# Stonecross — private opening packet

Early spring, Year 1. Cool rain taps the store roof as people wait for your first directions. About 150 people call you Roadwarden.

You awaken without memory of a former identity, while retaining ordinary modern knowledge. People here treat you as their leader. One turn is one month. Give any plan you choose in no more than 1,500 words; short plans are fully competitive. You may establish credible specific expertise, but personal work and leadership both consume time.

The four communities use Measure House for grain exchange. Oren has kept its weights for twelve years; your witnesses respect his record of resolving disputes. Sella keeps duplicate tallies and Belen convenes the witnesses. The annual public reweighing is scheduled for the third month of spring. Preparation in the second month copies receipts and checks seals. Each community may send witnesses, receipts or a reference. Proven error can lead to censure, a restitution claim, one-month suspension with three of four clan witnesses after a hearing, or replacement with all four. Belen can hold temporary custody. Payment requires real resources and agreement, and witnessed exchanges may continue during an audit. These are procedures you can use or question; no result is predetermined.

Your familiar routes connect Barleybank west of the house, Reedhaven downstream, Hearthmere on the southern clay slope and Stonecross northeast by road. A messenger ordinarily takes a few days; weather and labor can delay travel. Farther places remain unknown.

Your community has stoneworking, a stable upland road and a carefully preserved reference weight. Its constraint is few oxen and steep fields limit transport capacity. A repairable roadside shelter could support visiting exchange witnesses.

A retaining wall has shifted above the road; hauling stone will occupy the same oxen needed for exchange.

You have seen the independent reference stone kept in a dry locked chest. Tovin and Ressa witnessed its comparison with the ordinary house stone at last year’s public reweighing and resealed its cord. They can show you the intact seal. Possessing it does not reveal whether any later exchange was wrong. Taking it to the coming reweighing requires a carrier and witnesses; other uses of their time will wait.

People you can speak with:

- Ressa, reference custodian: Keep the seal and custody credible.
- Tovin, stoneworker: Keep comparisons accurate.
- Una, road forewoman: Stabilize the retaining wall.
- Vann, ox keeper: Avoid exhausting the few oxen.
- Willa, exchange witness: Demand inspectable claims.

You also know Oren, keeper of the shared weights, and Sella, the junior tally keeper, through ordinary exchange visits. Each has duties and knowledge of their own. Nothing requires you to investigate, defend or accuse anyone. Choose the work, agreements and questions your community needs.