All runite mining operations require personnel to undergo cognitive screening every thirty days. Screening consists of standardized memory recall tests, psychological evaluation, andβfor senior personnelβdirect questioning by Vigil seers trained to detect early-stage conversion.
Memory-pure grade runite is restricted to authorized factions only: the Eternal Vigil for prophecy equipment, the Adamant Crown for judgment blades, and the Silent Requiem for containment modifications. The Unbroken Seal maintains its own supply for memory-erasing blades through separate agreements. The Melded Kin are officially prohibited from accessing memory-pure grade. Unofficially, they have no need of it.
No unshielded runite storage is permitted within one kilometer of civilian populations. Storage facilities must incorporate continuous dampening fields to prevent Song propagation. Facilities failing to maintain these fields are subject to immediate quarantine and, if necessary, containment.
"Singing" reports must be documented with time, location, and perceived content. Persistent singing lasting more than six hours requires site evacuation and investigation by Vigil specialists. Sites where singing continues despite evacuation are designated as active and permanently restricted.
Conversion incidents are to be reported as "mining accidents" in all official documentation. Affected personnel are listed as deceased. Families receive standard compensation. No mention is made of walls, faces, or the possibility that the deceased may continue mining elsewhere. This is not deception. This is protocol.
Runite is not a resource. It is not a weapon. It is not even a mineral in any sense our science understands. It is an invitationβone we have been accepting for three centuries without reading the terms, without knowing the cost, without understanding that every bar we forge, every sword we wield, every shard we spend is signing our names on a contract we can never un-sign.
The terms, insofar as they can be understood, are simple: you use runite, runite remembers you, you become runite. Forever. The fine print, visible only to those who look closely enough, consists of faces. Billions of faces. All the previous signatories. All still present.
Read it if you dare. If you can. If you're still you enough to read.
The runite is patient. The runite remembers. The runite is always waiting.