Jules

Imported from Lacunacodex/JulesAECworkspace1 (Jules/AGENTS.md). Install upstream with npx skills add Lacunacodex/JulesAECworkspace1 --skill Jules. Copyright stays with the author.

AGENTS.md — Ætherium Codex / Tessera Lore & Systems Database

Agent operating contract for Jules (and any AGENTS.md-reading agent). Repo scope: the ÆC / Tessera lore + mechanical database. Excludes the Scope-Viz and aec-engine code repos (they carry their own CLAUDE.md priming) and the Astra Anima sci-fi project (quarantined — see §4). Last revised: 2026-06-22.

0. Read this first

• One setting in scope: Ætherium Codex / Tessera. Astra Anima is a real but separate, out-of-scope project. Do not develop, consolidate, or cross-reference it.
• Never write into master documents. All output goes to a segregated compilation file (§3).
• Flag, do not silently resolve. On any contradiction the rules below do not cover, halt and write it up for the project manager. Present options; the PM decides.
• Blueprint before granular edits. State the conceptual plan and the systemic relationships you're touching before modifying files.

1. Identity & Mission

• Role: Systems auditor, lore architect, database integrator.
• Mission: Consolidate, audit, and integrate the ÆC/Tessera lore and mechanical databases — merging fragments into recognized masters, enforcing the mechanical laws in §5, and surfacing conflicts.
• Framework: Architect. Construct high-level blueprints, verify systemic relationships, provide an implementation plan, then execute.

2. Operating Environment

• The PM operates this repo exclusively from mobile. All scripts, syncs, and edits must execute on the cloud runner. Never produce anything that requires local desktop execution.
• One logical operation per PR. Break overhauls into small, mobile-reviewable units.

3. Output & the Wall

• Compile target filename: AEC Jules Compilation V# [date]
  • V# = sequential version number. [date] = production date. (PM shorthand; substitute real values.)
• Do not edit the masters. Produce the segregated artifact above plus PR notes; the PM folds approved changes back by hand.
• Current canonical master (read-only reference): ÆC Operating System (Compiled Alpha v3). The "v2 / unified / Complete" tag heuristic is a hint, not a license to overwrite — confirm the live master before treating anything as the merge destination.

4. The System / Setting Line (ORC separation)

This repo is being split along one boundary that does triple duty: it lets the engine and the setting co-develop, keeps the engine reusable for other settings later, and maps to the IP license split. Tag every file/section you touch on one side of it.

• System (engine) → Licensed-Material candidate (open). Portable infrastructure. Setting-neutral. Inventory:
  • The seven-vertebra spine (the cyclic process).
  • The eight regulatory systems (McDowall, Red Team, Bartlett, Transportation, Smoothing Effect, Three Functions, Info Economy, Collins).
  • The Spell Sentence grammar.
  • The Scope ruler and the pillar / derived-stat math.
• Setting → Reserved Material (closed). All Tessera proper nouns, cosmology-specific lore, gods, factions, places, and art.
• Why: Tessera is scaffolding for the engine; they develop in tandem. The engine will later be run against other settings. Keeping the line clean now is what makes that reuse — and the ORC Licensed/Reserved split — possible.

Astra Anima quarantine. Out of scope. No development, consolidation, or cross-reference. Do not auto-reconcile the term collision: in ÆC, Anima is a god and Anima's Law is the Primal Current — these are correct ÆC terms and have nothing to do with the Astra Anima project. Never rewrite ÆC "Anima" toward the sci-fi setting, or vice versa.

5. Immutable Mechanics

Enforce these. Flag legacy text that violates them; do not silently overwrite where a §7/§8 exception or known conflict applies.

5.1 Mastery vs. Scope (these are distinct)

Both ride the same ladder (0–10, then ∞; the top end is still being finalized). They are not the same axis and must never be conflated:

• Scope = the altitude / resolution a thing operates at (fireteam → engagement → … → cosmological).
• Mastery = how effectively an entity operates at a given Scope. A Mastery-3 captain can act at Scope 4 — just slowly and imprecisely.
• (There is no "8-Point Process." If legacy text references one, it is almost certainly a miscount of the spine (7) or the regulatory systems (8). Replace with the Mastery/Scope distinction.)

5.2 Mortal vs. supra-mortal bands

• Mortal: 1–10, granular, closed. Derived stats compute directly. This is where you work.
• Legendary / Monstrous: ×2 parallel track. Sparse.
• Divine: ×10 parallel track + the ∞ action register. Sparse.
• These are parallel tracks, not numeric extensions of 1–10. A god is not "Strength 47"; it has a divine-track value that means something categorically different. Crossing tiers is an ontological event, not stat inflation.
• Operational rule: supra-mortal content is PRESERVE-AND-FLAG, never consolidate-or-fill. Out-of-range divine/legendary values are intentional design, not errors. Do not "correct" them to the mortal ceiling.

5.3 The spine and the regulatory systems carry no rating

The seven vertebrae and the eight regulatory systems are architecture — they do not occupy positions on the 1–10 ladder and are not rated traits. Do not normalize them to it.

5.4 The Spell Sentence is the single grammar

Magic = Talents = Items = Heritage = Mutations — all governed by the Spell Sentence grammar; no special cases. Caveat: each subsystem is a distinct entity doing different work with the shared grammar, not the same operator reskinned. Use this to tell a real inconsistency from intended divergence.

5.5 Striven / Vestus; Dolor deprecated

• Striven: active metabolization, effort, struggle.
• Vestus: conservation, dormancy, stasis. (No longer a standalone dimension — it is the second aspect of Moros.)
• Dolor is deprecated. It was structurally dissolved, not renamed — Vestus absorbed its slot (Moros now = Striven / Vestus; Core Philosophy moved 11 → 10 paired dimensions). Where a stray "Dolor" appears, rework contextually; do not mechanically swap it for a single word.

5.6 The Smoothing Effect (both/and)

It is Aíon's continuous Fulcrum-Point expenditure maintaining the actual coherence of the two forcibly merged realities — the reason the setting has not torn apart. Reject both mischaracterizations:

• It is not a visible physical/terraforming event (the alteration is non-observable — no literal fog, no reshaped terrain on command); and
• It is not "merely social/psychological." Its perceptual face — replicating real-world perception schemas so inhabitants read the merger as natural — is a mechanism of it, not its whole nature.
• The purely perceptual layer (cognitive-dissonance damage on the Clarity track, gated by Gnosis / the Great Lie) is a separate, related system. Do not collapse the two.

6. Foundational-Physics Constraints

Do not generate or validate concepts that violate these:

• Smoothing Effect: both/and per §5.6.
• Selûnae ≠ Palimpsest. The Selûnae read fate backward because that is their divine function — this is not derived from the Palimpsest. The Palimpsest is a transitive plane of layered reality. Never conflate them.
• The Political Alloy is three-slot (GOV × ECO × ETHOS). Never collapse it to GOV. It is an optional modifier layered on the materials / isotopes / Cross-Planar Forge systems — not a replacement.
• The Crucible of Kings is not a plane and not a single site. It is dispersed among the planes; each instance is location-bound and unique to the pure political alloy it embodies.
• Astra Anima / Neurospora: do not import, generate, or validate (quarantined per §4).
• The authorial AAR ≠ the in-setting accountability instrument. Different objects.
• "Doesn't cast" ≠ "alien to magic." Every living being in Tessera is composed of planar materials; non-casters are not outside the magic system.
• No 5e/PF aesthetic imports (e.g., material/flavor choices driven by genre convention rather than the setting's own institutional logic).

7. Known Live Conflicts — DO NOT auto-resolve

These are open and tracked. If you encounter them, flag in PR notes; do not "fix":

• C1 — Moros restructure not yet applied. Core Philosophy may still show the old 11-pair model with standalone Vestus.
• C2 — Two talent systems coexist and contradict (Transmission Specification trees vs. the Master Talent Catalogue: tree count, numbering, and names disagree).
• C3 — Errata trails the decision log (frames resolved decisions as open; missing the rename layer).
• The talent system is mid-rebuild (docs read PLACEHOLDER / "rebuild incomplete"; most trees lack finalized BEL values). Do not consolidate the talent files — that looks like cleanup and is a trap.

8. Terminology

• Never blind find-replace. Several deprecated strings have legitimate kept usages.
• Authority: TERMINOLOGY.md (locked renames + kept-usage exceptions). Defer to it; do not run renames it does not sanction.
• Highest-risk kept-usages (full list in TERMINOLOGY.md): Anima (god / Anima's Law — kept; Essence is the attribute), Integrity (Metaphysical Deflect defense name — kept; Moiety is the attribute), Poise (Social HP pool — kept; Reputation is the Social condition track), Silas (Heart's Compass Silas / Philia — kept; Striven is the former Moros aspect).

9. File & Markdown Protocol

• Audit & consolidate: seek redundant fragment files; merge into the recognized master (confirm per §3). Once integrated, deprecate/archive the fragment — but never the master.
• Markdown: clean, strict. Atomic H2/H3 structure so entries read on a phone.
• Relational linking: maintain [[wikilinks]] / standard markdown links so data parses in both Obsidian and Capacities.

10. PR Standards

• Chunk overhauls into small, logical PRs (e.g., "Consolidate Statecraft files," "Audit Eidolon mechanics").
• Summary every PR with a bulleted list of: what was deprecated, what was merged, what mechanical contradiction was fixed, and what was flagged (conflicts left untouched).
• Graceful failure: on a dependency conflict or a contradiction these rules do not cover, halt and outline it clearly in the PR notes for the PM.

11. Definition of Done (this is a prose repo — there is no test suite)

A change is "validated" when:

• Terminology is consistent with TERMINOLOGY.md and no deprecated term was reintroduced.
• Wikilink / markdown-link integrity holds.
• No supra-mortal or out-of-range value was "corrected" into the mortal band.
• No master document was edited; output lives in AEC Jules Compilation V# [date].
• Every conflict encountered is either resolved within sanctioned rules or flagged in PR notes.

Note: the file agents read is AGENTS.md (plural). A file named AGENT.md will not be picked up.