The Line Authority

The Line Authority: a guide for licence holders. Issued by the Office of the Warden-General, Port Anselm. Edition of 39 AS. This guide should be carried with your licence and produced on request.

Who we are

The Line Authority keeps the Line. It was founded in 9 AS by the towns of the Line and the city of Port Anselm to do what no single town could do alone: survey the ribbon, license the sleds that run on it, maintain the pontoons of the Long Shallows, and keep the peace from kilometre 0 to the Tail.

Its first Warden-General, Augusta Pell, served from 9 AS to 21 AS and wrote much of what follows. The present Warden-General is Edmund Sarre.

Our charter

The Authority's powers come from its founding charter, signed at Port Anselm in 9 AS. Its preamble reads:

Whereas, at the Snap, the upper station and its counterweight were carried beyond all reach, and have not been heard from since the first year after;

And whereas the station is therefore declared lost, with all four hundred souls aboard, whose names are recorded in the annex and whose memory this Authority shall keep;

And whereas the ribbon that fell is now the common road of every town along it, and belongs to none of them;

Therefore the Line Authority is founded, to keep the Line open, safe and whole.

The charter has been amended eleven times. The preamble has never been amended.

How we are organised

Your licence

A licence is issued to a sled, not to a runner. It must be renewed every year at any reach house. Your licence number must be painted on your sail, clearly and in the approved size, and must not be obscured by your sail mark, however much you like your sail mark.

Licence conditions include the Couriers' Compact's second and third rules: no stopping on a pontoon section, and giving way to a red pennant. A patrol may stop any sled that breaks them.

Common questions

Is the licence fee a toll?

No. The Couriers' Compact forbids tolls on runners for passage on the Line, and the Authority respects the Compact. The licence fee is paid by the sled, not the runner, once a year rather than at any point on the ribbon, and pays for the pontoons you cross and the posts you count. Your hall may describe this differently.

Why was I stopped by a patrol?

Patrols stop sleds to check licences, cargo and water, and to warn of hazards ahead. Most stops take five minutes. A stop is not an accusation. If a patrol warden asks you a question, answering it is the fastest way back onto the ribbon.

Why is the Stump closed?

The Stump is the last standing section of the elevator and the property of the Line as a whole. Its maintenance stair is for Survey Office staff. It is not a monument, a viewpoint or a dare.

What happened to the station?

The charter answers this question. The names of the four hundred are kept in the Hall of the Lost at Port Anselm, which is open every day from dawn to dusk. Visitors are asked to keep their voices down.

I heard the ribbon making a noise. What should I do?

The ribbon is known to hum in high winds and when the temperature changes quickly. This is a property of the material, and the Survey Office has studied it since 12 AS. It does not carry messages. Runners who hear unusual noise should report it to their reach warden in person rather than on the open channel, so that the Survey Office can keep its records without causing alarm.

Can I appeal a decision?

Yes. Appeals go first to your reach warden, then to the Warden-General. Appeals made by shouting at a patrol warden are not recorded.

A word from the warden of the western reach

Each reach warden is invited to address the licence holders of their reach. Warden Kaan's message has been printed unchanged since 32 AS.

I have run every kilometre of my reach at least twice. I have pulled sleds out of the Shallows and runners out of the sand, and I have written to the families of the ones I was too late for. I know what this Authority is resented for. I would like you to know what it is for.

I was twelve when the ribbon came down across my street in Port Anselm. Everything we have now, from Port Anselm to the Tail, was built out of what fell that morning, by people who decided to go on living on top of it. The Line is not a road. It is the one thing holding nearly nine thousand kilometres of my reach together, and it holds because people trust it to be exactly what it is.

I intend to keep it that way. You may disagree with me at any reach house, in person, and many of you do.

I. Kaan, Whiteholm.