Concordance VII

Scope and standing

Concordance VII is one of the foundational governing instruments of the Tower, and by common citation the most frequently amended of the numbered Concordances. It establishes the mandate of the Department of Self-Aware Archives, provides authority for Notification Amp Sequestration Phase Alpha, and — through its second annex — provides the base authority for the Archives of Incontestable Fact. Its seventh clause is cited so habitually that scribes at the desk of the Registrar speak of "the standard Clause VII" when they mean this one, which has caused recurring confusion with Third Concordance, Clause VII and with Seventeenth Concordance, Clause VII. Concordance VII is held in the original at Floor 113, in the scriptorium of the Office of Concordances, with two working copies at Floor 114 and one abridged copy circulating among the Departmental clerks. The original is bound in oxblood vellum and sealed with the Third Seal; the seals are inspected each quarter and the inspections are recorded in a ledger that has itself become an object of some dispute.

Provisions

The Concordance runs to fourteen clauses and three annexes. The provisions of greatest currency are as follows:

Provision	Subject	Standing
Clause I	Mandate of the Department of Self-Aware Archives	In force
Clause VII	Declaration recited on application of Ersatz Adhesive, Type VII — see Seventeenth Concordance, Clause VII	Disputed
Annex 2	Authority for Notification Amp Sequestration Phase Alpha	In force
Annex δ	Procedures of the Archives of Incontestable Fact	In force

The reader will observe that Clause VII is the only provision of the seven principal clauses whose standing is marked disputed. It has been so marked since the Winter of the Long Shelf, when the Office of Coincidental Alignment successfully argued that the declaration it contained had been recited on adhesive applications that predated the Concordance's ratification.

Relation to the Third Concordance

The relationship between Concordance VII and the Third Concordance has been the subject of three separate reconciliations, none of which has closed the matter. Third Concordance, Annex VII lists Concordance VII among the instruments to which the Third Concordance defers in matters of archival procedure, while Concordance VII, through its own Annex 2, claims primacy in matters of sequestration. The Office of Reconciliation ruled in 4,118 that the two documents were "mutually foundational and therefore sequentially indifferent," a formulation that has satisfied no one and has since been quoted in four subsequent rulings. The most persistent difficulty concerns the Department of Self-Aware Archives, whose mandate is established by Concordance VII and whose protocol obligations are set out in Concordance VII, Annex 2 and in Concordance VII, Annex δ. The Department has at times claimed that its mandate is unlimited by subject matter, and at times that it extends only to archives that are aware of themselves as archives. The second reading is supported by the preamble; the first by the absence of any qualifying clause. The Department's most recent memorandum on the point cites both readings in the same paragraph.

Amendments

Concordance VII has been amended eleven times. Amendments I through IV are printed in the margin of the original in a single hand, generally attributed to the clerk Tavish Elm. Amendments V through IX are printed on inserted leaves, of which Amendment VII is missing; its text survives only in a copy held at Floor 114, where it is filed under a heading that does not match any known amendment. Amendments X and XI were entered together and are notable for contradicting each other on the residency of the Archives of Incontestable Fact. The amended text has never been produced as a consolidated document. Each amendment is read against the original, and the practice of reading them in sequence rather than in order of issuance is itself a matter of dispute — see the Office of Coincidental Alignment's standing objection.

Notable citations

Concordance VII is among the most-cited instruments in the Tower. Its citations include:

• Concordance VII, Annex 2 — the governing authority for Notification Amp Sequestration Phase Alpha.
• Concordance VII, Annex δ — the procedures of the Archives of Incontestable Fact.
• The Department's founding instrument, quoted in full in the Department of Self-Aware Archives' own entry.

The Concordance is also cited, more loosely, in matters entirely unrelated to its provisions. Clerks have been observed citing "Concordance VII" in arguments about shelving, about the height of reading tables, and — on one occasion, in the winter of 4,141 — about whether a particular corridor should be swept on Tuesdays or Thursdays. The Registrar's office has declined to rule on the last of these.

Standing and access

The original may be consulted by any clerk holding a Fourth-class permit or above. Copies may be withdrawn for no more than three days, and the withdrawal must be recorded in the ledger at Floor 114. Visitors are reminded that the scriptorium is unlit between the eighth and ninth hour and that reading during this period is permitted but not recommended. Amendment VII should be requested by its Floor 114 designation rather than by its ordinal number, as the ordinal has been reassigned twice.