About the red lanterns (as overheard)

These were never written down.

Stated aim : “To see what happens if the city’s routing assumptions are … questioned.”, said with the same tone one might use when wondering whether a supporting wall is load-bearing.

What we are actually poking at

In Ankh-Morpork terms, this is messenger routing. In modern terms, yes, it looks suspiciously like BGP.

The Scarlet Semaphore are interested in:

  • Who announces routes

  • Who trusts those announcements

  • How quickly false paths propagate

  • How long it takes for anyone sensible to notice

We are not trying to break the city. We are trying to find out how easily it could be persuaded to misdeliver itself.

Method (Semaphore style)

Very informal. (“Alarmingly clever”, according to the Patrician, as overheard by a clerk from the Dept. of Silent Stability, and former member of the Scarlet Semaphore). Everything is reversible. (Hopefully).

  • False but plausible signal announcements

  • Competing semaphore paths that look “more efficient”

  • Gentle hijacks that reroute information without stopping it

  • Observing which guilds panic first and which do not notice at all

Relationship with the Department of Silent Stability

Officially: none.

Practically: Not just us, but everyone involved best assume we are being watched, and proceed because there is an interest.

  • The Department calls this unsanctioned resilience testing.

  • The Patrician calls it useful information gathering.

  • We do not use those phrases in front of each other (and certainly not in public).

There seems to be a standing, unspoken rule:

  • If the Department intervenes, the Operation stops immediately.

  • If we do not, the findings are quietly … shared with a person with interest.

Risk posture

High curiosity. Moderate danger. Severe consequences if someone gets creative without thinking (too clever).

This is why several former Semaphore members now work for the Department. Not as punishment. As continuity.

Current status

Ongoing, intermittently paused for tea, arguments, and ethical discussions that sound suspiciously like technical debates.

Nothing has gone wrong yet.

Which, frankly, is making everyone more nervous than if something had.