^ ^                 ^ ^
=(o.o)=  ~byakuren  =(o.o)=
  m m                 m m

Terscii: A Ternary ASCII Encoding

Terscii is a character encoding system based on ternary (base-3) digits. Each character is represented by four trits (ternary digits), where each trit can be n (negative), z (zero), or p (positive).

Character Table

The first two trits select the column, the last two select the row:

Design Principles

Symmetry Through Negation

The encoding is symmetrical — to get the inverse of any character, simply negate all its trits (swap n↔︎p):

• a ↔︎ A
• z ↔︎ Z
• ACK ↔︎ NAK
• NUL is the stationary point (all zeros)

Column Organization

The first two trits determine the character category:

Control Codes

Control codes occupy the center columns (zn, zz) and serve dual purposes for protocol-level signaling and text editing:

Symbol Mnemonics

The digit-symbol pairings follow visual patterns:

Keyboard Layout

A 3×9 grid layout designed to align with ternary structure, plus thumb keys:

Base Layer

q  w  f  p  b  l  u  y  j
a  r  s  t  g  n  e  i  o
z  x  c  d  v  h  m  k  .
    SF BCK SPC LNF SY

Shift Layer

Q  W  F  P  B  L  U  Y  J
A  R  S  T  G  N  E  I  O
Z  X  C  D  V  H  M  K  ,
    ^^ DEL TAB ACK __

Symbol Layer

.  :  ,  +  -  (  '  =  )
1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 ST ET  0
    __ NAK NUL ACK ^^

Thumb Keys

• SF (Shift) and SY (Symbol) modify which layer is active
• indicates the modifier is held; **__** indicates inactive
• Holding both modifiers cancels out — enabling toggle or default-hold input methods
• Thumb keys are grouped by semantic meaning (editing, whitespace, protocol)

Layout Philosophy

• 3 rows of 9 keys fits the ternary structure (3⁴ = 81 possible characters)
• 3 thumb keys per hand for modifiers and common operations
• Layer switching modifies which “bits” (trits) are being referenced
• The dual-modifier cancellation allows flexible input modes (hold vs toggle)