The Enrollment Clause
Read the fine print. Sign nothing.
Four broke, washed-up, middle-aged misfits answer the same glossy recruitment poster. The Selection Institute promises a licensed delver's career and a real paycheck. Nobody reads the contract.
One signature too late, they discover the Charter is a magically binding corporate leash — enforced by Auditor-Commander Julian Vance, who never raises his voice, tracks billable hours while his Assets bleed, and considers "unauthorized downtime" a performance metric.
The Sanitized Abyss is a dungeon scrubbed to white tile over ancient stone. The Everbright-brand bio-luminescent moss hums in the ceiling like a fluorescent office light. Somewhere beneath the mahogany desks, something old and very patient is waiting. Your pension is already gone.
AVAILABLE ON AMAZONWelcome to the Sanitized Abyss
The Selection Institute occupies the upper tier of a titanic dungeon, extensively renovated. White tile. Mahogany desks. Everbright-brand bio-luminescent moss where the fluorescent lighting would go. They cleaned up most of the blood. They kept the architecture. The horror is one renovation-layer beneath the office sheen, and the contract you signed is written in something considerably older than ink.
"The placard on the far wall read: EXERCISE COMPLETE — FAILURE IMMINENT. The Burrower erupted from the testing floor. Auditor-Commander Vance watched from the iron grate above and clicked his pocket watch open."
All candidates are required to acquire the following materials. Failure to do so is logged under Clause 4(a).
The Enrollment Clause
Read the fine print. Sign nothing.
Four broke, washed-up, middle-aged misfits answer the same glossy recruitment poster. The Selection Institute promises a licensed delver's career and a real paycheck. Nobody reads the contract.
One signature too late, they discover the Charter is a magically binding corporate leash — enforced by Auditor-Commander Julian Vance, who never raises his voice, tracks billable hours while his Assets bleed, and considers "unauthorized downtime" a performance metric.
The Sanitized Abyss is a dungeon scrubbed to white tile over ancient stone. Somewhere beneath the mahogany desks, something old and very patient is waiting. Your pension is already gone.
Candidate-issue threat assessment materials. Lamination not included. The Institute assumes no liability for encounters that occur during mandatory review.
THE SELECTION INSTITUTE
The Charter is a magically binding employment contract administered by the Selection Institute. Signatories are hereafter referred to as Assets. The sympathetic ink is keyed to each signatory at signing. The Institute's compliance mechanisms are HR-standard.
Performance review penalties proceed on the following schedule:
- L1 — Verbal Warning: [REDACTED]
- L2 — Formal Reprimand: [REDACTED]
- L3 — Performance Improvement Plan: [REDACTED]
- L4 — [REDACTED — RESERVED FOR HR ESCALATION]
The Charter is not negotiable. The Charter cannot be unsigned. There are no loopholes.
"Sign once. The Charter signs back."
The Selection Institute occupies the upper tier of a titanic dungeon, extensively renovated under the Institute's Quality Facilities Initiative.
White tile runs floor to wall to a height of approximately two men before giving way to the original stone. The transition was a logistical decision, not an aesthetic one. Everbright-brand bio-luminescent moss provides Institute-certified illumination to all public-facing spaces.
Testing grounds, deep-tier vaults, and examination floors are located below the renovation boundary. Iron observation gantries are positioned at all examination intersections. Institute staff occupy the gantries. Candidates occupy the floor.
"The renovation stopped where the crew couldn't reach."
Auditor-Commander Vance is a mid-career human bureaucrat and retired high-tier tactical delver currently assigned to cohort management. He holds the local Master Ledger and the silver quill for your cohort.
Vance does not raise his voice. Vance tracks billable hours and unauthorized downtime with equal attention. In the field, Vance shields himself and his paperwork. He carries peppermint lozenges over the copper tang of dungeon blood and a gold pocket watch he consults without commentary.
Auditor-Commander Vance has not lost an Asset he intended to keep.