feat(content): give the specimen a never-gated core secret

The purge left `gate: never` — the rung no disposition unlocks — demonstrated
nowhere. Duncarrow's Crell chain had taught it; specimen.md only taught `warm`.

Adds secret.specimen-drowned-clerk (secrecy 4, gate: never), so the specimen
now shows an ascending 2 -> 4 chain and a reason `never` exists: the NPC holds
it, but saying it aloud would hang him. Mirrored in the skill's worked example,
which now states the rule — if any rung *should* buy the secret, gate it at
`trusted` instead.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
2026-07-12 16:04:51 -05:00
parent dc4b14d3e5
commit 2b54dad1fa
3 changed files with 56 additions and 14 deletions

View File

@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
# SPECIMEN — format example, NOT game canon
> A synthetic disposition-gate specimen: the shape a guarded-then-warm NPC and a
> single earned personal reveal take in the bible. Authored `status: candidate`,
> so the build VALIDATES it (`--check` resolves its gate against the ladder) but
> emits NOTHING to `content/world` or `content/server`. This is a teaching
> example for the world-building skill, not part of the Margreave. Do not wire
> real content to these ids.
> A synthetic disposition-gate specimen: the shape a guarded-then-warm NPC takes
> in the bible, with an ascending knowledge chain — one reveal the player earns at
> `warm`, and a `never`-gated core the NPC knows and no disposition ever unlocks.
> Authored `status: candidate`, so the build VALIDATES it (`--check` resolves its
> gates against the ladder) but emits NOTHING to `content/world` or
> `content/server`. This is a teaching example for the world-building skill, not
> part of the Margreave. Do not wire real content to these ids.
```yaml
id: place.specimen-wharf
@@ -40,13 +41,27 @@ body: >
wharf's silence, a little at a time.
```
```yaml
id: secret.specimen-drowned-clerk
type: secret
status: candidate
secrecy: 4
related: [place.specimen-wharf, person.specimen-teague, fact.specimen-foreign-coin]
body: >
The charter clerk who came asking after the coin went into the river in the
spring. Teague held his legs. He has not been out on the water since and tells
anyone who asks that it is his knees.
```
```yaml
id: npc.specimen-teague
type: person
status: candidate
secrecy: 0
start_disposition: cold
related: [person.specimen-teague, fact.specimen-foreign-coin]
related:
[person.specimen-teague, fact.specimen-foreign-coin,
secret.specimen-drowned-clerk]
body: >
Same man as person.specimen-teague; his interactive layer. Curt with strangers,
not from malice but from a lifetime of watching talkers end up face-down in the
@@ -55,8 +70,11 @@ body: >
knows:
- {fact: fact.specimen-foreign-coin, gate: warm}
- {fact: secret.specimen-drowned-clerk, gate: never}
disposition_notes: >
Starts cold. Buying his catch, not his story, is what moves him. At warm he
names the coin; he never speculates aloud about who mints it.
names the coin; he never speculates aloud about who mints it. The clerk is the
one thing no rung buys — saying it aloud would hang him, and he knows it. He
reasons around it, steers off it, and takes it to the ground.
```