Council is a game of knowing, choosing, and consequence. The pen is mightier than the die. Every answer comes one of two ways: seized at a price, or given as grace. Behind every locked door wait three clues, so no soul is ever truly stuck. It is built to reward hope.
The Handbook has been through the pen: a handwritten margin review became a 41-comment editorial pass, and from it the third edition was cut — clean, black-and-white, and print-ready. Read the whole book now — the v3 print edition (interim, while the designer's pass is made). The editorial trail that produced it lives in The Archive.
This book is the generic system. Each table raises its own handbook from it — exactly as the Standing Orders do for the Council of Un. Chapters will be added below as each is settled for the web.