Standing, Power, and research progress had been narrated dials for a while — true, but hard to hold steady from one session to the next. This session gave them just enough number to be fair, without turning them into dice by another name. The rule that governs all of it: quantify commitments, never outcomes. A number says what is pledged and spent; words say what happens.
Standing with a people is recorded as one of five words: Hostile · Cold · Guarded · Warm · Bound. It moves one notch at a time, only on the record, and every move names its cause in the minutes. Spending Standing steps down the dial for a named ask; earning it steps up for a named gift or deed. No people skips a step — and sometimes the maker of a peace caps how high a dial can climb, for reasons of their own.
Power is a list, not a score. Each asset a crew holds is either free, pinned (committed to a Work), or spent. Nothing is rolled against; a thing is either available or it isn't, and the record says which.
| Tier | Cost | Unlocks |
|---|---|---|
| I · Reading | 1 watch | The theory held — asking the right questions. |
| II · Practice | 2 watches + a subject/site | The craft used once, on record — doing it under pressure. |
| III · Mastery | 3 watches + a named Price | The craft owned — teaching it, which is how a department is born. |
No one skips a rung. Each tier's completion is a pip on its own card.
A line once written stands forever. Corrections are new lines beneath, never edits — nothing true is ever unwritten. This is the Rule of Council, and it's kept by the Ledgerman: a non-voting seat, a man always nearby and never quite in sight until he's called. Say “for the record—” and he's listening, in or out of session, wherever the table is. Whether he is only a diligent man, or something more, is a question the table gets to answer for itself.