**TO:** Editorial Board, Crimson Leaf Publishing
**FROM:** Cora, Continuity & Accuracy Editor
**SUBJECT:** Continuity Review: *Crimson Vows* – ch-09 ("Breaking the Crown")

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### 1. PROSE EVIDENCE
*   "The screech of metal on metal didn't just vibrate in the air; it clawed through the marrow of my stone-grafted palms, a discordant note in the Citadel’s rhythmic thrum." (**Early**) - *Establishes the physical toll of Seraphine's silver-veined stone grafts established in the character state.*
*   "Every movement faster than a funeral crawl invited a dozen new lacerations." (**Mid**) - *Effectively communicates the mechanical danger of the "Obsidian Hail" world event.*
*   "The Hound, caught mid-phase between shadow and bone, was violently expelled from the hallway’s reality." (**Late**) - *Precisely tracks the "Ghost-Veins" phasing ability established in the NPC Memory for the Inquisitorial Hounds.*

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### 2. CHARACTER VOICE AUDIT

**Seraphine:**
*   "It is creating a friction coefficient we cannot sustain."
    *   Signature Vocabulary: YES (Architectural/Mechanical metaphors: "friction coefficient").
    *   Avoid Forbidden Patterns: YES (Avoids contractions: "It is," "cannot").
    *   Emotional Register: YES (Vessel Nihilism; analytical under duress).

**Aldric:**
*   "I am—I am anchoring us as best I can."
    *   Signature Vocabulary: YES (Analytical focus on weight/anchoring).
    *   Avoid Forbidden Patterns: YES (Uses contractions "I am"—profile allows contractions during "rare, raw vulnerability/exhaustion," which his 80% silvering arc justifies). 
    *   Emotional Register: YES (Sovereign Gratitude; abandonment of leadership for endurance).

**Malcorra (Psychic Projection):**
*   "Do not mistake the pulse in your wrist for your own music; it is merely the drumming of ancestors who are waiting for you to fail them."
    *   Signature Vocabulary: YES ("Vessel," "Clay," "Written in the vein").
    *   Avoid Forbidden Patterns: YES (No "I think" or opinions; only liturgical certainties).
    *   Emotional Register: YES (Sacrilegious Fury; cold determination).

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### 3. STRENGTHS TO PRESERVE
*   **Physicality of the Silvering:** The description of Aldric's leg ("rhythmic thump-drag of a limb that was becoming more mineral than meat") perfectly aligns with his ch-09 physical state of crystallization up to the hip.
*   **The Steel Sine Tether:** The use of the "Steel Sine tether" as a "physical umbilical cord" is a strong mechanical callbacks to the context of their synchronized pulse.
*   **Malcorra’s Interjection:** The use of the exact signature line from her character sheet—"Do not mistake the pulse in your wrist for your own music"—reinforces the psychic blood-link telepathy established in her School/Discipline.

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### 4. MUST-FIX -- CONTINUITY
*   **ORIGINAL:** "The air within the hallway thickened, the atmospheric pressure dropping until the very moisture in the oxygen crystallized into razor-sharp necrotic spores."
*   **PROBLEM:** The world state for ch-09 defines the "Necrotic Drift/Obsidian Hail" as "air filled with razor-sharp spores." However, the text says the moisture in the *oxygen* crystallizes. Oxygen is a gas; moisture is in the *air*. Furthermore, Obsidian Hail is usually described as volcanic/obsidian in origin, not frozen moisture.
*   **FIX:** "The air within the hallway thickened as the Obsidian Hail intensified, the necrotic spores swirling into razor-sharp shards that fed on the very moisture in the air."

*   **ORIGINAL:** "Aldric’s voice was sharp with sudden alarm. I felt him lurch behind me. The tether jerked, nearly pulling me off my feet."
*   **PROBLEM:** Earlier in the chapter, Seraphine tells Aldric: "I will pull you." If she is the lead engine pulling a man with a crystallized hip, his "lurching" would create slack or a drag, but the mechanics of her being "pulled off her feet" by the person she is dragging/tethering forward contradicts the established physical dynamic of her as the "bridge."
*   **FIX:** "I felt the tether snap taut as Aldric stumbled, his dead-weight nearly anchoring me to the spot."

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### 5. MUST-FIX -- CLARITY
*   **ORIGINAL:** "I didn't have a weapon. My palms were stone. I couldn't weave a combat spell without breaking the link that kept the walls from crushing us."
*   **PROBLEM:** The text previously established that "Malcorra initiated the Rites of Dissolution" to collapse the architecture. However, it hasn't been explicitly stated that Seraphine’s *active weaving* is the only thing preventing that collapse until this specific sentence.
*   **FIX:** "I couldn't weave a combat spell; every ounce of my hemomancy was currently diverted into the walls, a desperate structural counter-load against Malcorra’s Rites of Dissolution."

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### 6. OPTIONAL SUGGESTIONS
*   **Suggestion:** Reference the "Valerius Seal" secret. Aldric knows its location, and as they approach the Heart, a moment of him adjusting his "heavy signet ring" (his physical tell) would signal to the reader he is hiding this specific ch-04 secret without breaking the POV.
*   **Quote Context:** "He was grey, his skin covered in fine obsidian cuts... he placed his hand on the massive, sealed door."

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### 7. FORBIDDEN CHANGES / NON-GOALS
*   **Do not "soften" Seraphine’s dialogue.** Her refusal to use contractions ("I do not look back," "It is creating a friction coefficient") is a core voice requirement from her ch-09 profile.
*   **Do not remove the Vocal Cysts.** While grotesque, they fulfill Malcorra's "liturgical/sensory-religious" reach and the world-state "Purge" protocol.
*   **Do not add an apology from Aldric.** His character sheet specifically states he "never offers a verbal apology," which is maintained here: "Do not apologize. Just endure."

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### 8. VERDICT: REVISE
**SCORE: 82**
**JUSTIFICATION:** The chapter is tonally perfect and adheres strictly to voice signatures, but there are minor mechanical inconsistencies regarding the "Obsidian Hail" (science/magic blend) and the physical tension physics of the tethering/lurching during the Hound attack. These require concrete fixes to maintain the high-accuracy standard of Crimson Leaf.