Handler Burden Ledger / 处理人负荷账本

Handler Burden Ledger is a management/RPG card for tracking when an important person has been used as the answer to too many incompatible crises.

Storyteller already treats rooms, edit lanes, public attention, sponsor money, legal windows, proof carriers, and route assets as finite. This card makes people finite without reducing them to generic stamina. A handler can carry audit debt, public exposure, sponsor capture, edit contamination, witness guilt, or refusal pressure depending on how the player used them.

Card promise

A handler who repeatedly resolves high-stakes surfaces must leave a visible row:

• what crisis they handled;
• what role they performed;
• what burden they accepted;
• which claimant benefited;
• which claimant was harmed;
• what personal state changed;
• what future assignment is now cheaper, harder, blocked, hostile, or recovery-only.

The card must not be a passive relationship meter. It is a docket that binds management choice to character consequence.

Row schema

Each row should carry fields equivalent to:

row_id: <stable id>
handler_id: baiya | yu_lan | shen_luo | han_yanshuang | inspector_rhee | han_cutroom | lin_qiao | ai_sheng | mu_ning | li_xingtong | equivalent
source_surface: production_triage | cutroom_priority | protected_witness_payroll | faction_liability | faction_commitment | broadcast_drift | correction_slot | ending_scar | route_asset | equivalent
assigned_role: editor | public_witness | manager_bridge | inspector | archive_officer | field_carrier | artist | pirate_relay | producer_proxy | equivalent
burden_type: audit_debt | public_exposure | sponsor_capture | edit_contamination | witness_guilt | legal_visibility | route_asset_overexposure | refusal_pressure | fatigue | hostile_oath
claimant_benefited: sponsor | inspector | archive | fan_public | editor | artist | witness | pirate | producer | route_claimant | public_audience
claimant_harmed: sponsor | inspector | archive | fan_public | editor | artist | witness | pirate | producer | route_claimant | public_audience | none
handler_state_before: fresh | committed | strained | exposed | captured | refusing | hostile | absent | recovery_only
handler_state_after: committed | strained | exposed | compromised | refusing | hostile | unavailable | recovered_with_scar | bonded | captured
future_assignment_effect: cheaper_with_trust | harder | blocked | public_only | lawful_only | sponsor_only | costs_extra_support | requires_recovery | hostile_counteroffer | unavailable
counter_deltas:
  handler_burden: <delta>
  trust_or_loyalty: <delta>
  pressure_counter: <delta>

Required visible states

State	Meaning	Play consequence
fresh	Handler has no current burden row.	Can be assigned normally.
committed	Handler has taken a side or role.	Repeat use must name the prior commitment.
strained	Handler can still act, but cost rises.	Future assignment needs support, rest, proof, or compensation.
exposed	Handler is visible to a hostile claimant.	Sponsor, inspector, public, witness, or route-asset pressure can target them.
compromised	Handler’s prior action contaminates future neutrality.	Some branch families become unavailable or biased.
refusing	Handler can decline an assignment that violates a previous burden.	Player must recover, override, replace, or accept default.
hostile	Handler turns into an opposing witness, leak, or claimant.	Creates a counteroffer, route block, or recovery-only path.
unavailable	Handler cannot be used in the next relevant surface.	Assignment must use another handler, explicit absence, or default.
recovered_with_scar	Handler returns after support.	They can act again, but one future route carries the scar.
captured	Another faction controls handler access.	Rescue, public counterproof, lawful appeal, or sponsor exchange is required.

Branch hooks

Use again with support

The player assigns rest, pay, legal cover, public cover, safe room, edit shield, or proof support before reusing the handler.

Expected result:

• handler remains usable;
• one pressure surface improves;
• a support cost or new claimant pressure rises.

Use again without support

The player forces the handler through another crisis with no recovery or cover.

Expected result:

• immediate collapse may be prevented;
• handler state worsens to strained, exposed, refusing, hostile, or unavailable;
• a future rite loses that handler or gains extra cost.

Let handler refuse

The player respects the refusal and chooses another route.

Expected result:

• trust, loyalty, or future recovery improves;
• the current crisis pays through weaker proof, unstaffed default, or rival claimant advantage.

Trade handler access

The player lets a sponsor, inspector, archive desk, public network, editor, or claimant carry the handler’s burden.

Expected result:

• current assignment becomes possible;
• contract_capture, inspection_heat, public_exposure, bureau_favor_debt, edit_debt, or route_asset_pressure rises.

Break or lose the handler

The player overdraws, suppresses, abandons, or betrays the handler.

Expected result:

• handler becomes hostile, captured, unavailable, or recovery_only;
• a rival event or counterclaim becomes active;
• prior branches remain true but future use changes.

Integration notes

This card is meant to be attached by assignments from 制作分诊台, bottlenecks from 剪辑室优先队列线, support pressure from 受保护证人薪册, callable future costs from 派系责任承保, and contradiction work from 播出实在漂移审计.

It should be usable for named handlers such as Baiya, Yu Lan, Shen Luo, Han Yanshuang, Inspector Rhee Archive, and Han Cutroom.

Non-goals

• Not a generic affection meter.
• Not a fixed-turn fatigue clock.
• Not a punishment for using characters at all.
• Not a global stamina bar.
• Not a filler companion scene.
• Not a free reset after rest; recovery must preserve a scar, debt, claimant posture, or future-route change.