Seed Writing

[~ Fiend ~ 611]

Some Backstory

Isabella, a young dedicant to the druid order had to ask a friend, Keegan, to read the messages off their message board to her, being that she's blind, and can't read. When he was finished he commented, "If only there were a way to read through touch..", and she was inspired.

 

She tried countless things, from flavored ink (a massive failure), to leaves of different crunchinesses, to twigs of different lengths. Nothing was working all that well, but she wasn't giving up.

The next day as she snacked on some baked seeds, it came to her. She took a few of her seeds, using the sharp end to press them into the sign she had on her workbench. Then another, and another. Pretty soon she had a good number of symbols. She showed Keegan, and he took the symbols and assigned them to letters, making the first seed-writing alphabet guide.

 

Isabella's always been a quick study, so she picked the letters up with no problem, learning to associate them with letters and sounds. Keegan helped her practice, teaching her all the rules of phonics and giving her examples to read. She's made a few copies (having seeing friends write the letters that each seed-grid corresponds to). She recently gave one to her friend Randolph, one of the robed librarians, so that it can be spread, and hopefully become something everyone knows about.

 

The System

Each symbol is made up of seeds on a 3x3 grid, much like braille is on a 2x3 grid. It's not entirely a minecraft joke, Isabella thought when she made it she'd need 48 letter possibilities because Callax misunderstood a question she asked.

 

Here's what the alphabet guide would look like:

 

 

The red is just to make it easier to see, in reality seeds would range from green to brown to black to white, depending on the seeds used. Also, the dark brown slashes represent a cut in the wood deep enough to be felt.

 

The space within a symbol is important. If A and B were too close together, they'd feel like C. The guide has an example at the top which simply says "Seed Reading.", that shows this. It's also possible to do an apostraphy with a space and another slash. (Some of the symbols look messy here because how do you even track pad, but the idea is there.)

 

As it stands there's no paper equivalent, Izzy's only used signs for writing.

[Shadeleaf 1022]

.SUPPORT! I like this very much, also using seeds makes a lot of sense in my opinion :)

[PtahWithin 1320]

((A great idea. However, I would recommend changing W. It is the only letter which is 3x4, all others can be made to fit in a 3x3 square.))

[~ Fiend ~ 611]

((I'm not sure I understand.. W is:

-o-

-oo

--o

 

3x3, just like the others. Maybe it wasn't clear because my 'handwriting' is derp. >w<))

[Evilbanana5757 154]

Cool! I like it!

[Lithimis 3]

((Very nice work, I am not familier with actual braille and how this compares, but it seems well thought out. We had a dicussion the other day about how hard it should be and is to RP a blind person effectively. The times I have seen you about you seem to do a very good job of it. Again, great job on the development of this.))

 

((Would this be considered lore?))

[~ Fiend ~ 611]

((Traditional braille is on a 2x3 grid. Of course these symbols are nothing like it aside from being raised dots, I just made them at random, as my character would have.

Also, awww~ thanks! Playing a blind character poses a lot of interesting challenges, especially since most people can just have their blindness magically cured, so there aren't many coping mechanisms invented and I have to ICly make them up. It's a lot of fun, thinking 'if I re-made braille but didn't know about braille, what would it be like?' and rping the process of her getting used to using a cane, and things of that nature. I've yet to have someone complain to me, and I'm flattered that you think I do a good job. It also raises a lot of OOC jokes and fun times. Someone was considering commiting a murder in front of my character the other day, because she wouldn't count as a witness. Many lols were had. I have lots of fun playing her, too, for what it's worth. c:))

 

((That's a good question. Maybe? I don't know, since I didn't put in an application to have it 'approved' or whatever, it really happened in-game in-character and I didn't stop to think twice about whether that might be a problem. ^^; Since a guide now hangs in The Robes's public library, it could be considered lore.. what's the exact definition of lore, anyway? >-< It's not some big intricate thing, it can't really be powergamed, like, at all, so it really depends on what lore is being defined as. Maybe I should ask a loremaster.))

[Quavinir_Twiceborn 1050]

+1 I think this is amazing! Elven brail with lore! original, and functional!

[theflyingpen 43]

((I think this is actually a very interesting thing to bring to the game and I for one would support it.  It would add another dimension for players who want to or are forced to play a blind character.))

[MamaBearJade 2090]

((Traditional braille is on a 2x3 grid. Of course these symbols are nothing like it aside from being raised dots, I just made them at random, as my character would have.

Also, awww~ thanks! Playing a blind character poses a lot of interesting challenges, especially since most people can just have their blindness magically cured, so there aren't many coping mechanisms invented and I have to ICly make them up. It's a lot of fun, thinking 'if I re-made braille but didn't know about braille, what would it be like?' and rping the process of her getting used to using a cane, and things of that nature. I've yet to have someone complain to me, and I'm flattered that you think I do a good job. It also raises a lot of OOC jokes and fun times. Someone was considering commiting a murder in front of my character the other day, because she wouldn't count as a witness. Many lols were had. I have lots of fun playing her, too, for what it's worth. c:))

 

((That's a good question. Maybe? I don't know, since I didn't put in an application to have it 'approved' or whatever, it really happened in-game in-character and I didn't stop to think twice about whether that might be a problem. ^^; Since a guide now hangs in The Robes's public library, it could be considered lore.. what's the exact definition of lore, anyway? >-< It's not some big intricate thing, it can't really be powergamed, like, at all, so it really depends on what lore is being defined as. Maybe I should ask a loremaster.))

((Might have to have your character meet Alexia. The two could share stories on how they cope with blindness. XP Lexi taught herself everything, so I think they could really get along ^_^))

[Ford 1996]

Nice.

[~ Fiend ~ 611]

((Might have to have your character meet Alexia. The two could share stories on how they cope with blindness. XP Lexi taught herself everything, so I think they could really get along ^_^))

((That sounds like it would be interesting. Izzy hardly ever strays from Malinor, maybe we could (literally) run into each other some time!))

[MamaBearJade 2090]

((That sounds like it would be interesting. Izzy hardly ever strays from Malinor, maybe we could (literally) run into each other some time!))

((I haven't used lexi much so she really has no where she goes to. the humans take no notice of her so meh, I am sure I can have her end up in Malinor))