Surface II · the archive
The Codex
Odinani · Omenani · ilu · agwụgwa · ifo · history · myth. Every entry carries its source tier, its citations, its dialect tags, and its contributor — the reader always knows which register they are in.
The lecture hall
An Introduction to Igbo Philosophy
154 lectures from The Medicine Shell (Derik Ofodirinwa — a named Tier 2 source, honoured in the novel's libation), arranged as a course of study: cosmology, ritual, divination, history, language.
The cosmology deck
Odinani — the way of the ancestors
64 learning cards on Igbo cosmology and sacred science — Chukwu, Chi, Agwu, the Dibia, the deities, sacred number and geometry — drawn from Umeh's After God is Dibia (Tier 1) and the Odinani scholarship around it. Every card is shareable and open to the circle.
The lexicon
Dictionary of Ọ̀nìchà Igbo
3,006 entriesmined from Williamson & Blench (Tier 3 — take the segmentations and attestations, audit the glosses). This seeds the root registry the Forge will build on.
A second dictionary
Nkọwa okwu — the Igbo API dictionary
8,154 entries with 1,379 example sentences, from the open, community-maintained Igbo API (Tier 3, Apache-2.0). Kept alongside — never merged into — the Ọ̀nìchà lexicon: where two sources agree, attestation is stronger.
The ideographic script
Nsibidi
1,012 glyphs from the Ikpo Nsibidi Dictionary (Tier 3) — a Cross River ideographic script, native to West Africa, that writes meaning rather than sound. The same property this Codex is building toward for the whole Niger-Congo family.
From the novel itself
Akala — characters & titles
Every named character and title from Akala — A Theatre of Apes & Pigs, portrayed and defined. Tier 3 — from the novel itself.
The eight shelves
Okwu
WordsThe lexicon — morphemes, tone, pattern, dialects, derivation record.
Open
Ilu
ProverbsCompressed arguments, resistant to drift. Text, tone, literal gloss, meaning, usage.
Open
Agwụgwa
RiddlesThe call, the response, and the logic of the resolution.
Open
Ifo
FolktalesText and audio, motifs and variants.
Opens with contributions
Odinani
OntologyChukwu, Chi, Agwu, the Dibia, the deities, sacred number — the cosmology deck, tiered and open to the circle.
Open
Omenani
Custom & practiceRites, the calendar, ọzọ institutions, market days.
Opens with contributions
Akụkọ
HistorySourced and tiered.
Opens with contributions
Nrọ
Myth · Tier 2bThe mythic-psychohistory shelf — admissible for story and morale, never as evidence.
Opens with contributions