Board of Proctors

The Board of Proctors of Saro University is the institution that holds formal authority over university property and security, a power that becomes critically visible in the final months before the predicted eclipse. Its most concrete appearance in the narrative is as the signatory authority on the "NO TRESPASSING" and "DANGER" signs posted at the entrance to the university's Sanctuary, the old particle-accelerator facility converted into a refuge for the Observatory staff and their families. The signs declare the site off-limits "BY ORDER OF BOARD OF PROCTORS, SARO UNIVERSITY," a legalistic assertion of control that stands in stark contrast to the chaos that soon engulfs the world.

Authority and Its Limits

The Board's authority is invoked as a formal, bureaucratic mechanism to seal the Sanctuary against the general public, but its power proves entirely inadequate against the scale of the coming catastrophe. The Sanctuary itself, though guarded by the Board's Security personnel, is ultimately abandoned by its intended occupants when the university community decides to evacuate to Amgando National Park. The Board's signs and orders become meaningless relics as the post-eclipse world fragments into competing petty jurisdictions, with the Sanctuary itself being taken over by Altinol's Fire Patrol.

Public Perception and Ridicule

The Board of Proctors is also the target of Theremon 762's satirical newspaper columns, which he writes as part of his campaign to undermine the Observatory scientists' warnings about the eclipse. In one column, Theremon suggests that the "mandatory faculty retirement age has been pegged a few years too high" at Saro University, a jibe that implicitly criticizes the Board's oversight of the institution. He further mocks the university's preparedness efforts by publishing a list of essential items to store in one's basement, including "can openers, thumbtacks, copies of the multiplication table, playing cards," and sarcastically advises readers to "write your name on a tag and tie it around your right wrist, in case you don't remember it after the Darkness comes." These columns, while aimed at Athor and the Observatory group, also serve to erode public confidence in the university administration as a whole, including the Board of Proctors.

Narrative Significance

The Board of Proctors functions in the story as a symbol of the established institutional order that proves powerless to prevent or mitigate the catastrophe. Its formal authority, expressed through signs and regulations, is rendered irrelevant by the overwhelming force of the eclipse and the ensuing madness. The Board's failure to maintain order or protect the university's assets—the Observatory is wrecked, the Sanctuary is abandoned, and the campus is burned—underscores the complete collapse of pre-Nightfall governance structures. In the post-eclipse world, the Board of Proctors is never mentioned again, replaced by ad hoc organizations like the Fire Patrol and the Apostles of Flame, which wield power through direct control of resources and violence rather than through bureaucratic decree.