Configuration

Chapter 1

The Cipher family line had been stuck for a very long time.

Albert Cipher had grown up with stories of his great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Oliver Cipher, where the family line truly started. He was the first, and last, Cipher to make something of himself, to pull himself out of his lowly Isosceles class, ascend to the respectable ranks of an Equilateral. Some credit was to be given to his birth parents of course, an anonymous but presumably near-intelligent Isosceles soldier, to have had an Equilateral son, and his presumably Regular wife, but they were rarely included in the story. A passing mention-- that the soldier must have been at least 58 degrees, any less intelligent would have been preposterous, and that his wife must have been of decently good breeding, for an Isosceles-born girl, at least, but they were generally disregarded in the retelling. It felt wrong to acknowledge them further-- that was what had gotten them into all this trouble in the first place.

It was Oliver's mother who started this mess, it had to have been, a Shape never would have cowed to misguided pity so easily. A Shape would have never been so stupid to have disobeyed strict orders from the Chief Circle himself, at least not a Regular shape, and Oliver Cipher's father, his adopted one, was most certainly Regular.

Nobody could quite remember how the woman let it slip, but somehow or another, the circumstances of Oliver's birth were made apparent to him and, (under the Line's sentimental influence, no doubt,) he attempted contact with his birth parents.

He realized how foolish his endeavor was within a week, or at least that's what the family always told Albert, but the damage had been done. Whether it had been spending time in the Isosceles district or simply being made aware of his unfortunate heritage, something in the family line stunted then and there. Oliver's first child was a Line, which was a pity, and the family did not have the influence to marry her off to a Square. They, of course, had another child, and his first son was an Equilateral. A shame, but no Equilateral is guaranteed a Square child, and an Equilateral could, bless the Laws of Configuration, always try again.

When none of Oliver Cipher's nine children ascended a class, gained a side, he sheepishly blamed his bad breeding, and his father angrily blamed Oliver's mother for making him aware of it. When none of his 26 grandchildren gained a side, he wondered if it went beyond bad breeding, if the Laws of Configuration were punishing his family for making an ascended Isosceles aware of his adoption.

When none of his 84 great-grandchildren ascended to the Square class, Oliver Cipher declared it a curse and forbade any mention of his parents, either pair of them, until his death.

Albert's generation had suffered the worst version of the curse yet-- in a family of 256 cousins, and 11 siblings, he was the only Shape of the bunch. None of his cousins or sisters were married off to anyone of any importance, and, even if they had been, he knew that he and his future children were the last chance the Cipher family had of their name ever escaping the lowly rank of the acute rabble.

When he was younger, this pressure seemed almost inviting. He was the only Shape in an army of frivolous Lines-- that had to mean something, and it wasn't possible for the curse to get any worse than this. He married a Line whose family was facing a similar issue, Dorabella, the eldest daughter of the Affine family, and excitedly waited for the birth of their first child. He would be a Square. He would be a Square and Albert Leon Cipher, after generations of rotten luck, would be the next Cipher to make something of himself, his son would make something of himself.

William Bedford Cipher was born with an Irregularity of .5 degrees.