# MECHANICS — canonical world rules (mechanical, not lore)

> Home for mechanical `rule.*` entries the dialogue/engine layer depends on.
> `rule.disposition-ladder` lives here (moved from the retired `duncarrow.md`
> scaffolding); it is the required-exactly-once gate vocabulary every NPC
> knowledge-gate references.

```yaml
id: rule.disposition-ladder
type: rule
status: canon
secrecy: 0
related: []
rungs: [hostile, cold, neutral, warm, trusted]
body: >
  NPC trust toward the player is one of five ordered states:
  hostile < cold < neutral < warm < trusted. Where a given player sits with a
  given NPC is runtime state owned by code. The ladder itself is canon. Every
  knowledge-link gate references one of these five names, plus the special
  gate `never` (fact is known but never revealed through dialogue at any rung).
```