# Materials-driven catalog 2026

Status: Draft design and audit. This file does not change the live catalog.

**Lifecycle decision, 2026-09-08:** [Approved claim policies](claim-policy-decisions-2026-09-07.md)
bind one item instance, not its ingredients or container contents. Consumption, dismantling, and
assembly retire the old binding with signed approval; outputs are unbound. Wear never destroys an
item. Repair restores function, but does not grant a new item or reset condition through death.
Crafting guarantees the intended output with a disclosed skill/material-based quality range and
exact odds. Partial use, socketed parts, and repair versus transformation still need precise rules.

## Purpose

`living-resource-economy-2026.md` defines how these materials grow, form, deplete, regenerate,
pollute, recover, enter markets, and change the land that produced them.

The current mega catalog is useful source inventory. It is not the final world model.

The new catalog starts with matter. A player gathers a resource, processes it, makes parts, assembles an object, uses it, repairs it, and may take it apart. Each step teaches real knowledge and uses one or more skill trees.

`science-frontier-2026.md` defines the evidence and gameplay rules for theoretical, frontier, and
anomalous science. Catalog records must not use quantum, dark, nano, neural, spacetime, or psychic
language as an unexplained tier prefix. A record needs a mechanism or in-world model, an input, a
limit, a hazard, a test, and a failure mode.

`humanoid-robotics-2026.md` defines robots as material systems, not free labor modifiers. Bodies,
actuators, hands, motors, gears, bearings, batteries, cooling, sensors, processors, cables,
lubricants, seals, tools, and replacement modules enter the matter ledger. Advanced parts can remain
finite even when a settlement can fabricate frames and covers.

`apparel-ai-mobility-2026.md` defines complete apparel and vehicle product families. Clothing starts
with fibers, membranes, coatings, fasteners, sensors, fit, and repair. Vehicles start with
structures, bearings, traction, motors, energy, controls, payload, environment, maintenance, and
rescue. Neither system uses one universal tier score.

**Source resource → prepared feedstock → material → standard form → component → object → system → repair or recovery**

## Current-state audit

The generated catalog has more than 1,993 rows. Most of that size comes from automatic expansion:

- 80 material archetypes become 400 rows through five generic grades.
- 41 weapon archetypes become 451 rows through eleven tiers.
- 41 armor archetypes become 451 rows through eleven tiers.
- 23 magic, 14 tool, and 40 clothing archetypes also use generic ladders.
- Food, fishing, and miscellaneous files provide broad source inventory.

This creates breadth, but not yet depth.

### Main defects

1. One flat material list mixes resources, engineered materials, parts, fluids, hazards, and fictional substances.
2. Generic grades create false objects. “Crude water,” “pure circuit board,” and “exotic oak wood” have little physical meaning.
3. Rarity, quality, technology, condition, and performance are tied together. They must be separate.
4. Prefixes replace design. “Quantum” does not explain an object's composition or function.
5. Most recipes reduce a complex object to two units of one guessed material.
6. Keyword matching and broad fallbacks hide missing recipe data.
7. High-tier items come from loot, vendors, or coin upgrades. This breaks the learning and making model.
8. Several classes are unsound. Plastics and Kevlar are not minerals. Fungi are not plants. “Mental” is not a matter class.
9. The catalog favors combat objects and finished food. It lacks sanitation, measurement, farming systems, building services, machine parts, and repair supplies.
10. Fantasy and future materials lack origin, production rules, limits, hazards, and failure modes.

## Design laws

1. Use real materials first.
2. Give materials measurable properties.
3. Keep source, form, purity, workmanship, condition, rarity, and performance separate.
4. Make skilled processing more important than tier labels.
5. Give each assembled object a bill of materials and process route.
6. Support repair, reuse, recycling, and safe disposal.
7. Link each transformation to knowledge, tools, facilities, energy, time, hazards, and waste.
8. Use speculative matter only when real matter cannot support the intended function.
9. Ground each speculative material in a real scientific idea and a firm limit.
10. Use original names and designs. Do not copy protected fictional objects.

## Proposed record model

Each record has one primary kind:

- **Natural resource:** found or grown matter, such as hematite, clay, flax, timber, or water.
- **Recovered resource:** salvage, such as hull plate, copper cable, glass, or electronic scrap.
- **Prepared feedstock:** cleaned, sorted, dried, crushed, retted, tanned, or concentrated input.
- **Engineered material:** steel, glass, ceramic, paper, leather, polymer, composite, or alloy.
- **Standard form:** sheet, plate, bar, wire, tube, fiber, cloth, powder, film, foam, resin, gas, or fluid.
- **Component:** bearing, fastener, blade, spring, seal, filter, cell, motor, sensor, or circuit.
- **Consumable:** fuel, food, medicine, lubricant, adhesive, reagent, or ammunition.
- **Object:** one usable item.
- **System:** connected objects that provide water, shelter, power, transport, communication, or production.
- **Hazard or waste:** toxic, infectious, radioactive, corrosive, unstable, or spent matter.
- **Speculative material:** rare matter based on a plausible extension of known science.
- **Anomalous material:** matter that conflicts with current models. Use it with extreme restraint.

Each record should carry independent data for provenance, composition, form, quantity, purity, contamination, condition, physical properties, required skills, tools, facilities, energy, time, hazards, outputs, waste, repair, failure, discovery state, availability, and fabrication difficulty.

Provenance is part of the shared history. Significant objects record who made them, from which
materials, on which world, under which process version, and how they changed through repair, travel,
claim, transfer, or destruction. Bulk matter moves between world ledgers through explicit shipment
events. This lets local economies remain isolated without breaking galaxy-wide conservation.

## Missing real materials

### Geologic resources

Keep and refine the existing metals, stone, clay, sand, salt, sulfur, coal, quartz, and obsidian.

Add:

- limestone, gypsum, chalk, slate, basalt, sandstone, gravel, aggregate, pumice, and volcanic ash;
- bauxite, hematite, magnetite, limonite, chalcopyrite, cassiterite, chromite, ilmenite, rutile, spodumene, graphite, phosphate rock, and potash;
- nickel, zinc, lead, manganese, chromium, cobalt, lithium, magnesium, tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, platinum-group metals, and rare-earth concentrates;
- feldspar, mica, kaolin, bentonite, talc, borates, and diatomaceous earth;
- natural gas, bitumen, peat, and geothermal brine.

Use actual ores where the lesson matters. “Titanium ore” should become ilmenite or rutile. Titanium metal should require a hard refining process.

### Biological resources

Keep and refine timber, bamboo, cotton, hemp, flax, rubber, resin, wool, silk, hide, bone, feather, fur, sinew, beeswax, chitin, scales, venom, antler, and pearl.

Add:

- hardwood and softwood species with different work properties;
- cork, rattan, reed, straw, bagasse, kenaf, jute, sisal, ramie, coir, and abaca;
- cellulose pulp, lignin, starch, plant oils, natural dyes, tannins, pitch, tar, rosin, and turpentine;
- fungal mycelium, yeast, edible fungi, medicinal fungi, and fermentation cultures;
- shell, keratin, collagen, gelatin, casein, horn, lanolin, algae biomass, and biochar;
- soil organic matter, compost, manure, seed stock, pollen, and microbial inoculants.

Ethics and ecology must affect harvest. Ivory and coral should not act as normal loot. Their use should teach conservation, lawful recovery, and substitutes.

### Water, air, and industrial fluids

Add fresh water, salt water, greywater, blackwater, rainwater, groundwater, distilled water, deionized water, and potable water.

Add oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, methane, ammonia, argon, helium, and compressed air.

Add named acids, bases, solvents, disinfectants, lubricants, coolants, refrigerants, hydraulic fluids, paints, adhesives, sealants, and firefighting agents.

Do not use “acid” or “toxic gas” as final records. Name the substance, concentration, exposure route, and control.

### Engineered materials

Add:

- cast iron, low-carbon steel, tool steel, stainless steel, spring steel, and electrical steel;
- bronze, brass, solder, aluminum alloys, titanium alloys, nickel superalloys, and shape-memory alloys;
- soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, fused silica, fiberglass, mineral wool, and glass-ceramic;
- brick, mortar, lime, cement, concrete, reinforced concrete, earthen plaster, and geopolymer;
- earthenware, stoneware, porcelain, alumina, zirconia, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, and ceramic composites;
- paper, cardboard, plywood, laminated wood, fiberboard, canvas, felt, rope, leather, and textiles;
- common named polymers, silicone, polyurethane, epoxy, and biodegradable polymers;
- carbon fiber, aramid fiber, glass fiber, laminated composites, and sandwich panels.

### Electrical, optical, and electronic materials

Add conductors, resistance wire, solder, contact metals, insulation, ferrites, magnets, transformer steel, silicon, silicon carbide, gallium nitride, transparent conductors, dielectric films, optical glass, optical fiber, phosphors, photovoltaic materials, thermoelectric materials, and piezoelectric ceramics.

Add battery cathodes, anodes, electrolytes, separators, current collectors, supercapacitor electrodes, and fuel-cell membranes. A circuit board, battery, sensor, and power cell then become assemblies, not materials.

### Medical and laboratory supplies

Add sterile gauze, bandages, sutures, splints, tourniquets, disinfectant, saline, soap, activated carbon, filter membranes, protective equipment, glassware, crucibles, filter paper, indicator paper, culture media, specimen containers, calibration standards, and reference samples.

Replace the generic herb bundle with named preparations. Include evidence, dose limits, contraindications, and uncertainty.

## Missing component layer

- Fasteners: nail, screw, bolt, nut, washer, rivet, pin, clip, and anchor.
- Motion: axle, shaft, bearing, bushing, gear, chain, belt, pulley, spring, hinge, and wheel.
- Flow: pipe, tube, hose, valve, pump, tank, nozzle, gasket, seal, and filter.
- Structure: beam, post, panel, bracket, truss, cable, mesh, membrane, and insulation.
- Electrical: wire, connector, fuse, switch, relay, resistor, capacitor, inductor, diode, transistor, and controller.
- Energy: cell, battery module, inverter, motor, generator, turbine, heat exchanger, and radiator.
- Sensing: lens, mirror, fiber, antenna, camera, microphone, speaker, and physical or chemical sensors.
- Survival: cordage, needle, buckle, strap, zipper, hook, blade blank, handle, container, and cap.

This layer creates repair play. A player can replace a bearing instead of replacing a mill.

## Ten civilization chains

These chains should drive the first rewrite.

1. **Water:** survey → collection → settling → filtration → disinfection → storage → distribution → testing → wastewater treatment.
2. **Food:** soil and seed → planting → irrigation → harvest → storage → preservation → cooking → nutrition → compost.
3. **Shelter:** site → drainage → foundation → frame → enclosure → roof → insulation → ventilation → fire safety → maintenance.
4. **Clothing:** fiber or hide → cleaning → retting or tanning → spinning → weaving or felting → cutting → sewing → treatment → repair.
5. **Medicine:** assessment → sanitation → stabilization → treatment → recovery → prevention → safe disposal.
6. **Hand tools:** ore or salvage → fuel → refining → alloying → forming → heat treatment → grinding → fitting → sharpening → maintenance.
7. **Construction:** survey → design → test → excavation → structure → services → inspection → repair.
8. **Power:** demand → source → generation → conversion → storage → distribution → protection → maintenance → recovery.
9. **Communication:** signals → writing → print → wired signal → radio → data network → resilient archive.
10. **Transport:** route → path or road → carrier → wheel or vessel → propulsion → navigation → maintenance → rescue.

## Speculative edge

### Demonstrated frontier materials

Graphene composites, carbon-nanotube yarn, aerogel insulation, metamaterial structures, self-healing polymers, transparent ceramics, solid-state batteries, perovskite solar cells, high-temperature superconductors, cultured tissue, and mycelium composites exist or have active research bases. The game may mature these technologies without treating them as magic.

### Plausible mature technologies

Closed-loop recycling, autonomous microfactories, advanced synthetic biology, compact fusion support systems, precision nanofabrication, limited programmable matter, and strong artificial muscles can extend known science. Each still needs energy, feedstock, maintenance, and failure rules.

### Anomalous materials

Initial working candidates:

- **Vacuum-grown lattice:** exceptional optical behavior, but brittle under shock.
- **Gravitic condensate:** changes apparent inertia within a narrow field, but cannot create free energy.
- **Coherent biogel:** stores chemical patterns, but needs a living culture and can become contaminated.
- **Horizon glass:** survives extreme radiation, but creates serious handling and transport risks.

These names and properties are placeholders. Each needs science review. Replace mana, mithril, adamant, spirit dust, ectoplasm, and void matter unless the setting gives them a defined model.

### Magic-facing objects

The game may call a character a Wizard or Sorcerer and may present actions as spells. The object
model still records a mechanism. A focus staff may contain sensors, a processor, an energy store,
programmable matter, and a field emitter. A healing “spell” may use diagnostics, controlled drug
delivery, nanotechnology, or alien biology. A remote-viewing focus may support attention and signal
analysis without claiming that its Earth analogue is settled science.

Every magic-facing object needs an input, operating range, cost, limit, hazard, countermeasure,
failure mode, and repair route. Rare anomalous effects may exceed known Earth science, but they must
obey stable laws inside the setting.

## Quality and progression

Replace universal grades and prefixes with separate measures:

- purity and contamination;
- dimensions, grain, weave, porosity, and finish;
- workmanship and process control;
- wear, corrosion, fatigue, damage, and remaining life;
- known design revision;
- technology readiness;
- local availability;
- measured functional performance.

A worn steel knife can use excellent steel but have poor condition. A stone blade can have excellent workmanship. A frontier tool can fail because its settlement cannot repair it.

## Discovery model

- Observation reveals a resource, but may not identify it.
- Tests improve identification confidence.
- Mentors, books, experiments, and recovered records reveal processes.
- Safe practice proves a recipe.
- Failed work can create waste, injury, or a useful lesson.
- Shared standards let settlements reproduce reliable parts.
- Account knowledge may preserve records across lives. Character skill controls current execution.

## Ground-up replacement plan

1. Inventory the current catalog and its generated art as reference material.
2. Keep useful art and strong item concepts. Reject weak taxonomy, filler variants, and false recipes.
3. Design clean material, process, component, object, and system identifiers from first principles.
4. Build the ten civilization chains as complete vertical slices.
5. Map every step to the 23 skill trees and 69 specializations.
6. Add bills of materials, condition, failure, repair, recovery, hazard, and waste rules.
7. Reconnect worlds, vendors, loot, crafting, and salvage to the replacement catalog.
8. Reset private-beta item data when the new design requires it. No outside player data exists to preserve.
9. Review food, medicine, weapons, chemicals, and advanced technology with subject experts.
10. Test the replacement as one consistent system before deployment.

## Working curation decisions

- The old catalog is reference material. It does not constrain the replacement.
- Preserve and remap useful generated art where it fits the new design.
- Stop treating row count as catalog quality.
- Do not add more generic tier variants.
- Build water, shelter, food, medicine, and hand tools first.
- Let civilian material systems define metallurgy. Combat does not define it.
- Use documented anomalous science only when the setting needs it.
- Keep alien matter rare. Real knowledge remains the normal way to solve problems.

## Open decisions

1. Does Experia contain Earth species, ship descendants, alien analogues, or all three?
2. Which manufacturing systems survived the crash?
3. What can the ship fabricate, and which scarce inputs limit it?
4. Which skill trees own each process?
5. How much detail belongs in play, and how much belongs on knowledge cards?
6. Can players certify new designs, or only discover authored designs at first?
7. Which anomalous effects are real laws of this setting?
8. What rules govern animals, sentient aliens, scarce ecosystems, and dangerous technology?
9. Which old item concepts and art assets deserve a place in the new catalog?
10. What simulation precision teaches useful facts without creating tedious play?