docs(wiki): establish Sova Transit District game world glossary

45 files covering the v0.1 vertical slice content: 17 NPC profiles
across 3 tiers, 5 triangles, 3 social sites, 7 factions, 6 technology
entries, 3 contraband types, knowledge vocabulary (FactIds, entity
attributes, relationship states), and monologue authoring guide.

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

docs/wiki/technology/clone-transfer.md

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+# Clone Transfer
+
+**Type:** Core Technology
+**Status:** Canonical
+**Scope:** Death mechanics, identity persistence, backup systems
+**Also Known As:** Re-embodiment (formal), "getting a new body" (colloquial)
+
+---
+
+## Overview
+
+Clone transfer is the technology that makes death temporary in the Settled Reach — for those who can afford it and maintain their backups. A person's neural state is periodically backed up to a secure facility. If the original body dies, the backed-up state is transferred to a cloned body. The person wakes up in a new body with memories intact up to their last backup.
+
+Everything since the last backup is lost.
+
+This is the core of the death mechanic: death is not game over. Death is information loss. And in a game built on asymmetric information, losing what you've learned is worse than losing a body.
+
+---
+
+## How Clone Transfer Works
+
+**The backup process:**
+1. The bearer visits a registered backup facility (typically institutional — Commission, medical center, or licensed private provider)
+2. Neural state is captured via lattice interface — memories, learned skills, relationship data, personality patterns
+3. The backup is stored securely, encrypted, institutionally managed
+4. Backup frequency varies: wealthy individuals back up daily; working-class citizens back up weekly, monthly, or less
+
+**The transfer process (on death):**
+1. Death is confirmed (biological cessation of original body)
+2. Most recent backup is retrieved from secure storage
+3. A clone body is prepared (grown in advance or accelerated-growth, depending on tier)
+4. Neural state is transferred to the clone body
+5. The individual wakes up in the new body with memories up to their last backup point
+
+**The gap:** Everything between the last backup and death is gone. Conversations. Discoveries. Relationships formed. Deals struck. Evidence collected. If the detective backs up on Monday and dies on Thursday, three days of investigation vanish. If the smuggler backs up before a run and dies during it, they don't remember the run at all.
+
+---
+
+## Body Types
+
+Clone bodies are not all equal.
+
+**Standard clone:** Biological replica of the original body at a baseline state. No enhancements beyond the original genetic template. This is what most people receive — functional, healthy, unremarkable.
+
+**Enhanced clone:** Improved biological specifications — better muscle density, faster neural pathways, optimized organ function. Available through institutional channels (military, intelligence, wealthy dynasties) or high-end private providers.
+
+**Custom bodies:** In the wider Settled Reach, some individuals change body specifications with each transfer — different appearance, different physical capabilities, different sex. Identity becomes fluid when the body is replaceable. This is more common in cosmopolitan core systems than in working-class stations like Sova.
+
+**v0.1 scope:** Clone transfer is referenced technology, not a gameplay mechanic. No character dies and is re-embodied during the vertical slice. But the *possibility* of death-as-information-loss shapes how the player treats risk, and backup status shapes NPC behavior (someone without a recent backup is more cautious).
+
+---
+
+## The Cost Problem
+
+Clone transfer is not free. Backup storage requires institutional infrastructure. Clone bodies require biological manufacturing. Transfer requires specialized medical facilities. All of this costs money, and all of it is regulated.
+
+**Institutional access:** Commission employees, Concord Assembly staff, military personnel, and corporate workers typically have backup coverage as an employment benefit. Their backups are regular, their clone bodies pre-grown, their transfer priority high.
+
+**Civilian access:** Independent workers, freelancers, and small-business owners must pay out of pocket. Backup frequency drops with income. A dock worker on Station Sova might back up monthly — or less. The cost is a line item they weigh against food, rent, and lattice maintenance.
+
+**The uninsured:** Some people in the Reach have no backup at all. Death, for them, is final. This is rare but not unknown, particularly on frontier stations or among populations that reject the technology for cultural or philosophical reasons.
+
+**The implication:** Clone transfer creates a mortality gradient. Wealthy people with daily backups lose hours if they die. Working-class people with monthly backups lose weeks. People without backups lose everything. Death is not equal in the Settled Reach — it's proportional to your economic status.
+
+---
+
+## Clone Transfer and Identity
+
+Let me complicate this: if your body dies and a new body wakes up with your memories, is it *you*?
+
+Most people in the Settled Reach say yes. The legal system treats the transferred individual as the same person — same rights, same obligations, same identity. Continuity of neural state is continuity of self. This is settled law and settled culture.
+
+But not everyone agrees. Some philosophical and religious traditions hold that the transferred individual is a copy, not the original — that something essential is lost in the gap. The Guardians of Autonomy (see [Severance Technology](severance-tech.md)) incorporate this skepticism into their broader critique of lattice-mediated identity.
+
+On Station Sova, this debate is abstract. People here worry about backup costs, not metaphysics. But the philosophical undercurrent exists, and it surfaces in unexpected places — a dock worker who insists on doing dangerous work precisely because their backup is stale and death would mean something, or an NPC who becomes reckless after a recent backup because they feel temporarily invincible.
+
+---
+
+## Death as Information Loss
+
+From D-008: "Death = information loss, not game over. Memory cell backup system means death costs you everything since your last backup. Lost knowledge, lost relationships, lost deals. The storyteller knows what you've lost and can exploit it."
+
+**What the player loses on death:**
+- All knowledge gained since the last backup (facts, entity observations, relationship changes)
+- Progress on investigation threads
+- Trust built with NPCs (they remember you, but you don't remember the last conversation)
+- Spatial knowledge (locations discovered, routes mapped)
+
+**What the player keeps:**
+- Everything from before the backup (base knowledge, established relationships, background facts)
+- Their character's fundamental identity and capabilities
+- Their lattice tier and equipment (new clone body, same tier lattice installed)
+
+**What the storyteller gains:** Knowledge of what the player lost. The storyteller (D-005, Rimworld-style AI pacing) knows exactly which threads were severed by death. It can reintroduce the same NPCs, the same situations, the same evidence — but now the player doesn't remember the context. The NPC who was about to betray you? They still remember your conversation. You don't.
+
+---
+
+## Dual-Lens Significance
+
+**The smuggler** has a working-class backup schedule — maybe monthly, maybe less. Death on the job would cost them weeks of operational knowledge, social capital, and relationship maintenance. This makes the smuggler risk-averse in a way that isn't cowardice — it's rational calculation. Getting killed during a run doesn't just end the run; it erases the relationships that make the next run possible.
+
+**The detective** has institutional backup coverage — regular, reliable, potentially daily. Death costs them investigation progress but not foundational capabilities. This doesn't make the detective reckless, but it shifts their risk calculus. Losing three days of fieldwork is painful; losing their life permanently is not on the table. The detective can afford risks the smuggler can't.
+
+**The asymmetry:** The smuggler fears death more because it costs them more. The detective fears failure more because their institution is watching. Same mortality technology, different stakes, different behavior.
+
+---
+
+## Mechanical Integration
+
+**v0.1 Scope:**
+- Clone transfer is lore and NPC dialogue content, not a playable mechanic
+- No player death-and-resurrection cycle in the vertical slice
+- Backup status may appear as NPC behavioral context (cautious vs. reckless correlating to backup freshness)
+
+**Future Scope (D-008):**
+- Death triggers knowledge graph rollback to last backup state
+- Storyteller exploits knowledge gaps created by death
+- Backup timing becomes a strategic decision (back up frequently = safe but institutional; back up rarely = risky but independent)
+- Body type selection on transfer (if implemented)
+
+---
+
+**Cross-References:**
+- [Neural Lattice](neural-lattice.md) — Lattice enables the backup process
+- D-008: Action pillar (death = information loss, hubris wall)
+- D-005: Core concept (asymmetric information — death removes information)
+- D-041: Knowledge graph (backup state = snapshot of knowledge graph)
+
+---
+
+**Status:** Canonical — death and identity mechanics
+**Created:** 2026-02-12
+**Updated:** 2026-02-12

docs/wiki/technology/founder-gates.md

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+# Founder Gates
+
+**Type:** Interstellar Transit Infrastructure
+**Status:** Canonical
+**Scope:** Interstellar transit (between star systems)
+**Also Known As:** Horizon Gates
+**Origin:** Pre-human / alien construction (exact provenance debated)
+
+---
+
+## Overview
+
+Founder Gates — formally Horizon Gates, colloquially "founder gates" — are the interstellar transit network that makes the Settled Reach possible. They connect star systems across light-years of void, enabling the trade, communication, and political structures that bind hundreds of worlds into a functioning civilization.
+
+Where [span gates](span-gates.md) handle intra-system logistics, founder gates define the shape of interstellar space. Which systems connect to which determines trade routes, political alliances, strategic significance, and cultural exchange. The gate network is the map of the Reach.
+
+---
+
+## Origin and Nature
+
+Founder gates predate human settlement of the Reach. They were discovered, not built. Their construction is attributed to a precursor civilization — the "Founders" — about whom almost nothing is confirmed. The gates were operational when the first human explorers arrived. They have remained operational since, without observed maintenance or degradation.
+
+**What is known:**
+- Gates are paired — each connects exactly two star systems
+- The connection is stable and persistent (no observed failures in recorded history)
+- Transit is near-instantaneous
+- The technology is not understood well enough to replicate or modify
+- New gates have never been observed appearing or being created
+
+**What is debated:**
+- Whether the Founders are extinct, departed, or still present elsewhere
+- Whether the gate network was designed as a system or accumulated over time
+- Whether the gates serve purposes beyond transit (communication, observation, something else)
+- Whether the Interstitium (see below) is an artifact of gate technology or something independent
+
+These questions are academic in the Krenn System. Workers on Station Sova don't think about Founder Gate metaphysics. They think about freight schedules.
+
+---
+
+## The Interstitium
+
+The space between gate endpoints — the transit experience itself — is called the Interstitium. Travelers report it as brief: a moment of disorientation, a sense of distance compressed, then arrival. Some describe it as darkness. Some describe light. Accounts vary in ways that resist standardization.
+
+**In gameplay terms:** The Interstitium is the experience of crossing between star systems. In the wider Settled Reach, this is a regular occurrence — merchants, travelers, military, diplomats all traverse founder gates. In v0.1, the player never leaves the Krenn System, so founder gates are referenced in dialogue and lore but not directly experienced.
+
+**Cultural significance:** The Interstitium is one of the few shared experiences that resists technological explanation. In a civilization built on understood technology, the gates are a reminder that not everything is known. Some cultures treat transit as mundane. Others invest it with spiritual significance. The Krenn System's pragmatic culture falls firmly in the "mundane" camp.
+
+---
+
+## The Gate Network and the Settled Reach
+
+The Settled Reach exists because founder gates exist. Human civilization spread along the gate network the way ancient civilizations spread along rivers and coastlines — following the infrastructure that was already there.
+
+**Political implications:**
+- Systems with many gate connections are politically significant (hub systems)
+- Systems with few connections are peripheral (frontier systems)
+- Controlling a gate doesn't mean controlling transit — the gates don't have off switches — but controlling the infrastructure around a gate (stations, docks, inspection points) means controlling what moves through
+- The Concord Assembly's authority rests partly on its management of gate-adjacent infrastructure
+
+**The Krenn System** sits at the intersection of three regional trade routes — not because of strategic planning, but because the founder gate network happens to connect Krenn to three directions. This accident of alien infrastructure made Krenn a logistics node.
+
+---
+
+## Founder Gates vs. Span Gates
+
+| Property | Founder Gates | Span Gates |
+|----------|--------------|------------|
+| **Scale** | Interstellar (light-years) | Intra-system (AU) |
+| **Origin** | Pre-human, alien construction | Human-built technology |
+| **Understood?** | Partially — operational use, not underlying mechanism | Fully — well-understood engineering |
+| **Modifiable?** | No — cannot be altered, duplicated, or deactivated | Yes — new span gates can be built, routes adjusted |
+| **Replicable?** | No | Yes |
+| **Cultural weight** | Significant — reminder of the unknown | Mundane — just infrastructure |
+
+---
+
+## Dual-Lens Significance
+
+Founder gates are not directly present in the v0.1 gameplay space — the player never transits one. But they shape the world the player inhabits.
+
+**The smuggler** knows that contraband arrives through the founder gate network from other star systems. The supply chain starts somewhere outside Krenn — Syndic-adjacent manufacturing in another system, routed through founder gates to reach Sova. The smuggler understands their position in a supply chain that spans star systems, even if they've never left Krenn.
+
+**The detective** knows that the investigation doesn't end at Station Sova. The off-station coordinator (Sabel) operates through the founder gate network. Following the supply chain to its origin means following it through founder gates to other systems. In v0.1, that's beyond scope — but the detective's case file knows the thread doesn't stop here.
+
+**The larger implication:** Founder gates connect the v0.1 setting to the wider Settled Reach. They're the promise that there's more out there — more systems, more factions, more complications. The ring on Station Sova is a local operation connected to an interstellar supply chain. The story doesn't end at the system boundary.
+
+---
+
+## Mechanical Integration
+
+**v0.1 Scope:**
+- Founder gates are referenced in dialogue, monologue, and lore — not traversed
+- `world.syndic_supply_chain` fact references off-system origins (KnowsDetails: "serial number patterns suggest two sources")
+- `contraband.supply_chain` fact traces cargo arrival through interstellar routes
+
+**Future Scope:**
+- Founder gate traversal is a potential 3D cutscene moment (D-019: camera change to 3D is the dramatic signal)
+- Multiple star systems as separate maps connected by founder gates (D-008: multiple maps, step through a wormhole, load a new place)
+- The Interstitium as experiential content
+
+---
+
+**Cross-References:**
+- [Span Gates](span-gates.md) — Intra-system transit (human-built)
+- [Krenn System](../world/krenn-system.md) — Gate network connections for v0.1 setting
+- D-008: Action pillar (multiple maps connected by wormholes)
+- D-019: 3D cutscenes for key moments (wormhole traversal)
+- D-005: Core concept (wormhole network as traversable infrastructure)
+
+---
+
+**Status:** Canonical — interstellar transit infrastructure
+**Created:** 2026-02-12
+**Updated:** 2026-02-12

docs/wiki/technology/meridian.md

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+# Meridian
+
+**Type:** Infrastructure Technology
+**Status:** Canonical
+**Scope:** Station-wide / system-wide information network
+**Access:** Via [neural lattice](neural-lattice.md) (universal)
+
+---
+
+## Overview
+
+The Meridian is the ubiquitous information network of the Settled Reach — the data layer that connects people, systems, and institutions. Every neural lattice interfaces with the Meridian. It carries communications, provides location services, streams institutional data, hosts professional toolkits, and mediates most of the information flow in civilized space.
+
+Think of it as the nervous system of a station. The lattice is the individual's interface; the Meridian is the network everything connects to.
+
+---
+
+## What the Meridian Provides
+
+**Communication:** Person-to-person messaging, group channels, institutional notifications. The primary way people coordinate across a station. Faster than walking, less personal than conversation.
+
+**Location Services:** Lattice-to-Meridian pings allow tracking of individuals (with appropriate access). Law enforcement and Commission personnel can query locations of active lattice signatures. Civilians see friend/colleague locations if mutually opted in.
+
+**Institutional Systems:** Freight manifests, shift schedules, compliance records, Commission databases, station administration — all run through Meridian infrastructure. A freight scheduler's professional toolkit connects to Meridian to pull container data. A Commission liaison queries Meridian for lattice compliance records.
+
+**Environmental Data:** Station status, atmosphere readings, power grid status, gate cycle schedules. Background information that most people ignore until something goes wrong.
+
+**Entertainment & Social:** Music feeds, news tickers, social channels. The ambient hum of connected life. Lera's bar runs Meridian music feeds. The news ticker that delivers wow moment #5 runs through Meridian.
+
+---
+
+## Coverage Gradients
+
+Meridian coverage is not uniform. This is load-bearing for gameplay.
+
+| Zone | Coverage Level | What Works | What Doesn't |
+|------|---------------|------------|--------------|
+| **Logistics Hub** | Comprehensive | Real-time tracking, manifest systems, full surveillance, professional toolkits | Nothing — full coverage |
+| **Bar District** | Strong | Standard social monitoring, Meridian feeds, communication, music | Fine-grained tracking may lag |
+| **Residential Pods** | Standard | Personal lattice connectivity, messaging, basic services | Professional toolkits may not stream smoothly |
+| **Maintenance Corridors** | Degraded | Intermittent connectivity, delayed messages, patchy location data | Real-time tracking unreliable, professional toolkits offline |
+| **Between-Wall Spaces** | Minimal or Absent | Little to nothing | Everything — effectively off-grid |
+
+**Why the gaps exist:** Station Sova is 140 years old with layered construction. Meridian infrastructure was installed for the station as designed, not as it was subsequently retrofitted. Older sections between construction eras were never properly wired. Maintenance corridors have basic repeaters that degrade over time and get low priority for replacement.
+
+**Why the gaps matter:** The smuggling ring operates in Meridian dead spots. Corridor B-7 has zero Meridian signal — no tracking, no surveillance, no logged communications. When NPCs need to discuss something they don't want recorded, they go for a walk to the "quiet spots." The ring's entire operational infrastructure depends on these coverage gaps.
+
+---
+
+## Meridian and Surveillance
+
+The Meridian is, among other things, a surveillance system. Not a secret one — everyone knows their lattice pings their location, that communications are logged, that institutional queries leave traces. This is accepted infrastructure, not conspiracy.
+
+**What the Meridian records:**
+- Lattice location pings (periodic, not continuous — enough for general tracking, not step-by-step)
+- Communication metadata (who contacted whom, when, duration — not content for civilian channels)
+- Institutional system access logs (who queried what manifest, who accessed what database)
+- Environmental sensor data (motion, temperature, atmosphere — infrastructure monitoring, not surveillance per se)
+
+**What the Meridian doesn't record:**
+- Conversations held in person (no ambient audio capture in civilian areas)
+- Physical movements in degraded coverage zones
+- Lattice-to-lattice direct connections (peer-to-peer, off-Meridian, short range)
+
+**The surveillance paradox:** The Meridian makes institutional oversight possible but not automatic. The data exists — but someone has to look at it, query it, cross-reference it. The detective can query Meridian logs to track NPC movements. But the detective has to know what to look for. The data doesn't investigate itself.
+
+This is why the detective's Analytical lattice matters: it automates some of the cross-referencing that would otherwise require manual queries. And it's why [Severance technology](severance-tech.md) is so threatening to institutions — it creates zones where the Meridian's passive data collection simply stops working.
+
+---
+
+## Meridian and the Three-Range Sound Model
+
+The Meridian connects to the game's three-range information model:
+
+| Range | Meridian Role | Trust Level |
+|-------|--------------|-------------|
+| **Close** (in/near LOS) | Not involved — raw sensory data | High — your own perception |
+| **Medium** (outside LOS, nearby) | Partial — lattice processes ambient data | Moderate — sensory impression augmented by lattice |
+| **Long** (across map) | Primary — insert notifications, location alerts, text messages | Low — network-dependent, spoofable, manipulable |
+
+Long-range information flows through the Meridian. This means it can be intercepted, delayed, falsified, or blocked. An NPC sending you a tip via Meridian messaging is using a channel that someone else could monitor. A location ping could be masked. A news ticker update runs through Meridian infrastructure that has its own editorial filters.
+
+The further information travels from direct perception, the more the Meridian mediates it — and the less you should trust it.
+
+---
+
+## Dual-Lens Significance
+
+**The smuggler** uses the Meridian the way everyone does — messaging, navigation, checking shift schedules. They know where the dead spots are from years of living here. Meridian gaps aren't mysterious to the smuggler; they're just the parts of the station where your messages don't send and you learn to have conversations in person. The smuggler navigates Meridian coverage intuitively.
+
+**The detective** uses the Meridian as an investigative instrument. Querying location logs, cross-referencing communication metadata, mapping coverage gaps as potential operational infrastructure. The detective sees dead spots as evidence — if someone consistently moves through degraded-coverage zones, that's a data point. The Meridian is a forensic tool, not just an amenity.
+
+**The tension:** The smuggler knows the social geography of Meridian coverage — who goes where and why. The detective knows the data geography — what's logged and what's not. Both are right. Neither has the complete map.
+
+---
+
+## Mechanical Integration
+
+**Knowledge Graph:**
+- `location.surveillance_gaps` — Meridian coverage gaps as discoverable knowledge (detective: KnowsOf when augmented lattice detects gaps; smuggler: KnowsDetails from operational experience)
+- `location.corridor_b7_restricted` — Direct confidence gates monologue: "Zero Meridian signal in this section"
+
+**Perception System:**
+- Meridian feeds are one input to the insert minimap (D-013)
+- Camera feed perception mode (D-017, Enhanced tier+) accesses Meridian-connected surveillance
+- Meridian tracking mode (D-017, Enhanced tier+) queries lattice location pings
+- Coverage degradation affects which perception modes function in a given area
+
+**Information Boundaries:**
+- Meridian coverage level determines what long-range information is available in a zone
+- Dead spots are zones where information boundary queries return nothing — even for characters with Enhanced lattices
+- This maps directly to D-010's principle: information boundaries are universal
+
+---
+
+**Cross-References:**
+- [Neural Lattice](neural-lattice.md) — Individual interface to the Meridian
+- [Severance Technology](severance-tech.md) — Technology that blocks Meridian functions
+- [Sova Transit District](../world/sova-transit-district.md) — Coverage map for v0.1 setting
+- [Station Sova](../world/station-sova.md) — Station-wide infrastructure context
+- D-017: Perception modes (camera feeds, tracking via Meridian)
+- D-018: Three-range sound model (long range = Meridian-mediated)
+- D-013: Diegetic insert navigation (Meridian-fed waypoints)
+
+---
+
+**Status:** Canonical — station-wide information infrastructure
+**Created:** 2026-02-12
+**Updated:** 2026-02-12

docs/wiki/technology/neural-lattice.md

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+# Neural Lattice
+
+**Type:** Core Technology
+**Status:** Canonical
+**Prevalence:** Near-universal in the Settled Reach
+**Regulatory Body:** Lattice Commission (Concord Assembly authority)
+
+---
+
+## Overview
+
+The neural lattice is an integrated biotech implant — a web of processing nodes threaded through the human nervous system. It is the foundational technology of life in the Settled Reach. The lattice mediates how people perceive, communicate, work, and navigate. It connects its bearer to the [Meridian](meridian.md) information network, enables perception overlays, provides professional capability enhancement, and serves as the interface for nearly all institutional systems.
+
+Almost everyone in the Reach has one. The question isn't whether you have a lattice — it's what tier you can afford, who certified it, and what it lets you see that others can't.
+
+---
+
+## Lattice Tiers
+
+Neural lattices exist on a capability spectrum. Tier determines what perception modes a character can access, what professional functions they can perform, and how they interact with institutional systems.
+
+| Tier | Capability | Perception Access | Typical Bearers |
+|------|-----------|-------------------|-----------------|
+| **Baseline** | Standard sensory processing, Meridian access, basic navigation overlay | Natural vision + carried gear only | Most civilians, laborers, service workers |
+| **Enhanced** | Insert-based processing modes, camera feed access, audio analysis, professional toolkits | Camera feeds, Meridian tracking, audio analysis | Skilled professionals, technicians, institutional staff |
+| **Analytical** | Advanced pattern recognition, multi-feed synthesis, forensic capability | All Enhanced modes + anomaly flagging, manifest cross-referencing | Investigators, Commission liaisons, senior institutional roles |
+| **Higher** | Biononic integration, enhanced spectrum perception, passive environmental scanning | Thermal imaging through walls, extended spectrum, passive scanning | Military, intelligence operatives, ascended individuals |
+
+**Note:** "ANA-touched" capability (pattern recognition across all feeds, predictive awareness) exists in the wider Reach but is not present in the v0.1 setting. Station Sova's population is Baseline through Analytical.
+
+---
+
+## How the Lattice Works
+
+The lattice is not a computer strapped to the brain. It's a distributed network of biocompatible nodes integrated throughout the nervous system during an implantation procedure, typically performed in early adulthood. The nodes communicate with each other and with external systems through the [Meridian](meridian.md) network.
+
+**Core functions:**
+- **Sensory augmentation:** Overlays additional information onto natural perception — navigation markers, identity tags, environmental data
+- **Meridian interface:** Provides access to the station-wide information network, including communication, data queries, and institutional systems
+- **Professional toolkits:** Specialized processing packages for specific occupations (freight scheduling, medical diagnostics, forensic analysis, engineering oversight)
+- **Perception modes:** Higher-tier lattices enable alternate ways of sensing the environment (see Perception Modes below)
+
+**What the lattice doesn't do:**
+- It doesn't think for you. It processes and presents; you interpret and decide.
+- It doesn't record everything. Memory remains organic. The lattice augments perception in the moment but doesn't create a perfect archive.
+- It doesn't make you superhuman. Even an Analytical-tier lattice can be wrong, can be fed bad data, can miss what's happening behind a wall.
+
+---
+
+## Perception Modes
+
+The lattice enables multiple perception modes — different ways of observing the world, each revealing different information with different trust and quality tradeoffs. What you see depends on what your lattice can process.
+
+### Baseline Modes (everyone)
+- **Natural vision:** Detail, color, identity recognition. Blocked by walls. The default.
+- **Navigation overlay:** Meridian-fed waypoints, location markers, basic environmental data. Only shows what you've learned or been told — not omniscient.
+
+### Enhanced Modes (Enhanced tier+)
+- **Camera feeds:** Remote visual from fixed positions. Only where cameras exist. Feed can be spoofed or looped. Requires institutional access or an exploit.
+- **Meridian tracking:** Location pings of known individuals via their active lattice signatures. Only tracks active inserts. Can be masked. Typically law enforcement or intelligence access.
+- **Audio analysis:** Sound signatures processed into directional, classified data. No visual component. Trainable — improves with use.
+
+### Analytical Modes (Analytical tier+)
+- **Anomaly flagging:** The lattice cross-references observed data against expected patterns and highlights discrepancies. The detective's lattice flags manifest weight mismatches. The smuggler's doesn't.
+- **Multi-feed synthesis:** Combines multiple perception inputs into a unified analysis. Camera + audio + tracking data merged into a single picture.
+
+### Higher Modes (not in v0.1)
+- **Thermal imaging:** Heat signatures through walls. Body count without identity.
+- **Extended spectrum:** Perception beyond visible light.
+- **Passive scanning:** Environmental data without active queries — the lattice listens to everything.
+
+**Key design principle:** Each perception mode is a query against the information boundary system. The engine doesn't distinguish between eyes, thermal sensors, and camera feeds — all are "given this sensor, what state is visible?" This means perception modes are playstyle selectors: a low-tier character sees a survival horror game; a high-tier character drowns in data.
+
+---
+
+## Lattice and Identity
+
+Your lattice tier shapes how others treat you and how you experience the world.
+
+**A Baseline dock worker** on Station Sova sees the freight bay with their eyes, checks manifests on a wall terminal, and navigates by memory and habit. Their lattice provides Meridian messaging, basic navigation, and not much else. They know what they see and what people tell them.
+
+**An Enhanced freight scheduler** has professional toolkit overlays — container tracking, schedule management, weight-to-volume cross-checks. They see the same freight bay but with a data layer on top. Discrepancies that a Baseline worker wouldn't notice become visible. This is why Maret Korr, processing manifests, can see the weight mismatches but can't unsee them.
+
+**An Analytical investigator** arriving at the same freight bay sees a crime scene. The lattice flags anomalies automatically, cross-references NPC behavioral patterns against baseline data, and processes audio for stress markers. The detective doesn't just notice things — their lattice tells them what to notice.
+
+The honest truth is that lattice tier creates an information class system. People with better lattices see more of reality. People with Baseline lattices see only what's in front of them. This asymmetry is the engine of both gameplay and social tension.
+
+---
+
+## Commission Regulation
+
+The Lattice Commission, operating under Concord Assembly authority, regulates all lattice technology in the Settled Reach.
+
+**What the Commission controls:**
+- **Certification:** All lattice components must be Commission-certified before implantation or upgrade. Certification is expensive and slow.
+- **Tier authorization:** Enhanced and Analytical tiers require institutional sponsorship or professional licensing. You can't just buy a better lattice — someone must vouch for your need.
+- **Compliance inspections:** Quarterly sweeps check lattice signatures against certified configurations. Unauthorized modifications are flagged.
+- **Violation categories:**
+  - Category 1: Administrative (expired certification, paperwork gaps) — fine
+  - Category 2: Unauthorized upgrade (unapproved components, tier mismatch) — fine + mandatory recertification
+  - Category 3: Unauthorized modification (aftermarket components, bypassed safety protocols) — fine + potential lattice restriction
+
+**The regulatory gap:** Commission certification costs more than most workers can afford. Enhanced-tier upgrades through legitimate channels require 6-12 month approval cycles and institutional sponsorship. Medical-grade replacements for degrading lattices follow the same bureaucratic timeline, even when the bearer's lattice is failing.
+
+This creates the market that the smuggling ring serves: people who need better lattice capability than Commission-regulated channels will provide, on a timeline their bodies and careers can't afford to wait for.
+
+---
+
+## Lattice Degradation
+
+Neural lattices are biotech. They age. Nodes fail. Processing degrades. Over years and decades, a lattice that once ran cleanly begins to slow, to drop data, to miss what it once caught.
+
+**Degradation effects:**
+- Perception overlays lag or flicker
+- Meridian connectivity becomes intermittent
+- Professional toolkits produce errors or fail to load
+- In severe cases, sensory processing itself degrades — headaches, perception artifacts, disorientation
+
+**Replacement through legitimate channels** requires Commission certification, institutional medical authorization, and a 6-12 month approval cycle. Cost is prohibitive for most workers.
+
+**Replacement through the ring** uses [medical-grade components](../contraband/medical-grade-replacements.md) diverted from Syndic supply chains. Same quality. No certification paperwork. Available now, not in six months.
+
+This is why the ring has community support. They're not just smuggling luxury goods — they're providing healthcare that the legitimate system gates behind bureaucracy and institutional access.
+
+---
+
+## Dual-Lens Significance
+
+The neural lattice is where the game's two playable characters diverge most sharply in their experience of the same world.
+
+**The smuggler** has a Baseline lattice — standard for a dock worker. They see the district through their own eyes, rely on social knowledge and personal experience, navigate by familiarity. Their lattice is a tool for work and communication, nothing more. When the smuggler handles contraband lattice components, they're handling something that could improve their own capabilities — or the capabilities of people they care about.
+
+**The detective** has an Analytical lattice — institutional issue, professional grade. They see the same district through a data overlay that flags anomalies, cross-references patterns, and processes behavioral cues. The lattice is an investigative instrument. It reveals things the smuggler's lattice can't see — but it also creates a false sense of omniscience. The detective's lattice can be fed bad data, can miss social context it wasn't trained on, can flag a nervous person as suspicious when they're just having a bad day.
+
+**The asymmetry:** The detective sees more data. The smuggler understands more context. Neither has the complete picture. The lattice doesn't create objectivity — it creates a different kind of subjectivity.
+
+---
+
+## Mechanical Integration
+
+**Knowledge Graph:**
+- `world.commission_regulations` — Commission regulatory framework (KnowsOf: detective knows from briefing; KnowsDetails: smuggler understands why black market exists)
+- `contraband.lattice_components` — Contraband identification (detective needs KnowsOf to interpret manifest discrepancies)
+
+**Perception System (D-017):**
+- Lattice tier determines which perception modes are available to a character
+- Each mode is an observer query against the information boundary system
+- v0.1 implements: natural vision cone + basic audio indicators + insert minimap
+- Additional modes (camera feeds, tracking, thermal) are milestone features
+
+**Entity Attributes:**
+- `faction` attribute on entities determines institutional lattice access
+- `behavior_flags` can include `lattice_checking` (nervous behavior indicator)
+- Detective's analytical lattice enables `tell_observed` and `contradiction_flagged` attributes
+
+**Contraband Connection:**
+- The ring smuggles [unlicensed lattice components](../contraband/lattice-components.md) — aftermarket mods bypassing certification
+- [Medical-grade replacements](../contraband/medical-grade-replacements.md) serve people with degrading lattices
+- A smuggled upgrade could theoretically change what the player perceives — lattice tier is not just lore, it's mechanical
+
+---
+
+**Cross-References:**
+- [Meridian](meridian.md) — Information network accessed through the lattice
+- [Lattice Components (Contraband)](../contraband/lattice-components.md) — Unlicensed aftermarket modifications
+- [Medical-Grade Replacements (Contraband)](../contraband/medical-grade-replacements.md) — Diverted healthcare components
+- [Severance Technology](severance-tech.md) — Counter-surveillance tech that blocks lattice functions
+- [Station Sova](../world/station-sova.md) — Commission presence and enforcement gaps
+- D-017: Perception modes as character-build system
+- D-013: Diegetic insert/POI navigation system
+- D-037: Contraband specification
+
+---
+
+**Status:** Canonical — foundational technology of The Settled Reach
+**Created:** 2026-02-12
+**Updated:** 2026-02-12

docs/wiki/technology/severance-tech.md

@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+# Severance Technology
+
+**Type:** Counter-Surveillance Technology
+**Status:** Canonical (contraband)
+**Legality:** Illegal across most of the Settled Reach
+**Associated Faction:** Guardians of Autonomy
+**Threat Level:** Institutional — threatens the information infrastructure itself
+
+---
+
+## Overview
+
+Severance technology is a class of devices and techniques that block, disrupt, or spoof [neural lattice](neural-lattice.md) functions and [Meridian](meridian.md) connectivity. Where the lattice connects people to institutions, Severance tech disconnects them. Where the Meridian provides surveillance and tracking, Severance creates blind spots.
+
+It is illegal because it doesn't just break rules — it breaks the infrastructure that makes rules enforceable.
+
+---
+
+## What Severance Tech Does
+
+**Lattice disruption:** Temporarily blocks or degrades neural lattice functions in a localized area. People in the affected zone lose perception overlays, Meridian access, professional toolkits, and tracking signatures. Enhanced and Analytical lattice users lose the most — they're accustomed to data layers that simply vanish.
+
+**Meridian blackout:** Creates zones where Meridian infrastructure cannot maintain coverage — not because of aging hardware (like Corridor B-7's natural dead spots), but because active countermeasures are jamming the signal. Severance-created blackouts are more complete and more controllable than infrastructure gaps.
+
+**Signature masking:** Spoofs or suppresses individual lattice signatures, making a person invisible to Meridian tracking. The individual still has a functioning lattice — they just don't appear on anyone else's queries. They become a ghost in the system.
+
+**The distinction from natural dead spots:** Station Sova already has Meridian coverage gaps — degraded corridors, between-wall spaces, aging infrastructure. These are passive, structural, and known. Severance tech creates *active* blackouts that can be deployed anywhere, controlled precisely, and removed when no longer needed. It's the difference between a broken streetlight and someone who can turn off streetlights at will.
+
+---
+
+## Why It's Dangerous
+
+The Settled Reach runs on information infrastructure. The Concord Assembly governs through Meridian-mediated systems. The Commission regulates through lattice compliance monitoring. Law enforcement investigates through Meridian data queries. Commerce tracks through lattice-verified transactions.
+
+Severance technology threatens all of this simultaneously.
+
+**For law enforcement:** If suspects can suppress their lattice signatures, location tracking becomes unreliable. If Meridian blackouts can be deployed at will, surveillance infrastructure becomes useless. The detective's entire investigative toolkit — Analytical lattice, manifest cross-referencing, behavioral flagging — depends on a functioning information environment. Severance doesn't just hide evidence; it destroys the detective's ability to gather evidence at all.
+
+**For institutions:** Lattice compliance is the Commission's regulatory mechanism. If people can mask their lattice configurations, unauthorized modifications become undetectable. The Commission's authority rests on the ability to inspect — Severance removes that ability.
+
+**For governance:** The Concord Assembly's reach depends on Meridian infrastructure connecting system administrators to central authority. Systematic Severance deployment could fragment the information network that holds the Reach together.
+
+This is why Severance tech carries the heaviest penalties in the Settled Reach. Unlicensed lattice components are a Category 3 violation — fines and potential lattice restriction. Severance technology is something else entirely: possession suggests intent to undermine institutional infrastructure. It attracts intelligence attention, not just regulatory enforcement.
+
+---
+
+## The Guardians of Autonomy
+
+Severance technology is associated with the Guardians of Autonomy — a decentralized political movement that opposes the lattice-mediated information architecture of the Settled Reach.
+
+**Guardian position:** The lattice-Meridian system is a surveillance architecture disguised as infrastructure. People have traded autonomy for convenience. The Commission doesn't just regulate technology — it regulates perception itself. Every lattice bearer is a node in a monitoring network they didn't consent to. Severance technology is the tool of opt-out.
+
+**Counter-position:** The lattice-Meridian system enables civilization to function across interstellar distances. Without shared information infrastructure, the Reach fragments. The Guardians confuse surveillance with coordination. Severance doesn't liberate — it isolates.
+
+**The honest truth:** Both positions have merit, and the game doesn't resolve the tension. The Guardians are not wrong that the lattice system is a surveillance architecture. The institutions are not wrong that the lattice system is critical infrastructure. Whether "surveillance" and "critical infrastructure" can be the same thing without being a problem is the political question that runs beneath the surface of the entire game.
+
+---
+
+## Severance in the v0.1 Setting
+
+Severance technology appears in v0.1 as the ring's scariest cargo — the thing that elevates a local smuggling operation from grey-market commerce to something with political implications.
+
+**What the ring carries:**
+- Primary contraband: [unlicensed lattice components](../contraband/lattice-components.md) (aftermarket mods)
+- Secondary contraband: [medical-grade replacements](../contraband/medical-grade-replacements.md) (healthcare)
+- Tertiary contraband: [Severance equipment](../contraband/severance-equipment.md) (counter-surveillance tech)
+
+**The escalation:** Lattice components are commercially motivated — people want better capability. Medical-grade replacements are morally sympathetic — people need healthcare. Severance equipment is politically charged — someone wants to undermine institutional oversight. The progression from "grey-market commerce" to "political threat" is the escalation that makes the ring's cargo portfolio increasingly dangerous.
+
+**The smuggler's realization:** Most ring members handle lattice components and don't think too hard about the sealed containers Nils won't discuss. The discovery that the ring is also moving Severance equipment is the moment the smuggler questions how deep the operation goes and who's really behind it. This is the contamination seed — the thing that connects a local smuggling ring to something larger.
+
+**The detective's discovery:** Finding Severance equipment in the ring's inventory transforms the case. Manifest fraud is a Category 3 violation. Severance distribution attracts intelligence-level attention. The detective's case changes from "local contraband" to "potential threat to institutional infrastructure" — and with it, the stakes of every decision they make.
+
+---
+
+## Dual-Lens Significance
+
+**The smuggler** initially doesn't know Severance tech is in the ring's cargo. When they discover it (through the sealed containers, through Nils's evasion, through the supply chain traces), the question shifts from "am I comfortable with what we're doing?" to "am I comfortable with what we're involved in?" Lattice components serve the community. Severance equipment serves... whom? The Guardians? Someone else? The smuggler's trust in the ring's purpose begins to crack.
+
+**The detective** recognizes Severance technology as an intelligence-level threat. Its presence in a small station's smuggling ring raises questions that extend beyond the district: Who is supplying it? Through what channels? Is this distribution network or is it targeted deployment? The detective's institutional training tells them to escalate. Their personal investment in the case tells them to keep pulling the thread. This tension — follow procedure or follow curiosity — is the detective's version of the smuggler's trust crisis.
+
+**The convergence:** Both characters, from opposite sides, arrive at the same unsettling realization: the ring is connected to something bigger than anyone on Station Sova understands. Severance technology is the thread that, if pulled, leads beyond the district, beyond the station, beyond the system.
+
+---
+
+## Mechanical Integration
+
+**Knowledge Graph:**
+- `contraband.severance_tech` — Confidence progression:
+  - Suspects: "Sealed containers Nils won't discuss. Heavier than lattice components."
+  - KnowsOf: "Severance equipment. Counter-surveillance tech. Illegal across most of the Reach."
+  - KnowsDetails: "Guardians of Autonomy supply chain. This isn't local — it's connected to something bigger."
+- Serves as contamination seed for storyteller expansion beyond v0.1
+
+**Narrative Function:**
+- Escalation mechanism: elevates the ring's threat profile from commercial to political
+- Trust fracture: triggers the smuggler's questioning of the ring's true purpose
+- Case transformation: changes the detective's investigation from local to systemic
+- Expansion hook: connects v0.1 content to the wider Settled Reach
+
+**v0.1 Scope:**
+- Referenced in dialogue, monologue, and investigation — not directly deployed as a gameplay mechanic
+- Severance-created blackouts are not present; only natural Meridian dead spots
+- The *existence* of Severance tech in the cargo is the narrative payload, not its use
+
+---
+
+**Cross-References:**
+- [Neural Lattice](neural-lattice.md) — The technology Severance disrupts
+- [Meridian](meridian.md) — The network Severance blocks
+- [Severance Equipment (Contraband)](../contraband/severance-equipment.md) — The physical cargo profile
+- [Sova Transit District](../world/sova-transit-district.md) — Natural Meridian dead spots vs. Severance blackouts
+- D-017: Perception modes (Severance disables lattice-dependent modes)
+- D-037: Contraband specification (Severance as tertiary contraband)
+
+---
+
+**Status:** Canonical — counter-surveillance technology and political threat
+**Created:** 2026-02-12
+**Updated:** 2026-02-12

docs/wiki/technology/span-gates.md

@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+# Span Gates
+
+**Type:** Transit Infrastructure
+**Status:** Canonical
+**Scope:** Intra-system transit (within a star system)
+**Scale:** Connects stations, planets, orbital platforms within a single system
+
+---
+
+## Overview
+
+Span gates are the intra-system transit backbone of the Settled Reach. They connect locations within a single star system — station to planet, station to orbital platform, orbital to orbital. Where [Founder Gates](founder-gates.md) bridge the void between stars, span gates handle the daily logistics of moving people and cargo within a system.
+
+In the Krenn System, span gates are infrastructure the way roads are infrastructure: essential, taken for granted, and noticed only when they stop working.
+
+---
+
+## How Span Gates Work
+
+Span gates create stable transit corridors between two fixed endpoints within a star system. Transit is near-instantaneous — step through one side, emerge at the other. The technology is well-understood, reliable, and old. No one in the Settled Reach remembers a time before span gates.
+
+**Gate cycles:** Gates operate on predictable cycles. During peak shifts on Station Sova, the Sova-to-Krenn Prime gate cycles every 4-6 minutes. Off-peak, every 12-15 minutes. Each cycle moves a fixed volume of cargo and/or passengers.
+
+**The hum:** Span gates produce a low-frequency vibration — a bass hum that varies in pitch with transit volume. On Station Sova, the gate hum is omnipresent. It's the ambient soundscape of the district. Workers tune it out. New arrivals notice it immediately. The hum rises during peak freight cycles and drops to a low throb during night shifts.
+
+This sound is the first thing the player hears on arrival (wow moment #1). It never stops.
+
+---
+
+## Krenn System Gate Network
+
+| Route | Type | Primary Use | Cycle Time |
+|-------|------|-------------|------------|
+| Station Sova <-> Krenn Prime Surface Depot | Freight primary | Cargo transfer, surface-to-station logistics | 4-6 min (peak), 12-15 min (off-peak) |
+| Station Sova <-> Orbital Manufacturing Platform 3 | Component transfer | Parts and assemblies for light manufacturing | Variable |
+| Additional intra-system routes | Various | System commerce and passenger transit | Various |
+
+**Transit volume:** High freight, moderate passenger. Krenn's span gates run continuously during standard shifts. The system's prosperity comes from moving things between places — span gates are the mechanism.
+
+---
+
+## Span Gates and Smuggling
+
+Span gates are chokepoints, and chokepoints create opportunities.
+
+**Legitimate cargo** arrives through the Sova gate on scheduled freight cycles. Manifests are filed in advance. Containers are logged. Inspectors (like Torek Lintar) check cargo against documentation.
+
+**Contraband** arrives mixed with legitimate freight. The volume of cargo moving through a busy span gate makes item-by-item inspection impractical. Inspectors work from manifests and spot-checks. The ring exploits this: contraband lattice components packed into containers whose manifests show "standard components" with doctored weight data.
+
+**The timing window:** Gate cycles create predictable surges of activity. During a peak-cycle arrival, dozens of containers come through simultaneously. Processing bottlenecks force prioritization. Inspectors focus on flagged shipments. Unflagged containers — the ones with carefully doctored manifests — move through with minimal scrutiny.
+
+This is why Voss's shift scheduling matters: he creates understaffing during high-volume gate cycles, widening the inspection gap that the ring depends on.
+
+---
+
+## Atmosphere and Sensory Detail
+
+**Sound:** The gate hum is the district's heartbeat.
+- Peak shifts: bass vibration rises, felt in the floor grating, audible through walls
+- Off-peak: low throb, almost subliminal, the sound of infrastructure idling
+- Post-transit: brief ozone scent that fades quickly, a faint crackle of dissipating energy
+
+**Visual:** Span gates on Station Sova are industrial installations — large, utilitarian, built into the freight bay architecture. No decorative elements. Cargo conveyors feed directly to and from the gate aperture. Safety markings. Warning lights during transit cycles. Workers move around gates with practiced indifference.
+
+**The feeling:** Span gates represent the mundane miracle of the Settled Reach. Instantaneous transit between a station and a planet's surface — and it's boring. It's commuting. The extraordinary made ordinary through 180 years of daily use.
+
+---
+
+## Dual-Lens Significance
+
+**The smuggler** sees span gates as the entry point for their livelihood. Cargo arrives through the gate. The timing of gate cycles is their operational clock. They know which cycles run heavy, which inspectors work which shifts, which containers are flagged and which slide through. The gate is a workplace fixture — familiar, predictable, exploitable.
+
+**The detective** sees span gates as the supply chain entry point. Contraband enters through the gate. The detective queries manifest logs, cross-references arrival times with container processing delays, maps the gap between gate-logged weight and inspector-recorded weight. The gate is an evidence source — every transit cycle generates data that an Analytical lattice can mine.
+
+---
+
+## Mechanical Integration
+
+**Sound System (D-018, D-038):**
+- `amb_station_base.ogg` includes span gate vibration as primary ambient element
+- Gate hum pitch varies with transit volume (game-time driven)
+- Post-transit ozone is a sensory detail for monologue, not a separate audio asset in v0.1
+
+**Knowledge Graph:**
+- `world.shift_schedule` — Gate cycle timing connects to shift operations (smuggler: KnowsDetails; detective: learns through observation)
+- `investigation.cargo_anomaly` — Container processing delays traced from gate arrival timestamps
+
+**Spatial Design:**
+- Span gate is a fixed location on the freight bay level (Level 1) of Sova Transit District
+- High-traffic chokepoint during shift transitions
+- Sightlines from the observation gallery (Level 3) to the gate area enable surveillance gameplay
+
+---
+
+**Cross-References:**
+- [Founder Gates](founder-gates.md) — Interstellar gates connecting star systems
+- [Sova Transit District](../world/sova-transit-district.md) — Gate location in v0.1 setting
+- [Krenn System](../world/krenn-system.md) — System-wide gate network
+- [Station Sova](../world/station-sova.md) — Gate infrastructure details
+- D-036: Sova Transit District setting (gate cycles, freight logistics)
+- D-038: Audio scope (station ambient includes gate hum)
+
+---
+
+**Status:** Canonical — intra-system transit infrastructure
+**Created:** 2026-02-12
+**Updated:** 2026-02-12