Glossary
The words used here, in plain terms. Several of them are ordinary words doing particular work, which is the usual reason a term is confusing.
- Association
- My Mother's Trust itself: a private membership association, not a company or a firm.
- Member
- Anyone whose request to join has been affirmed by a steward. Membership does not expire, and nothing is required of you between visits.
- Steward
- A person. Stewards answer requests to join, acknowledge contributions, and perform removal by hand rather than by form.
- Covenant
- The two short agreements that govern participation here. They are read before they are affirmed, and they bind both sides.
- Affirmation
- A statement made on one's own word and conscience. Nothing here is sworn, and instruments formed here use affirmation language throughout.
- The Field
- The private space that opens when you sign in: your records, your emblems, your settings, and the Scriptorium.
- The Scriptorium
- The space within the Field where records are formed.
- Bundle
- A coordinated set of instruments that agree with one another, formed together. Not a template you fill in.
- Instrument
- A single document within a bundle: a declaration, an act, or a covenant, each doing one thing.
- Record
- The finished thing: the instruments as prepared, and the answers behind them.
- Draft
- A record still being worked on. A draft saves as you go, so you may leave and come back.
- Emblem
- A mark you may place on your instruments. Optional, and changeable up until you submit.
- Witness
- A person who attests to an instrument's execution, in the capacity the instrument names.
- Certificate of Service
- A page stating what was served, on whom, when and how. Anything left empty prints as a ruled line for you to complete by hand.
- Mark and fingerprint
- Two values minted with every finished record and kept permanently. They describe the document and nothing about you, so a copy you printed years ago can still be checked against the association's own record of it.
- Retention
- The clock on what the association holds: thirty days by default, extendable to 180 from the record's own screen, then removed.
- Contribution
- What sustains the association. Welcome, never required, and never a price. Standing is the same either way.
