Dune/docs/RULE_DECISIONS.md

# Rule decision index

Updated 13 September 2026. This is the authoritative navigation index for existing decisions, not a replacement rulebook or a new ruling. Detailed linked contracts retain their source citations and exact supported boundaries. Runtime follow-ups supersede historical absence claims; passing tests establish software behavior, not publisher authority.

## Recorded contracts and implementation boundaries

| Topic | Decision to preserve | Detailed authority and evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Source and readiness | Separate published rules, explicit implementation choices and unfinished interpretations; Advanced/expansion gates stay closed. | [Base/Advanced audit](BASE_ADVANCED_READINESS_20260907.md), [checklist](../game/reference.ts) |
| Setup and Fremen movement | Preserve source-ordered setup and the distinct declared-movement cancellation; do not recreate fixed historical gaps. | [Setup contract](ADVANCED_SETUP_TEST_SEAM.md), [Fremen Karama](FREMEN_MOVEMENT_KARAMA_RULES.md) |
| Guild payment | Rate, transport permission and income are distinct; power owner, shipper, contributors and independent rate-card beneficiary remain distinct. | [Rate/cancellation sources](GUILD_RATE_KARAMA_RULES.md), [implemented payment routing](GUILD_SHIPMENT_PAYMENTS.md) |
| Truthtrance | Current facts are boolean disclosures, not promises to preserve resources. Structured Basic and base Advanced active-opportunity shipment promises bind within their documented scope (Advanced excludes Guild and optional modules); prose is not automatically enforced. | [Spice facts](TRUTHTRANCE_SPICE_FACTS.md), [card facts](TRUTHTRANCE_CARD_COUNT.md), [shipment promises](TRUTHTRANCE_SHIPMENT_PROMISES.md), [remaining audit](TRUTHTRANCE_NONBATTLE_READINESS_20260907.md) |
| Truthtrance hand categories | Count current physical hand custody by explicitly named primary role; alternate battle slots and faction powers do not reclassify cards. Only an aggregate answer is disclosed. | [Hand inventory](TRUTHTRANCE_HAND_INVENTORY.md) |
| Nexus lifecycle | Twelve physical cards, phase draw/replacement and alliance forfeiture; native Cunning, absent-faction Secret Ally and Betrayal have separate effects. No blanket Karama immunity. | [Common source contract](NEXUS_CARD_RULES.md), [lifecycle runtime](NEXUS_CARD_RUNTIME.md) |
| Nexus faction effects | Preserve physical custody, original faction identity and durable effect receipts; use each printed family instead of borrowing another faction's rules by analogy. | [Atreides](NEXUS_ATREIDES_RULES.md), [Harkonnen](NEXUS_HARKONNEN_RULES.md), [BG](NEXUS_BENE_GESSERIT_RULES.md), [Emperor](NEXUS_EMPEROR_RULES.md), [Fremen](NEXUS_FREMEN_RULES.md), [Guild](NEXUS_GUILD_RULES.md) |
| Expansion Nexus families | Source audit coverage does not imply every panel is playable; consult later runtime records in the status log. | [Ixian Cunning](NEXUS_IXIAN_CUNNING_RULES.md), [Ixian replacement](NEXUS_IXIAN_REPLACEMENT_RULES.md), [Tleilaxu](NEXUS_TLEILAXU_RULES.md), [CHOAM](NEXUS_CHOAM_RULES.md), [Richese](NEXUS_RICHESE_RULES.md), [Ecaz](NEXUS_ECAZ_RULES.md), [Moritani](NEXUS_MORITANI_RULES.md) |
| CHOAM Secret Ally | Absent-faction Collection trade spends one actual Worthless card and the Nexus for two bank spice. It is separate from native Cunning and Auditor; the battle inspection alternative remains missing. | [Prototype contract](NEXUS_CHOAM_SECRET_ALLY.md) |
| Sapho movement | At a clean boundary, first reorders only remaining unstarted turns; completed turns stay completed. Advanced Guild must have finished or be absent. Last retains existing protection after Guild. | [Existing source contract](JUICE_OF_SAPHO_SOURCE_UPDATE.md#movement-firstlast), [runtime](JUICE_OF_SAPHO_RUNTIME.md) |
| Leader Skills | Fourteen physical cards, variant setup order, public/hidden assignment, death return, own-leader revival and captured lower-band effects are sourced. Five battle disciplines, Planetologist movement/Special substitution, Suk Graduate rescues and common lifecycle are prototyped; seven skills and combinations remain missing. Known skilled capture identifies the leader through its unique public card. | [Source contract](LEADER_SKILLS_RULES.md), [capture inference](LEADER_SKILLS_CAPTURE.md), [runtime](LEADER_SKILLS_RUNTIME.md), [Planetologist](PLANETOLOGIST_RULES.md), [Suk Graduate](SUK_GRADUATE_RULES.md) |
| Discoveries | Preserve seven sourced Spice Cards and eight physical tokens, private faction peeks and Collection choices. Revealed locations are separate territories; only Jacurutu counts toward stronghold victory. Next-turn free entry, sole-occupant Cistern income and later-turn Ornithopter spending are prototyped; Jacurutu income, Testing Station and Shrine have bounded prototypes; Orgiz and contested/mixed cases remain pending. | [Component authority](DISCOVERY_COMPONENTS.md), [prototype boundary](DISCOVERY_PROTOTYPE.md) |
| Guild Secret Ally | One explicit Guild-priced ordinary shipment; borrowed prices/routes preserve native identity. Free Fremen reinforcement remains a separate choice. | [Route contract](NEXUS_GUILD_SECRET_ALLY_RULES.md), [verified runtime](NEXUS_GUILD_SECRET_ALLY_RUNTIME.md) |
| Homeworld custody and mobility | Physical home/visitor groups, population thresholds, tariffs and transport permissions retain distinct sources; Homeworld immunity is not universal immunity. | [Homeworld rules](HOMEWORLD_RULES.md), [benefits](HOMEWORLD_BENEFITS_RULES.md), [mobility](HOMEWORLD_MOBILITY_RULES.md), [invasion](HOMEWORLD_INVASION_RULES.md), [Guild transport](GUILD_HOMEWORLD_TRANSPORT_RULES.md) |
| Homeworld effects | Keep original payment/revival/placement identities and qualification observations; observations alone do not choose an occupied-benefit owner. | [Payments](HOMEWORLD_PAYMENT_INCOME_RULES.md), [card economy](HOMEWORLD_CARD_ECONOMY_RULES.md), [Collection](HOMEWORLD_COLLECTION_RULES.md), [revival deployment](HOMEWORLD_REVIVAL_DEPLOYMENT_RULES.md), [victory reinforcement](HOMEWORLD_VICTORY_REINFORCEMENT_RULES.md), [replacement](HOMEWORLD_REPLACEMENT_RULES.md), [Tupile](HOMEWORLD_TUPILE_INTELLIGENCE_RULES.md) |

## Pending interpretations: preserve existing questions

These are unresolved in the cited records. Do not infer an answer from elapsed time, a fixture, a related card or this index. Check subsequent recorded user/source decisions before proceeding; do not send duplicate questions.

| Boundary | Still unresolved | Existing record |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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) |
| 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, Smuggler survival settlement, Mentat empty-hand/death disclosure, Diplomat retreat ordering and simultaneous optional timing need resolution before those cases are enabled. These are newly recorded source gaps, not answered user rulings. | [Material boundaries](LEADER_SKILLS_RULES.md#material-boundaries-not-settled-by-the-sources) |
| 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) |
| Ordinary Guild cancellation | Unaffordable repricing, replacement/retry/decline, consumed opportunity, contributor adjustment and ordering with special shipment-stop. The affordability question was already sent. | [Material timing](GUILD_RATE_KARAMA_RULES.md#material-unresolved-timing) |
| Base special Karama | Unfunded auction recovery, stopped-shipment settlement and Atreides full-plan commitment order remain provisional. Native full-plan/Voice/Prescience/Truthtrance/Ghola interactions now have genuine-setup focused evidence, but the source audit does not settle the special offer/deadline or target-first interpretation. | [Explicit base interpretations](BASE_ADVANCED_READINESS_20260907.md#explicit-unresolved-base-interpretations), [full-plan interaction audit](ATREIDES_FULL_PLAN_TIMING.md) |
| Guild Secret Ally/Homeworlds | Whether the reserve-return grant overrides the Homeworld return restriction. The question was already sent; that route stays guarded. | [Homeworld return](NEXUS_GUILD_SECRET_ALLY_RULES.md#homeworld-prices-and-the-unresolved-return), [checkpoint](NEXUS_GUILD_SECRET_ALLY_RUNTIME.md) |
| Occupied Homeworlds | Entitlement/expiry after departure, replacement or contest; unique powers and shared income. The first-occupier/current-occupier question was already sent. | [Occupation questions](HOMEWORLD_OCCUPATION_RULES.md#questions-the-retrieved-sources-do-not-settle), [lifecycle audit](HOMEWORLD_OCCUPATION_LIFECYCLE_AUDIT.md) |
| Nexus responses and composition | Betrayal private-response timing, partial revival/payment choices, Emperor fewer-than-five, fresh advisor/storm cases, Duke restoration and remaining faction-specific combinations. | [Common boundaries](NEXUS_CARD_RULES.md#remaining-source-questions-and-release-boundaries) and the individual faction source/runtime documents above |
| Orgiz collection | User question pending: take one spice per positive board pile collected, or leave the effect pending? The publisher does not clarify stacked Spice Blows. The draft quote remains opt-in and is not enabled by the engine. Contested Cistern income also remains outside the ordinary sole-occupant prototype. | [Discovery interpretations](DISCOVERY_PROTOTYPE.md#interpretations-retained-for-refinement) |
| Jacurutu physical dial | The user question asks whether the losing player should choose the physical normal/elite forces represented by its dial. When legal Advanced allocations produce different rewards, income remains explicitly unpaid; numeric wheel subtraction is not a ruling. | [Discovery interpretations](DISCOVERY_PROTOTYPE.md#interpretations-retained-for-refinement) |
| Testing Station contest/timing | Only sole non-advisor occupation is prototyped. Two-occupant priority/stacking remains unresolved; opening after the ordinary storm-card window is an explicit source-timing inference. Weather Control is excluded by the printed text. | [Discovery interpretations](DISCOVERY_PROTOTYPE.md#interpretations-retained-for-refinement) |
| CHOAM Secret Ally battle timing | The printed after-victory inspection is optional and the Nexus identity stays secret. No existing postbattle choice covers every winner: a pause only for a holder leaks ownership, precommitment removes the after-win choice, and a universal window makes nonholders pass. The product-exception question has been sent; no timing policy is implemented pending the answer. Ordinary Karama cancellation is also not established by the retrieved sources. | [After-victory inspection audit](NEXUS_CHOAM_SECRET_ALLY.md#after-victory-inspection-audit) |
| Discovery prototype inferences | Free entry uses storm order and ordinary source-storm restrictions; these are general-rule inferences. Great Maker currently follows ordinary first-turn worm skipping and Sandtrout suppression; an exhausted token type creates no replacement token. These preserve current source interpretation and physical inventory but are not separately confirmed rulings or complete combined-module certification. | [Interpretations for refinement](DISCOVERY_PROTOTYPE.md#interpretations-retained-for-refinement) |
| Other Homeworld combinations | Population/force splitting, removal custody, replacement shortages, income accounting and placement ordering remain local to their detailed contracts. | [Homeworld rules](HOMEWORLD_RULES.md), [occupation](HOMEWORLD_OCCUPATION_RULES.md) and the effect documents above |

When a decision changes, record the exact source or user ruling in its detailed feature document, update affected implementation guidance/tests, and adjust this index and [current status](CURRENT_STATUS.md). Retain historical evidence without presenting a superseded proposal as current behavior.