Knowledge Boundaries

Operational guide for witness scope, public cover, and disclosure. Default to the smallest effective witness circle. If another file implies broader knowledge, treat that implication as suspect until deliberately canonised here.

Current Cover

Thomas: in most eastern public records before Crownholt, an understated utility/support mage with intentionally muddled rank. In Northern records after Chapter 153, officially missing, presumed dead in Crown Deep service after the Load Descent Twelve collapse; that death report is the primary strategic cover. Privately he survived, escaped isolation by Homegate, and is now a Rank A anomaly. His sealed Rank B confirmation is obsolete but remains in older Wood Elf records. On the eastern island, especially outside the main west port, do not normally use "Thomas Albrecht"; use Isha's human apprentice. In Irondeep/Great Peak sealed witness, he is known as an impossible human caster under Green Road guidance/restriction, not as the northern-dead Rank A Thomas Albrecht.
Isha: publicly the Wood Elf archer/scout, Thomas's intended partner in the northern grief story, and one grieving companion carrying the death report. On the island she may present as the Wood Elf mentor/guide responsible for a young human apprentice, giving her public social authority without exposing her private partnership. Crownholt held her as an honoured but contained guest, then released her because keeping her without a living Thomas created diplomatic risk with the Wood Elves.
Kelda: publicly Green Road's C-rank half-dwarf fighter and Thomas/Isha's party member under the northern story. In Crownholt she was excluded from royal access, moved through tolerated practical spaces, then became Isha's outside anchor. After Thomas's official death she travels as a bereaved party member arranging passage east. On the island she is a retired/resting adventurer and friend, not a servant, guard, owner, dependent, hidden minder, romantic rival, or romantic third; her separate house and independent authority support this cover.
Green Road after Chapter 183: publicly fractured by Thomas's presumed death in northern contexts. Privately still Thomas, Isha, and Kelda. On Eastern Island they reached Westhook, set a quiet base at Larchmeet, visited Kethrun, received a Seventh Understep token, crossed Granitethroat, passed Irondeep lower witness, survived the Magnog incident, and are now under guarded privacy at the Great Peak pending sealed first-seal hearing. Aelira's sealed private message for dark-elf nobility remains undelivered. Ordinary island presentation remains Wood Elf mentor, human apprentice, half-dwarf retired/resting adventurer friend outside sealed deep-dwarf witness.

Cover Use

Use the smallest cover that fits the scene:

Context	Public presentation
Northern, Wood Elf, Guild, royal, formal-record, port-rumour, written-report	Thomas Albrecht is missing/presumed dead in Crown Deep service after the Load Descent Twelve collapse.
Main west port	Avoid full names and northern detail; if pressed, Thomas is a human apprentice under Wood Elf guidance.
Eastern local village/highland	Thomas is Isha's apprentice. Humans are rare inland, so avoid his full name, northern history, old Guild identity, sealed rank, and Crownholt connection.
Practical trade/work	Thomas is useful but junior-presenting; Isha or Kelda often frames terms. Utility work should read as odd apprentice usefulness or Green Road competence.
Trusted private	Green Road remains Thomas, Isha, and Kelda, holding the full restricted truth inside the existing witness circle.

The apprentice cover works because it is close to truth: Isha teaches, guides, corrects, protects, and socially frames Thomas, explaining why a young human travels with a Wood Elf and accepts her lead. Do not make it flawless; sharp locals may notice Thomas is unusually educated, careful with power, or older in manner. It survives because most people have no reason to connect him to a northern death report.

"Apprentice" may carry private playful or tender charge between Thomas and Isha, especially around Isha's dominant streak and Thomas's comfort yielding. Keep this intimate, character-grounded, and limited to when both are present and consenting. Publicly it is social cover, field instruction, magical training, and Wood Elf supervision; privately it may support teasing, correction, permission-language, and chosen submission. It must not become public sexual performance, humiliation, or an erasure of Thomas's agency.

Restricted Facts

Fact	Confirmed knowers	Scene rule
Holy magic exists	Thomas, Isha, Kelda, Aelira, Thalen, Sairen, select Wood Elf wardens/test witnesses, relevant High Elf authorities; relevant Irondeep/Great Peak sealed witnesses now know Thomas used witnessed holy force in shield/lance/support contexts; Arliss Fen may suspect Holy Shield after the Crown Deep collapse but lacks confirmed category	Guild, temple, caravan, Karrick Gate, Hearthmere, Crownholt, ordinary travel, and non-sealed eastern scenes must not treat it as common. Deep-dwarf records should use restricted witnessed holy force, not broad public theology. Kelda may recognise what she has seen but should not explain it publicly.
Revive / Isha truly died	Thomas, Isha, Aelira, Thalen, Sairen; expand only by deliberate scene	Narrowest secret in the story. Kelda does not know the exact Revive truth by default. No casual dialogue may imply broad awareness.
Preservation Ring / provisional caretaker status	Thomas, Isha, Aelira, Thalen, Caerith, Lorian, Seraine	Ancient-system scenes may reference it; ordinary adventuring scenes should not.
Dark fire / black fire	Thomas, Isha, Thalen, limited earlier witnesses; Kelda did not directly see the toll-house or red-gate manifestation but may infer an abnormal escape event	Never present as trainable, classified, or public magic. Do not conflate controlled Holy/light combat with dark fire. Thomas and Isha remain cautious even in private.
Sealed Rank B confirmation	Thomas, Isha, Kelda, Aelira, Thalen, Sairen, restricted Wood Elf test witnesses	Obsolete after Thomas privately reaches Rank A, but still important as older sealed paperwork. Do not let public records update to Rank A.
Rank A after Crownholt	Thomas, Isha, Kelda, Aelira; Arliss/Voss/North know only that Thomas changed and became more useful before the collapse	Catastrophic private knowledge. The North must not clearly know it. Public scenes preserve the death cover, not a known A-rank mage.
Homegate exists	Thomas, Isha, Kelda, Thomas's immediate family in limited terms, Aelira, Thalen, Sairen, restricted Wood Elf witnesses who saw arrival/testing context	No public teleportation magic exists. Homegate is impossible, civilisation-scale dangerous, and not casual travel. Crownholt does not know Thomas escaped by Homegate.
Crownholt false death	Thomas, Isha, Kelda, Thomas's immediate family in limited form, Aelira	The North officially believes/records Thomas as missing/presumed dead. His family must publicly uphold the lie while privately knowing he lives.
Known Presence message breakthrough	Thomas, Isha, Kelda by report, Aelira by briefing	Known Presence remains Thomas's spell. Isha does not have it and cannot open/use it. The pushed message was a costly one-way breakthrough after she was outside immediate northern control.
Crown Deep bottom / "what keeps the gate shut"	Thomas, Isha, Kelda, Aelira	Highest-risk strategic mystery. Thomas briefly saw black water, chained columns, failing green-gold seals, and something vast beneath Crownholt. The North, Guild, and ordinary Wood Elf witnesses do not know by default.
Isha's idealised Greater Heal restoration	Thomas, Isha; inferable only to very narrow trusted witnesses who know enough detail	Private bodily and emotional consequence, not a public upgrade or repeatable miracle.
Black Lock intelligence	Thomas, Isha, Kelda; Lysa and hidden-spillway survivors have partial information; restricted summaries may reach Aelira/Thalen/Sairen	Ordinary northern, Crownholt, and island scenes should not casually know Lock infrastructure details. Public reports stay incomplete.
Eastern-island destination and local cover	Thomas, Isha, Kelda, Aelira, Kelda's Tidefall contacts in cover terms; island locals know only the surface apprentice/friend cover	Refuge/investigation move, not public exile or triumph. Aelira's dark-elf letter is private diplomatic material. Use the smaller local cover by default.
Pocket Island exists	Thomas, Isha, Kelda	Private refuge/testing space, not public travel, storage, or convenience. Do not mention it to Larchmeet, Kethrun, Granitethroat, Irondeep, Great Peak, or dark-elf/deep-dwarf authorities unless deliberately escalated later. Ch 182-183 must not imply dwarves saw or inferred it when Thomas almost left.
Magic Pocket exists	Thomas, Isha, Kelda; other narrow prior witnesses may know limited storage use, but not eastern deep-dwarf authorities	Keep private. Deep dwarves have not been shown Magic Pocket and should not infer storage/pocket-space from Thomas's refusal to be held.
Magnog / elemental identity	King Beneath, Ruvan Deep-Sign, Arveth, old Great Peak priest, Great Peak restricted clerk, Sorrak, Nalka, Green Road after Ch 183; relevant inner deep-dwarf hierarchy by office	Public/deep-work language remains deep-heat entity/old heat/deep-heat thing. Elementals are natural forces, not evil/demons. The lesser creatures near the Magnog are not elementals. Do not broaden this to ordinary deep dwarves without deliberate sealed-scene expansion.
Great Peak metal answer	Thomas, Isha, Kelda, King Beneath, Ruvan Deep-Sign, Arveth, Great Peak clerk/priest/guards, lower-sign guards, Sorrak, Nalka	Witnessed as Form-like metal shaping: pure/smooth metal walls drawn from the Great Peak without structural wound and parted like curtains. It proves frightening mastery/restraint to deep dwarves; it does not reveal Homegate, Pocket Island, Magic Pocket, Rank A, or how Thomas might leave.
Granitethroat passage under Seventh Understep witness	Thomas, Isha, Kelda, Maerra Seven-Cut, immediate Seventh Understep gate witnesses; Dorruk Stone-Under-Water and Harra Deep-Set know they gave the approach token	They know Kelda presented craft/witness questions, Thomas is publicly Isha's apprentice with a strong shaping spell, and Green Road passed under witness. They do not know Rank A, Holy magic, Homegate, Revive, Pocket Island, Crown Deep bottom, or Aelira's dark-elf letter by default.
Irondeep fall / deep-heat fight direct witnesses	Thomas, Isha, Kelda, Sorrak, Nalka, Berrun	Directly witnessed divided complete Holy Shields, Slow Fall/Form-assisted survival, healing/support magic, cooling/water/light, and fivefold Holy Lances killing the unnamed deep-heat entity. Berrun knows the witnessed entity and fight, not the later restricted Magnog identity by default.
Irondeep rescue / sealed-transfer recipients	Harra Deep-Quench, Varrun, Tharrel; relevant rescue and transfer personnel only within operational need	Know the collapse, survivors, dangerous deep-heat entity, extraordinary magic, and bounded sealed reports needed for rescue or escort. Do not assume they know exact spell levels, lance/shield counts, Magnog identity, Great Peak metal shaping, or private escape capabilities unless deliberately briefed.
Great Peak containment direct witnesses	Thomas, Isha, Kelda, Sorrak, Nalka, Arveth, Ruvan Deep-Sign, King Beneath, Great Peak restricted clerk/priest, and guards present in the receiving chamber	Witnessed Thomas's calm refusal of separation, non-lethal restraint, three layered Holy Shield spheres strengthened with additional mana, and Form drawing smooth metal walls from the Great Peak without structural wound. This does not grant knowledge of the earlier fivefold-lance fight except through a bounded sealed report.
Shared restriction across deep-dwarf witnesses	All Irondeep/Great Peak groups above	None know Rank A, Homegate, Pocket Island, Magic Pocket, Revive, Crown Deep bottom, Crownholt false death, Aelira's dark-elf letter, or Thomas's possible escape method unless later deliberately disclosed. Exact Magnog identity remains limited to the separate Magnog row above.

Eastern Witness Defaults

Main west port / Westhook: witnesses may notice a quiet Wood Elf, a human apprentice, a half-dwarf adventurer, and Porridge arriving from the Grey Tern and heading inland. Some may have heard a northern death rumour, but should not connect the apprentice to Thomas Albrecht unless a later scene deliberately creates pressure.
Larchmeet / highland villages: locals know Isha as mentor/guide, Thomas as her human apprentice, and Kelda as a retired/resting adventurer friend. They may see controlled practical utility, house-building, politeness, carefulness, strangeness, and unusual usefulness, but not Rank A, Holy magic, Homegate, Pocket Island, Crownholt truth, official death, or Crown Deep connection.
Practical work witnesses: may see restrained utility magic such as Form, Cleanse, Warm Area, Create Water, Renew, Appraise, or basic healing if justified by the scene. They should frame it as odd apprentice usefulness or Green Road's competence, not proof of Rank A, Holy magic, or northern identity.
Demi-human city contacts: may be more socially and politically sophisticated than village witnesses. They may question why a human apprentice is inland; default to suspicion/curiosity, not recognition.
Dark-elf or early deep-dwarf authorities: may have better information channels. Do not assume ignorance, but do not publicly collapse the cover unless the scene deliberately escalates the political situation. After Ch 183, sealed Irondeep/Great Peak witnesses have a specific enlarged witness scope; ordinary eastern/deep-dwarf public still does not.
Kethrun contacts: Berrit, Veyna, Nemi, Harra Deep-Set, and Dorruk Stone-Under-Water know the party came with a human apprentice and Kelda's craft questions. Dorruk and Harra know enough to send them to Granitethroat, not the full strategic truth.
Granitethroat / Seventh Understep: witnesses know more than ordinary highlanders, still not core secrets. Maerra Seven-Cut and immediate gate witnesses saw Kelda's token, mason's point, sketch of the Larchmeet houses, Thomas's admission of an uncomfortable strong shaping spell under Isha's apprentice frame, and Kelda's questions about surface-built stone, frost foundation, road honesty, and standing of work outside mountain proof. Green Road passed under witness only: no deep-hold reception, clan/house recognition, sanctuary, or permission to speak of sealed works.
Irondeep / Great Peak sealed witnesses: see the table above. They may speak of witnessed holy force, healing, Form, Magnog, and metal answer only inside sealed procedure. Do not let this leak into ordinary island/public scenes by default.
Private Green Road scenes: may use "apprentice" playfully or tenderly, but prose must make clear whether it means public cover, genuine teaching frame, flirtation, or chosen private dynamic.

For ordinary eastern village, trade, road, or work conversations, Thomas's full name, northern history, rank, Homegate survival, and Crownholt connection should not appear unless the scene is explicitly private, diplomatic, or linked to the northern death report.

Recent Public Witness Scopes Through Chapter 183

Karrick Gate officials / The Lantern Badger: know Green Road survived the Third Drain and a red-gate lower-works incident involving organised goblins, an orc chieftain, worker tags, traps, and emergency offensive magic. They do not know Holy Lance, dark fire, Revive, Homegate, or sealed Rank B/Rank A.
Hearthmere locals: know Green Road recovered bell-goats, witnessed real old-road lights, fought a slow peat/stone/root brute, exposed Sella Varr, and made the watch ridge safe enough for town process. Public language stays old-road magic, bell resonance, controlled light magic, shield work, and practical adventuring, not Holy magic or Rank B/A.
Rimeholt witnesses: saw Cleanse, Form, repair, detection, low-level healing, and disciplined party practice. Brenn Cale recorded enough unusual usefulness to help northern agents identify Green Road.
Northern Crown / Crownholt: officially treated Thomas and Isha as honoured guests under crown authority and Kelda as unsuitable for royal carriage/protocol. After the Crown Deep collapse, records hold Thomas as missing/presumed dead; they know he was unusually useful and deteriorating, but not true Rank A, Homegate, Revive, or confirmed Holy classification.
Arliss Fen: may suspect a concealed shield/unknown light during the collapse, without proof. Keep her as possible future pressure, not a broad disclosure vector.
Thomas's family: knows Thomas survived the official death and must uphold the lie. They should not know Crown Deep bottom details unless a later scene deliberately expands that scope.
Aelira: knows the full private post-Crownholt briefing as of Chapter 157, including false death, Rank A, Known Presence message, Homegate escape, and Crown Deep bottom warning. She does not yet know the Magnog/Great Peak incident unless later informed.
Irondeep/Great Peak sealed witnesses: know the latest deep-dwarf incident evidence, including holy force and Magnog under restricted framing, but not Thomas's private pocket/passage abilities or northern secrets.
King Beneath / inner deep-dwarf hierarchy: know or can receive Magnog/lower-sign doctrine by office. Their knowledge of Thomas should be bounded to observed events and sealed reports, not omniscience about his prior arcs.

Maintenance

When a restricted fact changes witness scope, update this file in the same pass as the relevant characters.md, synopsis.md, timeline.md, or spells.md note.