Marithel — Provenance, Certification, Custody, Counterfeits, and Markets

Marithel does not ask one question about unusual material.

It asks several.

Question	Meaning
Who owns it?	who holds a recognized property claim
Who possesses it?	who physically controls it now
Who has custody?	who must protect, record, and transfer it
Who stewards it?	who is responsible to a community, ecology, shrine, grave, or future user
Who certified it?	who tested or recognized a specific claim
Who licensed the work?	who permitted gathering, production, transport, or use
Is it evidence?	whether alteration or sale is restricted by investigation
Is it sacred?	whether rite, temple, family, or community duty controls it
Is it ecologically restricted?	whether removal or use harms a living system
Is it requisitioned?	whether emergency or military authority has temporarily redirected it
Can it be sold?	whether ordinary market transfer is lawful
Can it be used?	whether the holder has the skill, formula, place, and permission

One answer does not replace the others.

Public Material Records

A serious material record identifies more than the object.

Record field	Why it matters
Name and category	Establishes what the claimant says the object is
Source	Identifies reef, wreck, workshop, ship, tower, creature, community, or seller
Geographic parent	Places the source within accepted Marithel geography
Recovery or production date	Helps compare weather, route, batch, and custody
Producer or recoverer	Identifies responsible labor
Witnesses	Establishes who observed the work or recovery
Authority	Identifies the court, guild, temple, canton, house, or harbor recognizing the record
Batch, commission, or registration	Connects the object to other records
Restrictions	Identifies sacred, legal, ecological, military, or operational limits
Condition	Records damage, contamination, repair, and instability
Custody	Shows who held the object and when
Intended use	Prevents a component certified for one purpose from being used for another without review

A perfect record can accompany a switched object.

An authentic object can travel with incomplete papers.

Material trust depends on comparing both.

Counterfeit and Fraud

Marithel’s material fraud is usually specific.

Common frauds

• ordinary glass sold as Saltglass;
• Saltglass of one grade sold as another;
• a repaired lens sold as new;
• a false storm-color test;
• copied maker marks;
• a genuine certificate paired with a substituted object;
• watered or contaminated beacon oil;
• ordinary lamp oil sold as blessed oil;
• a false sky-sign blend;
• witness media prepared after the event;
• a bell with a replaced clapper or filed registration;
• unlawful coral sold as storm-cast fragment;
• shell dyed or cut to resemble Sapphire Reef material;
• a gem-crab shell claim without credible provenance;
• a magical salvage component removed before evidence hearing;
• and a counterfeit Powderwright lot mark.

Examination

No single skill reveals every fraud.

Crafting can assess workmanship and repair. Arcana, Nature, Occultism, or Religion may apply to the actual magical tradition. Society or Legal Lore can assess papers and recognized authority. Mercantile Lore can assess trade practice. Glassworking Lore, Lighthouse Lore, Salvage Lore, Reef Lore, Engineering Lore, or another specialist Lore may be decisive.

The check follows the object and the claim being tested.

Public Access

Access depends on the material.

Access level	Typical path
Ordinary specialist	Purchase or commission from an established craft worker
Uncommon regional	Origin, apprenticeship, faction connection, professional contract, or recognized regional supplier
Restricted operational	License, tower commission, harbor authority, military or rescue duty, court order, or recognized institutional need
Sacred	Temple, monastery, Wreck-Bell, reef, family, or other stewardship permission
Rare	Explicit campaign access through patronage, expedition, court award, salvage ruling, specialized formula, or named project
Story	Quest, inheritance, relic custody, major political transfer, unique recovery, or campaign-defining obligation

A character may possess an item without having the right to reproduce it.

A character may know a formula without having access to the required material.

A character may have material without having a workshop capable of using it safely.

Recognition Marks

Marithel uses:

• workshop marks;
• batch marks;
• maker marks;
• lens orientation marks;
• bell registrations;
• ship and tower numbers;
• temple seals;
• reef witness tokens;
• salvage labels;
• quarantine tags;
• cargo cord;
• colored wax;
• stamped shell;
• metal plates;
• route song references;
• and duplicate ledger entries.

A mark is evidence of a claim.

It is not proof that the object beneath it is unchanged.

Market Classes

Market class	Typical material
open specialist market	fine glass, shellwork, tools, storm prisms, ordinary signal panes
commissioned market	lighthouse lenses, fitted mirrors, specialized containers, shipboard compounds
institutional issue	tower oil, rescue flare, patrol equipment, witness slate
controlled auction	lawful salvage, damaged magic, rare optical component
temple custody	Dreaming Grove blossom, sacred stormglass, funerary material
reef transfer	Bellcoral, ancestor material, protected shell, living-wreck object
restricted archive	Sirenward sample, witness media under seal, confiscated route component
black market	false certificates, stolen oil, grave-looted coral, restricted sample, copied chart

Ten Material Case Files

1. Highwatch replacement lens

1. Highwatch reports distortion.
2. Marcolini glassworkers clean and inspect.
3. A Whiteglass commission defines the replacement.
4. Pearlglass handles packing, value, and insurance.
5. Tidewall coordinates protected delivery.
6. Highwatch and Beacon House workers install.
7. The oil, plate, mirror, frame, and lens are tested together.
8. The tower log records acceptance.

The lens can be technically correct and politically delayed at any stage.

2. Recovered drowned bell

1. A wreck is reported.
2. Rescue and grave status are assessed.
3. Reef or salvage authority permits recovery.
4. Divers stabilize the bell.
5. Wreckscale receives and records it.
6. Registration is compared.
7. Drowned Witness or bell specialists examine it.
8. Family, lighthouse, court, and reef claims are heard.
9. The bell is returned, archived, sealed, or retained.

3. Dreaming Grove blossom

1. A healer identifies a specific need.
2. A caretaker hears the purpose.
3. The blossom is given or refused.
4. Custody and transport are recorded.
5. The receiving healer confirms arrival.
6. The blossom is used for the recognized purpose.
7. Unused material is returned or disposed of as instructed.

4. Counterfeit Sapphire Reef shell

1. A seller presents the shell in Pearlglass.
2. Appraisers examine cut, color, and provenance.
3. Whiteglass examines optical behavior.
4. Reef witnesses challenge the claimed source.
5. The certificate is compared with the object.
6. The shell may be genuine while the story is false.
7. The court decides fraud, custody, or further examination.

5. Sirenward confiscated sample

1. A patrol seizes the object.
2. It is isolated and marked.
3. Exposure and handling are recorded.
4. A restricted route carries it to a receiving site.
5. Listeners conduct limited examination.
6. The Compact orders continued custody, destruction, or controlled transfer.
7. No private buyer gains title from the seizure.

6. Powderwright lot seizure

1. A lot is stopped at inspection.
2. Marks and containers are compared.
3. The batch is tested under controlled conditions.
4. The buyer, maker, ship, and intended use are questioned.
5. Genuine powder may still be unlawfully diverted.
6. The lot is released, impounded, requisitioned, or destroyed.

7. Pearlglass certificate challenged by Reefcourt

1. A buyer holds a lawful commercial certificate.
2. Sulara identifies the material as grave coral.
3. Pearlglass confirms the certificate’s authenticity.
4. Reefcourt argues that commercial certification never granted harvest permission.
5. The material is held.
6. The dispute turns on source, not craftsmanship.

8. Witness slate in a wrongful-death case

1. A tower submits the slate.
2. Custody is reviewed.
3. Weather, calibration, and damage are examined.
4. The trace is compared with logs, bells, and testimony.
5. Elaris argues what the trace establishes and what it does not.
6. The court must decide whether uncertainty changes liability.

9. Salvaged magic as family memorial

1. A shipyard identifies an item that can be repaired or deconstructed.
2. A family claims memorial custody.
3. A salvage court recognizes material value.
4. A temple or witness house identifies funerary significance.
5. Emergency need creates pressure.
6. The final decision separates ownership, use, and destruction.

10. Foreign planar glass through Far-Treaty

1. The cargo arrives under foreign papers.
2. Quarantine and diplomatic custody are recorded.
3. A specialist examines containment.
4. A lenswright determines whether the glass can be worked.
5. A temple or scholar states the intended use.
6. The harbor permits, restricts, returns, or impounds it.
7. Arrival in Marithel does not make it Maritheli material.

Public Contacts

Tavira Ropecant

Tavira translates dock cant, rope marks, registry phrases, and worker warnings that formal clerks often miss.

Vaelric Seaaccord

Vaelric writes agreements that separate ownership, custody, access, and liability when several authorities must cooperate.

Mavriel Chartsong

Mavriel preserves route songs and sealed verses. She is relevant when material provenance depends on knowledge not safely written on an ordinary chart.

Galira Netmender

Galira can turn a material dispute into workable labor, emergency distribution, or public refusal.

Material Map Standard

A public material map shows:

• public source locations;
• processing centers;
• certification centers;
• archives and custody sites;
• lighthouse supply routes;
• salvage transfer;
• deepwater-to-shallow transfer;
• high-value cargo routes;
• quarantine and foreign-material entry;
• and restricted regions without hidden approaches.

It omits:

• a dependable Sapphire Reef approach;
• hidden freshwater points;
• private pilot marks;
• concealed anchorages;
• restricted reef entrances;
• secret salvage approaches;
• hidden-cast codes;
• Sirenward restricted storage detail;
• and any route whose publication would endanger a protected community.