====== Memory & Death ======
<FILE>
{
  "file": "memory_and_death.json",
  "version": "1.0",
  "status": "locked_canon",
  "scope": "authoritative",
  "description": "Defines how memory, death, burial, and legacy function within the Dreamwood. Establishes the rules governing preservation without immortality and continuity without personal survival.",

  "memory_model": {
    "memory_as_substrate": {
      "definition": "Memory is treated as an ecological resource rather than a personal possession.",
      "properties": [
        "extractable",
        "redistributable",
        "non-sentient when disembodied",
        "subject to decay and transformation"
      ],
      "limitations": [
        "does not preserve personality",
        "cannot guarantee intention or emotional fidelity",
        "cannot be fully isolated from context"
      ]
    },
    "collective_memory": {
      "description": "The Dreamwood maintains a distributed memory field formed from absorbed lives, events, and rituals.",
      "access": [
        "ritual consultation",
        "symbolic encounter",
        "location-mediated recall"
      ]
    }
  },

  "death_principles": {
    "finality": {
      "definition": "Death is irreversible at the level of personal agency.",
      "exceptions": "None",
      "implication": "Continuity is achieved through legacy, not return."
    },
    "ethical_weight": {
      "description": "Death within the Dreamwood carries ecological and cultural consequence.",
      "impact": [
        "local environmental response",
        "memory redistribution",
        "ritual obligation"
      ]
    }
  },

  "burial_rites": {
    "mournwood_interment": {
      "process": [
        "body laid to rest",
        "sapling or seed planted above the grave",
        "ritual acknowledgment of memory transfer"
      ],
      "outcome": {
        "tree_function": "Memory access point",
        "time_scale": "Gradual, generational",
        "limitations": [
          "no direct communication",
          "no preservation of will"
        ]
      }
    },
    "mourngrove": {
      "status": "sacred sanctuary",
      "function": [
        "memory stabilization",
        "non-violence enforcement",
        "containment of corruptive influence"
      ],
      "constraints": [
        "cannot be weaponized",
        "cannot be used for domination"
      ]
    }
  },

  "witch_bottles": {
    "definition": "Containment vessels used to isolate fragments of memory or trauma.",
    "origin": "Developed as harm-reduction measures, not solutions.",
    "benefits": [
      "prevents immediate escalation",
      "delays psychological collapse"
    ],
    "costs": [
      "long-term destabilization",
      "environmental bleed",
      "incomplete healing"
    ],
    "reintegration": {
      "description": "The return of contained fragments to the individual or ecology.",
      "effects": [
        "reduces volatility",
        "restores coherence",
        "does not erase consequence"
      ],
      "limitations": [
        "cannot restore eligibility for stewardship",
        "may induce grief or collapse"
      ]
    }
  },

  "legacy_dynamics": {
    "bunny": {
      "role": "Healer and memory-keeper",
      "status": "deceased",
      "legacy": [
        "mourngrove activation",
        "forest bloom response",
        "future guidance potential"
      ],
      "accessibility": "Post-succession only"
    }
  },

  "failure_states": {
    "stagnation": "Memory preserved without renewal.",
    "overgrowth": "Memory overwhelms present context.",
    "amnesia": "Loss of continuity due to neglect or disruption."
  },

  "canon_rules": {
    "memory_is_not_identity": true,
    "death_is_final": true,
    "legacy_requires_time": true,
    "containment_is_not_resolution": true
  }
}

</FILE>