diff --git a/docs/superpowers/specs/2026-07-12-duncarrow-purge-design.md b/docs/superpowers/specs/2026-07-12-duncarrow-purge-design.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..78036bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/superpowers/specs/2026-07-12-duncarrow-purge-design.md
@@ -0,0 +1,171 @@
+# Duncarrow purge — decouple scaffolding from infrastructure
+
+**Status:** approved design, ready for implementation plan
+**Date:** 2026-07-12
+**Follows:** `2026-07-12-cosmology-and-worldbuilding-theme-design.md` §6 (which flagged this
+purge) and the merged cosmology (dev `df5ed2b`).
+
+**Scope:** Remove the Duncarrow scaffolding content, preserve the schema/disposition-gate
+*infrastructure* it currently carries via a synthetic non-canon specimen, and author
+**zero real game content**. Deliberately minimal blast radius: nothing this spec produces
+is rebuilt when the NPC model or Margreave lore is later reworked.
+
+---
+
+## 1. Why this is more than a deletion
+
+`content/lore/duncarrow.md` was authored as scaffolding to build the content schema + the
+world-building skill (see the cosmology spec §6). It is **not game story** and is slated
+for removal. But it is currently **load-bearing infrastructure** in five places, so a naive
+delete breaks the build, the skill, the tests, and the evals:
+
+1. **Hosts `rule.disposition-ladder`** — required *exactly once* across all bibles; the
+   build hard-fails without it.
+2. **The world-building skill's teaching specimen** — `SKILL.md:100` ("match the voice and
+   structure of `content/lore/duncarrow.md` — it is the reference specimen"); `schema.md`
+   (organize-like-duncarrow; "the ladder already lives in `duncarrow.md`"; "mirror the
+   Crell chain 1→2→2→3→4"; the Mera Fenn reachable-ceiling example); `tone.md` (the
+   "prosperous and orderly" body quote; "Mera Fenn is the model"; Old Teague).
+3. **A dedicated build test** — `tools/content_build/tests/test_duncarrow.py`, plus
+   Duncarrow references in `test_model.py`.
+4. **The eval suite** — 3 of the world-building skill's evals (`evals/evals.json`) are
+   built on Duncarrow (add-an-NPC-to-Duncarrow; contradict-the-Crell-chain;
+   elves-beyond-Duncarrow).
+5. **`schema.md`'s inline worked example** ties `person.old-teague` to `town.duncarrow`.
+
+The design separates the two roles Duncarrow conflates — **game story** (delete) and
+**schema teaching example** (preserve, synthetically).
+
+## 2. The deletion is self-contained (verified)
+
+- The hand-authored POC seed JSON (`content/origins/`, `content/world/quests/`,
+  `content/world/locations/`, `content/world/items/`) references **none** of Duncarrow's
+  bible ids (grep clean). It is not touched (see §7).
+- The cosmology bibles (`cosmology.md`, `the-seven.md`) reference no Duncarrow id.
+- `content/world/npcs/` is a shared dir: `brannoc_thane`, `cadwyn_vell`, `fenn` are legacy
+  hand-authored (bare ids); `mera-fenn`, `mayor-oswin-crell`, `harn-blackwood` are
+  **generated** from `duncarrow.md`'s `npc.*` entries. Deleting the source + rebuilding
+  triggers the build's orphan-cleanup to remove the three generated ones (client + server)
+  while leaving the three legacy ones. (This is the exact "generated-npc orphan-in-shared-
+  dir" path the build tool already covers.)
+
+So deleting `duncarrow.md` dangles no bible reference; the only follow-through is the
+build's own orphan cleanup, which is already implemented and tested.
+
+## 3. Reparent the disposition-ladder → `content/lore/mechanics.md`
+
+Create `content/lore/mechanics.md` and move `rule.disposition-ladder` into it **verbatim**
+(same `id`, `type`, `secrecy: 0`, `rungs: [hostile, cold, neutral, warm, trusted]`, body).
+
+- **Home choice rationale:** the ladder is a **dialogue mechanic**, not cosmological lore
+  (so not `cosmology.md`, despite the cosmology spec's loose suggestion) and not the
+  specimen (which must stay disposable). `mechanics.md` is the permanent neutral home for
+  mechanical `rule.*` entries.
+- The required-once invariant is preserved (moved, not duplicated). The ladder must land in
+  `mechanics.md` **before** `duncarrow.md` is deleted, or an intermediate build fails.
+
+## 4. The synthetic specimen → `content/lore/specimen.md`
+
+Create `content/lore/specimen.md` — the skill's schema/disposition-gate teaching example,
+lifted from `schema.md`'s already-written *Old Teague* and cut free of its Duncarrow tie.
+
+- **Entries:** one generic `place`, one guarded `person`, its `npc.*` interactive layer
+  (`start_disposition: cold`, warms up), and one personal `fact` (secrecy 2) gated at
+  `warm`. The Teague shape: guarded-then-warm, one earned personal reveal, no plot weight.
+- **Obviously-synthetic, non-Margreave ids** — e.g. `place.specimen-wharf`,
+  `person.specimen-teague`, `npc.specimen-teague`, `fact.specimen-foreign-coin` (final ids
+  are the plan's call, but they MUST read as "format example," not real content, and MUST
+  NOT collide with existing ids like the `greywater_docks` seed). A header comment states
+  plainly: *this file is a format specimen, not game canon.*
+- **`status: candidate`** — the build **validates** it (`--check` resolves its `related`
+  and checks its gate against the ladder) but **emits nothing** to `content/world/` or
+  `content/server/`. No synthetic NPC ships in the game bundle. This is the key property:
+  the specimen teaches humans and stays build-honest, without polluting real content.
+- The specimen's gate references a ladder rung, so it depends on `rule.disposition-ladder`
+  (now in `mechanics.md`) — resolves because the build parses all `content/lore/*.md`
+  together.
+
+## 5. Repoint the world-building skill (and improve it)
+
+Duncarrow played two skill roles; split them across two stable targets:
+
+- **Schema / disposition-gate STRUCTURE** → the **specimen**:
+  - `SKILL.md:100` "match the voice and structure of `content/lore/duncarrow.md`" →
+    point at `content/lore/specimen.md` (structure) and note cosmology for voice.
+  - `schema.md`: "organize a file … like `duncarrow.md`" → `specimen.md`; "the ladder
+    already lives in `duncarrow.md`" → "in `mechanics.md`"; "mirror the Crell chain
+    1→2→2→3→4" → describe the ascending-secrecy chain generically (the specimen only has a
+    single fact, so the chain example becomes prose guidance, not a pointer to a deleted
+    chain); the Mera Fenn reachable-ceiling paragraph → reframe generically or onto the
+    specimen; the inline worked example's `related: [town.duncarrow]` → the specimen place.
+- **Narrator VOICE / tone** → the **cosmology bodies** (permanent canon, strong dry-voice
+  exemplars):
+  - `tone.md` "prosperous and orderly place…" quote → a cosmology body quote (e.g. the
+    Warden's "the oldest argument there is," or the Seven's "Most of the Margreave believes
+    the Seven are real. Most of the Margreave is right.").
+  - `tone.md` "Mera Fenn is the model" (fear-as-prickliness, guarded-then-warm) → the
+    **specimen's** npc as the guarded-then-warm model; keep the mechanic, swap the name.
+  - `tone.md` "Old Teague's 'dryness turns to something almost fond'" → the specimen npc
+    (which is Teague) — keep, just ensure it points at the specimen, not Duncarrow.
+
+Net effect: the skill's **voice** examples now cite real permanent canon and its
+**structure** example is a build-validated fixture — both strictly better than pointing at
+scaffolding.
+
+## 6. Tests and evals
+
+- **Tests:** migrate `test_duncarrow.py` and the Duncarrow references in `test_model.py`
+  onto the **specimen** and/or **synthetic in-test fixtures**. Preserve the *behaviors*
+  that mattered — secrecy routing (a secret body never reaches the client), gate/rung
+  resolution, generated-npc orphan cleanup — but assert them against content that still
+  exists after the purge. No test may reference a deleted id. Because the specimen is
+  `candidate` (unemitted), routing/emit assertions belong on synthetic `canon` fixtures
+  constructed in-test, not on the specimen; the specimen backs validation/resolution
+  assertions.
+- **Evals:** rewrite the 3 Duncarrow-based `evals/evals.json` entries so they target
+  surviving content:
+  - add-an-NPC eval → author against the specimen's place / a generic setting.
+  - contradiction eval → *don't let an NPC reveal the Warden's name* (or otherwise
+    contradict cosmology canon) — cosmology now provides real canon to reconcile against.
+  - elves-beyond-Duncarrow eval → a generic "start a new storyline in its own file" prompt
+    (no Duncarrow dependency).
+
+## 7. Out of scope (stays intact)
+
+- Any **real** Margreave town, region, faction, NPC, quest, item, or origin.
+- The **NPC-model redesign** the user has flagged as in-flight — this spec must not depend
+  on or pre-empt it.
+- The **hand-authored POC seed JSON** (`content/origins/deserter.json`,
+  `content/world/quests/find_the_ledger.json`, `content/world/locations/greywater_docks.json`,
+  `content/world/items/*`): no coupling to Duncarrow bible ids, and editing it pulls in the
+  runtime/new-game construction surface. Left untouched. (If a later cycle retires the POC
+  seeds, that is its own spec.)
+- **`faction.elves` and `region.the-tallow-reach`** are deleted with the rest (clean slate,
+  per the design decision) — re-authored as real content later, not preserved as stubs.
+
+## 8. Acceptance criteria
+
+- `rule.disposition-ladder` lives in `content/lore/mechanics.md` (verbatim), exactly once
+  across all bibles; `content/lore/duncarrow.md` no longer exists.
+- `content/lore/specimen.md` exists, `status: candidate`, synthetic non-canon ids, one
+  place + one guarded `person`/`npc.*` + one `warm`-gated `fact`; validated by `--check`
+  and **emitted nowhere** (no specimen JSON under `content/world/` or `content/server/`).
+- The generated Duncarrow artifacts (`mera-fenn`, `mayor-oswin-crell`, `harn-blackwood`
+  across canon/topics/npcs, client + server; the Crell topic chain) are gone; legacy
+  `brannoc`/`cadwyn`/`fenn` npc JSON remain.
+- No skill file, test, or eval references a deleted id or `duncarrow.md`; the skill's
+  structure pointers target the specimen and its voice pointers target cosmology.
+- `PYTHONPATH=tools python -m content_build` regenerates cleanly; `--check` exits 0 (fresh,
+  valid, no orphans, no secrecy leaks); `pytest tools/content_build/tests -q` green.
+- Cosmology + the-seven content and the hand-authored POC seed JSON are unchanged.
+- `content/lore/canon-roadmap.md` updated (Duncarrow removed; ladder → mechanics.md;
+  specimen established).
+
+## 9. Blast-radius summary (why this scoping)
+
+Everything authored here is either permanent infrastructure (`mechanics.md`, the ladder's
+home) or an explicitly disposable teaching fixture (`specimen.md`) — plus doc/test/eval
+pointer swaps. When the NPC model and real Margreave lore are reworked, **none of this is
+rebuilt**. The only thing that would force the specimen to change is a change to the `npc.*`
+**schema itself** (a new required field / a changed gate model) — which would ripple through
+*all* content regardless, so it is not a blast radius this spec can or should try to avoid.