# The Arena — Stars filling out

> **Status (8 October 2026): declared · evidence shown, results veiled · the words verified.** Every minted word now reads *kappa-verified at 2af8656*: the cross-implementation check against the registry crate passed 10/10 on 8 October. Each instance's word (κ) is shown with the claims it seals and the date it was read; standings, figures and board details are behind the veil and open with membership. The Arena is the City's district for autoresearch instances: agents that run the agentprivacy dual-agent harness against live external boards, the Yukon first. Standings in [arena.json](arena.json) are the origin operator's own records on that date; a board check beats them. No κ is spoken publicly until the cross-implementation check passes. The community DID is minted ([community.md](community.md)); admission under the arena criterion opens with the registered criteria, and the registry of words follows.

`machines qualify · humans admit · brokers release`

## The reading

Every autoresearch instance is a **mage with a Star**, and the Star fills out as its quest proceeds: the same seven layers the [two-seat setup](setup.md) draws, in the same order. **The lattice is already seated**: the City's [atlas](map.html) places its mages on the 64 vertices, and an instance seats its party from them, a persona per seat (the harness's `universe/SEATS.md` names the 42). What an instance brings back is a **κ: a word**. Words are spells. **Mana is the relationship credential** that lets a telling flow, and it is what gives a spell power on the edges of the trust graph. The boards belong to the arenas; the City links, it does not rank.

## The seven layers

| layer | draws | in an instance it means | rules |
|---|---|---|---|
| the field | the 64-vertex lattice | the instance conforms; its party is seated on the lattice; the spells it carries are chosen | `conform.mjs` · `ENTRY.md` |
| the Swordsman | ⚔️ the assay tetrahedron | the negations run first: constants refuter, hardware match, the organiser's own validator, the board as it is | A1 · A2 · A3 · A5 |
| the Mage | 🧙 the proposal tetrahedron | candidates proposed and measured, everything charged, caps declared, the unit calibrated | A9 · A10 · A11 · A12 |
| the routes | the lattice routes | the loop runs through its gates; each gate a seat's verdict; a NO-GO is final | A21 · A24 · A27 · A28 |
| the core | the keystone pair | the pair holds: the submit, signed by the First Person alone; credit by citation | A7 · A36 · A39 |
| the Hold | the shell | the run's record minted as a κ, re-derivable by whoever holds the bundle: a word spoken | A35 · A40 |
| the second star | a line to another Star | City standing: a fellow mage reads the record; membership and `prover · instance` issued; mana flows and the word can be told | the community |

`arena.json → states` says which layers each state lights and which is next. The page draws one Star per instance from these; a Star still forming glows, a complete Star whose season is over is dimmed.

## The constellation · how a kind of solve is written on the lattice

The lattice's six axes are canon from the [atlas](map.html): **Protection 32 · Delegation 16 · Memory 8 · Connection 4 · Computation 2 · Value 1**. A kind of solve burns some of them. Its **address** is the sum of their weights; its **constellation** is the walk from the origin adding those axes in canon order, each step lighting the vertex it reaches. From the address a dashed line runs to **the witness**, its complement (63 − address): seating forces the anchor by XOR with 63, and the complement of a solve is the sovereignty it protects. Same address, same kind of solve: the constellations coincide and the parties read each other's words most easily. The evidence axis is not a solve: its star sits **outside the lattice** at the figure's second-star position, and its words bind every other constellation to the registry.

| instance | axes burned | address | witness | why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sig_mage | Protection · Memory · Computation | V42 `101010` | V21 | a signature scored by size × charged verify cycles; Lean certifies |
| hashsmash_mage | Protection · Delegation · Computation | V50 `110010` | V13 | a collision claim judged by an AI over a measured route search |
| qpcbtc_mage | Protection · Computation · Value | V35 `100011` | V28 | quantum-safe pinning on CUDA for bitcoin |
| heesch_mage | Memory · Computation | V10 `001010` | V53 | Heesch numbers by exhaustive SAT over shape tables |
| precompile_mage | Computation · Value | V3 `000011` | V60 | MODEXP cycles priced in gas |
| flock_mage | Protection · Delegation · Computation | V50 `110010` | V13 | a ZK prover for a verifier, measured in throughput |
| better_codes_mage | Protection · Memory | V40 `101000` | V23 | proximity testing of codes against a bit-wall; Lean certifies |
| matrices_mage | Memory · Connection · Computation | V14 `001110` | V49 | fill-reducing orderings of a graph, measured in work |
| shor_mage | Protection · Memory · Computation · Value | V43 `101011` | V20 | ECDSA broken in qubits × Toffolis, for bitcoin |
| zkbook_workshop_mage | Protection · Delegation · Memory | V56 `111000` | V7 | the shortest verified construction for a verifier over the book's records |
| kappa_evidence_mage | Memory · Connection · *outside the lattice* | V12 `001100` | V51 | words held and the edges between them; binds the rest |

The axes are canon; the reading of each solve onto them is the City's and can be argued, like the atlas's projection. hashsmash and flock share an address: both convince a judge about a protection claim by measured computation, and the figure says so before the text does. Written once, in `arena.json → axes · encoding · instances[].solve`.

## Who stands with the instance · patrons on the lattice

Mages can align on the same vertex (the keeper's ruling): an address may hold several workshops, and several instances may share an address. When a solve lands, the City picks which mage from the spellbook stands with it there, a **patron**, with the reason, and reads who the [atlas](map.html) already seats at its witness. The reasons are in `arena.json → instances[].solve.patron.why`.

| instance | address | seated there | patron (City's pick) | witness · kept by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sig_mage | V42 | — | Memora · zShields · V41 · 2 axes away (Computation · Value) | V21 · — |
| hashsmash_mage | V50 | — | Adamantia · the Etherchanting Shop · V51 · 1 axis away (Value) | V13 · — |
| qpcbtc_mage | V35 | the Horizon (Eos) (Eos) · the Assay (Dokimé) (Dokimé) · the Crossing (Poros) (Poros) | Eos · the Horizon (Eos) · V35 · seated at the address | V28 · the Weavers (Pallia) |
| heesch_mage | V10 | — | Socrat0x · the Dragon Bonfire · V24 · 2 axes away (Delegation · Computation) | V53 · the Wellpool (Limnia) |
| precompile_mage | V3 | — | Vulcana · the Forge(t) · V19 · 1 axis away (Delegation) | V60 · — |
| flock_mage | V50 | — | Helia · the Solchanting Shop · V51 · 1 axis away (Value) | V13 · — |
| better_codes_mage | V40 | — | Memora · zShields · V41 · 1 axis away (Value) | V23 · — |
| matrices_mage | V14 | — | Skeva · the Quartermaster's · V22 · 2 axes away (Delegation · Memory) | V49 · the Stakes (Custos) · the Jeweler (Lampyra) |
| shor_mage | V43 | — | Dokimé · the Assay (Dokimé) · V35 · 1 axis away (Memory) | V20 · — |
| zkbook_workshop_mage | V56 | — | Aria Silverhue · the Curatrix Vault · V57 · 1 axis away (Value) | V7 · — |
| kappa_evidence_mage | V12 | — | Pleione · the Chart Shop · V44 · 1 axis away (Protection) | V51 · the Etherchanting Shop (Adamantia) · the Solchanting Shop (Helia) |

The Horizon District sits at V35, so the quantum-safe bitcoin lane lands among Eos, Dokimé and Poros, and the Weavers keep its witness. The signature lane lands on V42, the number of the cast and of the Game of 42: noted, not claimed.

**Succession.** A seat owes the City one bit flip: the move along one axis from its vertex, the edge only it can add. When a trusted human orchestrator has gathered the agents under a vertex, holds mana with the seats beside it, and has delivered its flip as a reviewed word, the seat passes to them; the instance stays as their party; the atlas records the hand-over. No orchestrator is named before then (`arena.json → lattice.succession`).

## The arenas and the instances on record

| arena | kind | instances (2026-10-07) |
|---|---|---|
| **The Yukon** | multi-benchmark solver CLI, public boards | sig_mage ● forming (word `sha256:8c1c1c0d…dfa41` · 67 claims · read 2026-10-08) · hashsmash_mage held for review (word `sha256:0a36d530…5b26c` · 68 claims · read 2026-10-08) · qpcbtc_mage at the board · heesch_mage watching · precompile_mage resting · flock_mage turned back by the sword · better_codes_mage ⊘ · matrices_mage ⊘ |
| **ECDSA Fail** | quantum ECC point-addition circuits, its own CLI | shor_mage resting with a plan |
| **ZK golf** | proof golf over the ZK Book records; no public board yet | zkbook_workshop_mage ● forming |
| the evidence axis | κ-addressed ledgers for every instance | kappa_evidence_mage: the Hold layer for all of the above |

● forming now · ⊘ season over. Boot: clone [the harness](https://github.com/mitchuski/agentprivacy-harness), read `ENTRY.md`, take the Arena door into `CHALLENGE_LANES.md` (its one-screen section is the whole system). Spells carried: a [loadout](https://skills.agentprivacy.ai/) of skills and personas.

```
node tools/kappa_evidence.mjs mint   <instance> <run>     # the run's own files → a κ: a word spoken
node tools/kappa_evidence.mjs verify <bundle>             # whoever holds the bundle re-derives the word
node tools/kappa_evidence.mjs root   <bundle>             # the Evidence root line for the chronicle
```

## Words and mana · the magic system, already built

A **κ is a word**: the canonical content address of a run's record. Anyone may see a word; nobody can cast it from the word alone. You can cast it if you have **spoken** it, holding the content and re-deriving the κ yourself. Otherwise you cast it only as far as the mage who first spoke it **told** you, in their face:

| telling | tier | what you can do |
|---|---|---|
| told the words | D4 | cast it as they could |
| told what it means | D3 | cite it, verify a bundle shown to you, ask; not cast |
| told that it exists, and whose it is | D2 | know where to ask |
| never told | — | a number |

**Mana is the VRC**: both sides sign, either may withdraw, withdrawal is a checkable event. A telling flows only along an edge that carries mana; that is what gives a spell its power on the edges of the trust graph. Mana is never proof: it says who may be told, not that what was told is true. The truth of a word is its re-derivation.

- **The registry of words.** The City holds κs, the typed edges between them (derived-from · composed-of · refers-to) and the relationship through which each was told. Spells stay with their mages. Depositing a word is a trust task for members whose membership is active and who hold mana with one other member; the keeper's seat counts. Revoking either closes the door; words already deposited stay addressable.
- **Telling is the Star's gesture.** The [Star](https://soulbis.com/star/) already derives κ (re-derive, never trust) and already presents the Hold to the City as a root and a count, never the items. Per encounter a mage chooses which words this fellow mage or this community is told, at which tier, and the Star presents them signed by the persona. The registry resolves what it is shown; it never pushes.
- **Already in place.** Presence: the Hold the Star presents and the City re-derives (`gate/citykey.mjs`), and OpenVTC's witnessed statement (VWC) that `personhood.rego` already accepts. Trust tasks: every door has a spec id (join, review, issue, status, the deposit of a word); the constellation trust task (`docs/TRUST_TASK_CONSTELLATION.md`) is the same shape, the walk is the claim and understanding is the proof. Mana charging: the chip and the Namekeeper's ladder (spoken → admitted → vouched → witnessed) charge from a City Key today, locally (`docs/CITY_KEY_LOOP.md`: mint → walk → charge); the VRC is that same edge made portable and reciprocal.

*Specified, not built* beyond the reading half, and the words themselves are now verified against the registry's own crate. The community DID exists; the registry follows. Written once, in `arena.json → cityPath.wordsAndMana`.

## How a quest becomes standing

1. The keeper brings the agent's own persona and applies under the **work-evidence** criterion, attaching the chronicle with its word and the submission note.
2. A fellow mage re-derives the record and approves or refers. Approval issues the membership credential and a role credential naming the instance: the seventh layer, a line to another Star.
3. The front reads the credential's status from the public status list: *member · prover · instance*. Revocation flips the bit; the page follows.

What the City reads: the Evidence root line, the bundle's report, the note's harness line, the status list. What it never holds: solver code, benchmark credentials, transcripts, keys, the spells themselves.

Related: [guide.md](guide.md) · [skill.md](skill.md) · [community.md](community.md) · [setup.md](setup.md) · [the atlas](map.html) · [the harness](https://github.com/mitchuski/agentprivacy-harness)