Glyph descriptions
Ashkin (Grade 4 / Street Tier) carries a glyph of a single charcoal stroke crossing a salt-drop; it is writable in smoke ink and used on apprentice tally slates.
Slatewarden (Grade 3 / Block Tier) uses a glyph of stacked quill bars with a looping witness curl, common on ink pavilions and chapels.
Relayhand (Semi Grade 2 / District Tier) bears a glyph of three interlinked channels forming a stylized relay knot and is stencilled on district relay doors.
Vaultwright (Grade 2 / District-City) shows a boxed ledger with a braided core, punched on ledger plates and vault hatches.
Inkmarshal (Semi Grade 1 / City Tier) is marked by concentric rings of redaction with a central witness dot and is sewn into registry gloves and renewal robes.
Reliquary Captain (Grade 1 / City-Metro) displays a quorum trident overlaid on a seal ribbon and is embossed on command writs.
Crosswrit Custodian (Special Grade 1 / Metro-Regional) uses a glyph of a crossed writ and relay spike tied with three witness loops for intercity transfer warrants.
Bloomforged (Special Grade) carries a bloom icon fractured into three ledger shards that appear only on containment dossiers and sovereign writs.
Latticeborne (Semi-God) is represented by a lattice halo with a single ascending anchor line, reserved for codicil logs.
Codexheart (God Tier) bears the Codex sigil - a heart of ink bound by an ouroboric page - used on extraterritorial filings and cosmic registrar scrolls.
Full Codex entries (per tier)
1. Ashkin - Precincts: salvage terraces, forge benches, ossuary apprenticeships.
Duties: single-target salvage, basic scouting of small blooms, and anchor-weaving practice.
Legal visibility: minimal; municipal wards handle incidents.
Reserve: ~10-40 (baseline 30). Attestation: rare; typical cost 1 credit. Stability
risks: minor lattice scarring on overreach; stability check if a single action spends >25% reserve.
Notes: Anchor Counting debts, apprentice miscounts, illicit salvage of inert shards.
Slatewarden - Precincts: registrar chapels, ink pavilions, codex academies.
Duties: proven sealing grammar, supervised witness loops, and squad support during audits. Legal visibility: low-to-moderate; municipal audits possible.
Curse Energy Reserve: ~40-60 (baseline 45).
Attestation: mid-tier redactions; typical cost 2-6 credits. Stability
risks: cumulative ledger traces; checks for sustained attunement.
Notes: forged witness tokens and sloppy redaction ink.
2. Relayhand - Precincts: district relays, ward patrol brigades, salvage brigades.
Duties: multi-target containment, relay repairs, neighborhood lattice reroutes.
Legal visibility: moderate; registrar intervention likely for complex incidents.
Curse Energy Reserve: ~60-100 (baseline 80).
Attestation: district rites 4-8 credits. Stability
risks: lattice scarring and synchronized hunger from repeated shifts; 25% rule applies.
Notes: relay improvisations that bypass Lamb countervows.
3. Vaultwright - Precincts: vault forges, district ledger offices, relay-critical wings.
Duties: solo high-risk missions, ledger repair, defeating Grade 2 curses, high-draw anchor crafting.
Legal visibility: high; actions leave ledger traces and registrars are frequently involved.
Curse Energy Reserve: ~120-200 (baseline 160). Attestation: district->city rites 12-30 credits. Stability
risks: forced containment on failed rituals; checks for sustained attunement and attestation failures.
Notes: unauthorized reanchors and public Anchor Counting controversies.
4. Inkmarshal - Precincts: city chapels, Seal Renewal teams, magistrate detachments.
Duties: lead sensitive missions, coordinate Seal Renewal, supervise mixed-house teams.
Legal visibility: very high; immediate registrar interest on activation.
Curse Energy Reserve: ~300-500 (baseline 360). Attestation: 64-160 credits; escrow or collateral common. Stability
risks: lattice scarring, compulsion, reality bleed on prolonged rites.
Notes: sealed witness leaks and politically motivated redactions.
5. Reliquary Captain - Precincts: metro operations, Quorum commands, export teams.
Duties: lead large operations, coordinate multi-wing teams, quarantine regional breaches.
Legal visibility: very high; municipal writs and cross-wing oversight expected.
Curse Energy Reserve: ~600-1000 (baseline 800). Attestation: 200+ credits, escrowed by the Magistrate Conclave. Stability
risks: synchronized hunger and lattice corruption; failures can sequester wards or wings.
Notes: diplomatic incidents from exported techniques and Relay Breach investigations.
6. Crosswrit Custodian - Precincts: intercity registrar coalitions, transfer bureaus, relay coalition nodes.
Duties: intercity adjudication, cross-jurisdiction transfers, and regional containment directives.
Legal visibility: intercity registrar alerts; ledgered across municipal systems. Reserve: ~1200-1800.
Attestation: 500-1200 credits; coalition approvals required. Stability
risks: intercity scarring and legal contagion; subject to coalition containment.
Notes: transfer warrant forgeries and codicil leak scandals.
7. Bloomforged - Precincts: sovereign containment, triple ledger archives, high-risk sequestration wings.
Duties: exceptional unregistered or sovereign anchors; shape major operations and design containment.
Legal visibility: triggers sovereign and intercity attention; heavy oversight.
Reserve: ~2400.
Attestation: triple ledger rites and heavy collateral; costs in thousands of credits. Stability risks: reality bleed, permanent lattice scarring, forced containment or ritual nullification.
Notes: Bloomforged may be implicated in city-scale incidents; political targets for containment or patronage.
8. Latticeborne - Precincts: codicil archives, annual codicil rites, cosmic registrar monitoring.
Duties: quasi-divine lattice control; near-immortality in native realms; precursors to God Tier.
Legal visibility: cosmic registrar monitoring; annual codicil filings mandatory. Reserve: ~4000+.
Attestation: requires perpetual escrow and codicil surcharges.
Stability risks: existential corruption, lattice affinity inversion, permanent codicil loss.
Notes: subject to codicil trials and sovereign negotiation.
9. Codexheart - Precincts: extraterritorial filings, cosmic registrar briefings, permanent juridical bindings.
Duties: alter metaphysical law, near-immortality across realms, create extraterritorial writs.
Legal visibility: permanent juridical bindings and cosmic registrar intervention. Reserve: narrative scale; permanent escrow and international treaties apply.
Stability risks: reality rewrite, existential checks, universal containment attempts.
Notes: Codexheart acts reshape city-state relations and Codex articles.
Numeric mechanics (to make system):
Reserve baselines by tier
Ashkin 30
Slatewarden 45
Relayhand 80
Vaultwright 160
Inkmarshal 360
Reliquary Captain 800
Crosswrit Custodian 1500
Bloomforged 2400
Latticeborne 4000
Codexheart 40,000+
Attestation cost formula: A = round(1 × 1.6^(g-1)), where g = tier index starting Ashkin = 1. Codex tiers multiply by institutional multipliers (practical ranges listed above).
25% rule: any single action spending > 0.25 × Reserve triggers a Stability Check.
Stability Check: roll d20 + (-floor(spent/Reserve × 4)) vs DC 12. Failure = +1 Corruption point + immediate minor effect (temporary debility, short memory leak). Each Corruption point raises the subsequent DC by +1.
Corruption progression: thresholds at 5 (scarred affinity), 10 (compulsion / chronic debilitation), 15 (automatic registrar seizure and possible containment).
Promotion (rules of thumb): Missions required = base 3 × tierIndex. Endorsements = tierIndex. Attestation escrow = sum(attestation cost for next tier) × 2. Fast-track halves missions, doubles escrow, and increases registrar scrutiny.
Stability, containment & legal visibility (quick adjudication flow): Ashkin incidents -> Municipal Warding; Seal Renewal notice.
Relayhand incidents -> District Registrar; temporary quarantines and re-anchoring.
Vaultwright incidents -> District->City Registrar; ledger trace and possible forced attestation escrow.
Inkmarshal activations -> City Magistrate Conclave; Seal Renewal emergency.
Reliquary Captain incidents -> Intercity registrar coalition; siphon arrays deployed.
Crosswrit Custodian incidents -> Intercity containment and coalition writs.
Bloomforged incidents -> Sovereign writs; triple-ledger rites and heavy containment.
Latticeborne / Codexheart incidents -> Cosmic registrar notification; codicil trials; extradimensional encasement options.
Sample in-world documents (abridged): Apprenticeship Certificate (Ashkin) - "Certificate: [Name]-Ashkin-Completed 1,000 braid drills & 300 ink-hours. Plate: Ashkin-07-292."
Registrar Summons (Slatewarden) - "Ink Pavilion III summons [Name] for witness reiteration. Nonappearance invokes ink-hold."
Containment Dossier (Vaultwright) - "Incident: Relay Face 12b bloom. Assigned: Vaultwright Mara Tress. Min reserve staging: 0.4×Vaultwright Reserve. Attestation escrow: 18 credits."
Intercity Transfer Warrant (Crosswrit Custodian) - "Warrant: Transfer Reliquary Wing assets to Relay Coalition Node. Binder + Registrar pair required."
Seal Renewal Notice (Inkmarshal) - "Annual Seal Renewal Day 7, Waning Drum. All wings submit witness tokens and attestation receipts; noncompliance triggers Seal Penalty."
Rank insignia, house honorifics, and street slang: Insignia is a stitched glyph on the sleeve; house color bands are Graves = salt-black, Lamb = ink-red, Mixed = braid-gold.
House honorifics include "Braided Scion of House Nael" (Graves), "Redaction Scion of House Juro" (Lamb), and "Twinbind Heir" (mixed).
Street slang by tier: Ashkin: "salt-eye", "sparker."
Slatewarden: "quillie", "slate."
Relayhand: "knots", "flow-graft."
Vaultwright: "ledger-bear", "core-saw."
Inkmarshal: "ink-sarge", "ringkeeper."
Reliquary Captain: "vault-helm."
Crosswrit Custodian: "writ-guard."
Bloomforged: "bloomforged" (spoken with caution).
Latticeborne: "latticeborn" (whispered).
Codexheart: "the Heart" (formal/fearful).
Parallels to the Grade System(for intercity clarity)
Ashkin - Grade 4 (Street Tier).
Slatewarden - Grade 3 (Block Tier).
Relayhand - Semi Grade 2 (District Tier).
Vaultwright - Grade 2 (District/City borderline).
Inkmarshal - Semi Grade 1 (City Tier).
Reliquary Captain - Grade 1 (City/Metro Tier).
Crosswrit Custodian - Special Grade 1 (Metro/Regional).
Bloomforged - Special Grade. Latticeborne - Semi-God Tier. Codexheart - God Tier.
Cross-cultural note: Ondrel officials append the plain Grade label in parentheses when filing outside the city (e.g., "Vaultwright (Grade 2)").
Outside communities may use numeric Grade names without Ondrel localisms.
Codex header example (for plaques): "Vaultwright - Ledger Operative - District/City borderline. Reserve baseline 160. Legal visibility: High. Localism: Ondrel codex parlance only."