Install Port

The design of Shurelia's Install Port.

The Install Port (インストールポイント, insutoorupointo^?, lit. "Install Point"), also known as Installer Port, Installer Point and Install Point is a tattoo-like mark that appears on a specific place of a Reyvateil's skin. As this Port tends to be key to the Reyvateil's life, they instinctively hide it from sight in the presence of strangers.

Description

Install Ports are marks of around 5 cm in diameter that can manifest in any place where the skin of the Reyvateil can be in contact with the outside world, and it is a visible manifestation of the Grathnode compound that composes part of their bodies. Each Reyvateil has a single Install Port, and while their shapes are more or less unique, there can be similarities in the shapes of the Reyvateils that are part of the same family, allowing to roughly trace their genealogy. It must also be mentioned that Third Generation Reyvateils tend to have more chaotic shapes, while the Install Ports of Pureblood Reyvateils like the Pureblooded β-Types and Origins have more symmetrical and orderly shapes due to the fact the shapes are designed by their creators and input as a preset in their memory. This doesn't happen with the Halfbloods, so the image data for the Install Port's design comes from an indefinite place. This form cannot be modified once established, and it remains the same for the entirety of the Reyvateil's life.

Purpose

As mentioned previously, the Install Port is a manifestation of the Grathnode component of a Reyvateils' body, meaning it is their point of contact between the physical world and their own spiritual world, the Soulspace. It is this same direct access to the Soulspace Address which makes Diving possible as well, as the Dive Machines scan the Install Port of the Reyvateil in order to find her address. The Install Ports' direct equivalent in the Cosmospheres is the Stonehenge, as it serves as the arrival point for the Divers, as well as the end point for any stratum.

Any items that have a Parameno or Grathnode base, be they for Song Magic strengthening or the Diquility life extending agent, will react with the Grathnode present in the Install Port and will be decomposed into their constituent waves to then be absorbed into the Reyvateil's own Soulspace. This is the theory behind Installs. An Install is the only way in which the waves contained in Grathnode-based items may directly reach the Soulspace Address of the Reyvateil. This procedure was given the name "Install" as it was originally intended to install software into the Reyvateils that was contained as bundles of H-Waves in Grathnode and Parameno crystals.

Similarly, the Install Port can also work on the inverse and allow the extraction of items that have been Installed into the Reyvateil, though this Uninstall process would require the usage of a Hymmnos Spell and knowledge of the target Reyvateil's Hymn Code. It is currently unknown how Uninstalls work for Reyvateils who lack these Codes.

In the Third Era, the Install port is the only way to access the Soulspace Address from tri-dimensional physical space, because the addresses exist on the H-Wave (spiritual) plane, divorced from the D-Wave (physical) plane, and attempting to target these addresses would require the usage of high-order imaginary numbers due to the Install Port apparently employing quantum teleportation to reach the address, although it has not been confirmed.

Due to the Install Port being the exposed part of the Grathnode in her body, which could reveal to outside observers how she is feeling, and because it is so key to her continued survival, it can often serve as a source of embarrassment, anxiety and even fear for a Reyvateil. Therefore, she will try to keep it hidden and to only show it to people they would willingly trust their lives with, such as trusted partners, relatives, or their superiors at work.

Manifestation

The Install Port is already present in all Pureblood Reyvateils from the time they are born as six year-old children, as it is needed not only for it to be known they are Reyvateils, but also for maintenance purposes.

As for the Halfblood Reyvateils, the Install Port only appears once their Reyvateil qualities awaken and their minds are mirrored into the SH Server.

It is possible for the Install Port to be damaged and rendered unusable, but if this happens, the LPM will erase it and make it appear in another area of the Reyvateil's body where it is possible for it to manifest, which excludes dangerous or troublesome locations like the mucous membranes, eyes or the body's natural orifices. These are also the same locations in which the Install Port cannot manifest for the first time in any Reyvateil.

The reason for the Install Port having a different, randomized location for each Reyvateil is due to the fact that it would be easy to attack and disable them if they all had the Port located in the same place, so this was done as a security measure for them. It was initially proposed that the Install Port should change its location every once in a while as well for the same reason, but as that would have made maintenance problematic, the designers decided on the current scheme as a compromise.

Trivia

• It was decided that the character artwork for the series would never depict the Reyvateils with their Install Ports visible.