systems/cc4_tier_combat.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 (scanned from this document's own citations — widen it by hand where it is thin):
CVD §12·T1_Ability_Tree·T1_Combat_System_Spec·T1_Languages· (+2 more tier) ·T0_Trade_Registry
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.
Status: PROPOSAL (Opus 4.8, 2026-07-13). READ-ONLY on canon — nothing here edits a CVD/tier doc/registry; it proposes exact current→proposed edits for Josh/the wiring pass.
Surface audited: _source/01_Tier_1_Foundation/ — T1_Combat_System_Spec [ACTIVE v1.0], T1_Vril_and_Magic_System_Master [ACTIVE v2.2], T1_Trades_Master [ACTIVE v1.0], T1_Ability_Tree [ACTIVE v1.4].
Grounding legend (the recalibrated-vision DIGEST points + their source docs):
docs/proposals/systems/combat-and-spellcraft.md §C1–C6, docs/proposals/systems/RULINGS.md §"Novel combat + spell-creation".RULINGS.md §"Two FOUNDATIONAL design laws"; docs/proposals/CVD_PILLAR_REAL_SCIENCE_IMMERSIVE_SIM.md (PROPOSED pillar, Josh-final-yes pending).T0_Trade_Registry mis-numbering; preserve the "twelve-tier" string verbatim). Sources: docs/proposals/systems/mastery-twelve-tier.md; RULINGS.md §"#6 mastery".T1_Vril §1 forbids ONLY the spell-hotbar UI + treating vril as an *arbitrary* mana meter — it explicitly AFFIRMS a depletable, rechargeable vril resource ("It is chargeable through recharge sources and depletes through vril-intensive actions").Every entry traces to a DIGEST point. APPLY = direct propagation of an already-ruled digest decision (kills a conflicting/mis-readable line or adds a ruled clause). BRIEF = needs Josh (new cardinal canon, a §17-string interpretation, an unratified pillar, or a numerical value not yet set).
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CURRENT: "Vril is not magic-as-spellcasting. Humanity does not have a spell-casting hotbar magic system. Vril abilities are consciousness operations requiring consciousness-state, vril-availability, and (for advanced applications) device or vril-seat-equipment support. Abilities cost vril as resource, not mana as arbitrary pool. Ability availability depends on atmospheric vril density."
PROPOSED: append a disambiguating sentence so "not mana as arbitrary pool" cannot be mis-read as "no pool": "Vril IS a depletable, rechargeable life-energy pool: every cast draws it down, and it refills through the §5 recharge network (waterfalls, obelisks, pyramids, tombs, orbs), passive atmospheric absorption, out-of-combat regeneration, and rest. What is forbidden is only (a) a spell-casting hotbar UI and (b) treating vril as an *arbitrary* abstract mana meter divorced from the physics — not the existence of the depletable resource itself. The pool is the game's magic resource; the 185 abilities each spend a vril_cost from it."
GROUNDING: D7 + §1 nuance (RULINGS C1). CLASS: APPLY.
Corroborating (no edit): §7 already reads "Vril-intensive operation (depletes vril resource)"; §11.7 "vril regeneration exceeds combat expenditure" — both confirm the pool reading.
CURRENT: "RUNES is the Sorcery resource. Generated by Orb on basic attacks. Spent by Tomb on cooldown abilities. Off-hand only — Orb and Tomb exclusively. Scarcity-based."
PROPOSED: "RUNES is the Sorcery off-hand combat currency — a regenerating in-combat resource generated by the Orb on basic attacks and spent by the Tomb on cooldown abilities, Orb-and-Tomb only. It refills through play; it is never a farmed or scarcity-gated material, and mindless rune-grinding is explicitly not a mechanic. It is an archetype overlay surfaced only with the Sorcery off-hand, distinct from the always-present core bars. (Note: this in-combat RUNES *currency* is separate from rune-*inscriptions*, the worn/catalyst/enchantment enhancement lanes — see the resource-and-enhancement note below.)"
GROUNDING: D7 (RULINGS C1/C3/C6 — kills "runes-must-be-farmed"). CLASS: APPLY.
CURRENT: the section lists RAGE, STAMINA, STAMINA+VRIL, RUNES, AMMUNITION as "five resource systems" and never names Health or Vril as bars or states a HUD.
PROPOSED: add a canonical resource-bar + HUD paragraph: "The four canonical resource types are HEALTH, VRIL, STAMINA, and RAGE. Health and Vril are always present. Rage and Stamina share a single archetype-swapped slot: a Brute (Rage) weapon shows the RAGE bar (builds in combat, decays out — the Brute primary); a Trickery/Sorcery (Stamina) weapon shows the STAMINA bar (regenerates out of combat — the Trickery primary). RUNES (Sorcery off-hand) and AMMUNITION (projectile/firearm) are archetype/weapon overlays, not always-on bars. HUD: the Vril pool renders as a layered bubble (concentric deeper-blue layers, Zelda-style) to the LEFT of the Health bar; the Health bar stacks additional full bars as its max grows; the swapped Stamina/Rage bar sits under Health. Every resource MAX grows through level/character progression AND Zelda-style exploration rewards (exploration/puzzle/achievement pickups accrue as fifths — five pieces = one added full unit/bubble-layer)."
GROUNDING: D7 (RULINGS C2/C6). CLASS: APPLY. (Residual numerical sub-questions → BR-2.)
CURRENT: "Orb provides passive Vril regeneration … Both compatible with any main-hand weapon. Both consume RUNES exclusively. Neither has direct damage capability. Both cannot block."
PROPOSED: "… Both compatible with any main-hand weapon. The Orb/Tomb pair meters on the regenerating RUNES off-hand currency (Orb generates, Tomb spends) — not a scarcity/farm resource; Sorcery ability casts themselves still draw their vril_cost from the depletable Vril pool, with RUNES governing off-hand cadence. Neither has direct damage capability. Both cannot block." (Mirror the same "regenerating, not scarcity" wording at the §"Trickery/Sorcery Weapons Framework" resource line "RUNES exclusively for Sorcery off-hand".)
GROUNDING: D7 (RULINGS C1/C3). CLASS: APPLY.
CURRENT: the doc names vril_couple_eligibility and defers weapon enhancements to Tier 6.8 Enhancements_Alterations, but states no rune-enhancement model — leaving the (now-retired) "farm-and-slot runes" reading unaddressed.
PROPOSED: add: "Rune-inscription / enhancement operates as THREE non-overlapping lanes, with NO ordinary-rune grind: (1) WORN inscription — a permanent equipped enhancement layer, never consumed and never farmed (the canonical runic weapon alterations, Trade 3 Blacksmithing + Trade 9 Inscription at Adeptus Minor); rarity gates access to an operator you then wear, never a per-cast burn. (2) The spell-creation catalyst — a rare/epic rune consumed exactly once at authoring to birth a learned custom spell (a personal merge of a few of the 185); runeless and Vril-pool-paid thereafter. (3) ENCHANTMENT runes — a re-rollable, improvable 'innocent RNG' affix layer socketed on gear and consumables (weapons, grenades/bombs, potions, poisons) to add effects; the player tunes toward a target build (Borderlands/Diablo-style), never luck-gated into farming. Base casting of all 185 abilities is runeless and mastery-channeled, paid from the Vril pool — there is no slotted or hotbarred spell-bar for the 185."
GROUNDING: D7 (RULINGS C3/C5). CLASS: APPLY. (Operator/rarity/slot counts → BR-3.)
Vril cost field)CURRENT: each ability carries "Vril cost low/medium/high"; the doc never states the resource these costs draw from nor that base casting is runeless.
PROPOSED: add one clause at the catalog framing: "Every ability's vril_cost is spent from the depletable Vril pool (the HUD vril bubble; T1_Vril §1). Base casting of all 185 abilities is runeless and mastery-channeled — an ability becomes castable by climbing its mastery gate, then is channeled from vril within (the reclaimed elven birthright) and around (ambient/substrate density), never slotted onto a spell-hotbar and never inscribed onto gear. Only custom *merged* spells involve an inscription step, and only the one-time spell-creation catalyst (T1_Combat_System_Spec resource/enhancement note)."
GROUNDING: D7 (RULINGS C1/C3). CLASS: APPLY.
CURRENT: §9.1 lists "Trade 5 Alchemy plus Trade 4 Herbalism unlock elemental infusion preparations" and "Trade 3 Blacksmithing plus Trade 9 Inscription unlock runic weapon alterations", but never states the consumable-crafting boundary; nothing scopes consumables away from Inscription.
PROPOSED: add a canonical boundary note: "Consumable combat items are crafted by Engineering (Trade 8 — bombs) and Alchemy (Trade 5 — potions and poisons, fed by Herbalism Trade 4 botanical inputs via the Apothecary). Inscription (Trade 9) owns the WORN enhancement layer and the spell-creation catalyst only and does NOT craft consumables. 'Runic weapon alterations' (Trade 3 + Trade 9) are a worn, permanent enhancement — never a consumed or farmed item. Spellcraft (worn runes + learned spells) and consumables (crafted-and-used-up bombs/potions/poisons) are two separate economies."
GROUNDING: D7 (RULINGS C3/C4). CLASS: APPLY.
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[DOC] T1_Trades_Master §4 headers + §4.6 abbrev spec + §5.1–§5.10 rosters; T1_Combat_System_Spec / T1_Ability_Tree / T1_Vril §9 (consumers); T0_Trade_Registry.twelve_tier_quest_gates.
[LOCUS/ISSUE] The roster/registry sub-keys tier_7_adeptus_minor / tier_10_babe_of_abyss / tier_12_magus number Adeptus Minor as tier 7, while CVD §12.1 / ABIL §2 / Vril §9 / the D-06 age model / HL_0028/HL_0017 all bind Adeptus Minor as Grade Tier 6. Same rank, two "tier" numbers, live in ACTIVE canon.
PROPOSED (Option D dual-namespace): declare ten named GRADES (Tier 1 Neophyte … Tier 10 Magus — numbering preserved verbatim, every "Tier 6 Adeptus Minor" string untouched) and twelve GATES (Trades' existing 1–12, incl. Gate 6 Portal Grade + Gate 10 the Abyss-crossing pivot). Declare the tier_N_<abbr> roster/registry sub-keys to be gate ordinals, not grade tiers; add a one-line Grade↔Gate map to the consuming docs. Keep the "twelve-tier Hermetic mastery framework" §17.5 string verbatim (defensible as twelve *gates*). Per mastery-twelve-tier.md §6, the recommended fix is documentation (annotate the sub-keys as gate ordinals), not a data renumber — do NOT rename registry tier_N_→gate_N_ and do NOT promote the pivots to grades.
Gate-10 label: DIGEST/RULINGS name it "Crossing of the Abyss"; docs + registry say "Babe of the Abyss" (Hermetic synonyms). Josh picks the canonical gate label.
RECOMMENDATION: adopt Option D as documentation-only (Grade↔Gate map + gate-ordinal annotation); keep "Babe of the Abyss" OR adopt "Crossing of the Abyss" per Josh; do not renumber the Grade axis.
STRONGEST OBJECTION: interpreting the §17.5 hard-line term and blessing the Trades gate numbering as canonical intent is Josh-exclusive even when no string changes; and Option D is tagged "Josh-final-yes" in RULINGS.
GROUNDING: D8. CLASS: BRIEF. Fidelity note: if Josh ever chooses the data-rename path instead, that registry edit shifts the fidelity gate and must refresh docs/fidelity_baseline.json via registry_fidelity.py --emit-baseline in the same commit.
[DOC] T1_Combat_System_Spec §"Combat Architecture Overview" (rider on AP-3).
[ISSUE] C6 resolves the layout, but flagged-numerical residue remains: is HEALTH an explicitly-enumerated core bar (C2 marks it "assumed, not enumerated")? Does RAGE stay build-in-combat/decay-out vs a deplete-from-full bar? The fifths-per-full-unit value (5?), the caps on stacked Health bars / Vril-bubble layers, and the per-chapter exploration-pickup counts across the 77.
RECOMMENDATION: adopt the C6 layout now (AP-3); defer these to a balance pass / Fable-5; confirm HEALTH as the enumerated fourth core bar (low-risk yes).
GROUNDING: D7 (RULINGS C2/C6, flagged numerical). CLASS: BRIEF.
[DOC] T1_Combat_System_Spec (rider on AP-5) / T1_Trades_Master.
[ISSUE] Un-set numbers behind the three lanes: worn rune-operator set size + rarity-tier count/names; split_N caps per vril-seat tier; enchantment-rune SOURCE (crafted vs dropped vs both), which items carry enchant slots, slot counts per item tier, the affix/effect pool, and the re-roll cost/curve.
RECOMMENDATION: lock the three-lane *structure* now (AP-5); hand the counts to Josh-final-yes / Fable-5; hold the anti-grind guarantee ("innocent RNG," no farm faucet) as the binding constraint.
GROUNDING: D7 (RULINGS C3/C5, flagged numerical). CLASS: BRIEF.
[DOC] T1_Vril §1; T1_Ability_Tree (physical-properties/element grammar); T1_Trades §3.4/§3.5/§3.8.
[ISSUE] The DIGEST wants the tier docs to reflect: magic = manipulation of real physics/chemistry/biology/statics (vril reads mathematical/physical/substrate — the anti-fringe firewall), composing for better and worse; and trades carry the sciences (Alchemy=chemistry, Engineering=physics/statics, Herbalism=biology; vril amplifies). The Trades doc currently frames trades only via Pillar-9 substrate concepts (Alchemy=substrate-transmutation *philosophy*, Engineering=form-and-mechanism *consciousness*, Herbalism=medicine-*philosophy*), with no real-science mapping; T1_Vril §1 states vril is the substrate but not the "magic alters real physics" law.
PROPOSED (on ratification): add to T1_Vril §1 a clause — "Vril reads mathematical/physical/substrate (never race-mystical 'polar energy'); magic works by *altering real physics*, and real physics + real magic compose emergently for better and worse, wielded by player, enemies, and allies alike." Add to T1_Trades §3.4/§3.5/§3.8 the science-per-trade mapping as a design-law layer beneath the Pillar-9 concepts.
RECOMMENDATION: HOLD the tier-doc insertions until CVD Pillar 13 (CVD_PILLAR_REAL_SCIENCE_IMMERSIVE_SIM.md) is ratified; then apply as above. (The anti-fringe "vril reads mathematical/physical/substrate" firewall is already canon and may be reinforced independently.)
STRONGEST OBJECTION: this is a new CVD design-philosophy pillar (constitutional) that is only "Drafted for ratification / Josh-final-yes" — asserting it in the tier docs pre-ratification would be inventing cardinal canon.
GROUNDING: D5 + D6. CLASS: BRIEF.
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