What Is the Threadset?
In Tessare, the alphabet is not recited like ABCs. Instead, it is organized by thread type, not letter shape.Each thread is a phonetic cluster, an emotional posture, and a blink pattern. Letters are less about spelling and more about how time is pulled.
Faters say:
"We do not speak to be heard. We thread to be understood."
Threadset Categories Thread TypeSounds UsedBlink TypeMeaning SeedLoose Threada, s, h, lsingle blinkopen time, soft truths, gentle threadsTight Threadt, k, q, xno blinktension, precision, controlKnotted Threadb, d, p, gdouble blinksecrets, burdens, held-back futuresCut Threadz, ch, v, fflutter blinkirreversible choices, endings, crisisLoop Threadm, n, r, whalf-blink (slow)repetition, memory, ancestral echoEcho Thready, j, e, o, u, ieye shift (sideways)prophecy, multiple readings, layered self
Example Letters from the Threadset GlyphSoundThread TypeBlink RuleUsage MeaningsLoosesingle blinkwhisper, surrenderkTightno blinkcommand, refusalchCutflutter blinkwarning, threat unspokenmLoophalf blinkgrief repeatingiEchoright blinkidentity across timelineszCutflutter blinkcollapse or forced transformationrLoopslow blinkremembering something you didn't live
A Child's Mnemonic Rhyme (Sabine's Version)
"Soft threads whisper, sharp ones snap.Blink once to love, blink twice to trap.If you blink wrong, a path may fall—So learn your threads, or lose them all."
Final Thought on the Threadset
The Threadset isn't memorized like a modern alphabet.Each "letter" is an emotional stitch that, when blinked and voiced, opens a path in time.
Faters do not spell.They set threads in motion.
Tessare — The Riddling Language of the Faters
Spoken in breath, blink, and spiral. Understood only by those who know time is never a line.
Why Riddles?
To delay fate — direct speech can solidify a thread too soon.
To test the listener — only those who listen in more than one tense understand.
To weave safely — the truth can cut; a riddle loops it so it can breathe.
Sabine once told Ayoka:
"If I gave you a straight answer, I'd be lying before I finished the breath."
Structure of a Fater Riddle
Every sentence has two tracks:
Surface meaning — what a stranger might hear.
Thread meaning — what a Fater (or someone close to fate) hears.
A blink, pause, or hand-thread gesture can change the meaning mid-sentence.
Common Riddle Forms Form NamePatternPurposeSplit Knot"If I fall, I rise. If I rise, I end."Warns of a trap or contradictionThread Loop"The second answer eats the first."Gives layered instructionsBroken Eye"What you see isn't who I was."Misdirects the listenerSpindle Truth"One truth. One lie. One silence."Classic prophecy formulaMirror Path"You and I are twins—but only one survives."Marks a fated choice
Sabine's Everyday Examples What Sabine SaysWhat She Means"A thread pulled too straight snaps itself."Don't force an answer from me."Three spiders danced, two were eaten."There's a betrayal in progress."The quiet girl hums before she cuts."Watch Ayoka. She's preparing something."I blinked four times and the future coughed."Something has already changed."The thread you step on holds your name."This choice marks you.
Cultural Rule
To speak Tessare directly is taboo.Only children, traitors, or mortals speak without riddles.Everyone else weaves, blinks, and lets the truth twist.
Why the Faters Speak in Riddles
Outsiders listen like every word is a threat.
Plain speech invites misunderstanding — and misuse.
Time resists being looked at too directly.
Plain words can be dangerous. Entire realms have fallen because someone misunderstood a Fater's warning.
So they say:
"The thread's gone pale and the shadows are clapping."Instead of:"You're in danger."
If you understand, you were meant to.If you don't, you weren't.
The Truth About Fater Speech
Faters have no alphabet. Their language works in any tongue — spoken, signed, pulsed, or gestured — as long as the thread logic remains.
Sabine could say "I saw a spider blink twice" in French, Serkreyol, a lullaby, or English. It would carry the same weight.
Fater words aren't spoken to be understood — they're spoken to keep the thread breathing just long enough for the listener to decide what they want to hear.
The danger doesn't live in the language.It lives in the timing.