diff --git a/scripts/frank-archon.service b/scripts/frank-archon.service
index 5a5553c..47811ee 100644
--- a/scripts/frank-archon.service
+++ b/scripts/frank-archon.service
@@ -35,6 +35,13 @@ Group=dank
 LimitMEMLOCK=infinity
 Environment="FRANK_ARCHON_ENV_FILE=/home/dank/serverAppConfigs/scripts/frank-archon.env"
 ExecStart=/home/dank/serverAppConfigs/scripts/serve-frank-archon.sh
+# The `+` prefix runs this as root even though the service is User=dank — the
+# ttm pages cap is a root-owned knob and the pinned-RAM ledger (~147 GiB) is
+# unusable below it. After a reboot the knob is back at its default (half of
+# RAM), so the raise must be part of the start, not a note in a runbook: the
+# 2026-10-12 power failure reset it and the endpoint refused to boot 6,919
+# times. The serve script re-verifies the cap after this hook.
+ExecStartPre=+/home/dank/serverAppConfigs/scripts/ttm-preflight.sh --raise
 # systemd stop: wait alone cannot stop the container child; stop it
 # explicitly. No graceful drain contract is claimed (the OpenAI front end
 # holds no queue to drain — in-flight decodes are lost, which a stop
diff --git a/scripts/ttm-preflight.sh b/scripts/ttm-preflight.sh
index 2b15ce2..4567837 100755
--- a/scripts/ttm-preflight.sh
+++ b/scripts/ttm-preflight.sh
@@ -42,15 +42,24 @@ ttm_cap_mib() {
     echo "${cur:-0}"
 }
 
-# Writes $1 MiB (as 4 KiB pages) into every writable knob present. Failures are
+# Writes $1 MiB (as 4 KiB pages) into every knob present. Failures are
 # swallowed: the caller re-reads the cap, and a write the kernel refused shows
 # up there (ttm refuses a limit below the pages it has already pinned).
+#
+# PRIVILEGE, measured the hard way: the knob is root-owned 0644 and the service
+# process runs as User=dank, so `-w` is FALSE there and a plain echo fails. The
+# canonical privileged path is the unit's ExecStartPre with the `+` prefix
+# (systemd runs it as root even under User=); `sudo -n` is the fallback for a
+# human running the gate from a shell (passwordless sudo on both hosts).
 ttm_raise_cap() {
     local pages=$(( $1 * 256 )) p
     for p in "$FRANK_ARCHON_TTM_SYS_DIR/pages_limit" \
              "$FRANK_ARCHON_TTM_SYS_DIR/pages_max"; do
+        [ -e "$p" ] || continue
         if [ -w "$p" ]; then
             echo "$pages" > "$p" 2>/dev/null || true
+        elif command -v sudo >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            sudo -n sh -c "echo $pages > '$p'" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
         fi
     done
 }
@@ -74,3 +83,22 @@ ttm_ensure_cap() {
     fi
     echo "frank-archon: ttm pages cap ${cap} MiB clears the pinned-ledger floor $FRANK_ARCHON_TTM_MIN_MIB" >&2
 }
+
+# Executed (not sourced) it is the privileged pre-start hook: systemd runs this
+# as root from the unit's `ExecStartPre=+…`, where the knob write is legal and
+# the `Restart=always` loop can never outrun it.
+if [ "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" = "${0}" ]; then
+    set -euo pipefail
+    case "${1:-}" in
+        --raise)
+            TTM_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+            # shellcheck source=/dev/null
+            source "${FRANK_ARCHON_ENV_FILE:-$TTM_DIR/frank-archon.env}"
+            ttm_ensure_cap
+            ;;
+        *)
+            echo "usage: ${0##*/} --raise   (raise the ttm pages cap, then verify)" >&2
+            exit 2
+            ;;
+    esac
+fi
diff --git a/tests/frank_archon_unit.bats b/tests/frank_archon_unit.bats
index cd3d5d1..da76b05 100755
--- a/tests/frank_archon_unit.bats
+++ b/tests/frank_archon_unit.bats
@@ -33,6 +33,16 @@ BUILD="$REPO_ROOT/scripts/convert-swift15-w4dn8.sh"
 HFGET="$REPO_ROOT/scripts/hfget.sh"
 TEMPLATE="$REPO_ROOT/scripts/qwen38-froggeric-v22.5.jinja"
 
+# A PATH with `cat` (the gate reads knobs with it) and NO `sudo`, so the
+# privileged fallback cannot rescue a write the test means to fail.
+nosudo_bin() {
+    local bin="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/nosudo-bin"
+    mkdir -p "$bin"
+    ln -sf "$(command -v cat)" "$bin/cat"
+    ln -sf "$(command -v bash)" "$bin/bash"
+    echo "$bin"
+}
+
 @test "frank-archon unit, serve script, env, fetch and build scripts and template exist" {
     [ -f "$UNIT" ]
     [ -x "$SERVE" ]
@@ -298,8 +308,11 @@ TEMPLATE="$REPO_ROOT/scripts/qwen38-froggeric-v22.5.jinja"
 
     echo 32253039 > "$dir/pages_limit"
     chmod 444 "$dir/pages_limit"          # the write refused: cap cannot move
-    run bash -c '. "$1"; ttm_ensure_cap' _ "$TTM_LIB"
-    [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+    # The refusal case must not have `sudo` on PATH: the gate's privileged
+    # fallback runs `sudo -n`, and on a passwordless host root can write a 444
+    # file, which would silently test nothing.
+    run env PATH="$(nosudo_bin)" bash -c '. "$1"; ttm_ensure_cap' _ "$TTM_LIB"
+    [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
     [[ "$output" == *"ERROR: ttm pages cap is 125988 MiB"* ]]
     [ "$(cat "$dir/pages_limit")" = "32253039" ]
 }
@@ -323,12 +336,35 @@ TEMPLATE="$REPO_ROOT/scripts/qwen38-froggeric-v22.5.jinja"
     [ "$output" = "117187" ]
 
     chmod 444 "$dir/pages_limit" "$dir/pages_max"   # both writes refused
-    run bash -c '. "$1"; ttm_ensure_cap' _ "$TTM_LIB"
-    [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+    run env PATH="$(nosudo_bin)" bash -c '. "$1"; ttm_ensure_cap' _ "$TTM_LIB"
+    [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
     [[ "$output" == *"ERROR: ttm pages cap is 117187 MiB"* ]]
     [ "$(cat "$dir/pages_max")" = "30000000" ]
 }
 
+@test "the gate runs as a root pre-start hook, where the knob write is legal" {
+    # The knob is root-owned 0644 and the service runs as User=dank, so the
+    # gate CANNOT raise it from the service process. systemd's `+` prefix on
+    # ExecStartPre runs as root even under User= — the canonical privileged
+    # path — and the gate's own --raise mode is what that line calls.
+    grep -q '^ExecStartPre=+/home/dank/serverAppConfigs/scripts/ttm-preflight.sh --raise$' "$UNIT"
+
+    # Behaviour of that entry point: sourced env values, knob raised, exit 0.
+    local dir="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/ttm3" envf="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/ttm3.env"
+    mkdir -p "$dir"
+    printf 'FRANK_ARCHON_TTM_MIN_MIB=150000\nFRANK_ARCHON_TTM_TARGET_MIB=204800\n' > "$envf"
+    echo 32253039 > "$dir/pages_limit"
+    run env FRANK_ARCHON_ENV_FILE="$envf" FRANK_ARCHON_TTM_SYS_DIR="$dir" \
+        bash "$TTM_LIB" --raise
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [ "$(cat "$dir/pages_limit")" = "52428800" ]
+
+    # Usage is a named failure, not a silent no-op.
+    run bash "$TTM_LIB"
+    [ "$status" -eq 2 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"--raise"* ]]
+}
+
 @test "the serve script clears stale containers and self-heals via podman wait" {
     # A crashed unit can leave the container name registered forever after;
     # the legacy identities hold the same GPUs and die here too. Then block