Connect early Juice of Sapho battle aggressor

During the existing public pre-plan opportunity, the holder can discard canonical unreserved Sapho to become aggressor before their readiness or any binding plan/Voice/inspection/Truthtrance commitment. Unchosen preparation prompts remain available. No new confirmation-only or holder-dependent response window is introduced. Later intervention and its allocation/privacy protocol remain unfinished.

A battle/turn/revision-bound history and independent event list preserve accepted priority while keeping attacker, defender and chooser stable. Legitimately recovered cards can change priority again at a fresh event. Reads, actions and normalization reject corrupt histories/custody. Shared tie priority respects Habbanya in either physical slot and reaches pre-commit Stone/Voice checks, public views, bot calculations and actual ordinary/Stone resolution. The final quote previously assumed original attacker priority and now consumes the validated aggressor. Harkonnen capture still follows actual winner/loser.

Owner controls, public aggressor/tie text, automatic notices and internal guidance are connected. Focused tests exercise actual tied results in Basic/Advanced, both Habbanya sides, mixed-force Stone finishability before opposing commitments, a real allied Prescience boundary, stale/late/cross-owner rejection, private rival noninterference, receipt corruption, saved recovered-card revision, actual policies at all four AI levels and authenticated SQLite races/seat restoration. Independent review found no material defect. A prior scheduling test now explicitly readies its human holder to save the card instead of allowing the new legal AI play.

Types, lint and 4866 offline tests, production build and 43 HTTP/session tests pass on the unchanged source fingerprint below. Two genuine CHOAM/Richese samples completed with 1279 accepted actions, 34 periodic JSON restores and no rejected candidates. One movement Sapho play occurred; neither sample used aggressor. Targeted tests and browser evidence, not those samples, establish the new effect. Full expansion and module acceptance remain incomplete.

In a new isolated browser room, genuine Advanced faction setup was followed by conserved battle staging. The human Guild used the actual aggressor button, restored the spent card and priority after refresh, readied, selected Master Bewt with zero dial/support, and declined a Traitor call. The staged Emperor opponent used real engine ready/plan/vote actions with Caid and zero dial/support. Guild won the 3-3 tie, retained four forces and 30 spice, and Emperor lost four forces. Final refresh and private JSON views restored the same outcome; the original seat row is unchanged. Screenshot capture timed out, so visual screenshot acceptance is not claimed.

All 1072 original games and original seat/recovery/entry/handover records are unchanged; 1106 rooms remain including isolated QA and HTTP fixtures. SQLite quick-check and foreign keys pass. The healthy server was reused without reset/restart or automation.

The Mirror audit now records why every genuine CHOAM/Richese setup includes unresolved copy candidates: an ordinary-copy-only gate would need hidden eligibility or altered inventory. Mirror stays gated pending the existing disposal ruling and copied-choice work. No mode/publication gate is opened.

Verified source tree: 2fb3160efd713a3f7068aedb474868ba6863bccc420848a56e69e1df1d84441b

docs/CURRENT_STATUS.md

@@ -6,12 +6,11 @@ gated.** Prototypes do not open completion or publication gates.
 
 ## Current checkpoint and work
 
-Latest delivered rules checkpoint: `62e87d2`, [Harass allocation](HARASS_ALLOCATION.md).
-Types, lint, **4,850 offline tests**, production build and 43 HTTP checks passed.
-Eight genuine card-variant games completed in 9,956 accepted actions with 266
-periodic save/restore checks and no rejected candidates. Focused and browser
-cases exercised ambiguous allocation. All 1,038 opening games and original
-seat/recovery records were unchanged; 1,072 rooms remained after isolated QA.
+Latest delivered checkpoint: `bfa24b0`, [optional table sounds](TABLE_SOUNDS.md).
+Types, lint, **4,856 offline tests** and production build passed. Browser controls
+verified mute, keyboard volume, refresh and cross-tab preferences; physical audio
+and screenshot acceptance remain open. All 1,072 games and original seat/recovery
+records were preserved, and the server remained healthy after the outage.
 Earlier evidence remains in the [implementation history](IMPLEMENTATION_STATUS.md).
 
 The connected [Harass & Withdraw prototype](HARASS_WITHDRAW_RUNTIME.md) supports either
@@ -24,22 +23,20 @@ card-specific discard precedence are explicitly labeled inferences. The Stone
 Burner timing question is pending; no user answer is assumed. Reinforcements
 remains unfinished. This does not open variant, mode or publication gates.
 
-Current checkpoint: [optional table sounds](TABLE_SOUNDS.md) connects local mute,
-volume, a test sample and short public phase/automatic-action cues. Initial and
-background updates stay silent; preferences survive refresh and synchronize
-between tabs. This adds no gameplay actions, private eligibility checks or game
-storage. Final source-bound checks and delivery are recorded in the private
-report and Git message; physical audio and screenshot acceptance remain open.
+Current checkpoint: [early Sapho aggressor](SAPHO_AGGRESSOR.md) connects the
+printed battle-priority effect during the existing shared pre-plan opportunity.
+Physical attacker/defender/chooser stay stable; Habbanya takes precedence in either
+slot. Shared priority feeds Stone admission, ordinary/Stone resolution, public
+controls and all four AI profiles. Battle-bound history survives private saved
+continuation. Later intervention remains unfinished; no new ruling is assumed.
+Final checks, samples, browser evidence and delivery belong to the source-bound
+private report and Git message.
 
-On 20 September, the stopped server was started after backing up all 1,072 rooms.
-Following another reported outage, the server responded normally and every saved
-game still matched that baseline. The isolated browser seat restored successfully.
-No database reset or recurring automation was needed.
-
-Next: prototype ordinary Mirror Weapon copies using the existing shared resolver,
-while retaining explicit gates for unresolved copied Tooth/Artillery disposal and
-Stone Burner choices. Sapho battle aggressor is the next independent candidate.
-The remaining Leader Skill bands retain their existing pending rulings.
+The [Mirror admission review](MIRROR_WEAPON_ENGINE_AUDIT.md) found that every genuine
+Richese setup contains the unresolved copied weapons. Ordinary-only activation
+cannot safely depend on hidden custody or alter the printed deck. Mirror remains
+gated pending the existing disposal ruling and copied-choice work. Continue with
+independent missing faction/card functions, then integrated play and refinement.
 
 ## Authoritative navigation
 

docs/IMPLEMENTATION_STATUS.md

@@ -1,5 +1,23 @@
 # Dune implementation status
 
+## 20 September 2026 — Sapho early battle aggressor
+
+[Early aggressor](SAPHO_AGGRESSOR.md) connects the held physical card, existing
+pre-plan opportunity, shared tie priority, controls, four AI profiles and private
+saved continuation. It preserves participant slots and chooser, respects Habbanya
+in either slot, and checks Stone finishability before commitments. Later battle
+intervention and its unresolved allocation/response protocol remain unfinished.
+Independent review found no material rules/privacy blocker after final integration.
+Focused engine/control/SQLite evidence is paired with final source-bound checks,
+browser/sample reports, preservation and verified Git delivery in the private
+checkpoint report and commit message. Public mode and publication gates stay closed.
+
+The Mirror admission audit supersedes its earlier ordinary-slice recommendation:
+every genuine CHOAM/Richese setup includes the unresolved copy candidates. A
+synthetic restricted deck, hidden eligibility gate or reveal-time rejection cannot
+establish playable full-game support. Existing user/source rulings remain pending.
+
+
 ## 20 September 2026 — Optional table sound prototype
 
 [Table sound controls](TABLE_SOUNDS.md) add local mute, keyboard volume and a test

docs/JUICE_OF_SAPHO_RUNTIME.md

@@ -4,8 +4,9 @@ Updated 14 September 2026. **Partial card implementation; complete Richese/Advan
 
 The [Battle-phase ordering prototype](SAPHO_BATTLE_ORDER.md) adds first/last
 remaining battle choices. Its separate chooser, phase priority and saved-boundary
-contract supersede the earlier absence of that mode below. Aggressor remains
-unimplemented.
+contract supersede the earlier absence of that mode below. The
+[early aggressor prototype](SAPHO_AGGRESSOR.md) now uses the existing shared
+pre-plan opportunity; later aggressor intervention remains unfinished.
 
 ## Implemented contract
 
@@ -26,7 +27,7 @@ The [battle-order follow-up](SAPHO_BATTLE_ORDER.md) connects first/last at a cle
 boundary between actual battles. It does not implement the separate aggressor
 mode discussed below.
 
-Battle aggressor, normal/Black Market cyclic bidding, other ordered actions and partly completed movement remain unfinished. Once Around first after an already completed bid and first/Guild competing priority are guarded. Reacquiring and replaying Sapho while an existing movement protection remains is also guarded. Silent submission is simultaneous and receives no fabricated order or tie change.
+Later battle aggressor intervention, normal/Black Market cyclic bidding, other ordered actions and partly completed movement remain unfinished. Once Around first after an already completed bid and first/Guild competing priority are guarded. Reacquiring and replaying Sapho while an existing movement protection remains is also guarded. Silent submission is simultaneous and receives no fabricated order or tie change.
 
 The battle audit in [the battle review](JUICE_OF_SAPHO_BATTLE_REVIEW.md) found a real Stone Burner counterexample: a plan admitted with original aggressor tie priority can become allocation-ambiguous after late Sapho. A complete implementation needs the actual allocation continuation (and a usable, possession-independent late intervention boundary), not rejection based on an opponent's hidden plan. No aggressor handler has been enabled around that defect.
 

docs/MIRROR_WEAPON_ENGINE_AUDIT.md

@@ -61,6 +61,17 @@ Portable Snooper is concurrently being integrated by the parent. Consume its fin
 
 ## Genuine unresolved boundaries and recommended scope
 
+**20 September admission review:** the ordinary-copy arithmetic remains useful,
+but cannot alone open a genuine setup. CHOAM's Treachery deck supplies Poison
+Tooth and Artillery even without Ix, while the full Richese cache supplies Stone
+Burner. A public configuration gate therefore cannot isolate ordinary copies.
+Rejecting according to a concealed opposing hand/plan would leak information;
+rejecting after commitments could strand the battle. Do not remove physical
+cards or manufacture a restricted deck to claim complete-game support. Mirror
+remains gated pending the existing copied-disposal ruling and copied-choice work.
+This qualifies the earlier ordinary-slice recommendation below; it does not
+invalidate the existing focused arithmetic evidence or answer the user question.
+
 - **Copied compulsory disposal:** the FAQ names physical Tooth/Artillery, while Mirror copies a weapon. The retrieved primary sources do not explicitly say whether their disposal exception also applies to the physical Mirror. Separate combat effects from cleanup and obtain a ruling before certifying those pairings. This does not justify blocking ordinary projectile/poison/Lasgun/Poison Blade/selected-role copies.
 - **Stone Burner foundation:** the full effect is presently unsupported. Basic undialed counts follow physical forces minus dialed losses; ties use ordinary aggressor priority unless overridden. Advanced mixed/support-dependent dials can permit different physical casualty allocations, which now affect who wins; the present engine chooses those only for an already determined winner. Stone's original choice and allocation timing must be implemented/audited before its copied form. This is an underlying special-outcome problem, not uncertainty over whether Mirror copies a valid weapon.
 - **Higher modules:** inactive leader skills may modify attacks, defenses or card roles. No combined leader-skill certification follows from the matrix. Two physical Mirrors are outside the verified inventory rather than a normal supported interaction.

docs/RULE_DECISIONS.md

@@ -53,8 +53,8 @@ These are unresolved in the cited records. Do not infer an answer from elapsed t
 | Harass / Stone Burner | A user question has been sent: keep the combination gated or compare forces remaining after withdrawal. No answer is assumed. The Richese card-family configuration is guarded publicly; hidden Stone Burner custody never controls eligibility. Ambiguous physical allocations and other optional modules remain unfinished. | [Current boundaries](HARASS_WITHDRAW_RUNTIME.md#current-boundaries) |
 | Recruits late accounting and rates | A user question has been sent for two free plus one paid Atreides return before Recruits: keep the disputed case gated, or one/two further free returns without refund. No answer is assumed. Late-changing free rates, pending repricing and same-turn recovered-card replay also stay gated. The connected clean-case preview retains the independent seven-force cap after faction-advantage cancellation as an explicit inference, not a direct combined FAQ. | [Source audit](RECRUITS_RULES.md), [runtime scope](RECRUITS_RUNTIME.md) |
 | Ambassador/Terror arrival priority | Both optionally react to the same entry, but no publisher/designer priority was found. The order can change Fremen relocation versus Atomics losses. A user question has been sent: keep the overlap gated pending an official ruling, or use explicitly provisional storm order. No answer is assumed; Baliset remains a separate pre-entry prevention effect. | [Reproduction and source boundary](DEFERRED_MOVEMENT_ARRIVAL.md) |
-| Sapho remaining timing | First versus unspent Advanced Guild priority, partly completed combined turns, cyclic auction duration and remaining battle timing stay guarded. Prior questions remain unanswered. | [Source audit](JUICE_OF_SAPHO_SOURCE_UPDATE.md), [battle review](JUICE_OF_SAPHO_BATTLE_REVIEW.md) |
-| Mirror Weapon | Whether copied Tooth/Artillery mandatory-discard rules attach to the physical Mirror remains unanswered; arithmetic helpers do not admit the full battle card. | [Engine audit](MIRROR_WEAPON_ENGINE_AUDIT.md) |
+| Sapho remaining timing | First versus unspent Advanced Guild priority, partly completed combined turns, cyclic auction duration and later battle timing stay guarded. The existing pre-plan opportunity supports [early aggressor](SAPHO_AGGRESSOR.md). Prior questions remain unanswered. | [Source audit](JUICE_OF_SAPHO_SOURCE_UPDATE.md), [battle review](JUICE_OF_SAPHO_BATTLE_REVIEW.md) |
+| Mirror Weapon | Whether copied Tooth/Artillery mandatory-discard rules attach to the physical Mirror remains unanswered. Every genuine Richese setup includes those cards and Stone Burner; an ordinary-copy-only admission gate cannot depend on concealed custody or alter the printed deck. | [Engine audit](MIRROR_WEAPON_ENGINE_AUDIT.md) |
 | Semuta Drug | Full-hand take-before-discard and the privacy-neutral immediate reaction protocol remain unresolved. Typed discard continuations already exist; they are not activation. | [Source update](SEMUTA_SOURCE_UPDATE_20260907.md), [privacy review](SEMUTA_PRIVACY_REVIEW.md) |
 | Leader Skills edge cases | Capture/replacement eligibility, Banker escrow custody (user question sent), Smuggler survival settlement, Mentat empty-hand fallback (private historical observations persist after death), Diplomat lower retreat ordering, modified-defense inheritance and remaining simultaneous optional timing need resolution before those cases are enabled. These are recorded source gaps, not answered user rulings. | [Material boundaries](LEADER_SKILLS_RULES.md#material-boundaries-not-settled-by-the-sources), [Diplomat boundary](DIPLOMAT_DEFENSE.md#evidence-and-remaining-scope) |
 | Suk Graduate / Atreides | Whether rescued dialed casualties count toward the seven-loss Kwisatz Haderach threshold remains unresolved. The user question has been sent; Advanced Atreides rescue stays guarded. | [Source and runtime boundary](SUK_GRADUATE_RULES.md) |

docs/SAPHO_AGGRESSOR.md

@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+# Juice of Sapho: early battle aggressor
+
+20 September 2026. Connected partial prototype. The physical face and source
+precedence remain in the [Sapho audit](JUICE_OF_SAPHO_ENGINE_AUDIT.md); the
+[battle review](JUICE_OF_SAPHO_BATTLE_REVIEW.md) separates scheduling, physical
+participants and tie priority. This checkpoint implements the printed aggressor
+effect during an existing opportunity. It does not adjudicate late timing.
+
+## Connected behavior
+
+The holder can play the canonical, unreserved card while their shared `preLeader`
+opportunity is open, before their readiness declaration and before either plan.
+The other combatant may already be ready. Actual Voice, Prescience, Nexus/full-plan
+inspection and Truthtrance commitments prevent this early use, as do suspended
+interactions and mandatory disposal. Unchosen preparation prompts bind no plan
+content and may remain. No hidden opposing hand or selected plan determines
+eligibility. No holder-only pause or new confirmation window is introduced.
+
+`scope:'battleAggressor', mode:'aggressor'` binds the battle, turn and use revision.
+It discards the physical card once and records public priority, without swapping
+attacker/defender slots, chooser, forces, leaders or later battle scheduling.
+An already held position is unavailable. A recovered card can change priority
+again at a fresh opportunity; no extra once-per-battle limit is invented.
+
+The validated use history and independent event list survive JSON continuation.
+Reads, actions and automatic normalization reject mismatched history, event,
+combatants, turn or physical card custody. Legacy battles retain their original
+attacker priority and do not reopen closed preparation.
+
+The shared tie helper checks both combatants for the effective Habbanya advantage
+before falling back to aggressor. Engine plan/Voice/prescience checks, public
+projections, AI calculations and the final battle quote use that priority.
+Ordinary strength ties and Stone Burner's physical-token ties therefore agree.
+Early use precedes all commitments, so Stone's existing public finishability
+guard can evaluate the changed priority before accepting a plan. The unresolved
+late mixed-allocation hazard from the battle review is not bypassed.
+
+The hand panel exposes the real action, the table names aggressor and tie winner,
+and automatic notices mark a successful use. All four AI profiles can use the
+same private options and finish through the existing preparation and battle path.
+Timing strategy and complete Richese-game acceptance remain later work.
+
+## Evidence and limits
+
+Focused tests cover actual ordinary/Stone outcomes in Basic and Advanced,
+Habbanya on either physical side, rejected stale/late/cross-owner submissions,
+unchanged rejected input, public eligibility with changed private rival holdings,
+receipt corruption, conserved recovered-card reuse and all four AI continuations.
+The mixed Emperor/Guild regression changes Stone's pre-commit finishability before
+any hidden opposing plan exists. Authenticated in-memory SQLite races consume one
+card; fresh stores restore each private seat through the same battle. Fixtures use
+genuine CHOAM/Richese setup followed by explicit conserved board/hand staging;
+they are not full genuine-game evidence or proof of every module combination.
+
+The owner-only control and public table text have rendering regressions. Browser,
+required checks, complete-game samples, preservation and verified Git evidence
+belong to the source-bound checkpoint report and commit message.
+
+Later pre-reveal, post-reveal and final-intervention opportunities remain
+unfinished, including their privacy-neutral response protocol and Stone allocation
+work. These are development boundaries, not extra printed prohibitions. Other
+Sapho timing questions and all mode/publication gates remain unchanged.

docs/SAPHO_BATTLE_ORDER.md

@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ Burner allocation work. No new confirmation-only window is introduced here.
 
 ## Connected behavior
 
+20 September follow-up: [early aggressor](SAPHO_AGGRESSOR.md) now connects the
+separate pre-plan effect. References below to unavailable intervention concern
+later or suspended battle timing; chooser ordering retains the contract here.
+
 The existing Richese development configuration supplies the physical card. Its
 holder receives private `battleOrder` first/last options at a clean boundary.
 The command binds the current opportunity and discards the exact unreserved card