Archive Bead — Access to the Dragon Archive
Overview
The Archive Bead is recorded within Dragon Archive City as a lifetime-bound access artifact permitting entry from the living world during sleep. Access is limited to individuals issued a bead through recognized institutions, including enrolled students, repurposed individuals, alumni, and authorized Ministry personnel. Each bead is bound to a single holder and cannot be transferred, duplicated, or lost.
Archive Function
The bead permits entry into Dragon Archive City without requiring physical relocation from the living world. Entry occurs during sleep and preserves the physical condition of the holder while allowing continued presence within the Archive environment. The bead does not alter movement, rank, or interpretive authority once entry is achieved.
Lifespan Condition — Sidapa
The bead remains active for the full duration of the holder’s life. That duration is not disclosed. Archive records identify Sidapa as the origin of lifespan determination, and no system within the Archive or the Ministry defines or modifies this condition. No record provides exact lifespan measurement to the holder or to any governing structure.
Variation in issuance cost is recorded across individuals and corresponds consistently with this measured condition. The duration itself remains unavailable.
Exchange System
Archive records indicate that all revenue generated from Archive Bead issuance is directed to the Ministry’s ritual system. These funds are converted into regulated materials and processed through controlled burning rites, producing direct transfer of resources into Gwicheon. The transfer is consistent and measurable, sustaining a shared distribution system maintaining the condition of spirits across the realm.
Authority Structure — Zhougong
Dragon Archive City operates under the authority of Zhougong. The Archive Bead permits entry into this domain but does not grant authority within it. Access is facilitated by the Ministry, while internal structure, movement, and interpretation remain governed independently within the Archive.
Physical Access — Dragon Vase
Physical entry into Dragon Archive City is also recorded through the five-foot Dragon Vase. These vases are kept in classified locations within schools across the East Empire and within the Ministry of the East.
The Dragon Vase exists alongside the Archive Bead system. It does not replace the bead as the standard sleep-state access artifact issued to the living.
