Current R5 chapter text. Archived R4 canon.
Changes and open questions
Revision notes
- Twenty-four of 110 story paragraphs have changed wording since 26 September; story evidence now points to the revised queue, delegation and recording passages.
- The current pack keeps Nara's limited mandate and the recording's unresolved provenance visible alongside the political argument.
Unresolved in this chapter
- The 43-second apparent Graham address has a receipt time, not a verified recording time or recording officer.
- Nara declines the offered office; Tern only proposes an open receiving session and cannot promise the other custodians' agreement.
Established story material
A2-CHAR-NARA · Character
Nara Venn
A linen worker organising meals and representation at an eastern receiving court. She is chosen for a limited delegation, recognises her own attraction to office and applause, and distinguishes her wish that the Graham recording be false from evidence about it.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 1, ¶ 29, ¶ 42, ¶ 58, ¶ 72, ¶ 78, ¶ 97, ¶ 101, ¶ 103
Illustration continuity
Use the existing Organiser image only as a character concept. Its banners and insignia are not established as this chapter's faction symbols; do not invent their significance.
A2-CHAR-AMEL · Character
Amel Ryn
The kitchen porter who challenged the compact at the end of Chapter 7 is named here. She returns with its papers, serves the court, is selected as a delegate and responds to the apparent Graham recording with hope rather than certainty.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 8, ¶ 11, ¶ 42, ¶ 45, ¶ 91, ¶ 107
Illustration continuity
New portrait not commissioned. Distinguish her from Nara: the insulated carrier, the work of serving and a tired, unguarded expression are the useful motifs.
A2-CHAR-DAVIT · Character
Davit Sorn
Bakehouse worker helping serve food. He collects a delayed load with volunteers, injures his hand and presses Nara about what political progress changes for the next meal.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 6, ¶ 15, ¶ 24, ¶ 59
Illustration continuity
No portrait commissioned. Hands dividing bread or hauling a cart; practical bakery clothes, not another coat-and-balcony portrait.
A2-CHAR-ILEN · Character
Ilen
A woman collecting food for herself, her father and a boy. She asks for evening reports so carers and shift workers can participate. Her father cannot come down the stairs. No surname is supplied.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 3, ¶ 37, ¶ 40, ¶ 78, ¶ 86
Illustration continuity
Three different bowls and a brief visit between caring duties; do not portray her as permanently present at every meeting.
A2-CHAR-PERA · Character
Pera Sol
Keeper of the market booth's notices and public calls. She preserves the received recording package, wrapper and surrounding notice and sends a copy to the Council House archive. Delivery time does not establish filming time.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 95, ¶ 99, ¶ 105
Illustration continuity
A working booth attendant beside a receiver, not the inventor of the recording or an omniscient authenticator.
A2-CHAR-HOLT · Character
Systems Clerk Holt
Finds the delayed handcart and an after-hours contact, hears both the ward repair and the receiving court's cost, and gives the court access to the next review without promising unlimited veto power.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 14, ¶ 25, ¶ 28, ¶ 49, ¶ 52
Illustration continuity
Retain the existing character definition. No newly approved portrait in this release.
A2-CHAR-TERN · Character
Reva Tern
Offers Nara an office and consultation role. She keeps food access independent of accepting that role and agrees to propose an open receiving session, with private personal details protected. Approval by all custodians is not established.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 63, ¶ 73, ¶ 77, ¶ 78
Illustration continuity
Her cracked spectacle lens has been replaced by this third afternoon; the other remains cloudy. Avoid importing the earlier broken lens into this scene.
A2-PLACE-VIADUCT-COURT · Place
Eastern Viaduct Receiving Court
A food distribution and sheltering space beneath the viaduct. Assemblies grow into adjoining platforms while serving lanes remain necessary. It is one court among many, not the entire Lower City.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 4, ¶ 7, ¶ 37, ¶ 53, ¶ 86
Illustration continuity
Future wide ensemble scene: low viaduct, food pots, reused vessels, rain and a lane kept clear. Do not replace it with a triumphant character portrait.
A2-PLACE-MARKET-BOOTH · Place / communications
The Old Market Booth
A local receiver and notice point becomes a place for court messages and public discussion. Its screen receives the apparent Graham address; custody of the transmitted copy does not prove the speech authentic.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 25, ¶ 53, ¶ 85, ¶ 95, ¶ 105
Illustration continuity
Human-scale receiver, borrowed stool and lamp. Readable notices should be separately typeset.
A2-OBJ-COURT-MANDATE · Record / artifact
The Crate-Lid Mandate
A reused crate lid carries the representation question and the court's limited delegation. Amel and Nara must report back; neither gains general authority to surrender the court's food. Evening review permits replacement.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 30, ¶ 42, ¶ 85
Illustration continuity
Object-led study of worn wood and chalk. Only established words may be typeset; do not invent signatures or a finished constitution.
A2-OBJ-DELIVERY-COST · Artifact / evidence
Davit's Shirt Strip
A strip wrapped around the handcart handle becomes bloodstained. Amel brings it to the supply meeting alongside the report of a successful ward repair; it makes the cost at the receiving end visible.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 24, ¶ 45
Illustration continuity
Restrained still life of cloth beside a dispatch sheet; no gore or invented wound close-up is needed.
A2-OBJ-OFFERED-OFFICE · Place / proposed appointment
The Offered Room
Two receivers, a desk and a cushioned chair offer practical capacity as well as the temptation of personal office. Nara does not accept the appointment. Food questions remain eligible for help.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 61, ¶ 62, ¶ 72, ¶ 73, ¶ 78
Illustration continuity
Empty room and chair can convey the choice without repeating Nara's portrait.
A2-FACTION-COURT-DELEGATES · Emerging civic association
The Receiving-Court Delegates
Several courts choose limited messengers and discuss recall, reporting times and open hearings. Numerous places remain unreached. This is neither a citywide electorate nor a permanent settlement.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 42, ¶ 66, ¶ 83, ¶ 85, ¶ 86
Illustration continuity
Varied people at work and in discussion; no new faction emblem or uniform has been approved.
A2-OBJ-SHORTENED-QUESTION · Record / public speech
The Question Without the Coat
Nara distinguishes essential public systems from personal possessions. A recorder repeats her inheritance question without that qualification. Marian has not authorised the admirer speaking about her.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 57, ¶ 58, ¶ 60, ¶ 79, ¶ 80
Illustration continuity
Editorial typography can contrast the question and its qualification. Do not create a fabricated verbatim transcript of the entire speech.
A2-OBJ-GRAHAM-RECEIVED · Record
The Forty-Three-Second Received Address
An apparent Graham recording supports Marian's succession and asks obedience to custodians. Pera measures 43 seconds, preserves the received package and sends it to the archive. The source officer and recording time are unverified; no resurrection or completed proof of forgery is established here.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 87, ¶ 90, ¶ 99, ¶ 101, ¶ 105
Illustration continuity
Use a documentary receiving card rather than creating a new canonical Graham likeness. Do not label the receipt time as the filming time.
A2-EVENT-INTERRUPTED-SPEAKER · Event
The Lamp-Oil Request
An ordinary court delegate's request is drowned out by the apparent return of Graham. Nara stands beside her and records the need; attention to the image does not supply the lamp oil.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 87, ¶ 104
Illustration continuity
Ensemble with a small speaker beneath an overpowering public screen. Reserve any painted master for a separate art pass.
Companion records
A2-015 · companion record
Nara asks why systems indispensable to daily life must belong to an heir. Her speech distinguishes common needs from personal possessions; a shortened copy loses that qualification.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 53, ¶ 57, ¶ 58, ¶ 60, ¶ 79, ¶ 80, ¶ 81
A2-016 · companion record
A forty-three-second recording appears to bring Graham back into the succession debate. Its political convenience proves nothing. The received package is preserved and sent to the archive; its authenticity remains unresolved.
Revised chapter evidence: ¶ 87, ¶ 90, ¶ 97, ¶ 99, ¶ 101, ¶ 103, ¶ 105
Continuity locks
- This chapter opens on the night of the compact and reaches the fourth evening after Graham's fall.
- Amel Ryn is the previously unnamed receiving-court porter; Nara Venn is a separate linen worker.
- Amel and Nara may report for one court and be replaced; they cannot surrender its food or represent all London.
- The ward lift is reported repaired, while the northern coupling and citywide normal movement are not declared restored.
- Nara has not accepted a personal office. Food service does not depend on her accepting it.
- The apparent address is received through an estate relay. The receipt proves delivery, not when or by whom the speech was made.
- The public quote of Nara's argument drops her qualification about private possessions; her fuller speech distinguishes shared systems from personal goods.
Game concept notes
Untested story-based design candidates. Costs, statistics and rarity are not approved game rules.
A2-C08-F01 · Figure — existing character variant · Influence / Knowledge
Nara Venn, Answerable to the Court
A benefit is available only while a specific represented Place remains eligible; changing or losing that mandate removes the benefit rather than granting permanent control.
Design question: Use an existing visible game state to represent the mandate. Do not create an unbounded collection of votes or counters.
Source entries: Nara Venn, The Crate-Lid Mandate
A2-C08-F02 · Figure · Influence / Infrastructure
Amel Ryn, Receiving Delegate
Lets a player answer one declared reallocation affecting a Place they control, with a clear timing window and a meaningful cost.
Design question: The response must not turn every opponent action into a compulsory negotiation or a permanent veto.
Source entries: Amel Ryn, The Receiving-Court Delegates
A2-C08-F03 · Figure · Infrastructure / Influence
Davit Sorn, The Last Loaf
Moves an existing resource to a receiving Place at an opportunity cost; no resource is created merely by moving it between the same two locations.
Design question: What existing exhaustion or commitment rule can represent labour without adding physical injury as a resource mechanic?
Source entries: Davit Sorn, Davit's Shirt Strip
A2-C08-P01 · Place · Influence
Under the Eastern Viaduct
Rewards building a local network while leaving room for an opponent to disrupt a connection; occupying a Place is not automatic authority over every Figure there.
Design question: Keep network scoring bounded and distinct from any existing declaration-and-hold victory requirement.
Source entries: Eastern Viaduct Receiving Court, The Receiving-Court Delegates
A2-C08-R01 · Record · Knowledge / Influence
The Crate-Lid Mandate
Names a Figure, a Place and an expiry for one delegated benefit. The opponent can see those limits before choosing whether to contest it.
Design question: Use existing targeting and turn-end timing; decide what happens when either named card leaves play.
Source entries: The Crate-Lid Mandate
A2-C08-E01 · Event · Influence
Let the Receiving Court Speak
Provides one bounded response to an authority effect at a named Place, rather than cancelling every order across the board.
Design question: Define the eligible effect class and prevent a recursive response chain.
Source entries: The Lamp-Oil Request, The Receiving-Court Delegates
A2-C08-R02 · Record · Authority / Knowledge
The Received Address
Separates possession of a Record from verification of its authority. An unverified claim may invite a challenge; exact rewards and penalties remain open.
Design question: Do not announce the Chapter 9 solution in a Chapter 8 card or make verification equivalent to omniscient knowledge.
Source entries: The Forty-Three-Second Received Address, Pera Sol