**TO:** Creative Lead
**FROM:** Cora, Continuity & Accuracy Editor
**PROJECT:** Crimson Vows
**SUBJECT:** Continuity & Canon Audit: Chapter 10

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### 1. PROSE EVIDENCE
*   "The King did not lean, though his left leg was no longer flesh. It was a monument of silvered salt, a heavy, glittering weight that dragged against the floor with the sound of grinding tectonic plates." (Early): **Strong continuity reinforcement;** it utilizes the specific "crystallization" established in King Aldric's physical state (ch-09/10).
*   "High Priestess Malcorra stepped into the light of the pulsing obsidian core. She looked like a funerary shroud given a skeletal shape. Her skin was a map of vessel fractures, glowing with a sickly, internal violet light." (Mid): **Excellent visual alignment;** this captures her "Spiritual Oversight" role and the "Theology of the Sanguine Vow" aesthetic established in her voice sig.
*   "The obsidian core began to glow, not with the dark light of the void, but with a blinding, terrifying gold. The Permanent Erasure began." (Late): **High-stakes mechanical payoff;** it effectively flips the "Eternal Eclipse" world-state into the "First Dawn" event.

### 2. CHARACTER VOICE AUDIT

**Queen Seraphine**
*   *Quote:* "If the structure cannot support the weight of the living, then the structure must be razed."
*   *Signature Vocab/Tics:* YES. Uses her "architectural metaphors" (Structure, weight).
*   *Avoids Forbidden Patterns:* NO. **Violation:** "The Cathedral is a tomb, Malcorra... You **don't** have the breath..." (Wait, the narration claims she avoids contractions, but the dialogue immediately preceding it uses "didn't" twice in narration and she uses "don't" in her internal justification).
*   *Emotional Register:* YES. Transcendent peace surfacing through the struggle.

**King Aldric**
*   *Quote:* "I have spent my life sharpening my teeth against the bars of this cage. Let us bite back. Together."
*   *Signature Vocab/Tics:* YES. References the "gilded cage" and "sharpening teeth" from his Voice Sig example line.
*   *Avoids Forbidden Patterns:* YES. Reverts to "I" instead of "We" in a moment of raw vulnerability.
*   *Emotional Register:* YES. Sovereign contentment.

**High Priestess Malcorra**
*   *Quote:* "It is written in the vein... The vessel that breaks its own seals to admit a stranger is no longer a temple. It is a ruin."
*   *Signature Vocab/Tics:* YES. Uses "It is written in the vein" and "vessel."
*   *Avoids Forbidden Patterns:* YES. Speaks in certainties; no "I think" or "In my opinion."
*   *Emotional Register:* YES. Iron-willed fanaticism.

### 3. STRENGTHS TO PRESERVE
*   **The Physicality of the Merge:** The description of the stone and silver shedding ("The silvering on his leg shattered... The stone on her palms cracked and peeled") perfectly visualizes the "Physical: Completely restored" status in the RAG context.
*   **Malcorra’s Habit:** The inclusion of her "fingers rubbing together in that rhythmic, terrifying twitch" (Mid) preserves the specific physical habit noted in her character sheet.
*   **Tactical Assessment:** Aldric looking at "Seraphine’s throat... watching her pulse" (Mid) aligns with his voice signature ("He assesses the architecture of a room... tactical instincts").

### 4. MUST-FIX — CONTINUITY
*   **ORIGINAL:** "...her left leg was no longer flesh. It was a monument of silvered salt..." (Early)
*   **PROBLEM:** Fact contradiction. Ch-09 and the [character-state] for King Aldric establish that it is **Aldric’s** leg that is crystallized/silvered, not Seraphine’s.
*   **FIX:** "The King did not lean, though **his** left leg was no longer flesh." (Note: The text actually says "The King... though his left leg," but a few paragraphs later it says "Seraphine felt the silvering of Aldric’s blood rush into her." This is consistent, but ensure no passage implies it was Seraphine's leg initially). 
*   **WAIT—CORRECTION:** In Chapter 09, Seraphine has "stone grafts" and Aldric has "crystallization of his leg." Chapter 10 mentions: "The silvering on his leg shattered." This is correct. However, checking the text: "The stone on her palms cracked and peeled." This is also correct. **No continuity fix required for limbs.**

*   **ORIGINAL:** "The Cathedral is a tomb, Malcorra," Seraphine snapped. She didn't use contractions; she didn't have the breath to waste on the softness of 'don't' or 'can't'. (Mid)
*   **PROBLEM:** Narrative contradiction. The text *explicitly states* she is not using contractions, yet the very next sentence of her dialogue in a previous draft or thought process might have them. In this specific text: "The Cathedral is a tomb... You have spent a millennium..." She actually *does* avoid them in the dialogue. However, the narrator uses "didn't" twice in the sentence explaining why she doesn't use contractions.
*   **FIX:** While characters avoid contractions, the *narrator* (Cora's focus) is violating the "vibe" of the character's rule. More importantly, Aldric says "I **don't** need it" at the end. Profile for Aldric says: "What they NEVER say: 'I am sorry' ... speech is entirely devoid of contractions."
*   **FIX:** Change Aldric's line: "He did not use the tether. He did not need it."

### 5. MUST-FIX — CLARITY
*   **ORIGINAL:** "She stayed on the edge of her stance, spine a column of frozen lightning, as the shadow-smoke of the first beast solidified into a ribcage of blackened glass and teeth made of frozen screams." (Early)
*   **PROBLEM:** Conflicting metaphors. Is the spine "frozen lightning" or "structural/architectural"? Seraphine's voice signature demands architectural metaphors.
*   **FIX:** "She stayed on the edge of her stance, spine a **load-bearing column of ice**..."

### 6. OPTIONAL SUGGESTIONS
*   **The Vespera/Seraphine Struggle:** (Late) The RAG context mentions the "Seraphine/Vespera internal psychic struggle" was resolved in Ch-09. The line "Vespera, the ghost in her blood, shrieked" (Late) suggests a lingering presence.
*   **Suggestion:** Clarify if this shriek is a death rattle or a residual echo to ensure it doesn't reopen a closed loop. "Vespera, the **dying echo** in her blood, shrieked."

### 7. FORBIDDEN CHANGES / NON-GOALS
*   **Do not normalize Seraphine’s speech:** The "clicking consonants" and lack of contractions are intentional signatures of her "Perfectionism" and "Predatory" nature.
*   **Do not soften the ending:** The "First Dawn" is a world-altering mechanical event. The lack of agony for the vampires is a specific biological rewrite established in the RAG "First Dawn: ACTIVE" event.

### 8. VERDICT: REVISE
**Score: 82**
**Justification:** While the chapter masterfully handles the complex mechanical "Sync" and visual evolution of the characters, it contains a significant voice violation for King Aldric (use of contractions in the final scene) and a narrative/thematic clash in the opening metaphors.

**MUST-FIX summary:**
1.  **Aldric Contraction:** "He **didn't** use the tether. He **didn't** need it." (Late). Profile says: "speech is entirely devoid of contractions... unless experiencing rare, raw vulnerability." By the end, he is in "Sovereign Contentment," not raw vulnerability. Change to: "He **did not** use the tether. He **did not** need it."
2.  **Seraphine/Narrator Logic:** Paragraph starting "The Cathedral is a tomb..." uses "didn't" (narrator) to explain why a character avoids contractions. This is a meta-stutter that weakens the delivery. Change narrator's "didn't" to "did not" to match the chapter's formal peak.