The consequences did not fall all at once.

They arrived as refinement.

Across Varenth, the ledger did not retaliate with lockdowns or mass suspensions. There were no dramatic purges, no visible crackdown that could be named oppression. That would have been crude. Inefficient. Too easily opposed.

Instead, the system adjusted the texture of daily life.

Confidence thresholds narrowed by fractions small enough to escape protest.

Appeal pathways lengthened by steps that appeared reasonable in ...