Codex

A chart of the sardine-tin sea

The sea inside the sardine tin on the bench, drawn as islands. Every name on it belongs to an entry in the codex, and every one is a link.

A chart, not a survey. The games give the sea a ladder, tin decks, a bridge with a lid, a lighthouse and a far end where the good oil is, but never say where any of it lies. The codex drew the islands from a seed and put each thing where it fits. Three smaller islands are not on record, so they have no name. The sea as you walk it is the map in Always On. Lap it up races plank roads over it, round the lighthouse and back over the lid, and in Make Do: Deep End it is a tin of oil sunk in the workshop floor, with the oil drum at the bottom and the lighthouse standing in it. Neither adds a name the chart doesn’t already have.

The Sardine-Tin Sea (The sardine-tin sea)Brine’s Decks (Captain Brine)The Far End (The Opener)Foot of the ladder (The sardine tin)The oil drum (Lamp oil)The lighthouseRing pullA bottle (Soggy receipt)Lumen’s Rock (Lumen)Gill’s Tackle (Gill)Crab Key (Can crab)Sardine Shoals (Sardine)The Slick (Oil slick)Tin Eel Waters (Tin eel)The lidTHE SARDINE-TIN SEAcharted for the codex, from a seedNScale of Leagues02.557.510
Swipe the chart sideways for the rest of it. Drawn in the cartography library’s antique style, the Scale of Leagues included. Everything in the sardine-tin sea · How the places connect

In words

The sea

  • The Sardine-Tin SeaThe sardine-tin sea: The sea inside the sardine tin on the bench. It’s mostly oil.

Islands

  • Brine’s DecksCaptain Brine: A sardine. In charge of the sea, as far as anyone is.
  • The Far EndThe Opener: “Round and round. Round and round.” Nobody opens the tin but it.
  • Lumen’s RockLumen: Keeps the lighthouse. Has a nutcracker that was their mother’s.
  • Gill’s TackleGill: Bait and tackle. Mostly tackle. The bait left.
  • Crab KeyCan crab: Nips. Then raises one big claw.

Places

  • Foot of the ladder on Brine’s DecksThe sardine tin: A sealed sardine tin on the bench. The lid rolls back on a whole sea.
  • The oil drum on The Far EndLamp oil: Best sardine oil. Part one of three.
  • The lighthouse on Lumen’s RockThe lighthouse: An anchovy tin with a torch in it.
  • Ring pull on Brine’s DecksRing pull: A ring pull the size of a door handle.
  • A bottle on Gill’s TackleSoggy receipt: From a bottle. “1 × Lamp, standard. Returns accepted.”
  • The lid sealed across the bridge from Brine’s Decks to The Far EndThe lid: A tin lid, sealed across the bridge.

Waters

  • Sardine Shoals off Brine’s DecksSardine: Slaps.
  • The Slick off The Far EndOil slick: Spreads. Soaks itself back up.
  • Tin Eel Waters the open seaTin eel: An eel in the sardine tin. Eats sardines; gets longer.