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+# CLAUDE.md — Book 1: "The Unbreakable Curse" (Working Title)
+
+This file contains Book 1-specific instructions. The series-level CLAUDE.md at the project root governs voice, world, characters, formatting, and continuity rules.
+
+---
+
+## Chapter Development Workflow
+
+Each chapter follows a 5-stage pipeline documented in `WORKFLOW.md`:
+
+1. **Seed** — Author fills `chXX-input.md` (copied from `chapter-input-template.md`)
+2. **Scene Breakdown** — Claude proposes scene plan, author approves
+3. **Draft** — Interactive scene-by-scene drafting into `chXX-draft.md`
+4. **Revision** — Full-chapter review, saved to `chXX-final.md`
+5. **Continuity Update** — Update world/character files with new canon
+
+See `WORKFLOW.md` for full details. See `chapter-input-template.md` for the reusable input format.
+
+---
+
+## Premise
+
+Phelan Varrant is broke, behind on his land taxes, and has a very specific list of things he will and won't do for money. When a client arrives through proper Guild channels with a dying family member — cursed with a working that is, by every established authority, impossible to break — Phelan takes the case because the fee is significant and the problem is interesting. In that order.
+
+## Opening Situation
+
+- Phelan lives in a rented shack on his own undeveloped land
+- He has plans for a house. He has drawings. He has no money.
+- The love interest knows about the plans. She has not been asked anything officially. They both understand this.
+- He owes the Guild quarterly dues and would rather not think about that.
+
+## The Case
+
+A person (identity: Ned Floundry) is dying from a curse with a known kill timeline — weeks at most. The curse is considered unbreakable by the Arcane Compact. Two registered curse-breakers have already failed. The client is desperate enough to hire "Necessary Services."
+
+**Phelan's solution — The Triple Chain:**
+- Through deep analysis (and one brutal hyperfocus crash), Phelan identifies that the curse is not one working but three nested workings, each designed to reinforce the others
+- Each individual working has a flaw — none fatal alone
+- Phelan chains the three flaws into a cascading failure sequence, collapsing all three simultaneously
+- This has never been done. It works. He does not explain exactly how to anyone.
+
+## Themes
+
+- Competence as a form of care (Phelan solves problems because he can, which is as close to empathy as he gets)
+- The cost of isolation vs. the cost of connection
+- Building something (literally and figuratively) when you never had a foundation
+
+## Milestone Beats
+
+*(expand in `/outline/book1-outline.md`)*
+
+1. Opening — establish Phelan's life, voice, financial situation, the land
+2. Case introduction — client arrives, stakes established
+3. First investigation — Phelan reads the curse, recognizes it's not what it appears
+4. Complication — someone doesn't want the curse broken (introduce antagonist interest)
+5. The hyperfocus crash — Phelan pushes too hard, is briefly out of commission (vulnerability moment)
+6. The triple chain solution — climax
+7. Resolution + personal beat — the case closes, something small shifts in his personal life