The declaration did not stay confined to the plaza. Within the hour it reached the merchant districts, the noble compounds, the guild halls, and the lower wards.
Projection repeats played on secondary arrays along the main thoroughfares. Written copies were posted at major junctions under new White Spire seals. The seals on the palace itself were visible from half the city, pale geometric marks that replaced the old imperial emblems.
The message was simple and absolute: the previous administration had ended, the empire now answered to the White Spire, and resistance would be treated as an obstacle to order.
Panic followed in uneven waves.
In the lower markets people gathered in tight clusters between the stalls. Arguments broke out over grain prices, transit permits, and the residual grids that still powered the workshops. Some tried to withdraw coin and stores before the banks locked their ledgers.
