Gods of the fold

A pocket field guide to the gods of Kessel Street, for apprentices, visitors and the city watch. Printed by Tallow & Sons for the Binders' Guild, 1207. Price one penny, or free to constables, who never take one.

Before you begin

A fold is anything folded on Kessel Street with real intent that has woken as a small god. It is what it was folded for. A crane folded for luck is a god of luck. A ledger closed on a promise is a god of that promise. The shape matters less than the meaning, and the meaning is everything.

Folds are small, from the size of your palm to the size of a cat. They are proud, territorial and very literal. They will speak to anyone who has ever folded something, and to nobody else. If a fold will not speak to you, fold something. A paper boat will do. Then try again.

Courtesy

1. Address a fold by what it is for, not by its shape. "Good morning, Luck" is polite. "Hello, crane" is not.
2. Never touch a fold's edge without asking. An edge is a fold's face.
3. Never breathe on a fold in cold weather. Damp is unkind to paper.
4. Never put a fold in your pocket uninvited, however small it is and however much it seems to want to come.
5. Never begin to unfold one. Not "just to see". Not a corner. Not at all.

The common folds

Cranes

• Domain. Luck and wishes.
• Size. Palm to forearm.
• Temperament. Elegant, vain, sociable.
• Where found. Shop windows, mostly.

A crane in a window keeps luck for the house behind it. Cranes preen, and like to be told about their posture. A crane that is unhappy in its window will say so. A crane that stops saying so is planning something.

Boats

• Domain. Passage and crossings.
• Size. Palm.
• Temperament. Brave and restless.
• Where found. Bowls of water, gutters after rain, the mill steps at the Bend.

The oldest kind on the street. Boats sail upstream whenever they can, in honour of the first fold, and are offended by still water.

Letters

• Domain. A message.
• Size. As folded.
• Temperament. Single-minded.

A letter-fold knows exactly who it is for, and will deliver itself if it is allowed to. It cannot be redirected by anyone else. If you are not its addressee, do not try to read it. It will not let you, and it will remember.

Maps

• Domain. Finding the way.
• Temperament. Confident, and often out of date.

A map remembers the street as it was on the day it was folded. It will direct you to shops that closed years ago, with total conviction.

Ledgers

• Domain. An account, and the promise inside it.
• Size. Book-sized, and heavy for a fold.
• Temperament. Gruff, exact, unforgiving.

A ledger records what is owed, and by whom. It cannot forgive a debt. It is not that it will not: forgiveness is not a figure. Ledgers are the most reliable witnesses on the street and the least pleasant.

Envelopes

• Domain. A secret kept.
• Temperament. Discreet, to a fault.

An envelope stays shut. That is all it does, and it does it perfectly.

Hats

• Domain. An occasion.
• Temperament. Cheerful during the occasion, sulky after.

Fans

• Domain. Cooling: of rooms, of tempers.
• Where found. The guild bench, in summer, by long tradition.

Promises

• Domain. The promise it was folded on.
• Size. A finger's length.
• Temperament. Faint, earnest, brief.

The simplest fold of all: a strip of paper folded twice, with a promise said over it. A promise-fold is weak and does not live long. It lasts exactly as long as the promise is kept. Children fold them. So, now and then, do old binders who know precisely what they are doing.

Animals

• Domain. Whatever the paper was.
• Temperament. Varies.

Animal folds are rare, and they are the exception to the rule that shape matters little. An animal folded from working paper takes its domain from the paper, not the shape. A fox folded from an index card is a god of finding misfiled things. There is one such fox on the street at present, and he would like you to know that he is not a filing aid.

The one great fold

There is one great fold on Kessel Street: the Guildhall Book. It was made in 1013 from the ninety-one survivors of the Great Unfolding, who chose to be refolded into a single god.

A great fold is many folds become one. The guild's view, held since 1013, is that there should only ever be one on the street, and that it should be asleep.

Signs of trouble

• A fold that will not speak. It is not broken. It is choosing to stay folded shut. Wait.
• A new crease where there was none. Something has changed shape, or been made to. Find out which.
• Paper lying flat with no crease left in it. Send for the guild. Do not touch it. Do not let anyone else touch it. Stand beside it until someone comes.