Night-Shift Backbeat Custody / 夜班鼓点羁押机制

Design promise

When a broadcast image collapses, the remaining beat is not ambience. A click track, drum monitor, crowd clap, breath count, emergency metronome, or unauthorized relay rhythm can become the only proof that the live room kept existing during a blackout.

This mechanism turns that sonic residue into a custody object. The player must decide who may hold, cite, edit, package, suppress, or protect the backbeat before it is accepted by future routes.

It exists to give black-screen accidents a playable middle state: not clean failure, not clean rescue, but a disputed liveness trace carried by a recruitable musician.

Entry state

The mechanism opens from state, never from a fixed turn count.

entry_state:
  trigger_kind: state_pressure
  live_audio_residue: true
  image_or_official_feed_unreliable: true
  backbeat_can_change_future_route: true
  claimant_families_min: 2
  no_fixed_turn_trigger: true

Valid sources include a blackout incident, counter-broadcast fork, memorial cut, fan oxygen queue, archive seizure, editor safe cut, sponsor package, or pirate relay where the audio trace still disputes what actually happened.

Backbeat packet

A backbeat packet is the minimum state object.

backbeat_packet:
  source_surface: blackout | counterbroadcast | memorial | archive_seizure | fan_queue | editor_cut | pirate_relay | sponsor_package
  performer_or_carrier: <character id or explicit_absence>
  beat_source: drum_kit | monitor_click | crowd_clap | breath_count | emergency_metronome | mic_bleed | pirate_sync
  liveness_claim: alive_room | staged_room | coerced_room | substituted_room | unknown_room
  custodian: performer | production | editor | archive | inspector | sponsor | fan_public | pirate_relay | explicit_absence
  legality_class: lawful_trace | public_receipt_only | editor_safe_mix | sponsor_sync_package | pirate_signal_only | quarantined | contested
  crowd_sync: none | calming | mobilizing | panic_loop | riot_risk
  future_route_acceptance: accepted | rejected | costlier | recovery_only | hostile

A single audio_exists flag cannot satisfy this mechanism.

Branch families

The player-facing handling must expose non-equivalent branches:

• recruit the beat carrier: protect the drummer or carrier as a route asset; liveness clarity and audience stability can rise, while witness risk, payroll burden, and faction retaliation rise.
• seal the trace officially: inspector or archive validates the packet; admissibility rises, while inspection heat, archive debt, and performer exposure rise.
• edit the trace into continuity: cutroom uses the beat to bridge a broken broadcast; legibility rises, while source ambiguity, edit debt, and later raw-proof cost rise.
• sponsor-sync the beat: package the rhythm as safe recovery branding; schedule pressure may drop, while contract capture and fan distrust rise.
• public or pirate release: fan public, historian, or pirate relay publishes the liveness trace; public legitimacy may rise, while pirate heat, retaliation risk, and crowd mobilization can rise.
• mute or ignore: the beat becomes hostile evidence, panic rhythm, or recovery-only proof.

Durable states

Implementations should expose durable states equivalent to:

• backbeat_unopened
• live_audio_residue_found
• backbeat_packet_created
• beat_carrier_recruited
• beat_carrier_suppressed
• official_trace_sealed
• editor_safe_mix_relied_on
• sponsor_sync_capture
• public_backbeat_receipt
• pirate_sync_amplified
• backbeat_panic_loop
• backbeat_false_owner_hardened
• blackout_room_recovery_only

Counter surfaces

Expected surfaces include:

• backbeat_custody_clarity
• liveness_trace_admissibility
• audience_stability
• crowd_sync_pressure
• pirate_echo_heat
• performer_retaliation_risk
• inspection_heat
• edit_debt
• contract_capture
• fan_oxygen_resentment
• future_blackout_recovery_cost

Failure stance

The mechanism fails if black-screen audio is treated as flavor, a free proof token, a universal route key, or a hidden counter. It must create assignable custody, visible claimants, branch deltas, and future route consequences.