The Conduit Census

The Conduit Census is a profound and damning document, a meticulously detailed archive from the waning years of the Glimmering Transition that proves Umbral’s decline was an act of willful ignorance, not divine retribution. It was initiated during the Barons’ Rise, not as a tool for conservation, but as a bureaucratic marvel intended to enforce the newly established Aetherium Tariff. This undertaking was carried out by the specialized guild, the Scribes of the Arteries, who charted every segment of the metropolitan power grid within the doomed Lost City of Umbral. They used sophisticated Resonance Readers to measure the devastating energy flux, recording the systematic abuse of harnessed Auric Resonance. The chilling value of the Census lies in its stark, raw data, which revealed that over 70% of the energy channeled through the Aetherium Conduits was dedicated to non-essential, purely aesthetic functions. More critically, the Census unintentionally mapped the emerging geological weak points—the Vein of Overload—where relentless extraction strained the stone to its breaking point. This historical artifact is thus a mirror reflecting the ultimate failure of the Age of Weaving. The city knew the exact dimensions of its consumption and the path to its demise, yet chose to suppress the findings rather than halt the gilded prosperity, providing the definitive technical rationale for the eventual Great Sundering.