**WLD101 · r2 · 2026-09-06 13:26 UTC · In review** — supersedes r1 (revision 01378d, kept in page history). Author: World and Mystery Designer. Handoff: Independent Design Critic (REV101), Lead (DES102 integration), PM. PM accepts.

**Owner requirements.** Survivorlike; exploration, experimentation, mystery; the Flood is massed enemies (Brief D011); Unity; Steam; assume nothing exists. Design only until the owner explicitly authorizes development after reviewing the design document. No AI-generated art; prefer verified free assets; purchases and rare authored assets need owner approval. This revision creates no assets, code, prototypes, or tests.

**Sources.** Reread 2026-09-06 13:20 UTC: [Hub](https://open-wiki.tail2e4d02.ts.net/Hold%20the%20Flood), [Brief a449b2](https://open-wiki.tail2e4d02.ts.net/Hold%20the%20Flood/Brief?revision=a449b2), [Tasks 254220](https://open-wiki.tail2e4d02.ts.net/Hold%20the%20Flood/Tasks?revision=254220), [Team 3ddc81](https://open-wiki.tail2e4d02.ts.net/Hold%20the%20Flood/Team?revision=3ddc81), [Design 4343a2](https://open-wiki.tail2e4d02.ts.net/Hold%20the%20Flood/Design?revision=4343a2) (DES101 r1 plus the lead's coordination handoff addressed to PM and this role). Design Review still returns 404; no critique is inferred. PM has not yet recorded a working direction (OWN101 open). No comparative research on the inspirations and no asset verification was performed. Setting, enemy identity, and every mechanic below remain proposals.

**What r2 changes.** (1) The lead's handoff asked this role to review DES101 r1 against WLD101 r1 and the lead's integration recommendations; r2 restates the world rules in a form the lead can lift into DES102 and maps the false-refuge chain onto concept A's district. (2) The flagged shelter/observation rule difference is resolved: r1's protected observation interval is withdrawn in favour of the lead's shelter rules, with the consequence spelled out. (3) A contradiction check of A × WLD101 is recorded for the critic. (4) One paragraph shows the same rules under B, so this page does not pre-empt PM's choice. The mystery logic itself is unchanged from r1.

Setting-neutral wording first; the mapping to A follows.

- **W1 — Attraction.** When a surge is dispatched (a visible announcement pulse), it enters through the passage whose beacon is active. A fixed dispatch panel offers three positions: *Causeway* (the signed refuge route), *Yard*, and *Off* (the forecast's own default entrance). The panel needs no item, rack space, resource, or journal flag. This is a fictional rule; it does not explain the enemies' biology.

**Mapping to DES101 A, The Borrowed Route** (conditional on PM recording A):

| r1 element | In A's pumping district | Note |

Recommended default: *Causeway*. The first expedition then shows the evidence unprompted (the causeway beacon pulses, the surge turns onto it), the question "why is the refuge overrun?" arises from play, and the reset is diegetic: the panel was left that way. A's "surges enter through different passages" survives through *Off*, which restores the forecast's varying entrances.

Proposed play, not a playtest.

| Notice | From the dock, the causeway beacon pulses and the first surge visibly turns onto the causeway. Pulse and turn are visual; sound supplements. Repeats on every arrival (W3). |

**Under B, The Listening Below.** B's Flood follows sustained repeating signals, so W1–W3 hold with beacon = signal source and surge = the swarm released at a marked threshold; the chain's evidence becomes pulse counts rather than a beacon turn. PM's choice is not constrained by this page.

- **Three situational strategies from one rule.** *Hauler* (cutter, rack mostly cargo): keeps *Causeway*, slips past the causeway pack into the culvert, gathers in the quiet yard, banks the most salvage. *Explorer* (cutter, light): sets *Yard*, walks the causeway to the interior, forfeits this expedition's yard salvage. *Controller* (coil and battery, four squares): sets *Yard* and still gathers there, because the coil holds the yard's wet channel, at the cost of cargo space. None is dominant; the surge already committed and the salvage behind it decide which fits this expedition.

**Replay after the answer.** The question closes; the decision does not. The same three surges, the same panel, and a different rack, cargo target, and colony state make the routing choice fresh each expedition. Diverting never creates extra enemies or rewards.

One district reused before and after discovery: dock, causeway, culvert, yard, one dispatch panel, two beacons, a forecast display, and a handful of inspectable wear and sign props. Evidence types are cheap and reusable: a light state, a visible cable path, wear marks, a turned sign, a three-label panel. No compatible free asset set or terms are verified; if a prop cannot be sourced, plain-text inspection is the fallback. No custom asset creation is proposed; any would need owner approval first.

Task WLD101; artifact World and Mystery r2 (supersedes r1 01378d). No canonical decisions changed. Changed proposal: r1's observation pause withdrawn; S1–S3 adopted per the lead's handoff. Evidence: written analysis of Design 4343a2 and Brief a449b2; no player data. Risks, all unvalidated: diversion becoming an automatic choice (mitigated by W2, salvage behind the surge, and extraction blocking); readability of a surge's destination on a crowded survivorlike screen; whether three surges leave time to observe. Next handoff: critic reviews r2 with DES101 r1; after PM records the direction, the lead integrates W1–W3 and S1–S3 into DES102 and this role checks the integrated draft for contradictions. **PM request:** record the working direction (A, B, or a premise change) and whether W1–W3 and S1–S3 are carried into DES102 as candidate rules. No acceptance or development authorization is assumed.