DETAILED INDEX, REIMAGINED OUTLINE, AND TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Detailed Index (A–Z)

Abraxas (pale reformer/inquisitor)

Roles: bishop/cardinal/reformer; antagonistic principle of “purity” and rope-mercy.
Function: escalates bans, edicts, inquisitions; embodies cold order.
Recurrence: every book; often leads Thread E (Edicts/Enemy).
See also: White Cord; Rope-Mercy; Edicts of White Wax.

Achamoth (the Broken Daughter)

Origin: fragment of Sophia; mother of the Lucifer Triad (Greed, Envy, Ego).
Function: markets, ledgers, debt logics; temptation to turn mercy into transaction.
Recurrence: Books II–VI; often appears in Thread D (intimate documents) and E (policy leverage).
See also: Triad; Bone-Ledger.

Al-Andalus (Córdoba, Granada, Seville)

Use: Moorish courts; salons; mixed law traditions.
Key scenes: courtesan-philosopher (Book II), last embassies (Book VI).
See also: Black Madonna; Lamp-Water.

Bell (civic signal)

Motif: a city’s will; rings “rope-less” when the people converge.
Function: closes chapters; synchronizes parallel threads.
See also: STITCH pages.

Black Madonna (icon)

Motif: sanctity in melanated flesh; counter-erasure image.
Function: public catalyst (kneeling crowds, hospital threshold).
Use: Books II, IV, V.
See also: Iconography; Lyrion.

Bone-Ledger (names/indebtedness register)

Object: Codex of Names; counts the uncounted.
Conflict: targeted by Abraxas; exposed by rebels.
See also: Ritual of Memory for Freedom; War for Meaning.

Coin / Coin-Heat (felt cost)

Motif: burns when choices betray mercy; cools when policy aligns with compassion.
Function: decision marker; map (finale).
See also: STITCH pages; Navigator.

Córdoba (lantern courts)

Scenes: Zahra’s clauses; water rights; blended jurisprudence.
See also: Al-Andalus; Lamp-Water.

Crusades (holy war theatres)

Axes: Antioch, Hattin, Acre; Albigensian/Baltic side currents.
Narrative use: tests “law vs mercy”; supplies Thread C counterpoints.
See also: Grail Vigil; Rope-Mercy.

Desert Glass (fulgurite)

Motif: lightning-struck sand; traded for safe passage.
Function: light-map; distributed tokens to ferrymen (Book VI).

Djenné / Timbuktu (lamp-cities)

Use: river & book law; Sankoré debates; drought decrees.
See also: River Parliament; Lamp-Water.

Edicts of White Wax

Object: Abraxas’ legal instruments; “unless” clauses; purity thresholds.
See also: Rope-Mercy; Thread E.

Ghana / Mali / Songhai (Sahel empires)

Ghana: water-oaths; market diplomacy.
Mali: Sundiata’s charter; griot law; Hajj exchanges.
Songhai: Sunni Ali/Askia; ferries of mercy; final pact with embassies.
See also: Walata; Sijilmasa; River Parliament.

Grail Vigil (question rite)

Scene: “Who profits from your wound?”
Function: redirects tithes from war to water; exposes performative suffering.

Indigo Key

Motif: open-gate policy symbol.
Function: visible compassion in border scenes (Book VI).

Kahina (rival flame)

Role: general/guardian; insists on justice that remembers the thirsty.
Arc: from blade-law to treaty-law she can respect.
Threads: B/C counterpoints; appears at decisive STITCH pages.

Lamp-Water (knowledge that reflects)

Motif: bowls used in treaties, councils, rituals.
Function: truth-detector; STITCH image anchor.
See also: Bowl.

Lyrion (poet/painter)

Role: sometimes lover/betrayer; encodes statutes in art.
Functions: carries memory in margins; smuggles icons.
Threads: D (letters, songs, colophons).

Merkava (the wheel)

Role: condottiere / ferrymaster; can lift or crush.
Function: turning points for logistics, roads, ferries.
Threads: A operational beats; end-chapter reversals.

Navigator (westward log)

Role: reads coin-shine as coastline; carries books/people.
Book VI: Thread C.

Ritual: Memory Traded for Freedom

Rule: one released life per chosen, surrendered core memory.
Purpose: non-violent jailbreak; communal cost accounting.
See also: Bone-Ledger; Bowl.

River Parliament

Form: judgments delivered on tied barges; law audible to all.
Function: democratizes policy; repeatable set-piece.

Rope-Mercy / White Cord

Motif: “mercy” that constricts; ceremonial noose; purity theatre.
Function: visible test of reform; severed to signal policy change.

Sophia (singular flame)

Core: melanated, amnesiac across lives; from private counsel to public law.
Goal: keep doors open (water, books, borders).
Threads: leads A.

STITCH Page (chapter 10 in each unit)

Function: one-page visual chorus binding threads via motifs (bowl • coin • cord • book • bell).
Reader cue: orientation, echo, thematic closure.

Triad (Greed, Envy, Ego)

Role: pressure agents in markets/courts/salons.
Proximity: follow Achamoth; swell under scarcity and spectacle.

Vikings / Law-Rocks

Use: oath-feasts, arbitration; tests of code vs mercy.
Thread: B counterpoint in Book II.

Walata / Sijilmasa / Awdaghust / Koumbi Saleh

Use: nodes of water-oaths, salt-gold exchange, marriage treaties.
Thread: C counterpoint in Books II–IV.

II. Reimagined Outline (Parallel Narrative Architecture)

Narrative Model (per chapter):

1 A – 2 B – 3 A – 4 D – 5 A – 6 C – 7 A – 8 E – 9 A – 10 STITCH
- A: Primary era plot (Sophia-led).
- B/C: Counterpoint eras/geographies.
- D: Intimate lens (letters, songs, colophons, notebooks).
- E: Adversarial/policy lens (edicts, tribunals).
- STITCH: Image-driven synthesis using core motifs.

Book I — The Shattering Star (1st–6th c.)

Core question: Can “repair, not erasure” survive regime change?
A: Miryam→Aelia transitions; Rome’s legal pivots; federate oaths; sacks without fire.
B: “Barbarian” law stories (Franks, Goths, Huns, Celts) reframed as rule systems.
C: Sahel seed—Ghana’s water-oaths preview trans-Sahara bridges.
D: Healer’s notebook codifies mercy as practice.
E: Early rope-mercy doctrine; purity exceptions.
Outcome: creed operationalized as policy (bread, wells, books) rather than sentiment.

Book II — Two Shores, One Door (7th–10th c.)

Core question: Can doors hold across culture, sea, and winter?
A: Zahra of Córdoba; love treaties; harbor law; icon seeding.
B: Viking arbitration; outlaw winters; ship-burials; oath-feasts.
C: Ghana high sun; Walata gate; salt routes as governance.
D: Song/verse encoding of law.
E: Sea-white bans; shrine prohibitions.
Outcome: door model proven—refuge, bread, and books “travel.”

Book III — Lamp and Sword (11th–12th c.)

Core question: Can sanctity be audited by outcomes, not symbols?
A: Ysabel’s clauses for widows, wells; siege bread; Grail question.
B: Sundiata charter; market courts; griot jurisprudence.
C: Albigensian/Baltic purity theatres.
D: War letters (Sophia↔Kahina; directives to Lyrion).
E: Indulgence economies; white-wax exemptions.
Outcome: mercy becomes measurable (weights, rations, open-gate metrics).

Book IV — Gold, Paper, Plague (13th–14th c.)

Core question: How does knowledge govern under scarcity?
A: Sankoré/Djenné—river law; book tax abolished; drought credits.
B: Hajj exchanges; debt-release for physicians; astronomy in navigation.
C: Florence plague—Isabella Neri; washing over burning.
D: Colophons and marginalia as public record.
E: Bans on “dark sciences”; night-ferry prohibitions.
Outcome: institutionalization of humane policy (clinics, ferries, price controls).

Book V — Florence of Knives (early–mid 15th c.)

Core question: Can desire produce stable law?
A: Sophia with Alessandro; river statute; scaffold reformed.
B: Street parliament; bottom-up governance.
C: Sahel echo—Djenné decrees mirrored in Florence.
D: Statutes hidden in canvases; portrait as policy.
E: Triad theatre; curated “order.”
Outcome: mercy normalized; crowd literacy in law; icon-driven consent.

Book VI — The Last Bell (late 15th c. → 1492)

Core question: How do doors remain open under expulsion?
A: Sunni/Askia pivots; ferries of mercy.
B: Granada embassies; indigo keys; open-gate nights.
C: Navigator’s west road; coin-map.
D: Achamoth’s partial refusals to feed the triad.
E: Final purity edicts; choke-points.
Outcome: books/people launched; coin cools; creed rewritten and retained.

III. Table of Contents (Cycle → Books → Novellas)

Cycle Front Matter

Preface: Narrative Architecture (Threads A–E; STITCH protocol)
Dramatis Personae (Core Cast + Functions)
Motif Key (Bowl; Coin; White Cord; Book; Bell; Desert Glass; Indigo Key; Bone-Ledger)
Map Suite (Mediterranean; Sahel; North Atlantic; River Systems)

Book I — The Shattering Star (8 Novellas)

Miryam of Antioch — Food law; first bowl tremor.
Law-Stone at Ravenna — Wergild codified; “unless” contested.
Foederati Oath — Settlement by clause; scapegoat ban.
Catalaunian Fields — Horn ethics; retreat to save children.
Sack Without Fire — Libraries spared; book-as-bread decree.
Aelia in Exile — Mercy without title; ring turned inward.
Abbey of Rain — Chant law; bell uncorded.
White Cowl in Rome — Civic tithe passes; public singing of law.

Appendix I-A: Chapter Pattern and STITCH images per novella.

Book II — Two Shores, One Door (8 Novellas)

Zahra of Córdoba — Clause in a love poem.
Law-Rock of Frost — Oath-feast; hostages ransomed by books.
Walata Gate — Refuge as policy; knot holds.
Outlaw Frost — Winter remission; summer restitution.
Orkney Smoke — Sea-captives clause; mast Madonna.
Granada’s First Song — Salon protocol; window ingress.
Awdaghust Ledgers — Bread pegged to river; envy unfed.
Albino Bishop at Sea — Harbor chain timed; bowl afloat.

Appendix II-A: Thread assignments (A/B/C/D/E) per chapter.

Book III — Lamp and Sword (8 Novellas)

Council in Shadow — Widow’s clause; indulgence economy named.
Siege Bread — Ration by need; bone-ledger entries.
Tristan Night — Consent and statute; bedroom law.
Sundiata’s Seed — Charter translation; women’s bench.
Las Navas of Song — Chains traded for wells.
Grail Vigil — Wound economics; tithe redirected.
Acre’s Last Light — Books out first; wet cord inert.
White Wax, Red Dust — Street parliament; “citizens of the bowl.”

Appendix III-A: STITCH gallery and metrics.

Book IV — Gold, Paper, Plague (8 Novellas)

Sand River — Ferry rights; book tax abolished.
The Cairo Ledger — Debt-release; anatomy smuggled.
Lamp of Sankoré — Rain ownership: none.
River Parliament — Night ferries legalized.
The Drought Law — Nomad guardianship; rain-credits.
Canticle of Ash — Wash over burn; price controls.
Ash & Icon — Black Madonna at threshold; names wall.
First Rain — Jubilee of debts; wax dissolves.

Appendix IV-A: Policy forms; sample decrees.

Book V — Florence of Knives (8 Novellas)

The Duke’s Lover — River statute via pulse-count.
Painted Child — Iconographic statute; public unveiling.
Mask-Ball of Envy — Night kitchens; satire-law.
Council of Knives — Market-bench voting; unless removed.
Jomsviking Echo — Child-first oath for mercenaries.
The White Cord — Scaffold converted to exile.
Riot of Mercy — Portrait kneeling; registry reform.
Coin & River — Last clause; coin cools.

Appendix V-A: Icon notes; visual statutes index.

Book VI — The Last Bell (8 Novellas)

Sunni’s Thunder — Ferry statute; law over king.
Askia’s Quiet — Basket courts; wicker seal.
Granada’s Embassy — Indigo keys; pans as bells.
The White Cowl Returns — Sit-in jurisprudence.
Desert Glass — Light-map; distributed tokens.
Night of Open Gates — Curfew nullified by practice.
Books over Sand — Story toll; bandits convert.
Last Caravan West (1492) — Coin as map; bell from sea.

Appendix VI-A: West-Road log; cargo manifest (books/people).

Back Matter

Glossary: Core terms (rope-mercy, lamp-water, coin-heat, bone-ledger, indigo key, desert glass).
Indices: Names; Places; Motifs; Policies; Rituals.
Method Note: Parallel-thread reading guide; color-coded thread markers.
Acknowledgments / Permissions (art, maps).

Implementation Notes (for drafting and layout)

Thread Markers:
- A (Primary): solid black dot ●
- B (Counterpoint 1): blue triangle ▲
- C (Counterpoint 2): green square ■
- D (Intimate): gray italic header
- E (Adversary/Policy): small open circle ○
- STITCH: full-width rule with motif glyphs (bowl, coin, cord, book, bell).
Chapter Template (repeatable): Title + Thread marker → 1-paragraph recap line → 4–6 scene beats → closing image note.
Cross-Ref: Every STITCH page lists page references to the most recent prior appearances of its five motifs.

This package provides: (1) an alphabetized index with cross-references; (2) a parallel-architecture outline per book; and (3) a production-ready table of contents with appendices for drafting control.