Voss-Tertius

Voss-Tertius is the third grade of the fineness schedules codified in the Voss Recension, denoting a measured proximity to nullity of not less than nine parts and not more than fourteen, expressed on the Tertian scale. It is the only Voss designation whose standing has been formally questioned in writing by the office that administers it, and the only one for which no founding instrument survives. Holders of the grade are listed on the Tertian Register, kept in a locked press on Floor 4409 and consulted by appointment through the Office of Precedence.

Origin and the missing schedule

The Voss Recension was established by Auditor Voss with provision for four grades, and the founding table is preserved in full for Voss-Primus, Voss-Secundus, and Voss-Quartus. The column headed for the third grade is present but empty; the ruling beneath it bears the Auditor's seal and no entry. Elara Voss, who later held the grade herself before her elevation as Arch-Assessor of the Office of Material Coherence, was asked to account for the omission in the winter of the 8,000s and replied only that the Auditor "left the third seat warm and did not say for whom" — a remark recorded in the marginalia of the Tertian Register and cited in every subsequent dispute.

Working schedules for Voss-Tertius derive from Order Tertius, the documentary class under the custody of Librarian Tertius. Whether Order Tertius constitutes a lawful founding instrument or merely a classification of instruments that might have been one is a question the Concordance has declined to settle on four separate occasions.

The Tertian scale and its crossings

Fineness under Voss-Tertius is read against the Treatise on Proximate Nullities, attributed to Librarian Tertius, which fixes the Tertian scale at twenty gradations between the second and fourth Voss thresholds. An object assessed at gradation eleven is said to be tertian; one assessed at gradation twelve is said to be tertian and a half, a phrase which has no schedule standing but appears in eleven thousand assessment slips.

Assessment requires two crossings by fixed sonic beacon, following the triangulation technique pioneered by Archivist Kaelen Voss and adapted by Elara Voss for The Voss Series. Instruments assessed once and not crossed are recorded as pending tertian, a state that carries no privileges and, by the long practice of the Register, no time limit.

Controversy: the fourth grade problem

Scholars of the Voss Recension divide sharply. The majority position, argued from the Auditor's four-grade provision, holds that Voss-Tertius occupies the third seat by simple sequence and that the empty column is an omission of the scribe, not of the Auditor. A minority, associated with the late reader of the Tertian Register known as M. Voss, maintains that the third grade was deliberately the blank one and that every entry since has been written into a seat the Auditor reserved for something else.

"The third seat is warm. It is not empty. It is occupied by the expectation of an occupant, which is a different thing and must be assessed at gradation nine."

— Third Concordance, Annex 4, marginal note

The Third Concordance itself, notably, refers to "the three lesser Voss grades and the fourth," a phrasing that appears to count Voss-Tertius among the lesser and then subtract it from the total. Three petitions to amend the phrasing have been filed; all three were found to be in order and none was acted upon.

The Tertian Register and the Voss-Septus affair

The Register records holders, their crossing dates, and any dissent entered against their standing. In the matter of the proposed Voss-Septus designation, Elara Voss appeared as countersignatory for The Voss Series and argued for acceptance on the ground that the Series already contained grades beyond the fourth and could not be read without them. The argument was accepted in part; Voss-Septus was admitted, and a note was entered against every tertian holder then living, the effect of which has never been explained to the satisfaction of the Office of Material Coherence.

Dissent may be entered at the Register by any seal-keeper of the Office of Precedence. Tertius Mal, seal-keeper, entered such a dissent against Ordinance 8902 Alpha1 and appended, in the same hand, a complaint that the Tertian press had been left unlocked on three occasions that winter. The complaint was upheld. The press has since been locked.

Inventory of the Tertian press

The press on Floor 4409 was inventoried in the 8,000s and found to contain the following:

• Nine assessment slips, four of them pending tertian;
• One crossing rod, beacon-adapted, unreturned since the time of Junior Librarian Elara Voss;
• The Tertian Register, in two volumes, the second beginning mid-entry;
• A note reading "warm" in three hands;
• Eleven envelopes, sealed, addressed to the Office of Material Coherence.

The envelopes have not been opened. It is the position of the Office that opening them would constitute an assessment, and that the grade of what they contain is a matter for the fourth grade or higher.