A Dry-Lander's Depth-Ward

A Hessk primer issued at Sresh-Dar's pressure harbor, explaining guest-vault conduct, water-door safety, forbidden objects, and judgment before the Sounding Council.

Read before the third lock. If you cannot read it, ask the lock keeper. Pride is not accepted as a breathing method. You enter Sresh-Dar through Dryguest Vault. The vault is dry for you. It is not yours. Give your name, crew or sponsor, room, and intended tide of departure. A promise here names a time and a witness. "Soon" is no promise. Touch no bronze wheel, hanging chain, red-marked latch, or bowl set beneath a wall seam. The wheel may hold back the Longwater. The chain may call a Keeper crew. The latch may flood a passage. The bowl shows whether a seal weeps. Curiosity is lighter than water and kills faster. A water-door opens only by its keeper's hand. Stand behind the black floor line while it moves. Do not knock on the wet side. Do not open an unlogged door, even if someone beyond names you. Report the voice and the hour. The Drowned-Name Wall is not a market list. Do not rub the tablets, copy them for sale, or set a cup upon their ledge. At the public salvage scale, do not touch an object before its crew mark and wreck claim are read. What is borrowed from the deep is returned, licensed, or judged. Finding is not ownership. The pressure courts judge by witnessed custom. They ask: What did you touch? Who saw it? What depth mark or door mark was shown? What harm followed? Answer those questions. A long defense that avoids them is still no answer. The Seven Sounding Stones record the council's public vote. Do not sit on them. If a bell sounds once, stop. Twice, follow the blue lamps toward Dryguest Vault. Three times, take the nearest offered hand. In a pressure loss, rank ends. The living go first; claims and arguments wait. Silence from a Hessk means the matter is being weighed. Wait. If judgment comes slowly, that does not mean it has forgotten you.

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