# Metals

## Purpose

Metal carries structure, hierarchy, registration, and age while enamel carries conceptual depth.

## Invariants

- Primary metal is warm gold with bright edge, amber body, umber occlusion, and a narrow cool reflected accent.
- Aged brass signals archive or legacy; silver is reserved for explicit counterforce or exception, not arbitrary variety.
- Chrome, plastic-looking bevels, blown highlights, and conflicting light directions are prohibited.
- Metal weight remains consistent across border, cloisons, studs, and central mechanism.

## Production Rules

- Use a shared metal ramp and lighting rig across every Tile.
- Separate structural metal from decorative engraving so the latter can be removed at thumbnail scale.
- Keep brightest highlights below clipping and protect edge definition against dark backgrounds.
- Render contact shadows where layers overlap; do not use ambient blur as a substitute for construction.

## States, Scale, and Accessibility

- Meaning and class remain legible at 96, 256, 512, 1024, and 2048 pixels.
- Selected, hover, focus, disabled, and high-attention states add interface contours outside the master art; they never destructively recolor the source.
- No state, class, claim, or evidence condition depends on color alone; accessible live text supplies title, class, evidence, and safety information.

## Quality Gate

- [ ] Metal reads consistently beside six existing masters.
- [ ] Highlights follow the shared upper-left light.
- [ ] No clipped whites, crushed occlusion, or jagged bevels.
- [ ] 96-pixel proof retains structural hierarchy.
- [ ] Any material texture source and license are recorded.

## Rights and Provenance

Every asset must be original or used under documented permission. Record card ID, prompt or source file, creator/tool, model version where relevant, date, dimensions, color profile, source references, rights status, and checksum. Franchise-derived entries use critical symbolic abstraction and may not reproduce protected logos, characters, costumes, frames, screenshots, or production art. Sacred and community-held imagery requires context and authority; do not turn it into generic decoration.
