book3: character bible updates for ruin backstory revision

- duchess-pamira.md: 20-year Kade Reach survey backstory,
  Holven as named rival, Devod's field note held 20 years,
  Ch07 "I've read about you" reveal
- devod-fields.md: Pamira survey at ~35 as final Pathfinder-
  adjacent contract and real exit from the life
- ledger.md: Scout Deployment Sequence explaining the 4-month
  post-wedding gap; Cairns as institutional memory

Ref: docs/superpowers/specs/2026-04-19-book3-ruin-backstory-revision-design.md

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

characters/ledger.md

@@ -94,6 +94,38 @@ Specific moments where Ledger's Pathfinder past leaked through in the final draf
 
 ---
 
+## Book 3 — The Ruin Case Setup
+
+Ledger's Book 2 Ch01 standing order ("read me in on anything Wolf-related") was a precaution set after Devod's near-death draining. In Book 3 it has its **first concrete use**: Duchess Pamira's letter to the Cairns about a 20-year-old sealed pre-Compact site lands on his desk via the standing order. The Cairns hold the institutional memory — they know where the original Kade Reach survey file lives — and route it to him because Devod's field note is in the report.
+
+### The Scout Deployment Sequence (pre-Book-3 timeline)
+
+The 4-month gap between Phelan's wedding (end of Book 2) and the Ch02 briefing is operational caution, not drift. Sequence:
+
+1. **Week 0 (Phelan's wedding week):** Ledger deploys **Scout 1** — experienced Cairns operative, Tier Two or equivalent, standard ward-breaking training. Mandate: confirm the site matches the 20-year-old survey, catalogue what's changed, assess whether the Gate is still active.
+2. **Weeks 1–6:** Scout 1 establishes surveillance, walks the perimeter, catalogues the three mine entrances, cross-references Devod's 20-year-old notes against current terrain. Cross-references accurate; survey still holds.
+3. **~Week 6:** Scout 1 tries to force the Gate. The pre-Compact adaptive ward adapts to his methodology and kills him. Final journal entry: a confident hypothesis about the ward's structure, followed by a gap.
+4. **Weeks 6–14:** Silence from Scout 1. Ledger does not panic — long-duration scouts go quiet by protocol. By week 14, silence is past threshold.
+5. **~Week 14:** Ledger deploys **Sable + one Cairns forensics operative** — two-person recovery team.
+6. **Weeks 14–16:** Sable and partner find Scout 1's body near the Gate. No note. Field journal recovered. Partner diagnoses pre-Compact adaptive ward from the kill pattern; confirms survey-era assessment is still correct.
+7. **~Week 16:** Partner returns to Ledger with forensics report and the journal. Sable stays on rotation — holds the site lightly, sends sending-stone updates, awaits the next team.
+8. **~Week 17 (Book 3 Ch02):** Ledger briefs Phelan with the full file — 20-year-old survey (with Devod's field note), Scout 1's journal, forensics report, Sable's observations.
+
+**Total elapsed:** ~17 weeks / ~4 months from Phelan's wedding to the Ch02 briefing.
+
+### What Ledger Carries Into Ch02
+
+- **The 20-year-old Kade Reach survey** with Devod's field note on the Gate (*a ward, not a door*). This is why Devod is on the team.
+- **Scout 1's field journal.** Working notes, cross-references to the 20-year-old survey, the final hypothesis about the Gate ward, silence. Handed to Phelan in Ch07 (either by Pamira who has been holding it, or by Sable on-site — drafter's call). Phelan reads it overnight; by Ch08 morning he is partway into the ward's logic, not starting from zero.
+- **The forensics partner's report.** Cause of death, kill mechanism, confirmation that the ward is still active and still lethal. Institutional gravity without Ledger having to spell it out.
+- **Sable's ongoing site observations.** Terrain changes, mine-entrance status, weather, any sign of other visitors (none). Relayed by sending-stone since ~week 16.
+
+### Framing for the Ch02 Briefing
+
+The spec replaces the Book 2-era *"Contact the Cairns. Get the Wolf."* dying-note device with institutional competence: the Cairns are **institutional memory**, not a convenient plot courier. Pamira wrote to them because they are the only people who know where the 20-year file lives. Ledger assembled the team on the page — Phelan for the Gate (Flaw Sight), Leon for the artifacts and ore traces, Devod because his name is in the survey — because the file itself argues for those three people. The ruin case is also what Ledger has been waiting for to test and showcase Phelan for elevation, and a procedurally clean way to get him out of Drenwick while the Compact grievance runs.
+
+<!-- Book 3 chapter-by-chapter progression rows to be filled in during drafting. -->
+
 ## Role in Guild
 
 - Sat on Phelan's interview panel as "The Observer" — the one with nothing in front of him, arms crossed, watching for what others missed