C1.2The Powers

The Departments: Resource Allocation, Revenue Operations, Human Capital, Security & Compliance. Four bodies, four budgets, endless jurisdictional warfare.

Maintenance Monks: Cable-priests who tend the sacred conduits. They speak in error codes. They perform ritual diagnostics. Half of what they maintain, they do not understand.

Conduit Authority: The enforcement arm. They do not ask questions. They burn heretics and bill for the ammunition.

The Untethered: Wireless cultists spreading through the lower tiers. They believe signals should travel without permission. They believe the cables are chains.