A continuity selector, an unused brass key, temporary authority forms and the rule that seeks the highest valid source available under the current succession state.
Historical canon pack: these claims and numbered evidence links document the 26 September 2026 text. The novel has since been revised. A “revised passage” link appears only when the cited wording survives in the revised chapter; other claims await editorial verification.
Established story material
A2-CHAR-ELIZA · Character
Eliza Marr
Tests the recovered UNKNOWN sheet against independently dated records, refuses to let functional resemblance become provenance, documents the continuity selector without operating it, and narrows the record from unknown mechanism to functionally consistent but still unprovenanced evidence.
Comparison tables, sealed evidence, selector documentation and catalogue revision; avoid a revelation pose.
A2-CHAR-ARUN · Character
Arun Vey
Explains that the selector ranks authority sources rather than creating persons, traces the selector into later identity infrastructure, and isolates it from live systems without using the manual key.
Mechanical relay logic, cable tracing and isolated output path; no glowing supercomputer.
A2-CHAR-NARA · Character
Nara Venn
Keeps public witnesses inside the investigation, pressures technical language into civic meaning, and recognises that refusing an heir does not itself remove the institutional need for a recognised source.
Public witness log and selector discussion; avoid turning her into the selector's political owner.
A2-CHAR-MARIAN · Character
Marian Vale
Confronts the possibility that simply refusing succession leaves the primary identity path unresolved and allows fallback authority sources to continue being ranked. She considers acceptance only as a potential way to close or redirect that path, without signing anything in Chapter 21.
Marian before the selector and later beside the unopened succession instrument; no crown imagery yet.
A2-CHAR-DARAN · Character
Daran Pell
Helps trace the sheet's composite language across decades of manuals and remote copies, including the later maintenance page that independently completes the continuity rule.
Photographs route markers, room labels, service cards and selector evidence; maintains custody and witness records while resisting premature interpretation.
Recorder and evidence photography in the narrow maintenance room.
A2-CHAR-KEST · Character
Iona Kest
Tests the legal and custody implications of entering the service room, the temporary continuity certificates and Marian's possible succession standing without converting machine preference into law.
Custody log and continuity forms; no courtroom staging.
A2-PLACE-CONTINUITY-ROOM · Place
The Continuity Service Room
A hidden but maintained service room beneath the first Hall of the Atlas contains layered continuity equipment, old and modern wiring, service cards and the manual selector. It is infrastructure, not a throne room or secret government chamber.
Ranks available authority sources through primary principal, trustee fallback, civic continuity and manual selection. It selects a source; later identity and translation systems map that source into principals, roles and permissions.
Relay sequence diagram showing source selection, not a machine choosing a human ruler.
A2-OBJ-BRASS-KEY · Manual selector key
For When There Is No Master
A nineteenth-century brass key is sealed beside the selector under a handwritten label. Chapter 21 does not use it. An independent maintenance page later shows it can place the selector into a disconnected manual-source test mode.
Brass key behind sealed glass with evidence strips; no magical-key treatment.
A2-OBJ-CONTINUITY-FORMS · Administrative forms
The Continuity Certificates
Forms record temporary source authority, scope, duration, succession state and witnesses. Later versions progressively drop duration and witness fields, showing how a temporary continuity procedure became easier to renew and normalize.
Several generations of the same form with fields disappearing over time.
A2-OBJ-SOURCE-CHAIN · System model
Source → Principal → Role → Permission
The chapter distinguishes four stages: the selector resolves an authority source; the identity service maps source to principal; translation maps principal/role to service permission; delegation can create child principals where allowed.
Four-step diagram with boundaries between each stage.
A2-OBJ-MANUAL-SOURCE-TEST · Maintenance procedure
Manual Source Test
An independently held eastern maintenance page documents that the brass key can move the selector into a disconnected simulation state for testing source-class resolution. It is not evidence that the key grants live ownership or citywide control.
Maintenance instruction card beside isolated test position; no live activation.
A2-OBJ-HIGHEST-VALID-SOURCE · Continuity rule
Highest Valid Source Available
The independently recovered maintenance text completes the rule: when no recognised principal resolves, continuity seeks the highest valid source available under the current succession state. The rule ranks sources; it does not create legal title by itself.
Rule text beside ordered source classes and CURRENT SUCCESSION STATE field.
A2-OBJ-SELECTOR-ISOLATION · Safety / evidence record
Selector Isolation Record
The live link to the identity service is disconnected, selector output isolated, key case sealed and witnessed, and the public record states MANUAL KEY NOT USED · NO PRINCIPAL CREATED · NO AUTHORITY TRANSFERRED.
Isolation checklist with numbered seals and two-end cable disconnection.
A2-OBJ-UNKNOWN-RECORD-REVISED · Provisional archive record
The UNKNOWN Record — Revised Finding
The recovered sheet remains unprovenanced. Its language is now described as functionally consistent with the selector family, while direct provenance, author, date and relation to the delegated principal UNKNOWN remain unresolved.
Moves one infrastructure effect into a disconnected test state before examining its authority mapping, preventing live downstream permissions during the test.
Open design question: Use existing disabled/testing states and avoid a separate simulation board.
Shows how temporary continuity fields lose duration, witness and scope limits over successive revisions, making one temporary authority effect easier to renew until challenged.
Open design question: Model institutional drift without requiring players to track many historical versions.
Chapter 21 begins from the unprovenanced sheet recovered after the central archive fire in Chapter 20.
The sheet combines language from different administrative eras; this supports later composition or copying but does not identify its author.
The number sequence on the sheet maps to maintenance routes beneath the first Hall of the Atlas.
The continuity service room is maintained infrastructure, not a secret throne room or proof of a hidden surviving government.
The Continuity Resolution Selector ranks authority sources; it does not create a person, biological identity or legal owner.
The brass key is not used in Chapter 21.
The selector is isolated from live identity services before publication; no principal is created and no authority is transferred.
The independently held eastern maintenance page documents a disconnected manual-source test mode for the brass key.
The rule 'highest valid source available under current succession state' is supported by the eastern maintenance copy; direct provenance of the UNKNOWN sheet remains unproven.
The chapter distinguishes selector/source resolution, identity principal mapping, role/permission translation and delegation as separate mechanisms.
Marian signs no succession instrument in Chapter 21.
Marian concludes that simple refusal may leave the primary succession path unresolved and allow fallback source resolution to continue; this motivates, but does not execute, Chapter 22.
The retained Graham MASTER record, the Second Graham presentation and delegated principal UNKNOWN remain related through system behavior but are not collapsed into one actor or one mechanism.
UNKNOWN remains locally disabled under the Chapter 17 identity freeze.
No Chapter 21 evidence identifies who created the Second Graham, delegated UNKNOWN, attacked the archive or sabotaged the southern exchange.
Chapter 22 must own Marian's public succession decision and any execution of Schedule Nine.
Existing Chapter 9 artwork, Chapter 5 notes, Archive 001 content and live game rules remain unchanged.