Sylladex

The Sylladex  (pl. *sylladices* ) is the medium by which characters can metaphysically carry, organize, and access items (called artifacts ). It is analogous to the inventory management system commonly used in video games.

## Decks

A Sylladex keeps artifacts inside of two decks: the **Captchalogue Deck** and the **Strife Deck**.

### Captchalogue Deck

The **Captchalogue Deck** can hold any artifact that can be captchalogued. Artifacts must either be captchalogued into empty cards  or captchalogued into cards that already contain closely related artifacts . This is useful for characters to keep items that would otherwise be too cumbersome to carry  with their own arms. Despite this, it is still possible for artifacts to be too large to captchalogue .

Filling captcha cards can cause other captcha cards in the Captchalogue Deck to become inaccessible . Artifacts inside inaccessible cards cannot be used for any purpose, and cards blocking it must first be emptied or selected  for it to become accessible once again. Inaccessible captcha cards display their artifacts slightly grayed out .

When a person captchalogues an artifact, it goes into a captcha card  in their Captchalogue Deck based on their fetch modus's logic. This may cause a previously captchalogued artifact to be ejected if there is no more room in the Captchalogue Deck  or if the logic dictates an artifact must captchalogue into a captcha card that is already full. Ejected artifacts  often cause  collateral damage . Artifacts set to eject don't launch immediately , giving characters time to eject more artifacts or duck for cover.

### Strife Deck

The **Strife Deck** holds weapon artifacts. The After a kind abstratus has been selected, accessible captcha cards containing valid artifacts  can be moved into the Strife Deck from the Captchalogue Deck.

Apparently, John's unallocated strife specibus came with one empty captcha card in its Strife Deck.

See Strife for more information on Strife mechanics.

## Captcha Cards

**Captcha cards** are used to store captchalogued artifacts inside the Sylladex, usually inside the Captchalogue Deck or Strife Deck. When not being kept in the Sylladex, they exist in physical space  and can even be captchalogued themselves .

If a Captchalogued captcha card would be ejected from the Sylladex, it instead integrates with the deck , increasing the Sylladex's maximum capacity. Multiple cards can be integrated at once .

### Captcha Codes

The backs of captcha cards display captcha text  8 characters long . The text is obfuscated by colorful lines and patterns. These obfuscations can be so intense that the captcha code becomes entirely unreadable , such as is the case for Rose's copy of the Sburb server, or for pumpkins .

### Ghost Images

Ghost image artifacts can be obtained through various means. These artifacts are not tangible and cannot be used like actual artifacts can. They display inside their cards as faded monochrome versions of the artifacts they represent. The only practical use of ghost image artifacts is that the captcha code for the real artifact is still printed  on the card's back.

### Artifact Quantity

Filled captcha cards will display the quantity of their artifacts in the bottom left corner . If the quantity is unknown, it will be listed as x~ . If the card contains multiple kinds of artifacts, the quantities of each kind of artifact will be listed separately . If multiple artifacts are merged into one card and the artifacts together could be considered a single thing, the captcha card may consider it as one artifact  (for example, the hammer and nails are stored in one card as x1 hammer and x4 nails. However, the magician's hat and the beagle puss glasses are stored in one card as x1 disguise).

### Punching Cards

During Sburb, cards can be punched for use with the game's alchemy system. Cards that have been punched can no longer be used normally; any artifacts inside the card can no longer be accessed , and the card cannot be put back in the Sylladex.

### Using Artifacts

Artifacts stored in captcha cards can be used in different ways:

* Artifacts can be placed in the world from the sylladex .
* Accessible captcha cards can be selected to use their artifacts on the environment . Multiple accessible captcha cards may be selected and used in conjunction .
* Accessible captcha cards can be equipped , letting characters wear the captchalogued artifacts. While equipped, artifacts still take up space on the captcha card, but the card is removed from the Captchalogue Deck . This can allow access to cards that the equipped card otherwise made inaccessible.
	+ Unequipping an equipped artifact re-captchalogues it to the Captchalogue Deck .
* Accessible captchalogued artifacts can be moved from the captchalogue deck to the strife deck .

### Combining Artifacts

Artifacts captchalogued in separate captcha cards may be merged into one captcha card . Multiple artifacts in one captcha card can be used together.

When captchaloguing an artifact, it can be immediately combined with any artifact in an accessible captcha card . This prevents consequential effects such as forcefully ejecting other artifacts.

When captchaloguing artifacts, they may still be combined with captcha cards that are currently equipped .

The merging of artifacts doesn't always occur cleanly or intuitively (for example, putting ash back inside an urn ). Because of this, some tasks may be completed more efficiently by hand using actual tools.

## Fetch Modi

A **fetch modus** (pl. *fetch modi* ) is the logic and rules by which a person's Sylladex lets them manipulate captchalogued artifacts. Each character starts with their own fetch modus. Whether this is because they had a physical copy of their modus or not is unknown .

Before being applied to a Sylladex, fetch modi exist in physical space  as modus cartridges . New fetch modi can be applied by captchaloguing a fetch modus card and using it on the Captchalogue Deck . It is also possible to simply immediately apply a fetch modus card  to your Sylladex  by collecting it, not requiring you to captchalogue it first.

Most  fetch  modi  can be turned over to reveal options for customizing the rules of the modus. There is also usually an EJECT button on the back. Pressing this button ejects all artifacts  from the Sylladex .

The names of artifacts are not concrete, and artifacts can be captchalogued under different names  for fetch modi where the name of the artifact is important for the modus's logic.

### Fetch Modus Control Deck

A **Control Deck** is a device that can be used to combine the effects of multiple fetch modi into one . It is a physical device  with six cartridge slots and a power button. When turned on, the effects of the modi plugged into the device are combined.

The Control Deck remains in physical space  while active, so it is unknown how the device knows which person the modi should operate for, or if the modi need to first be removed from the Sylladex to be plugged into the Control Deck.

### Known Fetch Modi

#### Array

**Array** is the most basic fetch modus an the third fetch modus used by John.

Rules for captchaloguing:

* Artifacts can be captchalogued into any card .

Rules for accessing and ejecting:

* All captcha cards are always accessible .

#### Stack /Queue

    **Stack** and **Queue** are the fetch modi first used by John. John starts with four captcha cards  and Stack mode.

Rules for captchaloguing:

* When captchaloguing an artifact, all captcha cards are pushed to the next card to make room in the first card. Then, the new artifact goes into the first card.
* Merging non-adjacent cards results in merging all cards between them .

Rules for accessing and ejecting:

* In Stack mode, only the first  captcha card (the most recently captchalogued artifact) is accessible.
* In Queue mode, only the last  captcha card (the earliest captchalogued artifact) is accessible.

* When artifacts are pushed out of the bottom of the stack  or the front of the queue , they are ejected.

Modus options :

* FILO or FIFO – Whether or not to use Stack or Queue mode.

#### Queuestack

The **Queuestack** is a combined fetch modus created by John using the Fetch Modus Control Deck and the Stack and Queue modi. This modus is never actually used, as it only exists for one page before being replaced by the Array of Queuestacks modus.

Rules for accessing:

* The first and last captcha cards are both accessible.

#### Array of Queuestacks

The **Array of Queuestacks** is a combined fetch modus created by John using the Fetch Modus Control Deck and the Stack, Queue, and Array modi.

Rules for captchaloguing:

* When captchaloguing artifacts, they can be put into  any one of four arrays , called "queuestacks".

Rules for accessing and ejecting:

* Only the first or last card of any of the four queuestacks can be accessed.
* When an artifact is pushed out of the end of one of the queuestacks, it is ejected.

#### Hash Map

    **Hash Map** is the fetch modus used by Dave. It was first mentioned on page 35  to be used by Dave. Dave starts with 10 cards and the following function enabled: C=2; V=1;

Rules for captchaloguing:

* Each card in the Captchalogue Deck is given an index, starting at 0. When an artifact is captchalogued, the name of the artifact is used to generate a number. The number is divided by the Captchalogue Deck's current total number of captcha cards, and the remainder is the index which the artifact will be captchalogued into.
* The letter Y can be considered a vowel or a consonant . However, the modus seems reluctant to accept this loophole.

Rules for accessing and ejecting:

* Changing the function on the modus ejects all items in the sylladex .
* Artifacts can be ejected manually using commands  that evaluate out to the index of the captcha card you want to eject. These commands trigger even if used accidentally .
* Artifacts may remain captchalogued even if new artifacts are combined into the card  that would consequently change its name (and thus change its rightful index). However, if the artifact is ejected  and re-captchalogued, the artifact will go into the new index .

Modus options :

* hash functions – A list of preset hash functions. Includes a text field and "ADD" button for adding new functions.
* detect collisions  – Checkbox. While on, the modus will not allow artifacts to be captchalogued that would otherwise eject an already captchalogued artifact

#### Tree

**Tree** is the fetch modus used by Rose. First mentioned on page 154  to be used by Rose. Rose starts with 8 captcha cards , Root mode, and auto-balance on.

Rules for captchaloguing:

* Dictated by the logic of a tree data structure. The first captcha card she fills becomes the root card . Every card she fills after that becomes a new leaf  on the tree, being stored as either a left child or right child depending on alphabetical sorting.
	+ For example , captchaloguing a Violin and then a Knitting bag. Violin is the root, and the Knitting bag becomes the left child, because K comes before V.

Rules for accessing and ejecting:

* Either only the leaf cards or only the root card is accessible, depending on the modus's settings.
	+ If the artifact from the root card is removed from the Captchalogue Deck, all of the other artifacts connected to it are dumped out .

Modus options :

* ROOT or LEAF – Whether or not the root card or leaf cards should be accessible.
* auto-balance – Checkbox. While on, when the tree becomes unbalanced, the modus will rebalance itself by rearranging the cards .

#### Jade's Board Game Modi

Jade owns a set of board game themed fetch modi that she once received for Christmas.

##### Memory®

**Memory®** is one of Jade's fetch modi, and the first one she uses in *Homestuck*. Jade has a knack for correctly guessing the locations of artifacts using this modus, essentially allowing her to captchalogue and access artifacts freely.

Rules for captchaloguing:

* When all captcha cards in the Captchalogue Deck are full, the modus continues captchaloguing artifacts from the beginning , ejecting old artifacts.

Rules for accessing and ejecting:

* Captchalogued artifacts are split up and stored in two random obscured cards. There are twice as many obscured cards as there are captcha cards in the Captchalogue Deck. Two retrieve an artifact, the user must correctly identify which two cards the artifact is stored in.

##### Jenga®

**Jenga®** is one of Jade's fetch modi, and the second one she uses in *Homestuck*.

Rules for captchaloguing:

* The modus requires 18 captchalogue cards . When an item is captchalogued, the card gets split into three parts and assigned to blocks on the Jenga tower.
* Switching to this modus causes all of the artifacts in the Captchalogue Deck to be ejected .

Rules for accessing and ejecting:

* When all three of an artifact's blocks are removed from the tower, the artifact is ejected. This can occur from removing the blocks intentionally, or from the entire tower being knocked over .

##### Pictionary®

**Pictionary®** is one of Jade's fetch modi, and the third one she uses in *Homestuck*.

Rules for captchaloguing:

* To captchalogue a nearby artifact, the artifact must be drawn on the modus's provided drawing tablet . If the modus recognizes your drawing, the artifact is captchalogued  without incident.
* If the modus recognizes your drawing as something that is not nearby, it will captchalogue a ghost image  of that artifact.
* The modus's image recognition is not perfect, and often  misinterprets  drawings .

## Trivia

* In [S] Act 4 ==> , John can access his Sylladex by pressing the X key.

## Footnotes

1. ↑ On page 36 , John has a hammer captchalogued at the top of his Captchalogue Deck, with four total captcha cards. On page 38 , he moves the hammer from his Captchalogue Deck to his Strife Deck. Then, on page 40 , John is shown to still have four total captcha cards. This means that the captcha card did not go into the Strife Deck along with the hammer.

But, because the captcha card containing the sledge hammer on page 167  is shown to go into the Strife Deck with the artifact, we know that weapons still need to be stored in captcha cards inside the Strife Deck.

Therefore, it must be assumed that John's unallocated strife specibus already had an empty captcha card inside it.