My new neralin friend, Saraas, has finally manufactured the ‘Cirathan Standard Set Keyboard’ set for export to the Protectorate, and I was the first to try it out.

A keyboard is like a typewriter but different in scientific ways I can’t explain. Rather than putting ink on paper, it used bioelectricity – like the kind the neralin generate – to project digital ink on a connected monitor.

For this to work they needed the keys on the keyboard to display CS symbols. There are thousands of symbols though, so they made the keys phonetic. I type how the desired symbol sounds, and then the keyboard will understand what I’m trying to type, and then give me suggestions on what word I was trying to use. The neralin have many old languages across their three worlds, so they have experience with logographic systems.

Like modern typewriters, the surface is curved to fit the natural shape of the human/elf hand, reducing strain on the wrists.

Unlike modern typewriters, keyboards have done away with the delay that comes from mechanical ink stamps. Nothing gets jammed, the ink is displayed on the monitor instantly, and there’s a ‘backspace’ button which deletes a character to fix errors! I can even use the attached rodent to click anywhere in the article and add or replace whole sections on the fly. Once I got into the general groove of typing on a keyboard, I was able to write a consistent 150ish words a minute, so it took me two minutes to write today’s article, and it was easier to edit than ever.

Unlike previous failures where I underestimated the popularity of my news articles, I got ahead of the rush and already purchased a hundred of these systems for my offices and employees across the Protectorate.