systems/KIT_BE_0002_S1.md
CANON SUBORDINATION — this document is PROPOSAL-TIER: it serves canon and never outranks it.
The canon: the CVD · the T1 foundation docs · the T0 registries (registries/) · the spine
(docs/spine/CH_*.md) · the region pages (_source/02_Tier_2_Region_Pages/). Authority order:docs/DOC_MAP.md§ 0.
Canon served (structural — the registries this kit's canon rows live in, plus its chapter's spine node):
T0_Boss_Encounter_Registry·docs/spine/CH_02.md
READ THAT CANON FIRST — open it and derive from it before you build anything from this document.
If this document disagrees with canon, CANON WINS and this document is the defect — fix the
document, never the canon. Nothing here is applied until it is ratified into canon.
PROPOSAL-TIER. This kit serves canon and never outranks it. It writes no registry row.
The law it obeys: docs/proposals/combat/KIT_SCALING_TABLE.md. The intelligence scale:
docs/proposals/combat/INTELLIGENCE_TIERS.md. The body it fights with is the bestiarylane's: docs/proposals/bestiary/BESTIARY_ELEVATION_DOCTRINE.md and its sheets. This file
describes the FIGHT; it never restates the BODY. Authors no magnitude -- no damage, no
health, no timing, no coefficient. Those are Phase-5M's behind the tuning firewall.
| field | value |
|---|---|
| band | B3 (SUB-BOSS) |
| kit class | MUNDANE |
| intelligence tier | cunning (evidence rule A6) |
| canon rows | BE_0002_S1 |
| chapter | CH_02 |
| canon verbs | evade / strike |
| authored abilities | 14 physical + 0 non-ordinary = 14 (band floor 12, ceiling 18) |
| phases | 2 (canon: 2 phases (BE_0002_S1 -- coil-and-strike guarding the source; withdrawal or fought down in the shallows)) |
| counter classes | any, cover, dodge_only, neutralize, parry_only, trigger_interrupt |
Silhouette read. The water in front of the source is already occupied, twice.
Opener (MHM-G10, the cheap lesson first). THE SHARED LANE -- the python sets a coil across the approach and the monitor lies down beside it. Neither moves. It is free, it is the whole encounter in one image, and it teaches the thing the fight is actually about: there are two bodies and only one lane.
| phase | name | what it PUSHES (nothing pops) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | coil-and-strike guarding the source | both animals holding the approach. Everything is positional; the strikes are punishments for entering, not pursuit. |
| 2 | the withdrawal, or the shallows | the row's fork. Nothing is removed on either branch -- the lane discipline and the strikes persist -- and the branch decides what is PUSHED: the withdrawal tightens the safe lane toward nothing, and the fought route shortens the strike window and moves the fight into water where footing is the variable. |
| # | ability | phase | body origin | tell shape | counter | note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Shared Lane | 1 | both bodies, settled across the approach | the two animals are between you and the water and neither is looking at you | any | |
| 2 | Constriction Lane Set | 1 | the python's tail anchoring on the pool lip | the coil tightens one turn and the head drops level | dodge_only | The row's own counter -- 'step the constriction lane on the tell' -- made into a tell. |
| 3 | Guardian Strike | 1 | the python's neck, thrown from the set coil | the head levels and the throat inflates once | parry_only | |
| 4 | Tail Bar | 1 | the monitor's tail, sweeping the shallow step | the forefeet plant on the wet stone and the hips wind up | cover | |
| 5 | Warning Gape | 1 | the monitor's jaw, held open without advancing | the mouth opens and the body stays flat | any | A real threat display and a free one. The encounter keeps offering the player the exit. |
| 6 | Scent Line | 1 | the monitor's tongue and neck, reading the approach | three flicks toward the lane you have not used yet | neutralize | It knows which way you are going to try next. Neutralize is the water itself. |
| 7 | Lane Shift | 1 | the python's tail walking to a new anchor across the pool | the tail leaves its hold before the head moves | any | The lane is not fixed. A player who solves one geometry gets a second one, which is what makes this a sub-boss rather than an obstacle. |
| 8 | Coordinated Hold | 1 | both bodies at once, one high on the step and one in the water | they take opposite sides of the lane instead of the same side | cover | The only cooperative behaviour in the kit and it is deliberately small -- these are two animals sharing a resource, not a pack. Overstating it would be the inflation the class split exists to prevent. |
| 9 | Breath Window | 1 | neither animal -- the pause between the python's flank pumps | both bodies go still at the same time | trigger_interrupt | The row's second counter -- 'attune the breath to open a withdrawal'. The interrupt is the player matching their own breathing to the pause, which is a real input and the non-kill route's actual mechanism. |
| 10 | Shortened Strike | 2 | the same neck, from a coil that never fully resets | the throat inflates and the head is ALREADY level | parry_only | The row's evolve-not-swap clause: shortens the strike window on the fought route. Same shape as ability 3, one beat less, and the player already knows the shape. |
| 11 | Shallows Drag | 2 | the python's anchor reversing, using a bite as the handle | the anchor re-sets behind the animal instead of beside it | trigger_interrupt | |
| 12 | Wet-Stone Charge | 2 | the monitor's hindquarters, on footing that gives | it comes across the water rather than around it | dodge_only | |
| 13 | The Narrowing Lane | 2 | the python re-anchoring closer to the source with every pass | the safe gap is smaller than it was on the previous cycle | any | The withdrawal branch's push. Nothing attacks; the geometry simply closes, and the player who is trying to be patient is the one being pressured. |
| 14 | Withdrawal | 2 | both animals disengaging upstream, unhurried | the python's coil opens fully and does not re-set | any | The non-kill win. It is an ABILITY rather than a cutscene because the player has to hold the breath rhythm through it, and breaking it re-arms the lane. |
CLASS PURITY (tooth T5). Every move above is physical. No element family, no vril
mechanism, no non-ordinary affordance appears in this kit, because this being's own canon
row carries no hollow row, no lore home and nothing that elevates it. It is dangerous the
way the real animal or the real person is dangerous, engineered up until it reads at the
shipped combat camera. TIMID here would mean BORING-PHYSICAL, never insufficiently magical.
| part | moveset subtraction on break | legibility gain | material the economy wants |
|---|---|---|---|
| the python's tail anchor | Constriction Lane Set (2), Lane Shift (7) and Shallows Drag (11) all leave the moveset | the S-shape sags and the lane stops being a lane | patterned hide -- and taking it is a Thread-2 lore penalty on the serpent-reverence track, which the row's own win_reward already prices |
| the monitor's jaw hinge | Warning Gape (5) and Wet-Stone Charge (12)'s follow-through are gone | the gape visibly fails to close | big-game hide and meat (DROP_BIGGAME_HIDE_MEAT, the row's own drop) |
| the pool lip itself (the arena's part) | collapsing it removes The Narrowing Lane (13) by removing the anchor points | the water level drops and the shallows become footing rather than hazard | nothing -- and doing it floods the recharge source the encounter exists to open, which is a real cost the player can choose |
EG_0008 Waterfall Curtain and Plunge Pool -- BOTH: the arena. medium:conductive with a submersion hazard, and the fought route puts the player in it.EG_0009 Waterfall Cavern Pocket -- ENEMY: CONSTRICTION class, which is the affordance the constrictor grammar was built to exploit. PLAYER: D1_COLLAPSE is armed and it is how the pool lip comes down.EG_0005 Cave Pillar and Karst Column -- PLAYER: the COVER that eats Guardian Strike (3), and the one geometry a lane cannot be drawn through.| channel | what the player sees or hears |
|---|---|
| posture | on the fought branch both animals come up off the ground at the same moment; on the withdrawal branch the python's coil OPENS, and the two are unmistakable from each other |
| breath | the python's flank pumping goes shallow and fast, which shortens the Breath Window (9) the player has been using |
| vocal | the monitor's hiss becomes continuous |
| opener | The Shared Lane is retired; Constriction Lane Set becomes the opener |
THEY ENTER by already holding the ground -- this encounter never approaches the player. THEY RELOCATE only within the pool, by Lane Shift (7). THEY LEAVE on the withdrawal branch, upstream, alive. WHAT THEY DO TO THE ARENA: they own the only lane to the source, which is why this is a guardian-test rather than a hunt.
THE FRAMING IS THE ROW'S AND IT IS QUOTED RATHER THAN PARAPHRASED: this is a guardian-test that opens the recharge source, not a hunting beat, and per flores_island.md L171-175 'the win never requires a kill, and it never hardens into an animal that cannot be killed'. Both halves bind. The withdrawal (14) is a real win and the fought route is a real option with a real Thread-2 cost. AND THE CLASS READ IS THE POINT: BE_0002_S1 names the komodo and the reticulated python, so E2 makes it ELIGIBLE for elevation -- and its own content elevates nothing. No element, no vril mechanism, no styling. Two real apex reptiles at a place that matters. Compare BE_0003_S1, the same species roused as the naga tana, which carries defender_element = Earth and IS elevated. The difference is in the rows.
This kit is authored ONCE, at Fading. The five modulators of KIT_SCALING_TABLE section 4
express it across the ladder: active_ability_set grows upward through reserved follow-ups
on roots the player already learned, window_class tightens, answer_tree_depth prunes
toward the single true answer, hazard_concurrency rises with the arena rows above, and
phase_overlap interleaves the phase cycles. No second kit exists and no number here changes
with the tier.