# CLAUDE.md — Book 4: Working Title TBD

> **STATUS: OUTLINED, NOT DRAFTED.** Full outline at `outline/book4-outline.md` (created 2026-04-21 as part of the Book 3 split). Book 3 is in active drafting (Ch01–02 finalized). Do not draft Book 4 until Book 3 is complete.

This file is book-specific orientation. The series-level `CLAUDE.md` at the project root governs voice, world, characters, formatting, and continuity rules. The outline file is the source of truth for premise, chapter beats, themes, character arcs, and subplot threads — this file points at it rather than duplicating it.

**Working titles under consideration:** "Inside the Trap" / "The Long War" / "Better Packaging" / "The Senior Specialist"
**Length:** 13 chapters, ~80,000–90,000 words (~6,000–7,000 avg — longer than Book 3 because Book 4 is high-density action + institutional confrontation).

**Book-split origin:** The original Book 3 was 24 chapters and ~92–100k words; it was split on 2026-04-21 because the scope was too packed. Book 3 now ends at "The Night Before" (Ch18); Book 4 opens with "The Ambush" and carries the confrontation/standoff/elevation/aftermath arc.

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## Logline

Phelan has built the lock. He has extracted the artifacts. The house is funded. His mother is at Chandler's Row tending the garden and waiting. The Compact enforcement force is thirty-six hours out, and Cass — burned by his own institution — is coming for what Phelan sealed. **Book 4 is the storm hitting:** transport ambush, ruin breach, three-party standoff at the estate gate, face-to-face with Cass two books in the making, and the one procedural move that kills the grievance — elevation to Senior Specialist. Phelan walks into a room he has spent his whole life avoiding, because Mere was in the wrong room when the Compact came knocking. The book's thematic spine is Cass's speech: *better packaging, same leash.* Phelan accepts the elevation knowing he might be right.

**The Compact survives.** Book 4 bloodies the institution and strips its hold on Phelan personally. It does not take the Compact down. Book 5+ is the long war.

---

## Chapter Development Workflow

Each chapter follows the `/chapter-workflow` skill pipeline:

1. **Seed** — Author fills `chXX-input.md` (copied from `../chapter-input-template.md`)
2. **Scene Breakdown** — Claude proposes scene plan, author approves
3. **Draft** — Full chapter drafted into `chXX-draft.md`
4. **Review** — Author edits, then Claude reviews clarity/grammar/flow
5. **Continuity Update** — Update world/character files with new canon

---

## Opening Situation (Inherited from Book 3 Ch18)

- **Estate at Pamira's.** Phelan, Mere, Devod, Leon, Sabre, Pamira, Emmila, grandchildren, household staff. Pip on Mere's shoulder.
- **Mere ~13–14 weeks pregnant.** Morning sickness easing. Second trimester approaching.
- **The lock holds.** New seal on the weapon chamber tested against Leon and stable.
- **Artifacts packed** for transport. Leon's numbers: 15k–25k silvers; house funded.
- **Cass a fugitive** (burned Book 3 Ch13). Trail cold three days.
- **Compact enforcement force en route, ETA ~36 hours.**
- **Ledger's Pathfinder past out** (Book 3 Ch15). Cairns named. Flawfinder's gift documentation in Phelan's possession.
- **Grooming hint carried over** (Book 3 Ch02, Book 3 Ch15). Grievance still filed, not yet resolved.
- **Kimbra at Chandler's Row,** staying through the pregnancy. Letters flowing.

---

## The Four-Layer Convergence

Book 4's first two-thirds braid four simultaneous threads:

1. **Physical threat — Cass:** Ambush → ruin breach → underground confrontation at the new seal.
2. **Institutional threat — Compact:** Enforcement force at Pamira's gates. Cairns counters. Controlled clash.
3. **Personal stakes — Mere pregnant at the estate:** In the blast radius. Pip + Pamira's house give her tactical eyes and shelter, but exposure is real.
4. **The elevation:** Ledger arrives with two unnamed guild seniors. Private Flaw Sight reveal. Formal lift to Senior Specialist. The grievance dies procedurally.

See `outline/book4-outline.md` § Four-Layer Convergence.

---

## Themes

- **"Better packaging, same leash."** Cass's indictment. Phelan accepts the elevation knowing Cass is right and chooses the leash anyway because Mere is in the wrong room.
- **Restraint as victory.** The fire-spear/whip choice in Ch05 — Phelan can form the echo-amplified spike and chooses to put it down. That is the character earning the win.
- **Inside vs. outside the institution.** Phelan spent three books dodging the guild-as-institution. Book 4 lifts him into it. He experiences it as both armor and cage.
- **The quiet threads.** Kimbra at Chandler's Row is the book's slowest, deepest arc — the mother on the other end of the storm.

---

## Milestone Beats

1. **Ch01 — The Ambush.** Transport attacked. Phelan peels back toward the estate.
2. **Ch02 — Cass on the approach.** Gap chapter (candidate: close-third on Cass, first ever).
3. **Ch03 — Forces at the gate.** Compact arrives. Cairns counter. Sabre injured holding.
4. **Ch04 — Into the ruin.** Phelan descends alone. Meets Cass at the new seal.
5. **Ch05 — Face to face.** The confrontation. The lock holds. Restraint wins.
6. **Ch06 — The standoff.** Archive leverage at the gate.
7. **Ch07 — Gap (parallel / character breathing).**
8. **Ch08 — The elevation.** Ledger arrives. Private Flaw Sight reveal. Senior Specialist. Grievance dies.
9. **Ch09 — Aftermath.** Cass extracted. First folder handed over.
10. **Ch10 — Gap (estate character work).**
11. **Ch11 — What we carry out.** Farewells. Compass. "Promise."
12. **Ch12 — The long road home.** Folder read on the second night. Mere's name where he didn't expect.
13. **Ch13 — Chandler's Row.** Arrival. Kimbra. Ledger's coda. Turn the page.

---

## Character Arcs (Book 4)

- **Phelan** — The elevation lands. The leash is on. The lock he built survives live testing. The folder on the kitchen table at close carries Mere's name.
- **Mere** — Pregnant in the blast radius; reads the field via Pip; peak operational Mere. Says "home" without qualification at Ch11.
- **Devod** — Leads the Cairns line. Walking stick as blade. Private farewell with Pamira (Ch11, compass). Hums the Pathfinder march quietly on the road home. The flirt-to-claim-to-promise arc completes.
- **Pamira** — Holds the gate politically. Farewell with compass and promise. Her hidden financial strain is one quiet paragraph in a gap chapter; full surface in Book 5+.
- **Leon** — Ward-disruption charges in the ambush, Pathfinder-march harmony on the road, philosophy shift deepens. Helped build, not take.
- **Kimbra** — Ch07 candidate (Drenwick POV during the crisis, therapist-calm out, worst-case in). Ch13 reunion at Chandler's Row. Staying through the pregnancy.
- **Ledger** — The private Flaw Sight reveal (Ch08). The elevation offer he's been building toward since before Book 2. Folder handoff (Ch09). Coda note at Chandler's Row (Ch13).
- **Cass** — His final arc. Ambush, breach, confrontation, capture. Optional interior chapter (Ch02) and final on-page beat (Ch10 option). His arc as personal antagonist completes.
- **Sabre** — Injured holding the Ch03 near-line. Recovers by Ch11. Escorts the first leg of the trip home.
- **Pip** — Dual-field tactical intel during the standoff. Grandchildren in Ch10 aftermath. Windowsill at Chandler's Row at close.

---

## Canonical Sources

| Topic | File |
|-------|------|
| Chapter-by-chapter outline, theme, case, subplot threads | `outline/book4-outline.md` |
| Book 3 state inherited into Book 4 Ch01 | `outline/book3-outline.md` § State Inherited, `world/story-summary-book3.md` |
| Magic system, exploits, echo mechanic | `world/magic/runic-flow-rules.md`, `world/magic/exploits-log.md`, `world/magic/crystal-drain-echo.md` |
| Echo design spec | `docs/superpowers/specs/2026-04-21-crystal-drain-echo-design.md` |
| Files to create during Book 4 drafting | `world/story-summary-book4.md`, `world/timeline-book4.md`, `world/magic/amplification-weapon.md` |

---

## Open Questions

- **Working title commit** — during early drafting.
- **Gap chapter commitments (Ch02, Ch07, Ch10)** — drafter picks from candidates listed in the outline.
- **Cass POV chapter (Ch02 option a)** — break the first-person-Phelan convention for one chapter? Only place in the series it might be warranted.
- **Ch12 Ledger folder contents** — hook is "Mere's name on a page he didn't expect." Drafter commits contents during drafting.
- **Compact commander name** — drafter commits during Ch03.
- **Sabre's wound mechanism** — drafter commits during Ch03 (bump from Book 3 draft's "injured but alive" to genuinely down / needs medical attention / mends by Ch11).
- **The two unnamed senior guild figures (Ch08)** — names deliberately withheld for Book 5+ setup. Name if one becomes on-page later.
- **Kimbra's surname** — still TBD.
