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>