THE OLD ORDER

THE COUNCIL

The trustees of a sleeping man's estate became the rulers of the system built upon it.

The Council is the governing oligarchy Graham encounters immediately after waking.

Its authority grew from the trusteeship of the Sleeper's expanding estate. Across generations, administration of property became control over the institutions and systems on which society depended.

The Council therefore has a unique problem when Graham wakes. Its legitimacy rests partly on managing property that now has a conscious owner.

Rather than surrender power, the Council isolates Graham, restricts his information and attempts to keep him politically harmless.

Its defeat ends the old regime but not the structures through which that regime governed.