Contract
The Contract is the social mandate of the kandra. The First Contract was named by the Lord Ruler, containing the secret that the kandra were put in charge of, in their world. Children of their Father, their purpose and rules of creation were detailed in specific instructions and tasks: Gather the power, Protect it, Hide it, Keep it. The Father shared his knowledge silently with the First Generation on the day of Ascension, that Ruin would escape one day, and on that day would begin searching for his body.
Originally a series of promises made by the First Generation to the Lord Ruler, the First Contract was written in steel, signed by the Lord Ruler and codified into the first kandra laws. The first thing a kandra learned upon awakening from his or her life as a mistwraith, this code contained commands to revere earlier generations, simple legal rights granted to each kandra, provisions for creating new kandra, and a demand for ultimate dedication to the Lord Ruler. However, the First Contract contained a provision called The Resolution, which if invoked, would require the mass suicide of the entire kandra people.
The kandra Origin Legends include the First Contract, the Waiting, the Protection of the Trust and the Resolution. Most kandra believe, or want to believe that the First Contract and the Origin Legends are ancient anachronistic words, philosophical and abstract, either frightened by the contents or the requirement of great sacrifices. The elders know that the First Contract is not simple ceremony or metaphor, but an explicit set of instructions and actions to take when Ruin is freed and begins breaking the world, the kandra were to join the Father and serve him. The possibility of the Father being dead was not included, leaving some of the kandra to decide if the Father is dead, they must serve Vin. Sazed's relationship to Vin enables him to obtain access to the First Generation, who name him a Descendant and among the kandra, has another name, Holy Announcer, for the Hero of Ages.
Shortly after the Lord Ruler's ascension, kandra were being hunted down and taken control of by Mistborn for killing humans. During the Third Generation of kandra, the service Contracts were introduced and created using the First Contract as a model. The Contract bound a kandra with the purchaser of their services. Rules for their 'employment' were set out, with the Contract ensuring the safety of the Kandra people, but effectively enslaving them, while 'on contract' for a human. The Contract dictates that a Kandra cannot kill a human and must obey their master without question. They also cannot leave the human until their time serving the human has finished (it can be assumed that the duration of the contract is proportional to the amount of atium paid by the human).