Lifecycle fit
Roles make sense
across time.
Eight phases. Each one needs different roles in the lead. Fields collapse when the wrong role leads the wrong phase — the Worldmaker trying to operate, the Operator trying to ignite, the Catalyst trying to steward year five, the Composter entering too early. Fit matters more than rank.
- T-0
- T-1
Ignition
Strike the match, create shared myth, and make possibility emotionally real.
- T-2
Metabolism
Process conflict, metabolize ambiguity, and keep people from burning each other.
- T-2.5
Developmental Pressure
Expose weak form, increase capacity, challenge avoidance, and convert aspiration into skill.
- T-3
Capture / Embodiment
Build the vessel, create repeatability, and make the thing survivable.
- T-4
Long Haul
Preserve fragile goods, maintain trust, and prevent entropy.
- T-5
Decline / Death
Recognize death, end cleanly, grieve, recover nutrients, and prevent zombie systems.
- T-6
Ecological collapse
The wrong lead at the wrong time damages the field.
- Worldmaker tries to operate: beautiful chaos, no payroll.
- Operator tries to ignite: the form precedes the fire.
- Catalyst tries to steward year five: perpetual reinvention, exhausted humans.
- Guardian leads discovery: only safe questions get asked.
- Trickster leads repair: everyone gets clever when they needed tenderness.
- Composter enters too early: living things are declared dead because they are inconvenient.
- Builder enters too early: magic is embalmed before it breathes.
- Developmental Compressor leads early Metabolism: people get pressured before the field can hold them.
- Enzyme leads at T-2.5: pressure dissolves into accommodation, capacity never transfers.