Directs evacuation, evidence discipline and distributed recovery without pretending copies erase physical loss. She waits for signed fire evidence before naming the attack deliberate, separates the later black mark from attribution, and publishes the recovered unprovenanced sheet with its missing provenance visible.
Use smoke-dark archive corridors, distributed holdings tables and evidence-room custody rather than a heroic lone archivist portrait.
A2-CHAR-DARAN · Character
Daran Pell
Evacuates with Eliza, helps track surviving copies and challenges the emotional tension between 'the archive survived' and genuine irreversible loss. He later helps search remote holdings for the unrecognised symbol and accepts that distributed survival is not equivalence.
Smoke-streaked copying clerk with holdings lists or remote search sheets.
A2-CHAR-PERA · Character
Pera Sol
Carries out the local alarm capture, records the black mark, photographs the recovered sheet and helps create the provisional public record. Her custody work preserves sequence and timing rather than authenticating authorship.
Recorder, timestamp notes and evidence photography; no surveillance-control imagery.
A2-CHAR-NARA · Character
Nara Venn
Brings volunteers and public witnesses, helps build the first distributed holdings census and insists recovery remain observable. She supports covering the black mark after sampling and participates in the custody of the later UNKNOWN sheet without treating it as proof of identity.
Butcher-paper holdings map, volunteers and evidence witness scene.
A2-CHAR-ARUN · Character
Arun Vey
Helps prove that the archive suppression systems were selectively bypassed, supplies distributed storage infrastructure and later examines the recovered steel case without claiming that the word UNKNOWN automatically matches the delegated principal from Chapter 17.
Suppression manifold, storage racks and case examination; avoid cyberattack imagery.
A2-CHAR-MARIAN · Character
Marian Vale
Opens former estate offices as temporary custody and recovery sites while explicitly separating emergency use of estate space from ownership claims. She reads the recovered sheet without touching it and keeps its identity implications unresolved.
Former estate offices repurposed for custody; no inheritance symbolism.
A2-CHAR-ROOK · Character
Commander Rook
Contributes aerial heat reconnaissance, perimeter support and offsite courier cylinders containing backup copies. His offsite material demonstrates distributed preservation but remains copies, not magically elevated originals.
Courier cylinder and field inventory rather than combat aircraft.
A2-PLACE-CENTRAL-ARCHIVE · Place
The Central Archive
The main archive building suffers severe fire and water damage, especially around Level Seven east and the cable spine. It remains partly usable; the chapter explicitly rejects both 'archive destroyed' and 'nothing important lost.'
Exterior with damaged east side and temporary barriers; avoid total-ruin imagery because the building survives.
A2-PLACE-LEVEL-SEVEN-EAST · Archive zone
Level Seven East
Contains trustee-era provenance, identity migration and preservation-office transfer material. Its suppression paths are selectively defeated and multiple ignition origins are later documented.
Smoke-filled records corridor, dry sprinkler head and shutter mismatch; no graphic fire victims.
A2-EVENT-SUPPRESSION-BYPASS · Sabotage evidence
The Selective Suppression Bypass
A manually closed valve with spoofed position feedback, an unauthorised gas-maintenance bypass and selective alarm suppression disable three independent protections around specific Level Seven rooms. Later multiple ignition origins support a deliberate attack finding.
Three-column evidence study: water valve, gas bypass, alarm suppression.
A2-OBJ-BLACK-ARCHIVE-MARK · Disputed sign
The Black Mark on the Archive Doors
A black circular mark is found on the east emergency doors after evacuation. Surviving footage does not establish when or by whom it was applied. Samples and photographs are preserved, and the mark is covered afterward.
Door mark with sampling scale and later salvage-board cover; do not present it as authenticated attacker insignia.
A2-OBJ-HOLDINGS-CENSUS · Recovery record
The Distributed Holdings Census
The first replacement catalogue is a possession census: FOUND, CHECKED, PARTIAL, MISSING and DAMAGED across district libraries, engineering stations, schools, private holders and offsite stores. No column is called SAFE.
Butcher-paper table of holdings and verification states.
A2-OBJ-RECONSTRUCTION-RECORD · Provenance record
The Reconstruction Record
Schedule Nine's public packet is reassembled from multiple verified holders rather than selecting one surviving copy as a new master. Each component retains its own source and custody note.
Component list pointing to several independent holders; no master-copy crown.
A2-OBJ-DISTRIBUTED-CATALOGUE · Public catalogue instance
The Distributed Recovery Catalogue
A temporary catalogue mirror at the Spine displays central damage alongside surviving copies and makes uncertainty visible. Its banner explicitly warns that location is not authority.
Catalogue screen with banner DISTRIBUTED RECOVERY INSTANCE — DO NOT TREAT LOCATION AS AUTHORITY.
A2-OBJ-STEEL-CASE · Recovered artifact
The Unmarked Steel Case
A narrow reused steel case is recovered from a service cavity between Levels Six and Seven. Its exact pre-fire location, placement date and owner are unknown. It is opened only after photography, measurements, swabbing and custody recording.
Closed evidence case with soot and measured scale; no glow or secret-key imagery.
A2-OBJ-UNPROVENANCED-SHEET · Record / unresolved evidence
The Recovered Unprovenanced Sheet
One dry typed sheet inside the case carries an unrecognised symbol, continuity language, no signature/date/catalogue/issuer and the word UNKNOWN. Its relationship to the delegated principal, black-seal events and responsive Graham presentation is explicitly not established.
One-sided typed sheet with blank provenance fields and UNKNOWN at bottom; preserve the unfamiliar symbol without turning it into an authenticated faction emblem.
TCG candidates
Untested design candidates only. Costs, statistics, rarity and timing are not approved. No live game rules change in this release.
A2-C20-F01 · Figure · Knowledge / Influence
Eliza Marr, Enough Copies
When one Record source is destroyed, Eliza can preserve a bounded public effect if independently verified copies remain in more than one holder.
Open design question: Use existing discard/reveal rules; do not make redundancy an automatic immunity to all destruction.
Destroys or disables one central repository while leaving independently held verified copies intact; unique physical context can still be permanently lost.
Open design question: The event must have real cost and not become a beneficial redundancy trigger.
Enters with missing provenance and cannot grant identity or authority benefits until separately sourced; it can seed later comparison and discovery effects.
Open design question: Preserve the Chapter 21 mystery and do not encode the eventual answer into this candidate.
Chapter 20 follows Chapter 19's provisional Essential Systems Charter debate and southern exchange sabotage; neither has resolved the wider political crisis.
The central archive fire is deliberate, supported by selective suppression bypasses and multiple ignition origins. The attacker remains unidentified.
The black circular mark on the archive doors is documented but its application time and author are not established.
No staff member dies in the central archive fire. Three staff have burns and two firefighters have smoke injuries.
Level Seven east suffers severe loss; the entire central archive is not destroyed.
Distributed copies preserve public content but do not make unique physical originals, annotations, order, material context or other losses equivalent.
Schedule Nine and other major records survive through multiple verified holders; the chapter does not select one surviving copy as a new master.
The distributed recovery catalogue explicitly separates location from authority.
Former estate offices, engineering stations, schools, libraries, private holders, custodial rooms and offsite air-service storage all contribute differently to recovery.
The unmarked steel case's exact pre-fire location, owner and placement date remain unknown.
The symbol on the recovered sheet is not identified as the black seal or sleeping eye.
The sheet's word UNKNOWN does not by itself prove relation to the delegated principal UNKNOWN from Chapter 17.
The phrase beginning WHEN NO RECOGNISED PRINCIPAL RESOLVES is incomplete and must not be expanded before Chapter 21.
Chapter 21 must investigate the recovered sheet's provenance and meaning; Chapter 20 must not reveal its author or final mechanism.
The attack destroys originals and context. Do not retcon the fire into a costless demonstration of redundancy.
Existing Chapter 9 artwork, Chapter 5 notes, Archive 001 content and live game rules remain unchanged.