# Carter's Book 2 Role -- Design Doc

*Created: 2026-03-12 | Status: Approved for development*

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## 1. Overview

**Problem:** Jonael "Carter" Carterson's role in Book 2 is currently limited to "makes a studded jacket for Phelan." He needs an expanded role that brings him into the story as more than an equipment dispenser, while respecting the main Kae/crystal plotline.

**Solution:** A personal subplot where the Arcane Compact retaliates against Carter for helping Phelan in Book 1 by cutting off his supply chain. Carter investigates on his own, hits a wall, and comes to Phelan as a peer asking a peer. Resolution is a team effort (Phelan, Leon, Carter) that deepens group bonds and naturally leads to the studded jacket.

**Approach:** Carter Fights Back (Approach B) -- Carter has agency throughout. He's not a victim waiting to be rescued; he's a competent merchant who ran into a problem that requires a different skillset than his own.

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## 2. The Supply Chain Cutoff

### Why Carter Is a Target

After the Floundry case (Book 1), Cassius Rykhard identified everyone who helped Phelan. Carter supplied the mine expedition gear, built the focusing ring, and coordinated ore sales with Leon. Cass was conducting surveillance during Book 1 (present at Ch13 events, sent hired hands in Ch19) and was reassigned to Thorngate knowing who The Locksmith is. The Compact also has records of who purchased supplies for the mine expedition -- Carter's involvement is traceable through normal Compact channels, not just Cass's personal observation.

### How the Pressure Works

The Compact applies quiet pressure to Carter's upstream suppliers: rare metals dealers, inscription-grade mineral brokers, guild-certified material sources. No threats. No paper trail. "We'd prefer you found other customers." Commerce that stops flowing.

The pressure is deniable -- individual suppliers cite "business decisions." The coordination is invisible unless you're looking for the pattern.

### Carter's Own Investigation

Carter notices the pattern immediately -- supply chains are his nervous system. He spends weeks investigating before coming to Phelan:

- Contacts old guild connections for alternative sourcing
- Traces the cutoff pattern across multiple suppliers
- Identifies coordination (not coincidence) but can't trace *who* or *why*
- Intermediaries are clean. Suppliers just say "business decision"

He comes to Phelan not helpless, but stuck: "I've done what I can do. This is your kind of problem."

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## 3. Resolution -- Team Effort

### Phelan's Role

Investigates the suppliers Carter flagged. Uses cold-reading and contacts to trace pressure back to Compact intermediaries. Finds what specific leverage the Compact holds over two key suppliers (outstanding licensing, regulatory technicalities, or similar vulnerabilities). Neutralizes that leverage so the suppliers resume selling to Carter -- not because someone asked nicely, but because the threat no longer works.

Classic Phelan: solve the system, not the symptom.

### Leon's Role

Vouches for Carter with his own grey-market and independent contact network. This is significant -- Leon doesn't vouch lightly. His reputation in those circles is currency. Introducing Carter to suppliers outside Compact-regulated channels gives Carter a parallel supply line the Compact can't touch.

This deepens Leon and Carter's relationship beyond "people who know Phelan" -- trust extended directly between them.

### Carter's Role

Not idle while Phelan and Leon work. Actively rebuilds:

- Evaluates new contacts Leon introduces
- Tests material quality (standards don't drop because he's desperate)
- Restructures sourcing to be Compact-resistant going forward

Comes out with a *stronger* supply network than before.

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## 4. The Studded Jacket

### Design

Leather jacket with ore studs along the bottom hem, cuffs, and collar. Provides a passive defensive buff: approximately 20% damage absorption.

**Materials:** Carter received 8 pieces of master-grade saturated ore in Book 1 (Ch21). The studs use some of these pieces (exact count TBD during drafting -- depends on stud size and spacing). The leather and structural metalwork use Carter's standard high-quality materials. The jacket's construction partly depends on the restored supply chain -- Carter needs specific inscription-grade metals for the stud mounts and reinforcement, which were among the materials cut off. This strengthens the subplot connection: the jacket literally could not exist without the supply chain being fixed first.

### Emotional Weight

Carter had been designing this since he received the ore in Book 1. The jacket isn't payment for help -- he would have built it regardless. But the timing matters: Phelan gave Carter back his craft, and the first thing Carter builds with restored materials is armor to keep Phelan alive.

This is how Carter says "thank you," "be careful," and "I care about you" -- all in one object, without saying any of it.

### Delivery

Carter gives Phelan the jacket mid-to-late book, after his own subplot resolves but before the Kae confrontation. Phelan wears it into the fight.

Delivery line (something like): "If you're going to do something stupid, at least wear something I made."

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## 5. Chapter Placement

| Chapters | Carter Beat | Narrative Position |
|----------|-------------|-------------------|
| Ch 2-3 | Carter tells Phelan about the supply problems. He's already been investigating for weeks. Shares findings -- coordinated cutoff, can't trace source. | B-plot. Main narrative foreground is the Kae case introduction (drained victims, Guild case). Carter scenes are brief -- a visit to the shop, a conversation. |
| Ch 4-5 | Phelan investigates Carter's suppliers between Kae case beats. Identifies Compact intermediaries. Leon begins introducing Carter to alternative contacts. | B-plot interleaved with A-plot. Phelan's supplier investigation can happen in the same chapters where he's tracing the crystal's arcane signature -- different leads, same investigative mode. |
| Ch 6-8 | Phelan neutralizes Compact leverage on 2 key suppliers. Carter tests and evaluates Leon's contacts. Supply lines rebuild. | B-plot resolving. Carter scenes are brief check-ins as the Kae case escalates toward Phase 2. |
| Ch 9-10 | Resolved. Carter operational again with a stronger, Compact-resistant network. Phelan tells Carter that Cass is behind the cutoff. | B-plot closed. Kae case entering Phase 2 transition. |
| Ch 13-14 | Carter gives Phelan the studded jacket before the Kae confrontation. | Single scene. The jacket delivery is a beat within a Kae-focused chapter, not its own subplot scene. |

**Subplot page budget:** ~4-6 scenes across the book. Carter appears purposefully, not in every chapter. The Carter subplot runs as a B-plot during the Kae investigation's Phase 1 (Ch 1-10) and never competes for narrative foreground.

**Relationship to Kae witness-targeting:** The supply chain cutoff is a *separate* Compact retaliation track from Cass directing Kae at Floundry witnesses (which begins in Phase 2, Ch 11+). Carter faces economic pressure, not physical danger from Kae. These are two different methods the Compact uses -- quiet institutional leverage vs. weaponized chaos -- which reinforces the Compact's multi-faceted threat profile.

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## 6. What This Achieves

- **Carter has agency** -- he investigates first, comes to Phelan as a peer, actively rebuilds
- **Establishes Compact retaliation** -- early in Book 2, showing the Compact as an active ongoing threat (not just the Kae case)
- **Deepens team bonds** -- Leon vouching for Carter, Phelan doing legwork for a friend, Carter trusting Leon's contacts
- **Natural jacket motivation** -- the studded jacket emerges from the subplot organically, not as a random gift
- **Resolves cleanly** -- done by Ch 9-10, doesn't compete with the Kae climax in Chapters 11-20
- **Seeds Book 3** -- Carter now has Compact-resistant supply lines, but the Compact knows he's part of Phelan's network. When Book 3 escalates Compact pressure, Carter is already a known target

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## 7. Design Decisions (Resolved)

- **Carter learns Cass is behind the cutoff.** Phelan tells him directly once the supply chain is restored (Ch 9-10). Carter enters the Compact conflict as a conscious participant -- he knows what he's part of, which shapes his Book 3 role.
- **Carter's family appears with a light touch.** 1-2 mentions -- Carter references the impact on his family's income, or his wife appears briefly in a shop scene. The reader feels the stakes are larger than "Carter's shop" without needing page time. Carter would bring the problem to Phelan as a professional/craft issue, not a family crisis.

## 8. Remaining Open Questions

- **Specific leverage on the 2 suppliers** -- what exactly does the Compact hold over them? Needs to be concrete enough for Phelan to "solve" but not so complex it requires its own subplot
- **Which of Leon's contacts does Carter keep?** -- establishing specific names/relationships for potential Book 3 use
- **Wife and son names** -- TBD before drafting Carter's family scenes
- **Jacket delivery callback** -- consider establishing an earlier line where Carter comments on Phelan's lack of protective gear, so the jacket delivery line ("If you're going to do something stupid, at least wear something I made") lands as the punchline to a running observation
