Cart-Label Three-Stamp Taxonomy — KIND / TONE / STANDARD LEVEL

../../../influences/inspiration/zork.md — the Infocom box-stamp precedent this doc adapts.
../../../influences/synthesis.md §2 L5 + §3 item 10 — the recommendation to land a project-wide cart-label stamp manifest.
../../runtime/cipher-voice-style-guide.md §5 — per-cart tone targets, the grounding for the TONE roster.
../modules/ — the 17 launch + launch-adjacent module specs the KIND roster is drawn from.
../../../adr/ADR-0019-cartridge-storage-and-form-factor.md — the cart sled + label surface this taxonomy stamps.

1. Why this exists

Every Infocom cartridge box from the Zork era carried a small, fixed three-stamp classification block in the lower-right corner — the Commodore 64 Zork I box reads INTERACTIVE FICTION / FANTASY / STANDARD LEVEL (see zork.md §“Visual style”). Three words. Format, genre, difficulty. An operator scanning a shelf could read the kind of thing it was, the mood it promised, and the skill bar it set — at a glance, before slotting it.

The KN-86 cart sled has a label surface (ADR-0019). The inspiration synthesis (synthesis.md §2 L5, §3 item 10) calls for a project-wide cart-label stamp manifest modeled directly on Infocom’s box stamps — “the cart isn’t a delivery mechanism for software; it’s an object the operator handles, reads the label of, and slots in.” This doc is that manifest: three canonical enum rosters that every cart’s sled label carries.

The KN-86 mapping of Infocom’s FORMAT / GENRE / DIFFICULTY is:

Infocom stamp	KN-86 stamp	What it answers
`FORMAT`	KIND	What the cart is — its operational domain.
`GENRE`	TONE	The operator-facing mood the cart sets.
`DIFFICULTY`	STANDARD LEVEL	The operator skill bar the cart assumes.

Every cart carries exactly one value from each roster. Three stamps, one per line, lower-right of the sled label — the Infocom block, ported to 1988 KEC.

Out of scope: the sled artwork, the physical label print pipeline, typography, and placement geometry. Those are a separate Marketing / Product task. This doc defines only the vocabulary the label stamps draw from.

2. KIND — what the cart is

KIND names the cart’s operational domain — the capability it amplifies on the deck. It is the operator’s first discriminator across a shelf. Values are grounded in the actual launch library; the roster is closed (a new KIND requires a spec amendment, the same discipline the cipher-voice guide applies to its mode roster).

KIND	One-line definition	Launch-cart examples
INTRUSION	Network penetration, ICE-cracking, trace evasion — the freelance-intruder domain.	ICE Breaker, Sysop Mode (the defender side of the same link-cable domain)
FORENSIC	Following a trail through structured data — audit, evidence-chain, pattern-of-fraud work.	Black Ledger
MARKET	High-stakes commerce under live tempo — order books, spreads, manipulation detection.	SynthFence
CRYPTO	Cipher classification and key-recovery — decrypting under deadline.	Cipher Garden
SONAR	Submersible piloting and acoustic classification — the maritime sweep domain.	Depthcharge
SIGNAL	RF triangulation, frequency duels, bearing geometry — the over-the-air domain.	Drift, Shellfire
NAVIGATION	Spatial mastery and route work — grid traversal, convoy routing, waypoint planning.	NeonGrid, Pathfinder
STRATEGY	Turn-based tactical and positional play — read-the-opponent, multi-turn campaigns.	Nodespace, Takezo
NARRATIVE	Explorable text worlds — choice/parser-driven rooms, NPCs, quests.	Threshold
SYSTEM	Deck-side utility, not a game — introspection, distribution, knowledge base.	Null (introspection), Relay (distribution), The Vault (knowledge base)
OUTSIDE	Unlicensed / outside-tier release — no `KEC LICENSED` badge; parasitic or renegade by premise.	Marty Glitch (Setec Astronomy)

Notes:

SYSTEM covers the non-game utility carts (Null, Relay, The Vault) that share “this is deck infrastructure, not a contract” framing. If Josh wants these split (e.g., UTILITY vs. KNOWLEDGE), that’s a ratification call.
OUTSIDE is a KIND, not a TONE — it stamps the cart’s licensing status, which the selection screen already surfaces (UNLICENSED — KEC NOT RESPONSIBLE). It rides on top of the cart’s domain; an outside cart could plausibly carry a second domain hint, but the draft keeps one KIND per cart for the Infocom one-stamp discipline. Open question for ratification.

3. TONE — the operator-facing mood

TONE names the mood the cart sets for the operator — the equivalent of Infocom’s GENRE stamp (FANTASY, MYSTERY, SCIENCE FICTION). It is grounded in the CIPHER voice tone targets declared per cart in cipher-voice-style-guide.md §5: the cart’s CIPHER persona is its mood, and the label stamp is the shelf-readable compression of that persona.

TONE	One-line definition	Launch-cart examples (tone-target source)
NOIR	Cold, forensic, working-past-midnight — dry and certain.	Black Ledger (“forensic auditor working past midnight… cold, observational, occasionally dry” — style guide §5.2)
TENSE	Clipped, uncertain, observe-then-shut-up — the watch under pressure.	ICE Breaker (“network operations watch… terse and uncertain” — §5.1), Sysop Mode
ABYSSAL	Mystical, cold-at-depth, silence-heavy — the deep as memory space.	Depthcharge (“tactical drone pilot, increasingly mystical about the depths” — §5.4)
PEDAGOGIC	Patient, observational, teaches without coaching — the onboarding register.	NeonGrid (“onboarding voice. pedagogical without coaching” — §5.3)
CLINICAL	Precise, detached, key-hypothesis cadence — Bureau 9’s cold register.	Cipher Garden (“Bureau 9’s cold publisher aesthetic: the voice is clinical” — cipher-garden spec)
MERCANTILE	Fast, pressured, money-in-motion — the market floor.	SynthFence (PSG-driven market tempo; high-stakes commerce)
CONTEMPLATIVE	Measured, exploratory, deliberate — the unhurried adventure register.	Threshold (“deliberate, contemplative adventure rather than a reflex-driven challenge”), Drift
CLERICAL	Plain, neutral, utility-grade — the deck talking about itself.	Null, Relay, The Vault (SYSTEM-KIND utilities; minimal editorializing)
RENEGADE	Off-rhythm, pirate-radio, parasitic — the hijack cadence.	Marty Glitch (“pirate-radio cadence, off-rhythm fragments” — broadcast-piracy spec)

Notes:

TONE is independent of KIND. Two INTRUSION carts could carry different TONEs; a NOIR cart need not be FORENSIC. The shelf gains discrimination from the pairing (INTRUSION / TENSE reads differently from STRATEGY / CONTEMPLATIVE).
The roster is drawn from the four launch calibration carts’ tone targets plus the rest of the launch library. New carts pick the nearest existing TONE; a genuinely new mood requires a ratification amendment, matching the cipher-voice guide’s “pattern off the calibration set” discipline (§5).
Open question: whether TONE should be enforced to match the cart’s declared CIPHER tone target via the merge gate, or stay a curatorial label call. Draft leaves it curatorial.

4. STANDARD LEVEL — the operator skill bar

STANDARD LEVEL is the direct port of Infocom’s DIFFICULTY stamp. The Zork I box literally reads STANDARD LEVEL — Infocom’s middle rung between INTRODUCTORY, STANDARD, ADVANCED, and EXPERT. KN-86 adopts the same four-rung ladder, keeping STANDARD as the named default so the Infocom callback lands verbatim.

STANDARD LEVEL	One-line definition	Launch-cart examples
INTRODUCTORY	Designed to teach the platform; no prior deck skill assumed; can’t meaningfully fail.	NeonGrid (pack-in onboarding), Null, The Vault (no fail-state, no time limit)
STANDARD	The default bar — assumes basic deck fluency; the Infocom-callback middle rung.	ICE Breaker, Cipher Garden, Drift
ADVANCED	Assumes domain fluency and tempo control; punishes hesitation.	Black Ledger (move-limit pressure), SynthFence (live market tempo), Depthcharge, Shellfire
EXPERT	Assumes mastery; deep tactical or multi-session commitment; legendary-tier content.	Nodespace (multi-session campaigns), Takezo (tactical mastery), Pathfinder (two-phase under live crisis)

Notes:

The ladder is a skill bar, not a content-volume rating — STANDARD LEVEL says how much operator skill the cart assumes, not how long it takes. A long INTRODUCTORY cart (The Vault) and a short EXPERT cart are both coherent.
SYSTEM-KIND utilities (Null, Relay, The Vault) sit at INTRODUCTORY because they assume no skill, even though The Vault’s bounties reward depth. If Josh wants a separate N/A or UTILITY rung for the no-difficulty utilities, that’s a ratification call.
Keeping STANDARD named (rather than renaming the middle rung) is deliberate — the whole point is the Zork-box callback. Recommend not renaming it.

5. The composite stamp block

Every cart label carries the three stamps stacked, Infocom-style, one per line:

KIND:            INTRUSION
TONE:            TENSE
STANDARD LEVEL:  STANDARD

Worked examples across the launch library (illustrative — final values lock at ratification):

Cart	KIND	TONE	STANDARD LEVEL
ICE Breaker	INTRUSION	TENSE	STANDARD
Black Ledger	FORENSIC	NOIR	ADVANCED
SynthFence	MARKET	MERCANTILE	ADVANCED
Cipher Garden	CRYPTO	CLINICAL	STANDARD
Depthcharge	SONAR	ABYSSAL	ADVANCED
Drift	SIGNAL	CONTEMPLATIVE	STANDARD
Shellfire	SIGNAL	TENSE	ADVANCED
NeonGrid	NAVIGATION	PEDAGOGIC	INTRODUCTORY
Pathfinder	NAVIGATION	CONTEMPLATIVE	EXPERT
Nodespace	STRATEGY	CLINICAL	EXPERT
Takezo	STRATEGY	CONTEMPLATIVE	EXPERT
Threshold	NARRATIVE	CONTEMPLATIVE	STANDARD
Null	SYSTEM	CLERICAL	INTRODUCTORY
Relay	SYSTEM	CLERICAL	INTRODUCTORY
The Vault	SYSTEM	CLERICAL	INTRODUCTORY
Sysop Mode	INTRUSION	TENSE	ADVANCED
Marty Glitch	OUTSIDE	RENEGADE	ADVANCED

The table above is the PM’s draft assignment. It exists so Josh can ratify the rosters and the per-cart assignments in one pass; nothing here is locked.

6. Ratification checklist (for Josh)

To lock this taxonomy, ratify in the PR:

KIND roster — confirm the 11 values; decide whether SYSTEM splits and whether OUTSIDE stays a KIND or moves to a separate licensing stamp.
TONE roster — confirm the 9 values; decide whether TONE must mechanically match the CIPHER tone target or stays curatorial.
STANDARD LEVEL ladder — confirm the four Infocom rungs; decide whether utilities need an N/A/UTILITY rung.
Per-cart assignments — confirm or adjust the §5 worked-example table.
Stamp order + label copy — confirm KIND / TONE / STANDARD LEVEL as the stamp order (the Infocom FORMAT / GENRE / DIFFICULTY order, ported).

Once ratified, flip this doc’s status to Accepted, lock the rosters, and hand the values to the Marketing / Product sled-label-art task.