Who’s Who (Fictionalised)

• Mayor’s Office (Chief of Staff: Dana Rourke): crisis comms, emergency orders, drone waivers.
• City Council: committees for Public Safety (police, protests, drones), Planning & Zoning (venues, late-hours), Arts & Culture (gallery nights), Harbour & Transport (slips, fog advisories).
• City Solicitor (Amira Bell QC): injunctions, NDAs, settlement strategy when “infrastructure incidents” occur.
• Harbour Authority (Commodore Leon Park): Notices to Mariners; festival flotillas; fog restrictions.
• Cultural Trust (Chair: Mireille Dodd): grants, late-opening permissions for salons and galas.
• University Bloc (Provosts’ Council): research permissions, ethics boards, campus security (biotech risk vector).

Calendar Sync Protocol (Accord–Meridian–City)

The Accord Table maintains a private “Veil Calendar” of sensitive timings. A sanitised shadow of that calendar is laundered into City Hall diaries as dull logistics to avoid collisions.

• Free Court Salons → filed as “Gallery Late Openings” with light/noise mitigation notes.
• Crimson Harbour Feeding Windows → appear as “Medical Donor Clinics” with parking suspensions.
• Iron Belt Moon Drills → logged as “Parks Maintenance After-Hours” (path closures, lighting tests).
• Lodge Fog Corridors → registered as “Harbour Visibility Trials” with pilot briefings.
• Glasswright Pane Crossings → booked as “Conservation Installs” (permit numbers, scaffold times).
• Coven Ritual Work → disguised as “Noise Variance/Outdoor Performance” with cordon cones.

Clerks of the Dance: Gloam clerk Benedict Hale drafts the sanitised entries; Meridian’s Moira MacLeod files them through departmental portals. Conflicts bounce back to the Accord agenda.

Paper Levers the PCs Can Pull

• Special Event Permit (SEP-12): crowd size, route, drones, fire code sign-off. Use to fence off a salon or neutralise a pop-up.
• After-Hours Use Variance (AHV-3): late openings; noise; lighting rigs. Cover for drills and crossings.
• Notice to Mariners (NTM): slip closures; fog advisories; tug escorts. Protect Lodge corridors; throttle Choir pranks.
• Temporary Building Works (TBW-5): scaffolds, blackout drapes, “install day”. Mask Glasswright operations.
• Public Safety Advisory (PSA): “gas leak/electrical” language to clear streets. Meridian + BPD align cordons quietly.
• Drone Waiver/Restriction (UAS-9): allow your drones; ban theirs (safety zone). Defang DAYLIGHT streams.

Pressure Points by Faction

• Crimson Harbour: affected by donor clinic licensing, nightlife crackdowns, fire inspections. Enemies lobby for “health audits”.
• Free Court: depends on arts grants/late-opening waivers. Rivals stir “obscenity” complaints before salon nights.
• Iron Belt: needs park path closures & lighting tests. Opponents push “public access” protests to block drills.
• Lodge: tied to Harbour fog & slip schedules. Choir agitates for blanket fog bans “for safety”.
• Glasswrights: vulnerable to building audits & insurance inspections. Line tips off inspectors during pane moves.
• Coven: relies on noise variances & venue hires. Jackals poach petitioners by promising “faster paperwork”.

City Cycles That Drive Plot

• Budget Season (Mar–May): funding fights (police OT, harbour patrols, arts nights). Quiet favours convert to votes.
• Festival Weeks (summer/autumn): street closures + harbour flotillas = calendar minefield.
• Audit Windows (quarterly): surprise safety inspections at galleries, theatres, warehouses (bad night for mirrors and donors).
• Election Year (biennial): debates, “law & order” theatre, promises to “ban fog” or “clean up nightlife”.

Interfaces & Protocols (How PCs Use City Hall)

• Neutral Window Booking: Accord clerk books a bland “Records Transfer” slot (16:00–18:00) in the Civic Room diary to legitimise handovers.
• Veil Mesh Justification: filed as “light/noise abatement curtains” in TBW-5. Lets Meridian drape scenes legally.
• Drone Corridors: UAS-9 maps safe lanes over parks/harbour. Use to jam DAYLIGHT while letting rescue drones fly.
• Sanctuary Cover: 72-hour safe-conduct is written up as a “witness protection interview cycle” across departments.
• Evidence Custody: red-tag chains appear as “hazardous materials” transfer notes in the Solicitor’s ledger.

Political Antagonists (Fictional, Plug-and-Play)

• Cllr. Paige Harrow (Public Safety): drone hawk; loves hearings; DAYLIGHT whisperer when useful.
• Cllr. Otto Breen (Harbour & Transport): union ally; suspicious of “visibility trials”; swayed by real casualty data.
• Comptroller Lyle Rusk: weaponises audits; will “discover” fire code issues on your worst nights.
• Deputy Mayor Ren Kim: fixer; trades calendar favours for outcomes; discreet friend if paid in quiet wins.

Hooks & Scene Seeds

• Two Permits, One Night: A Free Court salon and Harbour donor clinic are both “approved” for the same block. Untangle before Red Wake or DAYLIGHT weaponise it.
• Audit at the Door: Fire inspectors (with a friendly camera crew) arrive at the Looking-Room during a pane transfer. Stall with TBW-5 paperwork while the Glasswrights swap in a decoy.
• Fog Ban Motion: Harbour Authority moves to restrict all “visibility trials” after Choir pranks. Win the vote with data from the Lodge—or lose half your safe corridors.
• Drone Waiver Trap: UAS-9 for a “tech demo” lands exactly over an Iron Belt drill. Convert it to an indoor demo, or you’ll have howls on film.
• Grant with Teeth: Cultural Trust offers a big grant to the Winter Room—tied to mandatory public “rehearsals”. Rewrite the conditions or decline loudly.
• Campus Ethics Leak: A university lab seeks “rare phenotype samples” under a public-health waiver. Track the shell charity to Whitecoat-style backers.

Play Tips (GM)

• Tone: procedural brinkmanship; victories look like boring minutes and tidy emails.
• Mechanic: treat permits as advantages; a single bad hearing can flip 2–3 scene difficulties citywide.
• Evidence: when politics is the battleground, proof beats passion—bring casualty stats, noise logs, donor screening numbers.
• Escalation Path: permit snag → press interest → emergency motion → midnight compromise (or camera disaster).

Quick References (For Table Use)

• Cover Phrases: “infrastructure maintenance”, “light abatement install”, “controlled visibility trial”, “licensed donor clinic”.
• Friendly Offices: City Clerk (calendar), Harbour Ops (NTMs), Arts Permits (late openings). Names change; functions don’t.
• Red Lines: no compelled “occult testimony”; no permits that invite spectacle; never promise results on camera.