diff --git a/client/scripts/theme/theme_keys.gd b/client/scripts/theme/theme_keys.gd
index 552df23..8bffbf6 100644
--- a/client/scripts/theme/theme_keys.gd
+++ b/client/scripts/theme/theme_keys.gd
@@ -47,6 +47,19 @@ const FONT_ROLES := {
 	SECTION_LABEL: "Label",
 }
 
+## Base Control types the builder styles DIRECTLY — no set_type_variation is
+## ever called for these, so a fresh Theme reports get_type_variation_base("")
+## for them. Kept as its own set (not folded into ALL or FONT_ROLES) because a
+## base type is not a variation: nothing sets `theme_type_variation` to
+## "RichTextLabel" anywhere, the node's own class name is the lookup key.
+## Today: RichTextLabel, the builder's prose voice (mock README Typography:
+## serif body/italic emphasis) — the creation screen's origin panel and
+## calling detail panel are RichTextLabels rendering this styling directly,
+## i.e. every line of DM prose the screen shows.
+const BASE_TYPES := {
+	&"RichTextLabel": true,
+}
+
 ## Every variation name + the base Control type it decorates. The builder and the
 ## test both iterate this so they can never drift apart.
 const ALL := {
diff --git a/client/tests/unit/test_character_creation_screen.gd b/client/tests/unit/test_character_creation_screen.gd
index 88c3c3e..f5eb251 100644
--- a/client/tests/unit/test_character_creation_screen.gd
+++ b/client/tests/unit/test_character_creation_screen.gd
@@ -130,7 +130,6 @@ func test_no_node_on_the_screen_says_luck():
 	var forbidden: Array = ["luck", "lck"]
 	for band in Luck.BANDS:
 		forbidden.append(str(band["text"]).to_lower())
-	assert_eq(forbidden.size(), Luck.BANDS.size() + 2, "every band's text must be swept, not just the word")
 
 	for race_i in range(Races.IDS.size()):
 		s._race_cards[race_i].pressed.emit()
diff --git a/client/tests/unit/test_creation_copy.gd b/client/tests/unit/test_creation_copy.gd
index 16b6e76..d9c8662 100644
--- a/client/tests/unit/test_creation_copy.gd
+++ b/client/tests/unit/test_creation_copy.gd
@@ -141,10 +141,35 @@ func test_an_unmapped_error_still_speaks_in_voice():
 	assert_false(CreationCopy.UNSPOKEN.contains("_"))
 
 
+func _is_deliberately_unmapped(raw: String) -> bool:
+	# The shapes error_line has NO authored line for, on purpose, because the
+	# screen structurally cannot produce them (CreationDraft always emits an
+	# int seed and a spend built only from increment/decrement, which can
+	# never exceed the pool or name a non-attribute) — a malformed seed or
+	# spend, or a broken content reference, is not a player mistake to voice
+	# in character; test_an_unmapped_error_still_speaks_in_voice already pins
+	# the fallback for exactly this set. Named by the validator's own prefixes
+	# so this stays independent of error_line's internals.
+	return (raw.begins_with("unresolved ref:")
+		or raw.begins_with("seed is required")
+		or raw.begins_with("spend")
+		or raw.begins_with("cannot spend on")
+		or raw == "skills must be an array")
+
+
 func test_no_error_the_validator_can_raise_reaches_the_player_raw():
 	# Sweep EVERY error NewGame.validate actually produces for a draft the screen can
 	# be driven into (plus the hostile shapes only a saga could hand it), and assert
-	# the player never sees the id, the underscore, or the validator's grammar.
+	# the player never sees the id, the underscore, or the validator's grammar — AND,
+	# for every shape error_line actually has an authored line for, that the line
+	# fired rather than silently falling through to the generic UNSPOKEN fallback.
+	#
+	# CreationCopy.UNSPOKEN ("something in this does not hold — look again") is
+	# itself non-blank, isn't the raw string, has no underscore, and has no "got " —
+	# so the four checks below cannot tell "correctly mapped to its authored line"
+	# from "silently fell through." Without the UNSPOKEN check, renaming a validator
+	# string in new_game.gd so an error_line branch stops matching would leave every
+	# error line reading the generic fallback, suite green.
 	var d := _draft()
 	var hostiles: Array = [
 		{"name": "", "skills": [], "bonus_skill": ""},               # nameless, unpicked
@@ -165,6 +190,7 @@ func test_no_error_the_validator_can_raise_reaches_the_player_raw():
 	}
 
 	var seen := 0
+	var mapped_seen := 0
 	for h in hostiles:
 		var creation := base.duplicate(true)
 		for k in h:
@@ -173,9 +199,16 @@ func test_no_error_the_validator_can_raise_reaches_the_player_raw():
 		assert_gt(errors.size(), 0, "hostile creation %s must actually be invalid, or it guards nothing" % str(h))
 		for e in errors:
 			seen += 1
-			var line: String = CreationCopy.error_line(str(e), d)
-			assert_ne(line.strip_edges(), "", "'%s' put a BLANK line on the label" % e)
-			assert_ne(line, str(e), "'%s' reached the player raw" % e)
-			assert_false(line.contains("_"), "'%s' put a snake_case id on the label: %s" % [e, line])
-			assert_false(line.contains("got "), "'%s' put the validator's grammar on the label: %s" % [e, line])
+			var raw := str(e)
+			var line: String = CreationCopy.error_line(raw, d)
+			assert_ne(line.strip_edges(), "", "'%s' put a BLANK line on the label" % raw)
+			assert_ne(line, raw, "'%s' reached the player raw" % raw)
+			assert_false(line.contains("_"), "'%s' put a snake_case id on the label: %s" % [raw, line])
+			assert_false(line.contains("got "), "'%s' put the validator's grammar on the label: %s" % [raw, line])
+
+			if not _is_deliberately_unmapped(raw):
+				mapped_seen += 1
+				assert_ne(line, CreationCopy.UNSPOKEN,
+					"'%s' has an authored error_line branch but silently fell through to the generic fallback" % raw)
 	assert_gt(seen, 12, "the sweep must actually reach a spread of errors, not one or two")
+	assert_gt(mapped_seen, 8, "the sweep must actually exercise error_line's mapped branches, not just the deliberately-unmapped ones")
diff --git a/client/tests/unit/test_new_game.gd b/client/tests/unit/test_new_game.gd
index daf32fd..ef3dd9c 100644
--- a/client/tests/unit/test_new_game.gd
+++ b/client/tests/unit/test_new_game.gd
@@ -363,8 +363,17 @@ func test_construct_ignores_an_attribute_block_handed_to_it():
 		"construct re-rolls from the SEED — a stat block handed to it is not state, it is noise (§2)")
 
 	# And the hostile block is not merely ignored on the sheet — it never becomes state
-	# anywhere. (A `sheet.attributes` the caller supplied would be the exact §2 failure.)
-	assert_false(res["log"].to_dict().has("attributes"), "no attribute ever reaches the canon log")
+	# anywhere else either. `res["log"].to_dict().has("attributes")` (the old check here)
+	# was already false before this test's action ran: LogPlayer.to_dict() has no such
+	# TOP-LEVEL key on any code path, hostile block or not, so it could never fail — delete
+	# construct's whole §2 guard and this stayed green. Assert the player row's exact key
+	# SET instead (sorted — insertion order in LogPlayer.to_dict() isn't the contract):
+	# it feeds the AI (§2/§7), so a stray "attributes", "str", or anything else reaching it
+	# is a real leak, and this is what actually fails if one does.
+	var player_keys: Array = res["log"].to_dict()["player"].keys()
+	player_keys.sort()
+	assert_eq(player_keys, ["calling_id", "luck_descriptor", "name", "race_id"],
+		"the canon-log player row carries a key beyond name/race_id/calling_id/luck_descriptor — numeric state reached the AI-facing log (§2/§7)")
 
 
 func test_validate_is_public_and_agrees_with_construct():
diff --git a/client/tests/unit/test_theme_resource.gd b/client/tests/unit/test_theme_resource.gd
index 2dc9b8c..a9af29f 100644
--- a/client/tests/unit/test_theme_resource.gd
+++ b/client/tests/unit/test_theme_resource.gd
@@ -30,14 +30,19 @@ func test_default_font_is_set():
 
 
 func _guarded_variations() -> Array:
-	# EVERY variation the builder touches — the stylebox variations (ThemeKeys.ALL)
-	# AND the six font roles (ThemeKeys.FONT_ROLES), which ALL deliberately excludes
-	# by its own docstring. Iterating ALL alone left every font, font size and font
-	# colour in the theme unguarded: change Palette.CREAM (TitleLogo's font colour,
-	# and nothing else's), skip the rebuild, and the suite stayed green with a stale
-	# .tres shipped. traps.md #12 — "covers everything" must iterate the full set.
+	# EVERY variation OR BASE TYPE the builder touches — the stylebox variations
+	# (ThemeKeys.ALL), the six font roles (ThemeKeys.FONT_ROLES), AND the base
+	# types the builder styles directly with no variation on top
+	# (ThemeKeys.BASE_TYPES — today just RichTextLabel). ALL and FONT_ROLES
+	# deliberately exclude each other's half by their own docstrings; missing
+	# BASE_TYPES here left RichTextLabel's two fonts, its font size and its
+	# font colour — the ONLY things rendering DM prose on the creation screen —
+	# unguarded against a stale .tres. traps.md #12, the third miss: iterating
+	# ALL alone, then ALL+FONT_ROLES, both still left a gap "covers everything"
+	# did not actually cover.
 	var out: Array = ThemeKeys.ALL.keys()
 	out.append_array(ThemeKeys.FONT_ROLES.keys())
+	out.append_array(ThemeKeys.BASE_TYPES.keys())
 	return out
 
 
@@ -57,7 +62,22 @@ func test_the_drift_guard_covers_every_variation_the_builder_touches():
 		if not touched:
 			continue
 		if fresh.get_type_variation_base(variation) == &"":
-			continue        # a BASE type (the builder styles RichTextLabel directly), not a variation
+			# "" means one of two things, and they must be told apart, not both
+			# waved through: (a) a KNOWN base type the builder styles directly
+			# with no set_type_variation (RichTextLabel today — registered in
+			# ThemeKeys.BASE_TYPES), or (b) a type nobody ever registered at
+			# all — styled with set_stylebox/set_font/set_color but never
+			# given a set_type_variation, which reports the same "" and used
+			# to slip through this `continue` forever. The old guard could not
+			# tell these apart because it treated "" as "definitely (a)" and
+			# skipped it unconditionally — the exact whitelist that let
+			# RichTextLabel through in the first place (traps.md #12, third
+			# miss). Assert (a); anything else IS (b) and must be named.
+			assert_true(variation in ThemeKeys.BASE_TYPES,
+				("the builder styles %s directly (no set_type_variation) and it is not in " +
+				"ThemeKeys.BASE_TYPES — add it there, or if it should be a real variation, " +
+				"give it a set_type_variation(...) base so ALL/FONT_ROLES can guard it") % variation)
+			continue
 		assert_true(variation in guarded,
 			"the builder styles the variation %s but no drift guard walks it — add it to ThemeKeys.ALL or ThemeKeys.FONT_ROLES" % variation)
 
@@ -75,6 +95,18 @@ func test_committed_tres_matches_builder():
 	var fresh: Theme = Builder.build_theme()
 	var committed: Theme = load(THEME_PATH)
 
+	# Theme-LEVEL defaults (build_game_theme.gd:69-70) live on the Theme object
+	# itself, not under any type or variation, so no per-variation loop below
+	# ever reaches them — they need their own comparison or a changed
+	# default_font_size (18 -> anything) ships silently. Font by resource_path,
+	# not the Resource: load() caches, so two references to the same .ttf are
+	# `==` even when the builder swapped fonts, unless the .tres happens to
+	# still point at the same file.
+	assert_eq(committed.default_font.resource_path, fresh.default_font.resource_path,
+		"stale game_theme.tres — theme.default_font drifted from the builder; re-run build_game_theme.gd")
+	assert_eq(committed.default_font_size, fresh.default_font_size,
+		"stale game_theme.tres — theme.default_font_size drifted from the builder; re-run build_game_theme.gd")
+
 	for variation in _guarded_variations():
 		for state in fresh.get_stylebox_list(variation):
 			assert_true(committed.has_stylebox(state, variation),