feat(simulation): Sprint 18 — 9 server systems

Background tier state machines (#95), NPC vision (#115), player-
awareness behavior (#244), skill system & combat flag (#91), social
propagation (#249), examine mechanic (#242), character pressure
framework (#248), save state data model (#256), tell state wiring
(#337). Protocol version bumped 13→14 for examine_result and
character_pressure snapshot fields.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

server/src/simulation/input.rs

@@ -221,6 +221,16 @@ pub fn process_player_input(
                         current_tick,
                     );
                 }
+                Some("Examine NPC") | Some("ExamineNpc") | Some("Examine Object")
+                | Some("ExamineObject") | Some("Observe") => {
+                    handle_examine(
+                        &mut commands,
+                        &registry,
+                        &player_query,
+                        &all_positions,
+                        target_entity_id,
+                    );
+                }
                 Some("Confront") => {
                     handle_confront(
                         &mut commands,
@@ -471,6 +481,65 @@ fn handle_talk(
     tracing::debug!(target_id, "Talk: TalkRequest marker set on player");
 }
 
+/// Handle Examine verb: insert ExamineRequest marker on the player entity (#242).
+/// Examine is available at close range (same as Talk). Range check here matches
+/// the server-side guard in process_examine_interaction.
+#[allow(clippy::type_complexity)]
+fn handle_examine(
+    commands: &mut Commands,
+    registry: &EntityRegistry,
+    player_query: &Query<
+        (
+            Entity,
+            &TilePosition,
+            Option<&mut crate::simulation::stance::Stance>,
+            Option<&mut crate::simulation::stance::PlayerMoveCooldown>,
+        ),
+        With<PlayerCharacter>,
+    >,
+    all_positions: &Query<&TilePosition>,
+    target_entity_id: Option<u64>,
+) {
+    let Some(target_id) = target_entity_id else {
+        tracing::warn!("Examine verb without target_entity_id");
+        return;
+    };
+
+    let Ok((player_entity, player_pos, _, _)) = player_query.single() else {
+        return;
+    };
+
+    let target_stable = StableId(target_id);
+    let Some(target_entity) = registry.to_entity(&target_stable) else {
+        tracing::warn!(target_id, "Examine: target entity not in registry");
+        return;
+    };
+
+    // Server-side range check: reject Examine if target is beyond close range
+    if let Ok(target_pos) = all_positions.get(target_entity) {
+        let distance = player_pos
+            .manhattan_distance(target_pos)
+            .unwrap_or(u32::MAX);
+        if distance > crate::simulation::interaction::CLOSE_RANGE {
+            tracing::info!(
+                target_id,
+                distance,
+                "Examine: target out of range (max {})",
+                crate::simulation::interaction::CLOSE_RANGE,
+            );
+            return;
+        }
+    }
+
+    commands
+        .entity(player_entity)
+        .insert(crate::simulation::examine::ExamineRequest {
+            target: target_entity,
+        });
+
+    tracing::debug!(target_id, "Examine: ExamineRequest marker set on player");
+}
+
 /// Handle DialogueResponse action: set DialogueResponseRequest marker (#539).
 /// The follow-up dialogue pipeline runs in process_dialogue_response (dialogue.rs).
 ///