Concepts

First Contract

Known facts

requires-chance-to-speak-before-executionThe First Contract requires that a kandra facing execution be given the means to speak in their own defence — which is why TenSoon is thrown a skull as the acid is brought in. The Second Generation tries to satisfy the form of that requirement while ignoring its purpose; they intend to drown him in acid before he can use the skull to speak.MB1:HoA:Ch 2
trial-before-firsts-clauseThe First Contract obliges the Second Generation to bring any kandra who insists on it before the First Generation in person, in the Trustwarren, for judgment. The Firsts may stay the punishment the Seconds would otherwise impose; otherwise the Seconds' fate stands.MB1:HoA:Ch 9
mass-suicide-clauseBuried inside the First Contract is a provision which, if formally invoked, would require the mass suicide of the entire kandra people. The clause was set down by the First Generation when they wrote the contract and submitted it to the Lord Ruler for his signature; what it would take to invoke it is not specified at this point.MB1:HoA:Ch 10
forbids-killing-humans-onlyThe First Contract forbids kandra from killing humans, but is silent on whether one kandra may kill another. TenSoon argues the language at his judgment: when Zane ordered him to kill and replace the kandra OreSeur so that TenSoon could spy on Vin, the act was not Contract-breaking. The Seconds reply that the omission is a dangerous loophole — that if humans were to begin using kandra this way the people could be wiped out within years — and that TenSoon should have refused on the spot and demanded clarification.MB1:HoA:Ch 11
was-concrete-instructions-not-ceremonyThe First Contract was not, originally, the ceremonial Trust the Second Generation has spent centuries turning it into. TenSoon, who knew the Firsts in his youth, remembers it as a set of concrete instructions for what the kandra are to do when the world begins to fall — actions to take, not metaphor. When Ruin returns the kandra are to seek out the Father and serve him. He suspects the Seconds prefer the philosophical version because the original would have demanded great sacrifices of them.MB1:HoA:Ch 39
is-paired-with-the-resolution-chargeThe Father gave each kandra a second charge alongside the First Contract when he made them: the Resolution. He treated it almost as an afterthought when he mentioned it, but then made each of them swear it; every kandra is told of it at birth. He said they would know when the day came to invoke it.MB1:HoA:Ch 75