Bureau field guide · Article II
Follow the symptom. Find the bargain.
Illegal borrowing rarely announces itself with claws. It begins with an impossible footprint, a shadow facing the wrong direction, or a child speaking in the voice of a drowned king.
Foundational reference · Article 00: The Claim →
Cases arrive through frightened witnesses, municipal reports, truth bells, and the Bureau’s semi-sentient Complaint Box. Inspectors separate panic from evidence without dismissing either. In this work, superstition is often a witness statement that has survived too many translations.
Every transferred trait leaves resonance between its source and bearer, and sometimes an intermediary. Inspectors map that chain through residue, behavior, and obligation. The question is not only ‘Who has the power?’ but ‘What Directive is the trait following?’
Inspectors ask about dreams before crimes, appetite before alibis, and grief before motive. A person may lie. A trait may remember selectively, obey an old instruction, or possess a will of its own. When the stories diverge, the trait is an important witness—not a neutral one.
FIELD NOTEField rule 7.8: If the shadow answers before the suspect, record both statements.