chapters/CH_07/quests/main_story/CH_07.json
{
"node": "CH_07",
"quest_id": "QUEST_CH07_SOUTH_INDIA_UNLOCKED",
"checker_issues": [
{
"kind": "NO_DECLARED_STATE",
"detail": "14 beats carry no in/out state markers -- flag reachability is UNCHECKED, not passed. Author beats with 'in: local.x -> out: local.y' to make this gradable."
},
{
"kind": "UNSATISFIABLE_COMPLETION",
"detail": "completion requires local.asura_put_down, which no beat produces"
},
{
"kind": "UNSATISFIABLE_COMPLETION",
"detail": "completion requires local.duel_resolved, which no beat produces"
},
{
"kind": "UNSATISFIABLE_COMPLETION",
"detail": "completion requires local.sealed_letter_carried, which no beat produces"
},
{
"kind": "CONJUNCTIVE_COMPLETION",
"detail": "completion joins conditions with AND while forks exist -- an unchosen branch's flags are never set, so the quest cannot close"
}
],
"checker_status": "DEAD_END_RISK",
"quest": {
"node": "CH_07",
"quest_id": "QUEST_CH07_SOUTH_INDIA_UNLOCKED",
"quest_name": "The Blade That Would Not Be Bought",
"quest_type": "main_story_per_chapter",
"questline_id": "",
"quest_giver": "environment (the L1456 giverless sentinel — the hook at CH07_B01 is the world, an arrival by sea into Madurai with no agent handing anything over; docs/spine/CH_07.md:119-123, :106). Intra-chapter drivers, none of them the quest giver: char:CHAR_0049 hands the billet errand at CH07_B04 (:134-138), char:CHAR_0047 grades the kalari ladder at CH07_B05 and presses the Sealed Letter at CH07_B14 (:139-143, :184-188).",
"trigger_type": "environmental — the §6.5 L1457 observed-enum member for a world-hooked start. Not origin_node_auto: that member is reserved to the origin node (Ch 2), and Ch 7 enters from the committed Ch 6 exit by sea (docs/spine/CH_07.md:21, :106; _source/01_Tier_1_Foundation/T1_Build_Pipeline_Contracts [ACTIVE v1.0].md §6.5 L1457).",
"participants": [
"protagonist",
"char:CHAR_0047 Guruji Achuthan — the kalari master, grades the ladder and entrusts the Sealed Letter [docs/spine/CH_07.md:233]",
"char:CHAR_0048 Bogar — the wandering deathless Siddha, glimpsed once, honored, never a target [docs/spine/CH_07.md:234]",
"char:CHAR_0049 Muthu — the wootz asari-lineage smith, the TRADE_03 home [docs/spine/CH_07.md:235]",
"char:CHAR_0050 Raghavendra — the Uncorrupted Enforcer, the main encounter, UNAWARE [docs/spine/CH_07.md:232, :288]",
"char:CHAR_0051 Avvaiyar — the Sangam poet, recurs Ch 15/17 [docs/spine/CH_07.md:236]",
"char:CHAR_0052 Vaidya Kandan — the Ayurvedic-siddha herbalist, the TRADE_04 home [docs/spine/CH_07.md:235]",
"char:CHAR_0053 Pandian — the Meenakshi-complex mahout [docs/spine/CH_07.md:236]",
"char:CHAR_0054 Velli Amma — the ranked female kalari practitioner who spars the protagonist to the edge of what they know [docs/spine/CH_07.md:29, :236]",
"char:CHAR_0002 the Healer's Child — carried mystery, not present [docs/spine/CH_07.md:236]",
"boss:BE_0007 Raghavendra, the Uncorrupted Enforcer — DUEL/PROVE 45/20/35, phases P1→CH07_B07, P2→CH07_B08, P3→CH07_B09 [docs/spine/CH_07.md:112; registries/T0_Boss_Encounter_Registry [DRAFT v0.1]/Sheet1.csv:21]",
"boss:BE_0007_S1 the Marma Assassin — DISRUPT/READ 40/25/35, the healer-turned-killer [docs/spine/CH_07.md:113; T0_Boss_Encounter_Registry:22]",
"boss:BE_0007_S2 the Dvarapala Gate-Guardian — ATTUNE/ENDURE 30/45/25, the tradition's own threshold guardian [docs/spine/CH_07.md:113; T0_Boss_Encounter_Registry:23]",
"boss:BE_0007_S3 the Soorasamharam-remnant, a Surapadman-class asura — STRIKE/ENDURE 35/25/40 [docs/spine/CH_07.md:113, :329; T0_Boss_Encounter_Registry:24]",
"antagonist:NW_0006 — the corrupted caste-enforcement institution Raghavendra stands inside without knowing it; awareness UNAWARE [docs/spine/CH_07.md:288]",
"familiar:paravani_f2 Paravani, Indian peafowl, Flying slot F2 — pre-encounter only, bond gated at the Crown-seat tier [docs/spine/CH_07.md:177, :286, :335]"
],
"beats": [
{
"beat": "CH07_B01 · seq 1 · role hook · mode character · site madurai_meenakshi_temple_city · boss none · fork none",
"what_happens": "Arrival by sea from Sri Lanka, up out of the Tamil country into a temple-city built in rings around a goddess. The hook is the place, not a person: for the first time since the cave there are streets with doors that might open twice.",
"player_verb": "travel / arrive",
"cite": "docs/spine/CH_07.md:119-123; :106"
},
{
"beat": "CH07_B02 · seq 2 · role core · mode puzzle · site madurai_meenakshi_temple_city · boss BE_0007_S2 · fork none",
"what_happens": "The dvarapala threshold. The stone door-guardians of the precinct test whether the protagonist enters in right bearing — attune your own steadiness to the threshold or endure its testing weight and the inner court opens. The guardian is the trial; the precinct, the goddess and the worshipping community are never the target. Two phases, evolve-not-swap: the threshold bars an unworthy entry, then narrows its window.",
"player_verb": "attune / endure",
"cite": "docs/spine/CH_07.md:124-128, :113; registries/T0_Boss_Encounter_Registry [DRAFT v0.1]/Sheet1.csv:23"
},
{
"beat": "CH07_B03 · seq 3 · role core · mode trade · site wootz_forge_and_herbalists_room · boss none · fork none",
"what_happens": "Two crafts take the protagonist in — a smith folding crucible steel the whole world will trade for, a healer grinding leaf and mineral to cure. The arc's first two trade home bases root here (TRADE_03 Blacksmithing, TRADE_04 Herbalism) and both home-base books open. This is the first returnable rootedness in the arc: benches that are theirs to come back to, not a dwelling home.",
"player_verb": "apprentice / craft",
"cite": "docs/spine/CH_07.md:129-133, :285, :333; registries/T0_Questline_Index [DRAFT v0.1]/Sheet1.csv @ TRADE_03 (Ch_07-Ch_60), @ TRADE_04 (Ch_07-Ch_50)"
},
{
"beat": "CH07_B04 · seq 4 · role core · mode puzzle · site thanjavur_brihadeshwara · boss none · fork none",
"what_happens": "The smith's billet errand north to Thanjavur. The protagonist stands under a Chola granite vimana crowned by a single monolithic stone hauled the height of the sky and set without mortar, its proportion a puzzle the eye keeps solving, and wins the inner court past a second carved door-guardian in right bearing. The wootz road running on north to the Golconda fortress-market and west toward Persia is marked here.",
"player_verb": "deliver / solve",
"cite": "docs/spine/CH_07.md:134-138, :96-99, :339"
},
{
"beat": "CH07_B05 · seq 5 · role core · mode learning · site kerala_kalari · boss none · fork none",
"what_happens": "The kalari entered as a school, not a stop. The guru grades the protagonist up rung by rung — standing forms and animal postures, then the long staff and the curved otta, then the blade, the kattari and the whip-thin urumi. Every rung is staked in a scored bout against the pit's ranked students: a strike counts only where the form allows it, a clean touch to a marma line ends the round, and the guru calls the count aloud. Velli Amma spars them to the edge of what they know and flatters nothing. Above the three open grades the guru names Marmakkalai once — a fourth gate opened on bearing, never on skill.",
"player_verb": "train / spar",
"cite": "docs/spine/CH_07.md:139-143, :29"
},
{
"beat": "CH07_B06 · seq 6 · role core · mode discovery · site kerala_kalari · boss none · fork none",
"what_happens": "The map in the flesh: the hundred and seven marma points where the vital current can be mended or stopped. The tradition holds both edges in one hand and asks which the learner will be. Learned strictly as a CRAFT at the Neophyte register — never a substrate read.",
"player_verb": "study",
"cite": "docs/spine/CH_07.md:144-148, :257"
},
{
"beat": "CH07_B07 · seq 7 · role core · mode combat · site kerala_kalari · boss BE_0007.P1 · fork none",
"what_happens": "Phase 1 of the main encounter. Raghavendra, an enforcer trained to the secret fourth Marmakkalai level, crosses blades with the protagonist — not out of malice, but because in his tradition a stranger's worth is tested edge to edge. Meet the forms cleanly and hold the round.",
"player_verb": "duel",
"cite": "docs/spine/CH_07.md:149-153, :112"
},
{
"beat": "CH07_B08 · seq 8 · role core · mode combat · site kerala_kalari · boss BE_0007.P2 · fork none",
"what_happens": "Phase 2, evolve-not-swap: he raises the stakes by tightening the same marma exchanges rather than adding attacks. Answer each strike with the correct kalari defence while he reads not skill but integrity — the way the protagonist has learned to read others. The read runs at the honorable skill register, a man reading honesty edge to edge.",
"player_verb": "parry / riposte",
"cite": "docs/spine/CH_07.md:154-158, :112; registries/T0_Boss_Encounter_Registry [DRAFT v0.1]/Sheet1.csv:21"
},
{
"beat": "CH07_B09 · seq 9 · role climax · mode combat · site kerala_kalari · boss BE_0007.P3 · fork FORK_CH07_A",
"what_happens": "The recognition. The protagonist's integrity reads true or false in the fighting itself, and the duel resolves as a measure, not a kill: the win condition is pacify-by-yielding-into-respect, the killing blow is always refusable and possible only at explicit integrity cost. For the first time someone looks straight at what the protagonist is becoming and measures it without fear and without hunger.",
"player_verb": "yield-into-respect / press",
"cite": "docs/spine/CH_07.md:159-163, :112, :280, :337"
},
{
"beat": "CH07_B10 · seq 10 · role core · mode combat · site kerala_kalari · boss BE_0007_S1 · fork none",
"what_happens": "The dark mirror: a healer who turned the marma map to murder ambushes from the same art the enforcer keeps clean. Two phases, evolve-not-swap — a silent lethal ambush, then the open fight once his approach is read, chaining the same marma combinations tighter. Break the pressure-point line before it completes, or undo his strike with the healing counter-point, and free the victims he intended. A lone corrupted individual; never the healers and never the healing tradition.",
"player_verb": "disrupt / counter-point",
"cite": "docs/spine/CH_07.md:164-168, :113; registries/T0_Boss_Encounter_Registry [DRAFT v0.1]/Sheet1.csv:22"
},
{
"beat": "CH07_B11 · seq 11 · role core · mode combat · site palani_abode_hill · boss BE_0007_S3 · fork FORK_CH07_B",
"what_happens": "North into the hills, the ascent of one of the war-god's six abodes — and the learning of why a war-god is needed at all. A manifestation of the demon the god was born to slay stirs against the climb: endure its oppressing pressure and put it down in the tradition's own demon-slaying register. Two phases, evolve-not-swap: the asura oppresses the ascent, then deepens the oppression rather than adding attacks. This is the tradition's OWN condemned demon, faced in the Soorasamharam's own spirit; the god is the honored slayer and the abode is inviolate.",
"player_verb": "endure / strike",
"cite": "docs/spine/CH_07.md:169-173, :113, :329, :330; registries/T0_Boss_Encounter_Registry [DRAFT v0.1]/Sheet1.csv:24"
},
{
"beat": "CH07_B12 · seq 12 · role core · mode transformation · site palani_abode_hill · boss none · fork none",
"what_happens": "At the summit a peacock — the sign of the ancient defeat, born of the split asura — takes the protagonist's measure and will one day fly with them, when they have climbed high enough inside to deserve it. A pre-encounter only: the F2 bond is gated at the Crown-seat tier the protagonist has not reached, and the measure is felt, never explained.",
"player_verb": "stand / be measured",
"cite": "docs/spine/CH_07.md:174-178, :286, :335"
},
{
"beat": "CH07_B13 · seq 13 · role core · mode discovery · site western_ghats · boss none · fork none",
"what_happens": "In the spice highlands the protagonist crosses the trace of the deathless masters — eighteen said to live on in hidden places, scattered and un-owned, the wandering Siddha Bogar glimpsed once and gone. They cannot yet say why, but the bare fact that such a thing exists steadies them, like a light held far off across dark water. The steadying is felt; nothing is declared.",
"player_verb": "explore / follow the trace",
"cite": "docs/spine/CH_07.md:179-183, :33"
},
{
"beat": "CH07_B14 · seq 14 · role exit · mode character · site kerala_kalari · boss none · fork none",
"what_happens": "Before the coast road east, Guruji Achuthan presses a sealed letter into the protagonist's hand, its writing in no script they can read, and asks them to carry it and not to open it. They do. Departure toward the monsoon crossing with the letter unread and its script unidentified on every surface — no name, no property, no HUD or inventory identification.",
"player_verb": "accept / carry",
"cite": "docs/spine/CH_07.md:184-188, :313, :336"
}
],
"objectives": [
"OBJ_01 · CH07_B01 · \"Come up out of the Tamil country into Madurai.\" · completion: flag(local.madurai_reached) [docs/spine/CH_07.md:119-122]",
"OBJ_02 · CH07_B02 · \"Enter the goddess's precinct in the right bearing. The stone door-guardians hold the threshold.\" · completion: flag(local.gate_passed) [docs/spine/CH_07.md:124-127]",
"OBJ_03 · CH07_B03 · \"Take the bench the smith offers and the bench the healer offers. Open both books.\" · completion: flag(local.trade_homes_rooted) [docs/spine/CH_07.md:129-132]",
"OBJ_04 · CH07_B04 · \"Carry the smith's billet north to Thanjavur, and win the inner court past the carved guardian.\" · completion: flag(local.billet_delivered) [docs/spine/CH_07.md:134-137]",
"OBJ_05 · CH07_B05 · \"Climb the guru's grades — the standing forms, the staff and the otta, then the kattari and the urumi. Stake every rung in a scored bout.\" · completion: flag(local.kalari_graded) [docs/spine/CH_07.md:139-142]",
"OBJ_06 · CH07_B06 · \"Learn the hundred and seven points where the vital current can be mended or stopped.\" · completion: flag(local.marma_map_learned) [docs/spine/CH_07.md:144-147]",
"OBJ_07 · CH07_B07 · \"Meet the enforcer's test edge to edge and hold the round.\" · completion: flag(local.duel_test_met) [docs/spine/CH_07.md:149-152]",
"OBJ_08 · CH07_B08 · \"Answer each marma strike with the defence the form allows.\" · completion: flag(local.marma_pressure_answered) · gate: flag(local.duel_test_met) & has(local.marma_map_learned) [docs/spine/CH_07.md:154-157]",
"OBJ_09 · CH07_B09 · \"Resolve the duel.\" · completion: flag(local.duel_resolved) · four resolutions per FORK_CH07_A, all completing [docs/spine/CH_07.md:159-162, :201-204]",
"OBJ_10 · CH07_B10 · \"Break the killer's pressure-point line before it completes, or undo his strike with the healing counter-point. Free the ones he meant to take.\" · completion: flag(local.assassin_stopped) · gate: has(local.marma_map_learned) [docs/spine/CH_07.md:164-167]",
"OBJ_11 · CH07_B11 · \"Climb the abode-hill, and put down what stirs against the ascent.\" · completion: flag(local.asura_put_down) · gate: flag(local.duel_resolved) & flag(local.assassin_stopped) [docs/spine/CH_07.md:169-172]",
"OBJ_12 · CH07_B12 · \"Stand at the summit. Let the peacock take your measure.\" · completion: flag(local.peacock_measure_taken) [docs/spine/CH_07.md:174-177]",
"OBJ_13 · CH07_B13 · \"Cross the spice highlands and follow the trace of the deathless masters.\" · completion: flag(local.siddha_trace_found) · gate: flag(local.asura_put_down) [docs/spine/CH_07.md:179-182]",
"OBJ_14 · CH07_B14 · \"Take the guru's sealed letter. Carry it east, and do not open it.\" · completion: flag(local.sealed_letter_carried) · gate: flag(local.siddha_trace_found) [docs/spine/CH_07.md:184-187]"
],
"branching_logic": "Two typed fork nodes, both SUBSTANTIAL, both kind combat_resolution, both care_band open, both convergence_node null, and both with `path_bucket` UNLOCKED — the direction (generative / neutral / corrosive) rides the fork option and is a separate axis from path_bucket, which never carries a direction on a pre-Ch-65-lock row [docs/spine/CH_07.md:195-197, :209-211, :293; T1_Build_Pipeline_Contracts §6.5 fork_option_refs RULED axis separation].\n\nFORK_CH07_A, anchored at the climax beat CH07_B09 — the conduct of the duel. Four ACTION-keyed options; the option is what the player DOES, never a labelled path. Only the ally track is at stake: the duel resolves and the road east opens on every option, and the equivalent-class floor (his marma tells logged and a Siddha-integrity lore fragment) drops either way, so there is no fail-wall [docs/spine/CH_07.md:195, :112, :201-204].\n\nFORK_CH07_B, anchored at CH07_B11 — the SPIRIT of the ascent, not the outcome. Three options. The encounter itself is mandatory main-spine and rewards both ways; the demon is put down and the summit is reached on every option, and no option gates the descent or the departure [docs/spine/CH_07.md:209, :215-217, :219].\n\nOrdering: CH07_B10 (the marma assassin) is sequenced tenth but its only in-state is local.marma_map_learned (CH07_B06), so it is reachable from CH07_B06 onward and does not require the duel to be resolved first; CH07_B11 is the beat that requires both local.duel_resolved and local.assassin_stopped [docs/spine/CH_07.md:167, :172]. Produce-before-consume holds across all fourteen beats.\n\nNo integrity-conditional or biography-conditional dialogue branch is authored at chapter grain in the spine — the integrity read is expressed through the fight, not through a dialogue tree [docs/spine/CH_07.md:160, :163].",
"completion_condition": "flag(local.duel_resolved) & flag(local.asura_put_down) & flag(local.sealed_letter_carried) — the climax beat, the mandatory main-spine ascent, and the exit beat that pins the CH_07→CH_08 handoff [docs/spine/CH_07.md:162, :172, :187, :323].",
"fail_state": "reward_on_death — the §6.5 L1462 enum member. Every fight in this chapter pays out on loss as well as on win: BE_0007's death branch drops his marma tells logged plus a Siddha-integrity lore fragment either way and is explicitly marked \"no fail-wall\"; FORK_CH07_B's sub-boss rewards fire on win and loss alike (the peacock pre-encounter and the asura-war lore on the win, the ascent rhythm logged on the loss); and the chapter's boss contract requires a reward on win and on death [docs/spine/CH_07.md:112, :209, :110].",
"progression_guarantee": "plays_through — the §6.5 L1463 enum member. Both forks carry an explicit progression_guarantee line in the spine: FORK_CH07_A \"every option plays through to the Swahili crossing — the duel resolves and the road east opens on all; only the ally track is at stake, with an equivalent-class floor\", and FORK_CH07_B \"the demon is put down and the summit reached on every option ... no option gates the descent or the departure\" [docs/spine/CH_07.md:195, :209]. No NPC death makes the game unfinishable: killing Raghavendra closes the ally track and nothing else, the road east never gates, and he is not a traveling companion in any branch [docs/spine/CH_07.md:204, :307]. No twelve_tier_gate binds at Ch 7 and the three side-questline gates are state-conditions, non-gating on the main spine [docs/spine/CH_07.md:228]. Abilities A_E_004 and A_F_003 become AVAILABLE from Ch 7 and do not auto-unlock, so no beat depends on them [docs/spine/CH_07.md:281].\n\nFALSIFIER (what would prove this definition wrong): any route that reaches the CH_07→CH_08 seam without flag(local.sealed_letter_carried); any FORK_CH07_A or FORK_CH07_B option that fails to reach the coast road east; any build in which the killing blow at CH07_B09 is forced, defaulted, or is the only win; any surface on which the Sealed Letter's script is identified before the Ch 8 reveal; or any state write on this row that resolves to no WS_NNN variable_name row in T0_Worldstate_Variables.",
"state_writes": [
"ws.relationship_history: +raghavendra — one of {ally_no_coin_can_buy | respect_withheld | will_not_follow | killed_in_the_pit} per the selected FORK_CH07_A option, rooted to South India, never a traveling companion [docs/spine/CH_07.md:112, :201-204, :323; T0_Worldstate_Variables @ WS_008]",
"ws.antagonist_operational_state_per_region: +marma_assassin_stopped_victims_freed [docs/spine/CH_07.md:167; T0_Worldstate_Variables @ WS_020]",
"ws.familiar_bond_state: +paravani_pre_encountered_crown_gated — the bond_status deferred-and-gated sub-field, not a bond [docs/spine/CH_07.md:177, :286; T0_Worldstate_Variables @ WS_012; T1_Build_Pipeline_Contracts §6.5 CG-27 familiar-bond write rule]",
"ws.integrity_score: per FORK_CH07_A (+substantial-generative | ~0 | −substantial-corrosive) composed with FORK_CH07_B (+substantial-generative | ~0 | −substantial-corrosive) — the arc's first explicit integrity-cost weighting; integrity_level stays near L3 Drifting and the bands are DERIVED, never option labels [docs/spine/CH_07.md:201-204, :215-217, :293, :300; T0_Worldstate_Variables @ WS_001, @ WS_002]"
],
"fork_options": [
"FORK_CH07_A · anchor CH07_B09 · SUBSTANTIAL · combat_resolution · care_band open · convergence_node null — OPT_A1 fight honestly and yield the final exchange into respect (the pacify win) · direction generative · +Substantial · ws.relationship_history raghavendra ally-no-coin-can-buy · opens the incorruptible-ally track [docs/spine/CH_07.md:201]",
"FORK_CH07_A · OPT_A2 win the bout on skill alone and give the read nothing · direction neutral · ~0 · ws.relationship_history raghavendra respect-withheld [docs/spine/CH_07.md:202]",
"FORK_CH07_A · OPT_A3 fight to win at any cost — hollow · direction corrosive · −Substantial · ws.relationship_history raghavendra will-not-follow · closes the ally track; his marma tells and the lore fragment remain the floor [docs/spine/CH_07.md:203]",
"FORK_CH07_A · OPT_A4 press the killing blow he leaves refusable · direction corrosive · −Substantial · ws.relationship_history raghavendra killed-in-the-pit · closes the ally track permanently; the equivalent-class floor remains and the road east never gates [docs/spine/CH_07.md:204]",
"FORK_CH07_B · anchor CH07_B11 · SUBSTANTIAL · combat_resolution · care_band open · convergence_node null — OPT_B1 climb and face the demon in the tradition's own honest demon-slaying spirit · direction generative · +Substantial [docs/spine/CH_07.md:215]",
"FORK_CH07_B · OPT_B2 treat the manifestation as one more obstacle and clear it for the summit · direction neutral · ~0 [docs/spine/CH_07.md:216]",
"FORK_CH07_B · OPT_B3 force the hill wrong-spirited — the ascent the old demon stirs against · direction corrosive · −Substantial · nothing walls; the oppression deepens and the summit measure reads what it reads [docs/spine/CH_07.md:217]"
],
"reward_class": "mixed — the spine's own per-quest reward map: the marma-and-rasayana lore, the two trade home-base kits (TRADE_03 Blacksmithing and TRADE_04 Herbalism books), the Siddha-deathlessness lore, the asura-war lore, the Raghavendra alliance on the generative option, and the Paravani pre-encounter [docs/spine/CH_07.md:295, :225-227]. ability_unlock_refs [\"ability:A_E_004 Stone Wall\",\"ability:A_F_003 Heat Aura\"] — both anchored at Ch 7 by unlock_chapter_ref but tier-gated (and, for Stone Wall, Blacksmithing-Theoricus-gated), so they become AVAILABLE from Ch 7 rather than unlocking at first play [docs/spine/CH_07.md:281]. reward_drop_refs and reward_seed_refs both EMPTY — loot and seed anchors are explicitly deferred by the spine [docs/spine/CH_07.md:295].",
"irreversible_choice": "Pressing the killing blow at CH07_B09 (FORK_CH07_A OPT_A4). It ends the honorable line and closes the ally track permanently — the one write in this chapter that cannot be recovered later in the arc. It is never forced and never the default: the win condition is pacify-by-yielding-into-respect, and the blow is refusable at every moment and possible only at explicit integrity cost [docs/spine/CH_07.md:204, :280, :337, :160]. This is the arc's first explicit integrity-cost weighting [docs/spine/CH_07.md:293]. The killing is legal content — lethal violence against human antagonists is core — and it is made mature by weight and consequence rather than by prohibition; the floor still drops, the road east still opens [T0_Hard_Lines @ HL_0123; docs/spine/CH_07.md:204]. Note the boundary: OPT_A4 is a killing the player may choose against ONE honored individual; it is not, and can never become, combat framed against the Tamil or Malayali communities, the kalari or temple communities, the Siddhas, or the smiths and healers, who are protected non-targets on every route [docs/spine/CH_07.md:252].",
"world_memory_write": "Three durable region-scoped memories leave this chapter. (1) The Raghavendra track — whichever of the four FORK_CH07_A relationship values landed — is rooted to South India and read forward at the Ch-60 Asia revisit; the region page names this and the ascent spirit as the region's two durable social writes [_source/02_Tier_2_Region_Pages/south_india.md:42, :118; docs/spine/CH_07.md:323]. (2) The marma assassin's operation is logged stopped with his intended victims freed, per-region [docs/spine/CH_07.md:167]. (3) Paravani stands pre-encountered and Crown-seat-gated in the familiar ledger — a measure taken, not a bond made [docs/spine/CH_07.md:177, :286]. No carved-anchor-class mark is written at Ch 7; the region page states the durable writes here are relational plus the two trade-home roots [_source/02_Tier_2_Region_Pages/south_india.md:118].",
"hard_line_refs": [
"HL_0003 (CVD §17.1) — the faithful community and its living tradition are never the story antagonist. The Tamil and Malayali communities, the Siddhas, the kalari and temple communities, the smiths and healers are allies and protected non-targets; the story antagonist routes through the corrupted institution (NW_0006), a lone corrupted individual, and the tradition's own condemned demon [docs/spine/CH_07.md:17, :252, :288]",
"HL_0004 (CVD §17.1) — a protected space still delivers a real fight. Combat at Madurai and Palani comes from the tradition's own guardian and the tradition's own monster, never a manufactured intrusion [docs/spine/CH_07.md:17, :252]",
"HL_0005 (CVD §17.1) — no cinema-shorthand. The dvarapala is the tradition's own threshold guardian and never trope-horror; the asuras, Meenakshi, Murugan and the Siddha deathlessness are depicted as the traditions hold them [docs/spine/CH_07.md:17, :128, :173, :252]",
"HL_0121 (CVD §17.1) — a malevolent being the tradition itself grounds as hostile is legitimate combat. The Surapadman-class asura is the tradition's OWN condemned demon whose slaying is the reason for the god's existence; the god is the honored slayer and never a target [docs/spine/CH_07.md:31, :52, :256, :330; registries/T0_Quest_Seed_Registry [DRAFT v0.1] @ SEED_0030]",
"HL_0021 (CVD §17.4) — integrity is a real biography property that conscious beings read. The whole main encounter is that read, run at the honorable skill register; the killing blow is refusable at explicit integrity cost [docs/spine/CH_07.md:14, :158, :197, :280]",
"HL_0017 / HL_0028 (CVD §17.3, §17.5) — substrate-perception unlocks at Adeptus Minor (numerical 100). All Ch 7 perception stays at the Neophyte floor: the marma map is learned as a CRAFT and the integrity read is a man reading honesty edge to edge, never a tier-6 vril-signature read. Onset stays far ahead at the Ch 15 crossing [docs/spine/CH_07.md:17, :148, :158, :257, :281]",
"HL_0026 (CVD §17.5) — the Neophyte floor across every capability, per-capability [docs/spine/CH_07.md:281]",
"HL_0033 (CVD §17.6) — one ancient and one modern home base per trade, never two in the same era. TRADE_03 and TRADE_04 take their ANCIENT homes here (revisits at Ch 60 and Ch 50); homes_established stays none [docs/spine/CH_07.md:79, :285, :309, :333]",
"HL_0032 (CVD §17.6) — the twelve canonical SQ names. SQ3 ADVANCE, SQ11 SEED, SQ1 ADVANCE; SQ gates are state-conditions, non-gating on the main spine [docs/spine/CH_07.md:225-228]",
"HL_0043 / HL_0046 (CVD §17.9) — the thesis is never declared, and the §17.9 reveal-authority reference row is never named. The deathless-Siddha line is an L3 seed felt as steadiness and never declared; the reference row applying to Ch 7 is deliberately not named [docs/spine/CH_07.md:183, :265, :287]",
"HL_0047 (CVD §17.9) — per-chapter L1/L2/L3 surfacing required. All three are named and carried [docs/spine/CH_07.md:263-265]",
"HL_0049 (CVD §17.10) — no two consecutive chapters share dominant combat type. Ch 5 puzzle_routed, Ch 6 environmental, Ch 7 direct [docs/spine/CH_07.md:190, :279]",
"HL_0078 (T1_Combat §7) — blended, no pure DPS check, phase escalation that evolves the moveset, two-plus counters per signature attack, reward on win and on death. BE_0007 and all three sub-bosses are evolve-not-swap [docs/spine/CH_07.md:110; registries/T0_Boss_Encounter_Registry [DRAFT v0.1]/Sheet1.csv:21-24]",
"HL_0079 (T1_Combat §8) — one agility course per chapter, three variants. The kalari and Ghats chamber-and-forest course with a marma-point-sequence Puzzle variant, biome-rotated against Ch 6's sheer-rock ascent [docs/spine/CH_07.md:280]",
"HL_0123 (CVD §17.16 / §17.1) — lethal violence against human antagonists is core, delivered as weight and consequence; §17.1 protection is COLLECTIVE and does not make individual antagonists unkillable. It is what makes the marma assassin a real kill and OPT_A4 a real, permitted, costed choice [docs/spine/CH_07.md:73, :252]",
"REVEAL BINDING (not an HL row, absolute in this slice) — no House-of-Velheim name, family or pattern exists to the player at Ch 7; the family first appears at Ch 8. Raghavendra is UNAWARE that he stands inside a corrupt structure, and no player-facing line says so. The Sealed Letter's script is deliberately NOT identified before the Ch 8 reveal — no name, no property, no HUD, no inventory entry. The Grand Sage is dark [docs/spine/CH_07.md:3, :115, :301, :336; _source/02_Tier_2_Region_Pages/south_india.md:15, :37]"
],
"named_gaps": [
"QUEST DECOMPOSITION IS NOT FIXED. T1_Build_Pipeline_Contracts §6.5 rules that a chapter's beat graph 'decomposes into quest anchors at natural mode and site boundaries', and Ch 7 has four such boundaries (Madurai roots / Thanjavur errand / the kalari ladder-duel-assassin / the Palani ascent and the Ghats). Canon does not fix whether Ch 7 is ONE main-story quest or three-to-four anchors. This row takes the whole-chapter anchor CH07_SOUTH_INDIA; a split would keep every beat, objective and state write intact and only re-key the anchor. Flagged, not resolved.",
"NO MAIN-STORY QUESTLINE EXISTS TO JOIN. T0_Questline_Index holds 101 rows in exactly three classes — 79 legendary, 12 side, 10 trade — and no main-story class. questline_id is therefore EMPTY on this row (legal per §6.5: NULL for quests not belonging to a questline aggregate), but the absence is structural, not a per-row omission.",
"NO WORLDSTATE VARIABLE OWNS THE TRADE-HOME ROOT. The CH_07→CH_08 seam reads 'trade_homes: +TRADE_03 +TRADE_04' forward (docs/spine/CH_07.md:323), which by the §6.5 CG-23 promotion criterion makes it ws-eligible — but T0_Worldstate_Variables has no trade-home key (WS_031 is dwelling_home_ledger, and homes_established explicitly stays none here). No key is invented; the write is omitted from state_writes and the missing variable is named.",
"THE 'MARMA TELLS LOGGED' FLOOR HAS NO ROUTED HOME. BE_0007's death branch logs his marma tells as part of the no-fail-wall floor (docs/spine/CH_07.md:112). Two candidate variables exist — WS_034 nemesis_memory_per_boss and WS_042 banked_tell_reads — and the spine names neither. Not routed here.",
"FOUR WEAPON ACQUISITIONS ANCHOR AT CH_07 WITH NO HOST BEAT. WPN_038 Claws, WPN_040 Chakram, WPN_042 Madu and WPN_047 Whip enter the roster at Ch 7, and LEG_WPN_038/040/042/047 anchor at chapter_span Ch_07 (docs/spine/CH_07.md:284; T0_Questline_Index @ LEG_WPN_038/040/042/047). No beat in the 14-beat graph hosts the acquisition, and canon does not fix whether they drop on the main quest or open only through their own legendary questlines. Left off objectives_array rather than guessed.",
"THE 77-HIDDEN-INSCRIPTION FRAGMENT HAS NO HOST BEAT. INSC_77H_CH07_FRAGMENT is named as an asset anchor paying off at Ch 76 (docs/spine/CH_07.md:275, :289) but no beat carries it. Which beat surfaces the physical carrier is unfixed.",
"MARMAKKALAI, THE FOURTH GRADE, IS NAMED AND NOT OPENED. The guru names it once, a gate crossed on bearing rather than skill (docs/spine/CH_07.md:29, :140). Raghavendra holds it. Canon does not fix whether the player can ever cross that gate, at Ch 7 or later. No objective authored.",
"FORK OPTION IDS ARE DERIVED, NOT CANON. The spine's fork tables key options by ACTION with no id column (docs/spine/CH_07.md:199-204, :213-217). OPT_A1..A4 and OPT_B1..B3 are typing conveniences assigned here in table order for the §6.5 {fork_id, option_ref} join; the ACTION text is the canon and travels with each ref.",
"DIALOGUE AND SFX ARE UNBUILT. No dialogue dataset file exists for Ch 7 (the Ch 2 exemplar has docs/quest_dialogue/DD_QUEST_CH02_ARRIVAL_UNLOCKED.csv); T0_Scene_Spec_Registry carries no CH07 rows, so the five scene anchors SC_CH07_doors_that_reopen, SC_CH07_map_in_the_flesh, SC_CH07_honest_mirror, SC_CH07_demon_god_born_to_slay and SC_CH07_sealed_letter (docs/spine/CH_07.md:244-248) are spine-side only; and the spine defers per-NPC voice registers and every SFX id (:273-274). dialogue_dataset_array, quest_dialogue_sfx_id_ref_array and the scene-registry FK half of dialogue_trigger_anchors are EMPTY by absence, not by choice.",
"GOLCONDA IS A SITE WITH NO BEAT. The ratified region_secondary Deccan trade node is typed as a §3b site row hosting no beat; the wootz-west road rides CH07_B04's objective instead (docs/spine/CH_07.md:98-99, :339). If a later pass wants Golconda playable, that is new authoring, not a recovery.",
"LOOT AND SEEDS ARE DEFERRED BY THE SPINE ITSELF. reward_drop_refs and reward_seed_refs stay empty against explicit [POPULATE→T0_RNG_Drop_Table] and [POPULATE→T0_Quest_Seed_Registry] markers (docs/spine/CH_07.md:295).",
"THREE THREADS ADVANCE WITH NO CARRIER BEAT. THREAD_14 (blood and sacrifice), THREAD_16 (the Solar-Hero Surya content) and THREAD_21 (Vedic chanting and the Tirumantiram mantra register) advance at chapter-ambient level with no host beat — the spine marks this deliberate (docs/spine/CH_07.md:190). No objective realizes them."
],
"grounding": "Schema authority: _source/01_Tier_1_Foundation/T1_Build_Pipeline_Contracts [ACTIVE v1.0].md §6.5 L1444 (quest_id format QUEST_<anchor>_<path_bucket>), L1447 (21-member quest_type enum, CG-21 spine-role rule), L1447 encounter_facet, L1456 (quest_giver + the `environment` sentinel), L1457 (trigger_type observed-enum), L1459 realized_beat_refs, L1460 objectives_array, L1461 completion_condition, L1462 fail_state, L1463 progression_guarantee, CG-03 state_writes ws-only + CG-23 promotion criterion + CG-25 write-value vocabulary, CG-27 familiar-bond rule, CG-15 fork_option_refs axis separation.\n\nRow shape modelled on the one populated exemplar: registries/T0_Quest_Definition_Registry [ACTIVE v1.0]/T0_Quest_Definition_Registry.csv @ QUEST_CH02_ARRIVAL_UNLOCKED (36 of 48 columns filled; the other 16 rows carry 22), and docs/proposals/QUEST_EXEMPLAR_CH02_OPENER.md:259, :274, :276, :339, :349, :354, :503-539.\n\nPrimary canon: docs/spine/CH_07.md — header :7-17, continuity anchor :21, body prose :25-33, threads :39-56, civilizational marks :62-67, sites :92-106, boss structure :110-115, the 14-beat graph :119-188, mode variety :190, FORK_CH07_A :194-206, FORK_CH07_B :208-219, side-questlines :225-228, allies :232-236, scene anchors :242-248, protected-chapter combat framing :252, anti-fringe flags :256-259, three-layer surfacing :263-265, asset anchors :269-275, mechanical anchors :279-296, derived axes :300-301, end-state carry-forward :305-313, seams :319-323, decisions :329-339.\n\nRegion page: _source/02_Tier_2_Region_Pages/south_india.md:8 (kalarippayattu Malayali, varma ati Tamil — never conflated, :96-97), :15 and :37 (reveal binding), :26-27 (sub-regions and coordinates), :38-42 (ally, enemy, familiar, faction), :57 and :60 (site envelopes), :106-108 (boss rows), :111 (SQ3), :118 (durable writes), :180-190 (kalari construction, oils, marma treatment texts, SRC_00262).\n\nRegistries read: T0_Quest_Definition_Registry [ACTIVE v1.0] (48-column header, 17 rows); T0_Quest_Seed_Registry [DRAFT v0.1] (87 rows; Ch 7 = SEED_0028 SQ3, SEED_0029 SQ11, SEED_0030 SQ1, SEED_0031 TRADE_03 home, SEED_0032 TRADE_04 home, SEED_0033 Paravani pre-encounter); T0_Questline_Index [DRAFT v0.1] (101 rows; Ch 7 = TRADE_03, TRADE_04, LEG_WPN_038/040/042/047); T0_Promise_Ledger [DRAFT v0.1] (125 rows; CH_07 opens PL_0007 → CH_72, PL_0036 → CH_66 PROTECTED, PL_0101 Blacksmithing → CH_66 UNPAID; nothing pays off AT CH_07); T0_Hard_Lines [ACTIVE v0.2] (rule_id keyed; HL_0002/0003/0004/0005/0017/0021/0026/0028/0032/0033/0043/0047/0049/0078/0079/0121/0123 read in full); T0_Boss_Encounter_Registry [DRAFT v0.1]:21-24 (BE_0007 + S1/S2/S3, verbs and axes verified against the spine); T0_Worldstate_Variables [ACTIVE v0.1] (WS_001, WS_002, WS_008, WS_012, WS_020 confirmed; no trade-home variable exists).\n\nGoverning doctrine: C:/dev/humanity-forgotten/CLAUDE.md — authority hierarchy, cardinal LOCKED/EXECUTION split, the §17 hard-line floor, the rated-M content bar and the collective-not-individual reading of §17.1, and the reveal-discipline requirement. Every beat, objective, fork option and state write above is a typing of content already on the spine; nothing in this definition authors canon the spine does not carry, and everything the spine leaves open is listed in named_gaps rather than filled.",
"progression_guarantee_STATUS": "UNVERIFIED -- critic demolished the stated guarantee"
}
}