The founding of the Bathymetric Conservancy

The Bathymetric Conservancy was chartered in early 2151 as a coordination body for the half-dozen survey teams operating from Varangurd and the smaller anchorages along the coast. The charter is plain. It does not establish a government, or a court, or a navy. It establishes, in three pages, a research body with maintenance responsibilities.

What the charter does establish

A mandate for bathymetric mapping. Operational support for diving and submersible work. Maintenance of the marker and station infrastructure. Financial accountability to the surface administrations that were, at the time, still capable of being held accountable to.

What the charter does not establish

A polity. The Conservancy has been called, on various occasions, an institute, an authority, a governing body, and once — in error — a kingdom. It is none of these. It is, by its own working description, the body that holds the contract.

The drift since

Over thirty-seven years the Conservancy has acquired functions that the original charter did not contemplate. Liaison with the Tyrian Court. The maintenance of the Treaty of Marker I. Custodianship of the survey records that have become this archive. None of these were planned. All of these are now expected.