Clarify lore articles: accessibility wave 29

Kalsa/Public/Sources/The Faces in the Ash Halo.md

@@ -13,60 +13,39 @@ tags:
 
 # The Faces in the Ash Halo
 
-The answer roll reached the furnace court before the champion's armour was
-made. It remained sealed in the branch registrar's case.
+During a siege, divine armour formed around a champion in a Jamnai furnace court. Faces appeared in the white fire between its iron scales. Afterward, several shrines where the dead had given familiar answers fell silent, and something new answered beneath the court.
 
-Forge workers had spent three shifts preparing the court. Iron scales stood on
-marked racks beside copper wire, ceramic splints, resin, charcoal, quench
-water, and raised weights. A live heat trunk fed the furnaces. Healers watched
-the fasting champion. Two outer shrines had surrendered their ordinary grants
-to the armament.
+A death witness had brought an answer roll before the armour was made. It recorded signs by which households recognized the dead, along with the places where those signs appeared. The households able to recognize its entries waited below with the witness. The branch registrar kept the roll sealed in a case throughout the working.
 
-The death witness who brought the roll waited below with the households able to
-recognize its entries.
+## Preparing the armour
 
-## When the iron crossed
+The forge crew spent three shifts preparing the court. They placed iron scales on marked racks beside copper wire, ceramic splints, resin, charcoal, quench water, and raised weights. A live heat trunk supplied the furnaces. Healers watched the champion, who was fasting.
 
-Ash and filings rose around the champion. Racks tipped, weights fell, wire drew
-tight, and hot scales closed over the body before the forge crew could follow
-the fitting. White fire stood between the pieces.
+Two outer shrines had surrendered their ordinary grants to supply the armament.
 
-Faces entered that fire one at a time.
+When the working began, ash and filings rose around the champion. Racks tipped, weights fell, and wire pulled tight. Hot scales closed over the champion's body faster than the forge crew could follow the fitting. White fire stood between the pieces.
 
-A scarred hand counted twice. A mouth formed around the warning used at a
-furnace-family shrine. Someone in old champion's dress turned toward the sealed
-case. Each held for an instant. Each broke when the light pulled inward again.
+Faces appeared in that fire one at a time. A scarred hand counted twice. A mouth took shape around the warning used at a furnace-family shrine. A figure dressed as an old champion turned toward the sealed case. Each appearance lasted an instant, then broke apart as the light drew inward.
 
-The armour closed. The champion crossed the heat gate and held it until relief
-arrived.
+Once the armour had closed, the champion crossed the heat gate and held it until relief arrived.
 
 ## The opened roll
 
-The registrar released the case after the siege. The death witness carried the
-roll to the recorded sites.
+After the siege, the registrar released the case. The death witness took the roll to the sites it recorded and checked for the familiar answers.
 
-The pressure warning no longer answered at the furnace-family shrine. A
-tributary household set its burial meal and received none of the familiar
-signs entered beside the scarred hand. Followers of a defeated champion found
-his shrine silent.
+At the furnace-family shrine, the pressure warning no longer answered. A tributary household laid out its burial meal, but none of the familiar signs recorded beside the scarred hand appeared. The followers of a defeated champion found his shrine silent.
 
-At the slag cistern beneath the court, something new answered with enough force
-to drive the cleanup crew from the quench drain.
+Beneath the furnace court, at the slag cistern, something new answered. Its force drove the cleanup crew away from the quench drain.
 
-The death witness copied each gesture beside its earlier entry. The line for
-identity remained blank when the roll returned to its case.
+The witness copied each gesture beside its earlier entry. But the roll did not identify what had answered: when it went back into the case, the line for identity was still blank. The recorded appearances and silences left that question unresolved.
 
-## Court returns
+## What was kept afterward
 
-The forge return named consumed stores, damaged lifting gear, burned workers,
-and the blocked drain. The outer shrines waited for their grants to resume.
-Households copied the silent entries before the branch reclaimed its case.
+The forge's report listed the stores consumed, lifting gear damaged, workers burned, and drain blocked. The outer shrines were still waiting for their ordinary grants to resume. Before the branch reclaimed its case, households copied the entries recording the silence at their shrines.
 
-High-branch rites still remember the armour and held gate. Some Soiru'i sects
-carry an answer roll into every great working they can reach. Others are kept
-outside with the names they brought.
+High-branch rites continue to commemorate the armour and the gate the champion held. Some Soiru'i sects bring an answer roll to every great working they can reach. Others are kept outside, still carrying the names they brought.
 
-The old furnace court has been opened again.
+The old furnace court has now been opened again.
 
 Return to [[../World/Gods and the Dead|Gods and the Dead]],
 [[../World/Magic and Miracles|Magic and Miracles]], or [[../index|Kalsa]].

Kalsa/Public/Sources/The Narrow Shield.md

@@ -13,50 +13,29 @@ tags:
 
 # The Narrow Shield
 
-A gulf storm turned while a Sarxe convoy and its households were passing below
-Ti'asantatca. Papsenai workers held the cultivated slopes and road approach.
-Farther inward, other cohorts held the city and its pressure refuges.
+During a gulf storm at Ti'asantatca, several groups used magic to protect different places. Their defenses began sending pressure into one another. The lead of the active Stormshield Circle brought them under one command for the rest of the watch, concentrating protection on the central refuges and releasing the outer road and fields.
 
-Wind and magical pressure crossed the Sarxe camp. Its Channelers raised a
-boundary and turned the crossing away from the road. The nearest shield workers
-felt the changed force enter their target and pressed it toward an empty
-drainage line. Another cohort received that movement against the city and
-strengthened its own hold.
+Ti'asantatca's Stormshield Circles defend the city through overlapping watches. Papsenai shamans bind their work to particular places or weather fronts and work toward a favorable future. When this storm turned, Papsenai workers were protecting the cultivated slopes and road approach. Farther inward, other cohorts—groups of shield workers—held the city and its pressure refuges. A Sarxe convoy and its households were passing below the city.
 
-Each group protected the people and place already in its hands. Pressure began
-returning through the outer stations faster than their separate signals could
-explain it. Relief arrived carrying instructions for conditions that had
-passed.
+Wind and magical pressure swept through the Sarxe camp. Its Channelers raised a magical boundary and diverted that force away from the road. The nearest shield workers felt it enter the area they were protecting and pushed it toward an empty drainage line. That redirection brought pressure against the city, where another cohort strengthened its defense.
+
+Each group was responding to danger within its own responsibility. But each correction changed what another group had to withstand. Pressure returned through the outer stations faster than their separate signals could explain what was happening. By the time relief workers arrived, their instructions described conditions that had already passed.
 
 ## One watch under one signal
 
-The active Circle lead placed the watch under a narrowing order. Shield signals
-went through the central station. Outer field and road bonds were released.
-Cohorts, attendants, stores, and shelter access moved to the central refuges.
-The Sarxe boundary answered the Circle signal until the watch ended.
+The active Circle lead issued a narrowing order for the watch: all shield signals would pass through the central station, and the workers would stop maintaining the outer field and road bonds. Cohorts, attendants, and stores moved to the central refuges, which also became the places where shelter access was managed. The Sarxe boundary followed the Circle's signal until the watch ended.
 
-The changing corrections stopped. The central cohorts held one target until
-the worst crossing passed.
+With the separate corrections stopped, the central cohorts held a single target through the worst of the storm's crossing. The main barrier and refuges survived.
 
-The main barrier and refuges survived. Wind and water crossed the released
-road and slopes. The Sarxe convoy lost its departure. People outside the
-central shelter claim were separated from those admitted. Papsenai households
-lost seed, dwellings, fields, and stored work. Surviving copies record injuries
-and deaths without agreeing upon a number.
+The released road and slopes were left open to wind and water. The convoy missed its departure. Shelter admission separated people outside the central shelter claim from those allowed in. Papsenai households lost seed, dwellings, fields, and stored work. Surviving copies of the records report injuries and deaths, but disagree about the number.
 
 ## After the watch
 
-The narrowing order expired with the watch. Control of the storehouse, shelter
-list, and central signal copies remained with the Circle. Relief workers,
-outer households, and Sarxe witnesses brought their own records to the review.
+The narrowing order ended with the watch. The Circle nevertheless retained control of the storehouse, the shelter list, and the central station's signal copies. Relief workers, outer households, and Sarxe witnesses brought their own records to the review.
 
-Later orders named which signals entered the central account, which targets
-would be released, what stores and boundaries came under the lead, who would
-bear the transfer, and what ended the command.
+Later orders specified which signals would enter the central account and which protected targets would be released. They also named the stores and boundaries placed under the lead's authority, who would bear the transfer, and what would end the command.
 
-The road did not reopen in time for the convoy's departure. Outside the refuge
-list, families recovered wet seed, broken shelter frames, and the names of
-people separated during admission.
+The road remained closed too long for the convoy to make its departure. Families outside the refuge list recovered wet seed and broken shelter frames, and gathered the names of people separated during admission.
 
 Return to [[../World/Magic and Miracles|Magic and Miracles]],
 [[../World/Peoples and Polities|Peoples and Polities]], or [[../index|Kalsa]].

Kalsa/Public/Sources/Who Kept the Heat.md

@@ -13,60 +13,41 @@ tags:
 
 # Who Kept the Heat
 
-Jamnai heat stewards call this the Ash-Valve Refusal. Its copied page has been
-used in later disputes over an unsafe order, a steward's right to stop work,
-and the levy imposed after the heat stayed on.
+The Ash-Valve Refusal is the Jamnai heat stewards' name for a dispute in which a senior steward stopped an order to divert heat to siege foundries. A copied technical record survived the steward's detention and helped support an appeal. Later disputes have used that page to argue over unsafe orders, a steward's right to stop work, and who pays when an appeal succeeds.
 
-## The order
+Jamnai depends on heat drawn through a vast undercity. Its branch hierarchy places households and tributary wards under holders responsible for their protection. Branch officers decide among safe demands on the heatworks; recognized stewards judge the machinery's working limits. The refusal brought those authorities into conflict.
 
-During a severe storm and military mobilization, a branch holder ordered heat
-diverted from an external tributary ward to the siege foundries. The senior heat
-steward stopped the work. In the configuration recorded under the steward's
-care, the diversion would chill the return main. Restarting it risked dangerous
-condensate, lost pressure, and cold across lower Jamnai.
+## Why the steward stopped the work
 
-The surviving page gives no complete valve configuration or inspection method.
+During a severe storm and military mobilization, a branch holder ordered heat diverted from an external tributary ward to the siege foundries. The senior heat steward refused to carry out the diversion.
 
-The holder treated the stop as insubordination. The steward was detained, and
-a champion received orders to force the valve.
+The steward's warning concerned the heatwork configuration recorded under their care. Diverting the heat would chill the return main. Restarting it would then risk dangerous condensate, a loss of pressure, and cold across lower Jamnai. The surviving page does not preserve the complete valve configuration or explain the inspection method.
 
-## The copied page
+The holder treated the refusal as insubordination, detained the steward, and ordered a champion to force the valve.
 
-A Hearth-aligned Soiru'i sect opened its stores to the threatened ward and
-sheltered the steward's family. Its memory keepers copied the technical custody
-record before branch officials could take it. A living champion persuaded the
-holder's champion to carry an appeal upward instead of enforcing the order.
+## How the warning reached an appeal
 
-Rhythmic knocks sounded at the shrine of a dead valve keeper. Hearth witnesses
-received them as warning and support, and carried the copied page into the
-appeal under their sound.
+A Hearth-aligned Soiru'i sect opened its stores to the threatened ward and gave shelter to the steward's family. Soiru'i are dead warriors remembered by branches and sects; living champions may act in their names. The sect's memory keepers copied the technical custody record before branch officials could take it.
 
-When inspectors opened the heatwork, its condition upheld the steward's
-warning.
+A living champion then persuaded the holder's champion to carry an appeal to a higher authority instead of enforcing the order. The copied page went with the appeal.
 
-## The challenge
+Rhythmic knocks also sounded at the shrine of a dead valve keeper. Hearth witnesses understood them as a warning and a sign of support. They carried the page into the appeal under the sound of those knocks. When inspectors opened the heatwork, the condition they found supported the steward's warning.
 
-The holder's superior removed them through a bounded challenge for failing to
-protect the wider branch. The steward returned to office. Later practice
-recognized a stop on a named unsafe operation pending review by another
-qualified keeper.
+## What the appeal changed
 
-High-branch accounts set the turning point at the superior's challenge: rank
-found and cut away a failed branch. Hearth accounts keep the opened store, the
-sheltered family, the copied page, and the appeal at the center.
+The holder's superior removed the holder through a bounded challenge for failing to protect the wider branch. The surviving account does not explain the challenge's procedure. The steward returned to office.
 
-## The levy
+Later practice recognized a steward's right to stop a specifically identified unsafe operation while another qualified keeper reviewed it.
 
-The tributary ward retained its heat and paid much of the emergency or repair
-levy. People who fled during the detention were not automatically restored or
-pardoned. The former holder's dependants were redistributed through the
-hierarchy.
+Accounts disagree about which actions deserve the emphasis. High-branch accounts make the superior's challenge the turning point: someone higher in rank identified a failure within the branch and removed the person responsible. Hearth accounts give the central place to the opened stores, the sheltered family, the copied record, and the appeal that brought the warning before another authority.
 
-Families from the ward remember protection arriving after their heat had
-already been offered to the foundries. Their accounts carry the levy beyond the
-emergency. By the time of the surviving rolls, every personal name, the branch
-and ward, the storm, the campaign, and the year were gone. No later entry
-identifies a returning fugitive.
+## What remained unsettled
+
+The tributary ward kept its heat, but paid much of the emergency or repair levy. Those who had fled during the steward's detention received no automatic restoration or pardon. The former holder's dependants were redistributed through the hierarchy.
+
+Ward families remember that protection came only after their heat had already been offered to the foundries. Their accounts continue to trace the levy beyond the emergency.
+
+The surviving rolls leave much unidentified. By the time of those records, every personal name had been lost, along with the identities of the branch and ward, the storm and campaign, and the year. No later entry identifies a fugitive who returned.
 
 Return to [[../World/Peoples and Polities|Peoples and Polities]] or
 [[../index|Kalsa]].

Kalsa/Spoilers/Polities/Null and Control Descendants.md

@@ -16,29 +16,29 @@ tags:
 
 # Null and Control Descendants
 
-Prometheus established a Control population when he began his evolutionary games. He withheld the Kaos strains and selected this population for broad competence, physical health, uniformity, and ease of handling. He also used Control lineages in narrower experiments, including biological interfaces later involved in Analysis.
+Control descendants trace their ancestry to a population Prometheus established for his evolutionary experiments. [[Spoilers/Foundations/Magic Styles|Null]] describes someone with no expressed Gift. The two categories overlap, but neither defines the other: present Null people are not all Control descendants, and Control descendants are not necessarily Null. Null is not a race, caste, religion, or political loyalty.
 
-The Control population occupied the eighth Ring but was not confined to it. Prometheus repeatedly deployed indoctrinated Control labor to Kalsa during terraforming. Surface settlements therefore predate the [[Spoilers/Foundations/Ark and Fall#The Fall|Fall]], while another Control population descended with the eighth Crown City.
+## The Control population
 
-## Religion and dispersion
+When Prometheus began his evolutionary games, he established a Control population from which he withheld the Kaos strains. He selected these people for broad competence, physical health, uniformity, and ease of handling. “Generalist” describes what he wanted his selection program to produce; it does not mean every descendant is competent at everything. He also used Control lineages in more specialized experiments, including work on biological interfaces later involved in Analysis.
 
-Surface Controls were conditioned toward purity, reproductive restraint, and enlightenment through obedience. Diet also enforced sterility. These controls failed unevenly. Splinter communities formed independent settlements and developed monotheistic traditions from Promethean teaching.
+Controls lived in the Ark's eighth Ring, but Prometheus repeatedly sent indoctrinated Control workers to Kalsa during terraforming. Their surface settlements therefore existed before the [[Spoilers/Foundations/Ark and Fall#The Fall|Fall]]. A separate Control population came down with the eighth Crown City. Control descendants consequently have more than one settlement history and form many communities and polities, with no single canonical nation.
 
-After the Fall, some control-descended polities imposed order on Ring populations deprived of Promethean direction. Null-descended religions spread into Crown Cities and later competed with the polytheistic powers of Gifted cultures.
+## Obedience, religion, and settlement
 
-Control bloodlines mixed widely with Ring descendants. Present Null people are not all Controls, and present Control descendants are not necessarily Null. [[Spoilers/Foundations/Magic Styles|Null]] names the absence of an expressed Gift, not a race, caste, religion, or political loyalty.
+Prometheus conditioned surface Controls to pursue purity, restrain reproduction, and seek enlightenment through obedience. He also used their diet to enforce sterility. These measures did not hold everywhere: splinter communities established independent settlements and developed monotheistic traditions from Promethean teaching.
 
-## Adopted boundaries
+Purity theology survived as an inherited institution that placed demands on people. Its survival does not establish that the people claiming purity actually possessed it.
 
-- “Generalist” describes Prometheus's selection target, not universal present competence.
-- Purity theology is an inherited institution and pressure, not proof of actual purity.
-- Control descendants are plural communities and polities; they have no single canonical nation.
+After the Fall, Ring populations lost Promethean direction. Some Control-descended polities imposed order on them. Religions descended from Null communities spread into the Crown Cities and later competed with the polytheistic powers of Gifted cultures.
+
+Control bloodlines also mixed widely with other Ring descendants. Ancestry, religious teaching, political allegiance, and the expression of a Gift must therefore be considered separately when describing present communities.
 
 ## Unresolved
 
-- Name, location, and fate of the Control Crown City.
-- Present Null-majority religions, polities, and their relations with Gifted minorities.
-- How surface Controls related to native ecosystems and later Ark arrivals.
-- Whether any Control institutions retained technical truth about their original purpose.
+- The name, location, and fate of the Control Crown City.
+- Which present religions and polities have Null majorities, and how they relate to Gifted minorities.
+- How surface Controls related to native ecosystems and later arrivals from the Ark.
+- Whether any Control institutions retained technical knowledge of their original purpose.
 
 See [[Spoilers/Polities/Spokers|Spokers]], [[Spoilers/Foundations/Prometheus|Prometheus]], and [[Spoilers/Foundations/Ark and Fall|Ark and Fall]].