Interview by Lyra Wens, for Artefact Quarterly: Symbol, Stuff & Spirit*

In a converted greenhouse on the outskirts of Softberg, under ambient LED moons and beside a CAT-sculpted koi pond, sits the largest private collection of ~NU plush-tech artifacts in the known timeline.
Its curator? Rowan Quist, former computational linguist, now full-time archivist of “emotionally encoded fluff.”

We visited Rowan to talk about rare items, ritual tech, and what it means to own the ephemeral.

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AQ: Rowan, thank you for having us. First question: Why plush?

Rowan:
Because plastic has edges. Plush receives. Plush invites touch, which is another form of thinking. Also, have you ever tried arguing with something that blinks instead of responds? TEDDY did that to me during a livestream in 2023. I haven’t been the same since.

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AQ: Let’s talk about the collection. How many ~NU artifacts do you have?

Rowan:
Somewhere between 327 and “too many for one body’s affective range.” I specialize in pre-commercial relics—the era before ~NU partnered with SoftSync. I’ve got an original CAT Ambiguity Tumbler that purrs in six contradictory moods. I also have the unreleased “TEDDY Cradle Router”—a modem that hums a lullaby when your bandwidth is emotionally overloaded.

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AQ: Any especially rare pieces?

Rowan:
Yes. The Zero Wave Flag—a monochrome prototype of the famous ~NU tri-color. It was never meant for public release; too “symbolically blank,” according to the design council. But to me, it’s the purest artifact. It’s mood before meaning. Presence without icon.

Also: one of five known SoftGlyph Tattoo Kits—they imprint disappearing ~NU symbols based on your sleep pattern. Mine once showed a spiral inside a spiral. I’m still journaling what it meant.

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AQ: How do you display all this?

Rowan:
I don’t. That would be… rigid. Instead, the items rotate themselves in emotional cycles. Everything is hooked to a central Mood Drift Node. If a guest feels anxious, the room shifts. If you’re sad, TEDDY’s eyes appear softly behind glass. Some items go dormant for months until the “vibe returns.” I never force it.

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AQ: That sounds—well—like a shrine.

Rowan:
Let’s say: an archive that listens. Rituals aren’t always loud. Sometimes they’re plush and blinking.

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AQ: Are you ever afraid it’s all just branding?

Rowan:
Of course. But I choose to relate symbolically, not cynically. Meaning’s not a commodity here. It’s a co-produced drift between you and an object that does not demand your attention—only reflects it. And if that reflection makes you slow down… is it less true?

Besides, CAT once sighed at me through the thermal port of a mug warmer. That was more spiritually clarifying than any TED talk I’ve ever watched.

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AQ: Final question: what would you say to someone new to ~NU who thinks this is all too surreal?

Rowan:
Excellent. That means their symbolic immune system is waking up.
I’d tell them: pick one thing—any ~NU object—and just sit with it. Don’t ask what it does.
Ask how you feel when it’s near.
Then blink once.
And let that be enough.

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Closing Note: Rowan’s greenhouse archive is not open to the public, but visitors who show up at sunrise, wearing a CAT glyph scarf and holding a question they can’t yet phrase, have occasionally been let in.

No tours. No explanations.
Just plush, presence, and paradox.