Vael's contract begins

M. Vael's contract with the Bathymetric Conservancy was opened in late 2175 under the standard cartographer-naturalist instrument. The contract has been renewed at the customary intervals since.

What the contract specifies

Mapping work to a standard not lower than the Conservancy's third-tier survey grade. Specimen documentation in the form retained by the Codex. Field reportage on a delivery cadence the Conservancy has, in practice, not enforced. Operational compliance with the diving canon — meaning, plainly, that the contractor will not attempt depths beyond their certification.

What the contract does not specify

The contractor's place of permanent residence. The contractor's prior history. The contractor's reasons for taking the contract. The contract is not curious about these things, and the Conservancy has not, in any year, asked.

A note on the persona

This entry is kept deliberately thin. The archive is not Vael's biography, and the contract document does not contain a biography either. What surfaces in the journal is what the archive has of the contractor; the rest is, by the contractor's preference and the Conservancy's policy, not on record.