In the fictional composite state of Khorasan, ordinary life begins to narrow through procedures that ask people to wait, prove, certify, appeal, and pay before they can continue. Wages stall, shipments are held, medicine depends on a transfer, favors become risky, and administrative precaution absorbs geopolitical pressure into kitchens and workplaces. The first volume uses records, rules, markets, labor, sanctions, trust, and debt to examine legitimacy during an interregnum when no center of power can guarantee that the old system will keep working.
