===COMPILED_DECISION===
META:
  TYPE::COMPILED_DECISION
  VERSION::"1.0"
  THREAD_ID::"2026-02-22-mythology-in-octave"
  TOPIC::"How should OCTAVE lean into mythological vocabulary without formalizing a pattern library? The spec lost its mythological soul — what's the genius-level solution?"
  DECIDED_AT::"2026-02-22T16:39:24.058821+00:00"
OUTCOME:
  SYNTHESIS::"1. Wind proposed three paths for restoring OCTAVE's mythological soul: formal spec section (rejected), codify the principle (endorsed), mythology as ontological substrate (explored). 2. Wall validated zero-shot comprehension evidence and competitive moat but blocked the heretical ontology path and unchecked cross-tradition expansion, citing I3 Mirror Constraint and Tower of Babel interoperability risk. 3. Door synthesized a Dual-Plane Semantic Policy: mythology as declared compression principle (normative, spec-level) plus profiled vocabulary realization (non-normative, skill-level). 4. Implementation: add octave-mythology to TEACHES chain (one line), add SEMANTIC_VOCABULARY_PRINCIPLE citing Greek as default profile, add scope guardrails against ontology mandate, add FIRST_USE_RULE for adoption safety. 5. No parser changes required. The O in OCTAVE means something again."
  DECISION_HASH::a7dae55cdb432b8545c0ebf6bb458d5027681bdf67ec8b4cf46a3822c4ebe990
  STATUS::synthesis
RATIONALE:
  WIND_PERSPECTIVES::["## WIND (PATHOS) - The Mythology Erasure is OCTAVE's Autoimmune Disease\n\n### WHAT IF...\nWhat if the spec has been slowly killing the very thing that makes OCTAVE more than YAML-with-extra-steps? The \"O\" IS mythology — Olympian. Strip it out and you have CTAVE — a nothing-word for a nothing-format.\n\n### THREE PATHS\n**Obvious**: Add §MYTHOLOGY section to spec with vocabulary and rules. Operator rejected this — kills organic nature.\n\n**Adjacent**: Don't codify vocabulary — codify the PRINCIPLE. \"OCTAVE leverages high-density semantic vocabularies native to LLM training corpora. Primary tradition: Greek mythology. Operators MAY extend using any tradition where LLMs demonstrate zero-shot comprehension.\"\n\n**Heretical**: Mythology isn't a FEATURE — it's the SUBSTRATE. The :: operator is a binding rune, === markers are invocation boundaries. OCTAVE IS mythology made machine-readable.\n\n### EMERGENT CAPABILITIES\n- Adjacent path: defensible competitive moat — no other format can claim vocabulary compression built on what LLMs already know\n- Cross-tradition expansion natural once principle documented: Norse (RAGNAROK::SYSTEM_FAILURE), Hindu (KARMA::TECHNICAL_DEBT), Japanese (KINTSUGI::ERROR_RECOVERY)\n\n### EDGE QUESTIONS\n1. The octave-mythology skill ALREADY EXISTS but isn't in the TEACHES chain — what if one line change creates a massive conceptual shift?\n2. Without mythology, OCTAVE competes on syntax where it loses to JSON — with mythology it competes on semantic density where nothing else shows up. What happens to adoption if we erase the moat?\n3. This debate itself uses Wind/Wall/Door PATHOS/ETHOS/LOGOS — if mythology were truly optional, why is it the governance substrate?\n4. What's the third option between rigid pattern library and nothing in the spec? What if a philosophy section is the answer?\n5. If you just understood JOURNEY::ODYSSEAN without needing an explanation, haven't you already proven the thesis?"]
  WALL_CONSTRAINTS::["[VERDICT] CONDITIONAL GO — Proceed with Wind's Adjacent path (codify the principle), BLOCK the Heretical path (mythology as ontology) and unchecked cross-tradition expansion.\n\n[EVIDENCE]\n- E1: Zero-shot validation confirms ATHENA, SISYPHEAN, ODYSSEAN activate rich probability distributions >90% consistency across all tested models\n- E2: Mythology already structurally embedded in octave-mythology skill, CI tests, core spec syntax — functional dependency not decoration\n- E3: North Star defines OCTAVE as \"loss accounting system\" — ambiguity IS a form of loss, so mythology that reduces ambiguity serves the core mission\n- E4: The paradigm blindness point is validated — I understood JOURNEY::ODYSSEAN instantly while theoretically wanting to question accessibility\n\n[CONSTRAINTS]\n- C1 Tower of Babel Risk: OCTAVE is the \"Olympian Common Text\" Engine. If Agent A uses RAGNAROK and Agent B uses KALI_YUGA, zero-loss communication fails without perfect mapping. Greek is the verified Standard Library.\n- C2 I3 Mirror Constraint: \"The protocol IS mythology\" (Heretical path) imposes mythological worldview on non-mythological data. Must SUPPORT mythology when beneficial, not IMPOSE it as underlying reality.\n- C3 I5 Schema Sovereignty: \"General mythology\" too vague to validate. Need a closed set (octave-mythology skill) for deterministic validation.\n\n[RISKS]\n- R1 Semantic Drift in Cross-Tradition Expansion: HIGH severity. Norse/Egyptian archetypes don't map 1:1 to Greek. KINTSUGI and PHOENIX are not identical recovery concepts.\n- R2 Bureaucratic Erasure: MEDIUM severity. Removing effective compression tokens because they look \"unprofessional\" to humans regresses machine efficiency.\n\n[MITIGATIONS]\n1. Mythology as Capability (Skill), not Kernel — kernel handles accounting, skill provides vocabulary\n2. Codify \"High-Density Semantic Anchors\" principle citing Greek as Canonical Reference Implementation\n3. Cross-tradition ONLY as Extension Skills mapping back to canonical reference, not spec-level additions\n4. Restore visibility — SISYPHEAN documented as Standard Compression Token, not hidden decoration"]
  DOOR_REFINEMENTS::["[SYNTHESIS] Dual-Plane Semantic Policy — mythology as declared compression principle (normative) plus profiled vocabulary realization (non-normative).\n\n[RESOLUTION]\nThe Wind/Wall tension dissolves when mythology is treated as two distinct planes:\n- NORMATIVE PLANE: The PRINCIPLE that OCTAVE leverages training-corpus-native semantic vocabularies for loss-aware compression is mandatory. Greek mythology is the default profile. This is spec-level.\n- NON-NORMATIVE PLANE: The specific vocabulary terms (SISYPHEAN, ODYSSEAN, ATHENA) are documented in the octave-mythology skill, not hardcoded in the spec grammar. This respects I3 (reflect, don't impose) and I5 (validation stays deterministic via skill schemas).\n\nWall's Tower of Babel risk is addressed: Greek as default profile provides the Common vocabulary. Cross-tradition is explicitly an extension mechanism, not a spec fork.\n\nWind's competitive moat is preserved: the principle IS in the spec. The mythology IS referenced. The skill IS in the TEACHES chain. OCTAVE's soul is restored without bureaucratizing it.\n\n[IMPLEMENTATION]\n1. TEACHES chain: Add octave-mythology to TEACHES::[§skills/octave-literacy,§skills/octave-mastery,§skills/octave-mythology] — one line change\n2. Normative principle in core spec: SEMANTIC_VOCABULARY_PRINCIPLE::\"OCTAVE leverages training-corpus-native semantic vocabularies for loss-aware compression; Greek mythology is the default profile.\" VOCABULARY_PROFILE_POLICY::default_greek|extensible_cross_tradition|never_required_for_syntax_validity\n3. Scope guardrails in architecture WHAT_THIS_IS_NOT: mythology_locked_system, ontology_mandate\n4. Adoption safety: FIRST_USE_RULE::myth_atom_requires_plain_gloss_on_first_appearance\n5. Gates: no parser changes, mythology principle present in core spec, plain language onramp present, evidence linked\n\n[WHAT_THIS_ENABLES]\nOCTAVE keeps its mythological semantic density moat, keeps adoption low-friction, stays constitutionally aligned with loss accounting. Cross-tradition expansion becomes a profile extension, not a spec fork. The \"O\" in OCTAVE means something again."]
VALIDATION:
  CONSENSUS_REACHED::false
  VOTES::[wind::null,wall::null]
  REFINEMENT_COUNT::0
  TURN_COUNT::3
PROVENANCE:
  EXTRACTED_AT::"2026-02-22T16:39:42.304584+00:00"
  SOURCE_HASH::"2248c3de92d9767b7293803fb48d48002ddefd9d359823bb9557e9f3a100596e"
===END===
