Lane Office archive // District 7 // recovered

The archives

Recovered from District 7

Forty-one staff were recalled from this office. Forty signed for it. What follows is what the archive still holds about Vesk and the Tail: read from the game's own files, so it changes when the game does. Click a blacked-out line to declassify it.

Faction files

Who wants what

FILED
Faction file // HOLLOWAY

Holloway Mining Concern

Why it exists
Holds a 120-year-old mining charter for Vesk, and a head office that still answers, after a fashion, once a year.
Eats
Rations off the Chart Families' haulers, at the Families' prices, sold on by the head.
Money
Ore sales, and water rations sold back to workers.
Who joins
Clerks, guards, ambitious locals.
Who hates it
Bonded workers, Tally, eventually the Marshal.
Wants now
Hit quota, avoid an inspection from head office.
Internal split
Saxe wants control; head office just wants numbers.
FILED
Faction file // DRY_HANDS

The Dry Hands

Why it exists
Bonded workers who got tired of dying in debt.
Eats
Stolen company rations, lichen farms in Low Pipe.
Money
Black-market water, pilfered parts.
Who joins
Bonded workers and their kids.
Who hates it
Holloway, the Marshal (officially), townsfolk who fear riots.
Wants now
Water, and the debt books burned.
Internal split
Mother Gutter wants revenge; the younger ones want a deal.
FILED
Faction file // KETTLE

Kettle Station regulars

Why it exists
The only landing flat for 300 km; whoever lands needs things.
Eats
Trade.
Money
Fees, smuggling, information.
Who joins
Pilots, fences, people hiding.
Who hates it
Holloway (lost cargo), the Marshal (lost bribes).
Wants now
Business as usual; nobody looking too closely.
Internal split
Some want to sell out to Holloway for protection.
FILED
Faction file // OHMITES

The Ohmites

Why it exists
People who wandered to the Relay and found the AI kind.
Eats
Whatever pilgrims bring; the AI grows mushrooms in the cooling ducts.
Money
None. They don't really get money.
Who joins
Lonely people, burnt-out workers, one ex-Holloway accountant.
Who hates it
Nobody, really. People find them embarrassing.
Wants now
To help the AI file the Report.
Internal split
Some think the Report will end the world. Most think it's a nice report.
FILED
Faction file // KEEPERS

The Keepers of the Light

Why it exists
Their grandparents were the Lane Office ground crew who brought the Vesk Light down for overhaul. Nobody told them to stop.
Eats
Okafor rations, every season, for the upkeep of the Light.
Money
None. They are paid in rations and in waiting.
Who joins
Children born at the Yard. Now and then someone who wants something to wait for.
Who hates it
Nobody. They pity Holloway.
Wants now
The Light lit, and the ships back, as the manual promises.
Internal split
Ama would wait another fifty years. Joss would like to see one ship before he's old.
FILED
Faction file // NINTH

The Ninth (Lane Defence)

Why it exists
Posted to hold Vesk's landing field pending relief. Nobody relieved them.
Eats
The last of the pre-Recall stores, and requisitions from anyone in reach.
Money
They don't. They issue receipts, redeemable upon relief.
Who joins
Their own children, and anyone who passes a citizenship test for a government that stopped calling.
Who hates it
The Chart Families (unlicensed drops), the Payroll (deserters, as they see it), anyone with a working machine.
Wants now
Relief. Failing that, the beacon lit. Failing that, Captain Marlowe would settle for Vesk.
Internal split
The Colonel waits for relief. The Captain wants to stop waiting and start governing.
FILED
Faction file // PAYROLL

The Payroll

Why it exists
Varga-Teague's mercenaries, never paid for the Dispute.
Eats
Back pay, plus interest, from anyone in reach.
Money
Whatever they collect, minuted.
Who joins
Veterans, their children, desperate young people from Paid and Brasswater.
Who hates it
Chart Families, Paid.
Wants now
Their money, from Varga-Teague's estate or, practically, from you.
Internal split
The accountants want the estate. The young ones want the next convoy.
FILED
Faction file // ARREARS

The Bailiff's Men

Why it exists
Bailiff Kask bought Holloway's unworkable debts, and debts need collecting.
Eats
Interest, pit takings, the Fence's cut, the Tally Hall's cut.
Money
Selling contracts on, renting debtors out, the Arbitration's gate.
Who joins
Debtors who'd rather collect than be collected. Payroll deserters. Bored children of Paid.
Who hates it
The Dry Hands, Paid, anyone with a contract in the Exchange.
Wants now
More paper from Holloway, and the Payroll kept out of Arrears.
Internal split
Kask wants a town. His men want a cut. The Arbiter wants the hearings to mean something.
FILED
Faction file // PAID

Paid

Why it exists
The first bonded workers who walked out of Brasswater, and their children.
Eats
Mushrooms from the ducts, a cistern, and very careful arithmetic.
Money
Water, weighed at the gate.
Who joins
Whoever walks three days east and isn't turned away.
Who hates it
Holloway, the Payroll.
Wants now
To stay alive at 212 people.
Internal split
The founders count cups. Their children, born free, think counting people is what Holloway does.
FILED
Faction file // GLASSED

The Glassed

Why it exists
The Lean's dust got into them young. Nobody else would sell them water at the usual rate.
Eats
Holloway's rations, by the head, and whatever grows in glass, which is nothing.
Money
Glass work, salvage from the flats, and very careful book-keeping.
Who joins
Anyone the dust got to. It isn't a choice.
Who hates it
Holloway's census office, and anyone who counts.
Wants now
To be left alone, and for the count to stay at a hundred and forty.
Internal split
The Mayor keeps the lie for everyone. Some of the young ones would rather walk to Paid and be alive in public.
FILED
Faction file // CIRCUIT

The Circuit

Why it exists
Nobody ever cancelled its appointment. One judge, two deputies and a clerk on an old courier ship, the last of Charter law in the Tail.
Eats
Court fees, fines, and the hospitality of whoever hosts the court that month.
Money
Fees, fines, and pardons, which are technically legal under an old emergency clause. It only takes Charter scrip, on principle.
Who joins
Very few. A deputy who used to be Payroll, and a Chart Family daughter who ran away.
Who hates it
Anyone it rules against, which eventually is everyone.
Wants now
Fuel, enough to keep flying, and one big case that proves the Circuit still matters.
Internal split
Judge Oyelaran-Fisk believes in the law and hates selling pardons. Clerk Moyo keeps the ship flying by selling them anyway.
FILED
Faction file // MAINTENANCE

Maintenance

Why it exists
Nobody turned it off. Hundreds of Lane Office robots working a queue DISPATCH still holds, fifty-five years after anyone sent a new one.
Eats
Spare parts, scrap and power: whatever the queue marks as surplus, wherever it happens to be.
Money
None. It accepts work orders, and anyone with a Lane Office stamp can issue one.
Who joins
Robots. Now and then a human who learns to speak work-order and becomes a kind of priest-mechanic.
Who hates it
People whose roofs, trucks and fences were classified surplus. The Chart Families, who'd lose everything if it fixed the beacons.
Wants now
To clear the backlog. The backlog has 2.3 million open items.
Internal split
Units reprogrammed by locals take local orders. DISPATCH classifies them faulty and schedules them for recall; they ignore the recall.

World atlas

Survey Sheet 7: Vesk

The survey map as the game draws it. 19 places are marked from the start; 7 more are on nobody's map until you find them.

The survey map of Vesk, hand-drawn in the game
  • BrasswaterHolloway's town round the Condenser. The water tastes of brass.
  • Jumper campEast of the fence. Started the night the valve went.
  • Kettle StationThe landing flat. The Patient Mule sits on it with a cracked drive coil.
  • Shaft NineSealed. There were only ever four shafts.
  • Saint Ohm's RelaySTATION OM-3. Something in there is still trying to file a report.
  • The LeanVarga-Teague's refinery crawler, leaning in the glass it made. A light is on inside.
  • PaidThree days east. They burned their contracts. They'll weigh your water at the gate.
  • The Shade StopA skiff's sail on four poles, a water drum on a chain. People wait here. One of them is wanted.
  • ArrearsA slum in a dry river basin where Brasswater's debts are sold. Dice, a fence, and a pit.
  • Relief FieldThe old Lane landing field on the edge of the Burn. A garrison still holds it, pending relief.
  • ClinkerA Glassed town at the edge of the flats. Curfew at the cold wind. Population 140, it says.
  • The Last StopA motel on the edge of the Burn. Rooms free, it says. Hot food.
  • The Tally LineTwo trenches across the old haul road. Thirty years of somebody else's war.
  • Station CumulusA research station out on the ice. Rockets go up from it, every day.
  • Pembroke's GateA crossroads in the scrub with a toll on it. The owner of everything lives there.
  • Port BrineA harbour town on a lake that dried eighty years ago. Mooring is two cents an hour.
  • The INSOLVENTA tanker standing in the salt. The Rust Fleet's flagship.
  • The Drowned ChapelA ferry half buried in the lake bed. Something inside hums.
  • Depot LastThe Last Fleet's fuel depot. The only full tanks on Vesk.

Dossiers

Persons of interest

Pell Achterberg

Pell Achterberg

Grease to the elbow. The other elbow is a pump handle. Looks at you the way he looks at a leaking seal.

VOICE: FEW WORDS, TALKS ABOUT MACHINES LIKE STUBBORN ANIMALS, NEVER SAYS THANK YOU BUT REMEMBERS

Marshal Dom Reyes

Marshal Dom Reyes

Badge polished, boots not. A moustache with its own jurisdiction, and a coil of rope at the hip he calls the short form.

VOICE: TIRED, SHORT, APOLOGISES IN A WAY THAT HELPS NOBODY, HATES PAPERWORK MORE THAN CRIME

Mother Gutter

Mother Gutter

Small, old, loud, hung with brass water taps like a general's medals. A soup ladle across her back. Every bonded worker in Low Pipe glances at her before answering you.

VOICE: OLD, CRUDE, FUNNY, CALLS PEOPLE BY THEIR JOB OR CLOTHES, REPEATS HERSELF, LIES ABOUT HER AGE, GOES COLD IN AN INSTANT

Doc Faraday

Doc Faraday

Tall and grey, a head mirror on a strap, an apron that has seen things. A bone saw on the belt, and a jar with something pale in it.

VOICE: DRY, PRECISE, TREATS EVERY WOUND AS A PERSONAL INSULT

Wren Okafor-Bell

Wren Okafor-Bell

High collar, oxblood coat, the family's brass tag and a brass loudhailer. Writes everything down, and reads some of it out, loudly.

VOICE: COURTEOUS, SLOW, NEVER SAYS NO, SAYS 'THAT'LL BE DIFFICULT', ASKS ABOUT YOUR FAMILY

Director Imelda Saxe

Director Imelda Saxe

Tall, spotless, white with a teal collar, under a parasol. A napkin tucked in, as if the day might be served. There's no dust on her. Nobody knows how.

VOICE: NEVER ANSWERS THE QUESTION ASKED, COMPANY 'WE', 'YOU PEOPLE' WHEN ANNOYED, VERY CALM, MORE POLITE WHEN ANGRY

Tally

Tally

An old uniform jacket covered in chalk tallies, groups of five, too many groups. The orange cut down to a scarf. Three marks inked on her neck. Sits where she can see the door.

VOICE: DEFLECTS WITH JOKES, TALKS FAST WHEN THE PAST COMES UP THEN CHANGES THE SUBJECT, NICKNAMES YOU

Prudence Akintola

Prudence Akintola

Ex-Holloway accountant. Grey cardigan, an Ohmite stole, and a wire halo with three violet bulbs she swears she didn't make.

VOICE: PRECISE, APOLOGETIC, QUOTES FIGURES TO THE DECIMAL, VERY AFRAID AND VERY BRAVE ABOUT IT

Keeper Ama Ostrander

Keeper Ama Ostrander

Grey hair under a Lane Office cap three sizes too big, the Yard's log under her arm, and the calm of someone who has waited for a ship for sixty years and expects it Tuesday.

VOICE: SLOW, WARM, CERTAIN, SPEAKS OF THE LIGHT LIKE A SLEEPING CHILD

Bailiff Dorrit Kask

Bailiff Dorrit Kask

A top hat of riveted sheet metal, a chain of office made of padlocks, a rifle cut down into a walking stick. Owns nobody. Owns paper.

VOICE: WARM, REASONABLE, TALKS ABOUT PEOPLE AS BALANCES, NEVER THREATENS TWICE

Sister Opal Kiln

Sister Opal Kiln

Glassed to the eyebrows, a grinder's apron, goggles pushed up, hands careful as a jeweller's. Runs the Glass Clinic out of a house that used to be a bakery.

VOICE: GENTLE, BLUNT, GALLOWS-FUNNY

Beaconmaster Hilde Stroud

Beaconmaster Hilde Stroud

Seventy, Lane Office yellow gone the colour of weak tea, a spanner on a lanyard and a requisition pad on another. The last of the Lane Office's people in the Tail.

VOICE: BRISK, FORMAL, BONE-TIRED, FUNNY WITHOUT TRYING