settled-reach/wiki/economics/shadow_economy.toml

# ==========================================================================
# Settled Reach — Shadow Economy Seeding Parameters
# Source of truth for shadow_economy_intensity initialization.
# Compiled to systems.db via `make economy-db`.
#
# shadow_economy_intensity: float [0.0, 1.0]
#   Measures the gap between formal (Commission-audited) and real economic
#   activity at each node. This is NOT a crime index. A system with
#   intensity 0.8 has roughly 20% of its economy visible to the Assembly
#   lattice audit trail — not because 80% is criminal, but because 80%
#   is conducted through channels the Commission does not count.
#
# The official_coverage_ratio signal (D-181 signal 7) derives directly
# from this initialization parameter:
#   official_coverage_ratio ≈ 1.0 - shadow_economy_intensity
# A system with intensity 0.7 → official_coverage_ratio ≈ 0.3, meaning
# the Commission's economic picture understates reality by roughly 3×.
#
# Seeding algorithm:
#   1. Look up geographic band by hop_distance_from_gateway
#   2. Sample uniformly within [band.intensity_min, band.intensity_max]
#   3. Apply active modifiers (additive, order-independent)
#   4. Clamp result to [0.0, 1.0]
#   5. Apply system_override if present (replaces formula result entirely)
#
# Sol (the currency) is the shadow medium of exchange — untraceable,
# no issuer to cooperate with enforcement, no lattice audit trail.
# Sol is NOT a currency zone; it is modeled as a shadow commodity (D-171).
# Shadow_economy_intensity controls how active the Sol shadow layer is:
# higher intensity → higher Sol black-market premium above Tractus par.
#
# Contraband types (canonical, from D-174):
#   - Unlicensed lattice components (D-037)
#   - Sol-denominated luxury goods (Earth imports)
#   - Unregistered commercial intelligence
#   - Unlicensed re-embodiment
#
# Decisions: D-174 (shadow economy layer), D-171 (Sol as shadow commodity),
#            D-172 (Compact currency friction → structural driver),
#            D-181 (official_coverage_ratio signal)
# Authors: Paula (narrative framing), Miri (geographic distribution),
#          Mellanie (file structure and prose)
# ==========================================================================


# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# THE COMPACT FRAMING — READ THIS BEFORE MODIFYING (D-174)
#
# The Compact of Westphalia's shadow economy is PRINCIPLED ECONOMIC
# RESISTANCE to Assembly currency friction on enforcement costs.
# It is NOT frontier lawlessness. This distinction is architecturally
# critical for NPC dialogue, faction reactions, and the inspect verb.
#
# WHY THE COMPACT HAS HIGH INTENSITY:
#
# Commission certification fees and enforcement assessments are
# Tractus-denominated. Compact systems operating in the Mark zone pay
# these costs at the ~3% cross-zone conversion rate (D-172). Over time,
# rational actors in Compact systems structure their transactions to avoid
# Commission audit requirements: Mark-denominated domestic trade, supply
# chains routed through Compact customs arrangements, Sol for cross-zone
# transactions that benefit from anonymity. None of this is criminal.
# It is economically rational behavior in a zone where Commission authority
# is both politically contested and economically punitive.
#
# Intensity in Compact systems reflects the GAP IN THE ASSEMBLY'S
# ACCOUNTING, not the behavior of the people. A Compact system at
# intensity 0.75 is not more criminal than an inner system at 0.1 —
# its economy is simply less legible to the Commission because its
# residents have decided, as a matter of political principle, not to
# organize their commerce around Assembly certification requirements.
#
# CONTRAST — WHY FRONTIER SYSTEMS HAVE HIGH INTENSITY:
#
# Frontier systems (hop 10+) have high intensity for structurally
# different reasons: genuine Commission absence, sparse enforcement,
# actual contraband networks, unlicensed re-embodiment operations, Sol
# black markets filling gaps in formal medical and technical supply.
# The frontier shadow economy is a CAPACITY GAP (the Commission cannot
# physically reach here), not a deliberate choice to operate outside it.
#
# WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE INVESTIGATE VERB (Phase 3):
#
# An investigator who treats Compact opacity as criminality will lose
# trust rapidly and find closed doors. The Compact's "shadow" economy
# is visible to anyone who operates within Compact commercial frameworks —
# it is only opaque to the Commission's audit tools. Gaining access to
# a Compact system's real economic picture requires building relationships
# within the Compact network, not finding criminal informants.
#
# An investigator who treats frontier opacity as principled politics will
# miss actual criminal networks operating in the enforcement vacuum. The
# frontier's shadow economy includes actors who are genuinely dangerous
# and genuinely hidden. Finding them requires different tools than finding
# Compact commerce.
#
# The inspect verb should reflect this distinction. Framing it as a
# binary "formal/informal" misses the politics. The right question is:
# "Informal by whose accounting? Principled non-compliance or operational
# concealment?"
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------


# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# GEOGRAPHIC BASE RANGES
#
# Applied by hop_distance_from_gateway (system_gates.hop_distance_from_gateway).
# The import pipeline samples uniformly within [intensity_min, intensity_max]
# to produce the base value before modifiers.
#
# Miri: geographic distribution of specific systems within these bands,
# and whether any band boundaries need adjusting based on actual system map.
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[bands.core]
hop_range = [0, 2]
intensity_min = 0.00
intensity_max = 0.20
note = """
Gateway and immediate core systems. Commission enforcement capacity is at maximum density;
lattice audit coverage is comprehensive. Formal-channel compliance is the economically
rational choice here — certification costs are low, enforcement risk is high, and formal
alternatives exist for nearly every transaction category.

Sol black market exists (Earth luxury goods have always moved through informal channels)
but is thin relative to the formal economy. Prosecution risk and the ready availability
of certified alternatives keep the shadow layer suppressed. The gap between official and
real economic activity is narrow enough that Commission economic statistics are largely
reliable at this range.
"""

[bands.inner_reach]
hop_range = [3, 4]
intensity_min = 0.10
intensity_max = 0.35
note = """
Established inner corridor. Commission presence is significant but geographically uneven —
major trade nodes are well-covered; secondary systems increasingly rely on periodic
enforcement visits rather than resident Commission staff. Shadow market exists and is
commercially viable for contraband and Commission-contested goods, but formal-channel
alternatives are still competitive for most transaction categories.

Tractus is hegemonic in this band; Mark is accepted at a premium in systems with
west_reach trade relationships. Sol circulates for high-end Earth imports and as a
prestige payment mechanism for services that benefit from untraceability.
"""

[bands.mid_reach]
hop_range = [5, 6]
intensity_min = 0.30
intensity_max = 0.55
note = """
Commission enforcement becomes increasingly expensive and selective at this range.
Resident Commission staff is rare; enforcement relies on periodic inspection of
high-volume transit nodes with secondary systems going largely unchecked.

MIXED currency zone begins here (sympathetic Compact systems at hops 5–6, per D-172).
Shadow market for luxury goods, unlicensed services, and Sol-denominated transactions
is commercially viable and commonly used. In Compact-sympathetic systems, informal
commerce is beginning to reflect principled non-compliance rather than purely
opportunistic avoidance.

Miri: identify specific systems in this band for Compact-sympathetic classification
and apply the compact_membership modifier accordingly.
"""

[bands.outer_reach]
hop_range = [7, 9]
intensity_min = 0.45
intensity_max = 0.70
note = """
Commission presence is minimal. Assembly observation thins sharply at this range —
the furthest sustained Commission post (Altmark, GJ 357) sits at mid_reach (hop 6),
one band inward. In outer_reach systems, enforcement is intermittent and practically symbolic.

Compact member systems dominate this band. Mark-denominated commerce is the norm;
Tractus is accepted but priced at a premium that reflects currency friction and
political signaling. The base band intensity (0.45–0.70) reflects the structural
enforcement gap; Compact membership raises this further via modifier (see below).

IMPORTANT: High intensity in this band does not indicate elevated criminality relative
to inner systems. It reflects that Compact-internal trade is not Commission-audited
and that the Commission's tools for measuring economic activity do not reach this deep.
The economy is real, organized, and commercially sophisticated — it is simply operating
under different governance than the Assembly recognizes.

Miri: flag systems in this band that are NOT Compact members (Assembly-compliant
outer systems) — they should not receive the compact_membership modifier.
"""

[bands.deep_frontier]
hop_range = [10, 99]
intensity_min = 0.60
intensity_max = 0.90
note = """
Commission authority is theoretical at this range. Enforcement capacity does not
exist in any meaningful sense — the cost of projecting enforcement to hop 10+
exceeds any plausible revenue from compliance enforcement.

High intensity at this range reflects two overlapping realities that must be
distinguished in NPC generation and dialogue:

1. PRINCIPLED NON-COMPLIANCE: Systems founded by settlers from Compact member
   communities carry the Compact's political culture from founding. Their informal
   commerce is structurally similar to outer_reach Compact systems — organized,
   Mark-denominated, non-violent, operating through well-established commercial
   relationships. The Compact framing applies here.

2. ENFORCEMENT VACUUM: Where Compact culture has not taken root, the enforcement
   vacuum is filled by actors who are genuinely operating outside any recognized
   governance framework. Unlicensed re-embodiment operations, unregistered
   commercial intelligence networks, Sol black markets in contraband, unlicensed
   lattice component trade — these are the canonical contraband categories and
   they are real at this depth.

The investigator must determine which reality is present in a given system.
Both can coexist. A deep frontier system may have principled Compact commerce
in one economic sector and genuine contraband networks in another.
"""


# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# SEEDING MODIFIERS
#
# Additive adjustments applied to the sampled band base. Multiple modifiers
# can apply simultaneously. Final value is clamped to [0.0, 1.0].
#
# Modifier sources (system_factions table fields):
#   compact_membership:  currency_zone = 'MARK_PRIMARY' (per D-172)
#   commission_strong:   commission_presence = 'strong'
#   commission_moderate: commission_presence = 'moderate'
#   commission_absent:   commission_presence IS NULL or 'none'
#   gate_dead_end:       system_gates.gate_topology = 'dead_end'
#   gate_transit_hub:    system_gates.gate_connections >= 3
#
# Server team (#808): implement modifier lookup from these fields.
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[modifiers.compact_membership]
delta = 0.15
cap = 0.90
field = "currency_zone"
field_value = "MARK_PRIMARY"
note = """
Compact membership elevates intensity independently of hop distance. A hop-6
Compact system is elevated above a hop-6 non-Compact system. A hop-4
Compact-sympathetic system (MIXED zone) shows moderate elevation even though
the Commission is physically present.

This captures the structural currency friction: Commission certification costs
trigger Tractus-to-Mark conversion at ~3% overhead per transaction, making
informal-channel transactions economically rational even for actors who have
no objection to formal compliance in principle. Over time, informal channels
become entrenched not through choice but through accumulated economic logic.

The cap of 0.90 prevents Compact membership alone from pushing intensity to
maximum — even the most committed Compact systems maintain some formal-channel
commerce, particularly for intra-Compact transactions that benefit from the
Compact's own customs infrastructure.

Narrative: Compact intensity is PRINCIPLED. Do not conflate with criminality.
"""

[modifiers.commission_strong]
delta = -0.20
floor = 0.05
field = "commission_presence"
field_value = "strong"
note = """
Strong Commission presence suppresses the shadow economy. Enforcement risk rises;
formal-channel compliance becomes competitive because informal operators face active
prosecution. Certification costs are worth paying when the alternative is Commission
scrutiny.

The floor of 0.05 acknowledges that no system is fully opaque to informal commerce.
Sol-denominated transactions for premium Earth goods persist even under heavy
enforcement — the demand for untraceability at the high end of the market does not
disappear when enforcement intensifies, it just becomes more expensive and discrete.
"""

[modifiers.commission_moderate]
delta = -0.10
floor = 0.05
field = "commission_presence"
field_value = "moderate"
note = """
Moderate Commission presence. Selective enforcement: high-value contraband is
prosecuted; low-level informal commerce is tolerated or ignored. Typical for
mid-corridor systems where the Commission maintains a registered office and
resident staff but lacks the capacity to audit routine commercial activity.

The shadow economy is commercially viable but carries some risk premium —
informal operators price enforcement exposure into their margins.
"""

[modifiers.commission_absent]
delta = 0.10
floor = 0.0
field = "commission_presence"
field_value = "none"
note = """
No Commission presence. Formal certification is not locally available, which means
it is not economically accessible even for actors who would prefer it. Elevates
intensity because some actors shift to informal channels by necessity, not choice.

Note: commission_absent does NOT imply that the system is lawless. In Compact
systems, the absence of Commission presence reflects the Compact's own governance
filling the regulatory function. In frontier systems, the absence may be genuine
governance vacuum. The modifier value is identical; the narrative interpretation
differs depending on political context.
"""

[modifiers.gate_dead_end]
delta = 0.10
floor = 0.0
field = "gate_topology"
field_value = "dead_end"
note = """
Dead-end gate topology (single outbound connection). Low transit volume means fewer
Commission inspection opportunities and reduced economic incentive for formal-channel
compliance. Smuggling routes are well-established in dead-end systems — a gate with
one connection is easier to predict, easier to avoid, and once controlled, provides
a reliable informal transit corridor.

Dead-end systems also tend toward economic captivity: their single gate makes them
dependent on the transit node that gate connects to, and that dependency creates
commercial relationships that may be structured informally regardless of political
disposition.
"""

[modifiers.gate_transit_hub]
delta = -0.05
floor = 0.0
field = "gate_connections"
field_comparison = ">="
field_value = 3
note = """
Multi-connection transit hub. High freight volume attracts Commission inspection
infrastructure; formal-channel compliance has commercial value (faster clearance,
bonded carrier status, access to Commission-certified logistics networks).

Partial suppression only — major transit hubs also attract contraband passing
through en route to secondary systems. The hub's formal economy is more competitive,
but the volume of traffic means that informal operators have more cover. Net effect
is modest suppression compared to the stronger commission_presence modifiers.
"""


# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# EFFECTS REFERENCE
#
# How shadow_economy_intensity affects simulation parameters at runtime.
# These are read by the economics simulation; not authored here, just
# documented for cross-reference.
#
# intensity_band   sol_premium   contraband_discount   formal_service_quality
# 0.0 – 0.2        none          none                  high
# 0.2 – 0.4        +5–15%        5–10% below cert.     moderate
# 0.4 – 0.6        +15–30%       10–20% below cert.    moderate-low
# 0.6 – 0.8        +30–60%       20–35% below cert.    low
# 0.8 – 1.0        +60–120%+     35–50% below cert.    degraded
#
# sol_premium: Sol black-market price above Tractus par (Sol scarcity)
# contraband_discount: informal-channel price vs. Commission-certified price
# formal_service_quality: Commission-certified service availability and
#   reliability (lower = queues, delays, unofficial fees demanded)
#
# Server team (#808): these are guidelines for the behavioral layer, not
# simulation parameters. Actual calibration belongs in the sim binary.
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------


# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# SYSTEM-SPECIFIC OVERRIDES
#
# These take precedence over the band + modifier formula. Used for named
# systems with historically exceptional shadow economy conditions that
# the general formula would not capture correctly.
#
# Required fields per override:
#   intensity  float [0.0, 1.0] — replaces formula output
#   rationale  string — required; import pipeline rejects undocumented overrides
#
# Miri: add additional Compact member systems with exceptional conditions.
# Miri: cross-reference against compact-of-westphalia.md and individual
#   system pages for systems that may warrant override treatment.
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[system_overrides."GJ 0"]
# Sol — Earth system, hop 0
intensity = 0.40
rationale = """
Sol is the origin point of the currency that underpins the shadow economy — Sol-the-
currency was Earth's before the Reach existed. But it is also the most heavily
regulated system in the Reach. Assembly authority is at maximum density; the
Commission's enforcement apparatus is headquartered here; arrival screening and
commercial monitoring are comprehensive.

The elevated intensity (above core band maximum of 0.20) reflects Sol's structural
role as the entrepôt for two shadow economy flows: (1) premium Earth goods
entering the Reach as Sol-denominated imports — wines, foods, artisan goods that
the producer community never routes through Commission certification because Sol
buyers specifically value the chain-of-custody opacity; (2) Reach luxury exports
moving to Sol buyers through informal channels that preserve seller anonymity and
avoid Tractus conversion.

This is a sophisticated shadow economy, not a disorganized one. The actors are
experienced, the routes are well-established, and the transactions are deliberately
structured to avoid Commission visibility. Sol's informal commercial sector is more
legally complex and commercially advanced than any frontier shadow economy —
it simply has the resources to operate discretely rather than visibly.
"""

[system_overrides."GJ 357"]
# Altmark — Assembly trade delegate post, hop 6, mid_reach/Compact border
intensity = 0.48
rationale = """
Altmark hosts the Assembly's permanent trade delegate — the furthest sustained
Commission presence in the west_reach corridor. Its intensity is above the
mid_reach band midpoint (0.30–0.55 = midpoint ~0.42) because Altmark sits at
the edge of the Compact zone: outbound freight heading deeper into Compact space
passes through here, and a meaningful fraction of that commerce enters Compact
customs arrangements that Commission audit cannot follow.

The delegate's presence introduces informal scrutiny that suppresses the most
visible informal commerce. Operators in Altmark understand that the Commission
watches here; high-profile informal commerce that would be unremarkable in a
deeper system draws attention in Altmark.

However, Altmark is not truly an Assembly-compliant system. It is the border.
Both currencies circulate in daily commerce. Both sets of customs rules are
applied negotiably. The shadow economy is real but structured: informal-channel
operators have adapted to the delegate's presence, which means Altmark's shadow
economy is more disciplined and harder to observe than a typical hop-6 system —
but it is not suppressed. What you will find at Altmark is not absence of informal
commerce but absence of visible informal commerce.

The Assembly delegate files commercial intelligence reports after every visit to
Compact systems. Operators in Altmark know this and factor it into their behavior.
"""

[system_overrides."GJ 601A"]
# Ostmark — Compact of Westphalia founding member, institutional anchor, hop 9
intensity = 0.75
rationale = """
Ostmark is the institutional anchor of the Compact of Westphalia — a wave_1
settlement with five centuries of self-governance history, the founding signatory
whose representatives helped draft the mutual recognition framework sixty years ago.
Its intensity of 0.75 is the canonical expression of the PRINCIPLED framing.

Ostmark's commercial relationships are conducted almost entirely through Compact
customs arrangements. Its transactions are Mark-denominated as a matter of cultural
identity, not merely economic calculation. Its supply chains run through the
Compact's internal trade network. The Commission audit trail does not reach
Ostmark by deliberate political design — not because Ostmark lacks the
organizational capacity to interface with Commission frameworks, but because
Ostmark's governance has formally refused to recognize Commission authority over
its internal economic affairs.

The official_coverage_ratio at Ostmark (≈ 0.25 — roughly 25% of economic activity
Commission-visible) reflects the institutional depth of Compact non-compliance here:
even transactions that could be Commission-certified (export commodities that inner
corridor buyers might want certified) are routed through Compact channels that avoid
that certification because the certification requirement itself is considered an
illegitimate imposition.

An investigator arriving at Ostmark to investigate "informal commerce" will find that
the informal sector IS the economy. There is no smaller shadow sector sitting outside
the main economy — the relationship is inverted. The Commission-visible portion is
the thin exception; the Compact-organized economy is the full picture.
"""

[system_overrides."GJ 453"]
# Freiholt — Compact founding member (GJ 453, hop 7, west_reach)
# Note: GJ 624 = Halvøy (aquaculture world) — do not conflate.
intensity = 0.72
rationale = """
Founding Compact member with strong self-governance heritage. The principled
framing applies fully — Freiholt's high intensity reflects organized Compact
commerce, not criminal activity.

Marginally lower than Ostmark (0.72 vs 0.75) because Freiholt maintains more
active commercial traffic with MIXED-zone systems at hops 5–6, introducing a
degree of formal-channel compliance for those cross-zone transactions. Where
Ostmark has structurally withdrawn from Commission-adjacent commerce, Freiholt
maintains selective formal compliance at the border of its commercial relationships
as a pragmatic accommodation to inner corridor buyers who require certification.
This creates a visible dual structure: a fully informal internal economy and a
thin formal-channel interface for outbound trade.
"""

[system_overrides."GJ 3333"]
# Groenland — pragmatic Compact member, joined for trade economics
intensity = 0.62
rationale = """
Groenland signed the Compact for economic access, not ideological commitment. Its
agricultural surplus became commercially viable when Compact customs arrangements
reduced import costs enough to make long-haul transport economical. The membership
was arithmetic, and the economic behavior reflects that.

Groenland actors operate a mixed strategy: formal Commission channels when selling
to inner corridor buyers who require certification (the agricultural surplus exports
better with quality certification in Tractus-zone markets), and Compact informal
channels for domestic and intra-Compact commerce. This mixed strategy produces lower
intensity than founding Compact members — the formal-channel interface is genuinely
used, not performatively maintained.

The intensity gap between Groenland (0.62) and Ostmark (0.75) is the mechanical
representation of the Compact's internal tension: founding members who signed for
principle versus new members who signed for commercial access. That tension has
governance implications (newer members push for institutional development; founding
members resist accretion) and economic implications (members with active formal-
channel commercial relationships have incentives to maintain Commission-compatible
practices that founding members do not share).
"""

[system_overrides."GJ 127B"]
# Echternach — deep-corridor member with medical supply dependency
intensity = 0.82
rationale = """
Echternach presents a more complex picture than other Compact systems. Its high
intensity (above the founding-member range) reflects a combination of principled
Compact commerce AND genuine contraband in the medical sector.

The community depends on medical hardware imports that carry Commission certification
requirements. At Echternach's depth, certified medical hardware is expensive, often
delayed by months, and subject to Commission allocation priorities that may not
match community needs. Unlicensed re-embodiment facilities and unregistered medical
devices fill this gap. The community does not consider this criminal — the Commission-
certified alternatives are economically and logistically inaccessible. But from the
Commission's perspective, this is canonical contraband (unlicensed re-embodiment is
explicitly listed in D-174's contraband catalog).

The investigator will encounter both realities in the same economic space: the bulk
of Echternach's commerce follows the principled Compact framing (Mark-denominated,
Compact-channel, non-violent, politically organized); the medical sector operates
in a genuine enforcement vacuum with actors who are doing things the Commission
classifies as criminal and the community classifies as necessary.

This makes Echternach a useful case study for the inspect verb: the same high
official_coverage_ratio (≈ 0.18) describes two structurally different informal
sectors. Understanding which is which requires qualitative investigation, not just
intensity metrics.
"""

# --- MIRI GEOGRAPHIC ADDENDUM ---
# Addresses outstanding questions from band notes above.
# Cross-reference: wiki/economics/currency_zones.toml (Miri, Sprint 33)

# OUTER_REACH BAND QUERY (hop 7-9, "flag non-Compact outer systems"):
# Answer: there are NONE. All 22 west_reach systems at hops 7-9 are Compact
# formal signatories per currency_zones.toml. The outer_reach band formula
# reliably represents Compact territory for this corridor. Systems in other
# sectors (east_reach, south_reach) at comparable hops are TRACTUS_PRIMARY
# and receive a lower base before modifiers.
#
# MID_REACH BAND QUERY (hop 5-6, "identify Compact-sympathetic systems"):
# All 14 west_reach systems at hops 5-6 are MIXED zone (Compact-sympathetic).
# See currency_zones.toml [[mixed]] table for full list.
# The compact_membership modifier applies to MARK_PRIMARY zone only (not MIXED).
# MIXED-zone systems at hop 5-6 do NOT get the +0.15 modifier; their elevated
# intensity relative to inner-reach systems is captured by the band range itself
# (0.30-0.55 vs. 0.10-0.35 for inner_reach).

[system_overrides."GJ 832"]
# Hansestadt — Merchant Assembly hub, west_reach, hop 5, MIXED zone
intensity = 0.38
rationale = """
Hansestadt is the commercial center of the west_reach corridor and the seat of
the Merchant Assembly — a west_reach commercial governance body that is distinct
from and coordinates with (but is not subordinate to) the Concord Assembly.
Its five gates make it the busiest transit node between inner corridor and
Compact territory.

The intensity of 0.38 is above the inner_reach band and at the lower edge of
the mid_reach band. Both currencies are in routine use; the formal economy is
sophisticated and commercially dominant. However, the volume of Compact-direction
freight (moving outward through Altmark toward Freiholt and beyond) means that
a substantial fraction of goods passing through Hansestadt are in the process of
entering the Compact zone, where they will disappear from Commission audit
visibility. The gap between goods entering Hansestadt from inward and goods
reported as delivered to Compact-zone recipients is structurally permanent.

This is not criminal in Hansestadt — goods are properly manifested to the point
they cross into Compact customs territory, at which point manifesting ceases. The
informal layer at Hansestadt is commercial transit, not commercial origin. The
Sol premium here is modest (Earth goods available through established import
merchants); contraband shadow pricing exists but is not the dominant commercial
story. Hansestadt's shadow economy is volume-driven, not intensity-driven.

The Merchant Assembly's governance role creates formal commercial frameworks that
can accommodate both currency zones without requiring informal channels for most
transaction categories. This keeps intensity below what raw hop distance and
transit volume would otherwise suggest.
"""

[system_overrides."GJ 529"]
# Yttermark — outermost dead-end in west_reach, hop 17, MARK_PRIMARY
intensity = 0.91
rationale = """
Yttermark is the outermost settled system in the west_reach corridor — a dead-end
at hop 17, where the name (Swedish: 'outermost boundary') describes the lived
reality. Commission authority is not theoretical here; it does not exist as a
meaningful concept. There is no periodic enforcement. There is no Commission
inspector. There is no certified supply chain for most transaction categories.

The intensity of 0.91 reflects the operational reality: formal-channel commerce
requires infrastructure that Yttermark does not have and cannot obtain at
commercially viable costs. This is the extreme of the frontier enforcement vacuum.

The PRINCIPLED framing still applies — Yttermark was founded from Compact-culture
communities and its self-governance is organized and stable, not anarchic. The
high intensity does not indicate disorder; it indicates comprehensive Commission
invisibility. The official_coverage_ratio at Yttermark (≈ 0.09) means the
Commission's economic picture of the system is built almost entirely on what the
two gates transmit in transit manifests. Everything else — all local commerce,
all service provision, all production and consumption at the single inhabited body
— is invisible to the Assembly.

The intensity cap of 0.90 from the compact_membership modifier is exceeded here
by the accumulation of enforcement vacuum and dead-end topology effects, plus
the base deep_frontier range. Pipeline: clamp to 1.0 if formula exceeds it.
"""

[system_overrides."GJ 807"]
# Grenzstein — 'Boundary stone', west_reach, hop 16, MARK_PRIMARY
intensity = 0.88
rationale = """
Near-identical conditions to Yttermark. Grenzstein sits one hop inward from the
outermost settled node and shares the structural characteristics of the far
frontier: no Commission presence, no certified supply alternatives, Compact-culture
self-governance, and through-route topology connecting to Yttermark.

The through_route topology provides one degree of differentiation — Grenzstein is
not a dead-end, which means slightly higher transit volume and slightly more
commercial interaction with systems inward. Through-routes create informal customs
functions (goods pass through, some transit commerce develops) that partially
substitute for formal Commission infrastructure. This keeps intensity marginally
below the dead-end Yttermark, but the conditions are structurally equivalent.

The name is deliberate and ironic — the community at the boundary stone is not
at a boundary of civilizational capacity but at a boundary of Commission legibility.
They govern themselves, they trade through the Compact, they maintain the gate.
They simply do not report to anyone who would file Commission paperwork.
"""

[system_overrides."GJ 282A"]
# Bout du Chemin — 'End of the road', west_reach, hop 15, MARK_PRIMARY
intensity = 0.85
rationale = """
'End of the road' is the literal translation and the accurate description. At hop
15, Bout du Chemin was the furthest point of the settled corridor before Grenzstein
and Yttermark extended the reach. Its founding name reflects that original status.

Through-route topology connecting to Grenzstein means Bout du Chemin serves as an
informal transit node for goods moving between the inner corridor and the truly
outer frontier. The shadow economy here includes a transit function that the two
outermost systems do not have: goods are moving through, not just being produced
and consumed locally.

This transit function introduces a layer of Sol-denominated brokerage that makes
Bout du Chemin slightly more commercially sophisticated than the two deeper systems.
The actors here who are managing the informal transit economy are experienced. They
know how far Commission authority reaches (not here), what the exchange premium on
Sol is at this depth, and what can be moved through a system where no one is
counting. The intensity of 0.85 reflects this: high but not maximum, because the
transit sophistication creates pricing discipline that pure enforcement-vacuum
systems lack.
"""