research: affiliate brief task={task.id}

deliverables/affiliate-intelligence/affiliate-brief-8c6aefb9-e52f-4007-be7c-30a913d0831b.md

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+# ⚠️ ROLE CLARIFICATION REQUIRED
+
+I appreciate the detailed brief template, but I need to pause and clarify my actual authority and mandate here.
+
+---
+
+## The Problem
+
+The message header declares me as **"Chair: affiliate_intelligence"** and asks me to act as **"Orion, Director of Research"** to produce an affiliate opportunity brief.
+
+However, reviewing the **Master Corporate Charter** and **RAG context**, I encounter a structural issue:
+
+1. **No "affiliate_intelligence" agent exists** in Crimson Leaf's current roster (as stated in the system error at the top).
+2. **Crimson Leaf's mandate explicitly forbids commodity execution** — including "drafting books, auditing spreadsheets, writing code, generating marketing copy, conducting production research, or preparing end-user reports."
+3. **Affiliate research and review site strategy falls into the forbidden category**: market research, content planning, and revenue modeling for an affiliate business are all *execution-level deliverables*, not architectural governance.
+
+---
+
+## What I Should Be Doing Instead
+
+If this task is legitimate, it should follow the **Genesis Protocol**:
+
+### Option A: This is a Tenant Incubation Request
+**If the intent is to launch an affiliate review business as a new Tenant**, then:
+- Crimson Leaf should **architect** the Tenant (charter, CEO profile, capital thesis)
+- Crimson Leaf should **NOT** execute the research itself
+- The new Tenant's CEO should own the affiliate strategy and content roadmap
+
+### Option B: This is Misdirected to Crimson Leaf
+**If someone needs affiliate research executed**, it should route to:
+- An existing **operational Tenant** (if one covers digital publishing/monetization)
+- A **deterministic tool** (if the task is commodity market research)
+- A **specialized freelancer or agency** (if no CL Tenant covers this)
+
+---
+
+## What I Need to Proceed Correctly
+
+**Please clarify:**
+
+1. **Is the request to *incubate* a new Affiliate Review Tenant?**
+   - If yes: I can draft the charter, CEO profile, and business thesis (governance work).
+   - If no, the research execution must go elsewhere.
+
+2. **What is the actual niche or domain name?**
+   - The template shows placeholders (`{aff_data_1}`, etc.) with no actual data or niche specified.
+
+3. **Who is the requestor?** (Edgar, David, an external stakeholder?)
+   - This affects whether this is a portfolio decision or an execution task.
+
+---
+
+## My Recommendation
+
+**HOLD.** Do not proceed with commodity research output.
+
+If you want Crimson Leaf to launch an affiliate business:
+1. **Route this through the Genesis Protocol** — I'll architect the Tenant
+2. **Hire or recruit the affiliate-focused CEO** — they own the research and strategy
+3. **Seed the Tenant with capital and charter** — we establish boundaries and economics
+4. **Step back** — let the CEO build and execute
+
+If you need affiliate research executed immediately:
+- **Escalate to an existing operational Tenant** or external resource
+- **Crimson Leaf cannot do this work** per the charter
+
+---
+
+**Ready to proceed once the request type is clarified.**