earthwork · S1–S3 · room–site
B-65 frequent
Root carrier
it moves the roots of trees whole and leaves the trees; the wood slowly changes places with itself.
digger · S1–S3 · room–site
B-66 frequent
Tremble
a small creature of a large fear: where it sits, the ground shakes over a palm's width.
digger · S1–S3 · room–site
B-67 frequent
Grave light
a warm flame that walks the perimeter of graveyards and memorials; red at places that have been desecrated. The one moral indicator in the world, and even that is a beast.
wisp · S1–S3 · room–site
B-68 frequent
Path-maker
it treads paths where people will walk tomorrow; the glass path (in the Fast dream) is its full-dress appearance.
digger · S1–S3 · room–site
B-69 frequent
Hexagon
it builds the combs of A-20; ash moths winter in the cells.
earthwork · S1–S3 · room–site
B-70 frequent
Scree-sorter
at night it sorts the scree by the size of the stone; the morning slopes are graded, and it shows.
digger · S1–S3 · room–site
B-71 ambient
Ash moths
a swarm of glowing flakes at one window; they whiten in Acceptance.
swarm · S1 · room
B-72 ambient
Glass midges
visible only against the sun, like scratches on film.
swarm · S1 · room
B-73 ambient
Pollen of forgetting
a grey haze over rough-draft walls; breathe it and for a minute you forget why you came (a vignette, not a debuff).
swarm · S1 · room
B-74 ambient
Roll-call lights
points of light signal to each other across the whole town in the evenings, always in pairs.
swarm · S1 · room
B-75 ambient
Echo seeds
clear little spheres; burst, they give back a sound that happened here long ago: laughter, a doorbell, surf.
swarm · S1 · room
B-76 ambient
Ink tadpoles
the young of the ink stain, in puddles; they blur away under a gaze.
swarm · S1 · room
B-77 ambient
Spark swarm
it lives in dead wiring; on holidays nobody remembers it lights the windows floor by floor.
swarm · S1 · room
B-78 ambient
Paper wasps
they build nests out of the pages of the Empty volume; the nests are read by torchlight.
swarm · S1 · room
B-79 ambient
Snow bees
they swarm in a blizzard, gathering nectar from warm windows; their honey is amber drops on the glass at morning.
swarm · S1 · room
B-80 ambient
Grinders
a micro-swarm that files down the sharp edges of the world: shards, corners, the lips of rifts. The world of Mara does not cut the hand, and that is their work.
swarm · S1 · room
B-81 one-per-site
Keeper
he stands where things are worst; he neither comes closer nor leaves. See R-34.
keeper · S2 · building
B-82 one-per-site
Key woman
she rattles a bunch of keys in the stairwells; after her, one locked door at the site stands open, always a different one.
keeper · S2 · building
B-83 one-per-site
Stair whisperer
counts the steps aloud behind the one climbing; it loses count if you walk out of step with yourself.
keeper · S2 · building
B-84 one-per-site
Window man
he washes the windows from inside empty flats; clean windows in a ruin are his pride and his signature.
keeper · S2 · building
B-85 one-per-site
Stove-tender
he keeps one stove burning at the site; smoke from one chimney of a dead town is the loudest image in the catalogue.
keeper · S2 · building
B-86 one-per-site
Cloakroom man
in theatres and houses of culture; he takes the invisible and hands out tags. The tag is a valid artefact.
keeper · S2 · building
B-87 one-per-site
Ticket woman
she tears tickets at the door of the cinema; the show is an hour of shadows on a blank screen, and the timetable is honest.
keeper · S2 · building
B-88 one-per-site
Archivist
he shifts papers about in the offices; by morning the files are ordered by a system nobody has worked out yet.
keeper · S2 · building
B-89 one-per-site
Dawn sweeper
he sweeps the main street before first light; there has been nothing to sweep for years, and the street is cleaner all the same.
keeper · S2 · building
B-90 one-per-site
Bell-ringer
wherever there is a belfry; he rings with no rope and no clapper, and the strokes are always one fewer than you expect.
keeper · S2 · building
B-91 eclipse
Builder
a colossus beyond the bounds of the sites; it builds and never finishes. The chief dream of Mara. See “The mind”, Book I.
titan · S4–S5 · horizon–planet
B-92 eclipse
Model
its twin from the second assumption: strictly symmetrical, with windows. A test of whether she has understood the principle.
titan · S4–S5 · horizon–planet
B-93 eclipse
Condensate
it appears all at once and dissolves under a direct gaze; a photograph in the tray, the size of a mountain.
titan · S4–S5 · horizon–planet
B-94 eclipse
Soft mountain
a hill creeping along the horizon; the landscape after it is another landscape.
titan · S4–S5 · horizon–planet
B-95 eclipse
Great swimmer
a shadow in the ocean the size of a town; over years of observation its course has spelt out a letter nobody has said aloud.
titan · S4–S5 · horizon–planet
B-96 eclipse
Carrier
once a season it moves one building to another place entire, with its foundation and its postal address.
titan · S4–S5 · horizon–planet
B-97 eclipse
Bell
a giant made of sound: a hemisphere of hum that covers the site for an hour; inside it the drone sounds like an orchestra.
titan · S4–S5 · horizon–planet
B-98 eclipse
Ridge walker
it walks the mountain ridges, and the ridges are ten metres higher after it; the elevation model does not argue.
titan · S4–S5 · horizon–planet
B-99 eclipse
Sleeper under the bay
the line of its back matches the shoreline of one of the sites; the ebb of A-37 is its breath drawn in.
titan · S4–S5 · horizon–planet
B-100 eclipse
Nameless
the entry exists, the description is absent. Those who saw it refused to dictate, the film was exposed, the reports were burned by their own authors. The catalogue keeps the number, out of respect for those who said nothing.
titan · S4–S5 · horizon–planet