Project README

This folder holds canonical story reference. Use this README for orientation; use synopsis.md and timeline.md for latest story state, chapter coverage, location, and active arc.

Core Mystery

The Hero Summoning failed: Thomas is recognised; the event was an error; Thomas is not.

Open questions:

• Why ancient systems recognise Thomas; what an Interface or Opening truly is; what Status may reveal at higher levels.
• What the Preservation Ring caretaker credential permits, and what the High Elf preserve's sealed continuity anchor was built to preserve or contain.
• Why temple authority was specifically warned away from the demonic token; why organised demonic activity appears to be increasing near the Elven Woods, Merrowford, and old places of passage.
• What uncontrolled dark fire means, and whether it is part of Thomas's anomaly.
• What the Black Lock is doing with old water-road infrastructure and claimed bodies, after its visible outer body was sighted and one counting gate was blinded.
• How Kelda Flintvein's debt to Thomas and Isha will affect Green Road without becoming romance or ownership.
• How Green Road's three-person relationship and command structure mature as Kelda becomes family-adjacent, not merely debt-bound.
• What Homegate truly is; why teleportation magic otherwise does not exist; how hidden ley-line passage relates to ancient roads, thresholds, and the Hero System.
• How Thomas's sealed private Rank B confirmation changes institutional risk while his public utility-mage cover remains deliberately false.
• How old road, guide-stone, bell-resonance, and northern sky-road motifs connect to larger passage infrastructure without making Homegate public or casual.
• What happens when the next Hero Summoning occurs.
• What the Northern Crown Deep is built over, and what keeps the gate shut beneath Crownholt.
• Whether Thomas's official northern death can hold long enough for Green Road to act outside human jurisdiction.
• What the eastern island's deep dwarves and dark-elf nobility know about sealed works beneath old stone.
• What the Magnog rising under Irondeep means, whether Thomas caused, attracted, revealed, or merely survived the omen, and how the King Beneath will hear the work-question, lower-sign warning, and Thomas together.

Read Order and Roles

1. writing_style.md - prose style, dialogue rhythm, revision tone.
2. characters.md - major-character state, relationships, party composition.
3. world.md - geography, institutions, rank structure, races, world mechanics.
4. ecology.md - writer-facing creatures, monsters, demons, flora; not in-world taxonomy; chapter evidence wins conflicts.
5. timeline.md - event order and chapter coverage.
6. synopsis.md - latest story-state overview, chapter summaries, active location/arc.
7. spells.md - spell levels, behaviour, practical limits, combinations.
8. knowledge_boundaries.md - public cover, witness scope, restricted-fact handling.
9. canvas.md - premise, long-range themes, future seeds; older seed wording cannot override current continuity.
10. minor_characters.md - side/local/recurring cast unless promoted into characters.md.
11. eastern_arc.md - temporary active island arc; migrate durable facts before deletion.

Standing Rules

• Chapters 50-58 and 110 do not exist and never existed. Do not call them skipped chapters or infer off-page events from those numbers.
• Thomas used to be called David; ensure the name David does not resurface.
• After writing chapters, check writing_style.md, any active arc file, and the relevant long-lived references above.
• Active arc files are temporary canon workspaces. When updating eastern_arc.md, also migrate durable geography, culture, institution, character, spell, witness-scope, and chapter-state facts into world.md, characters.md, minor_characters.md, synopsis.md, timeline.md, spells.md, or knowledge_boundaries.md as appropriate.