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+# DIALOGUE-LAW-0003
+## The Heir’s Oath — Canonical Draft
+### Status: Canonical Dialogue Draft
+### Layer: OTIVM (Roman Law)
+### Purpose: Scenario teaching family authority, succession control, legal capacity, military obligation, inheritance risk, and conflict between personal merit and dynastic expectation.
+### Repository Path: docs/scenarios/DIALOGUE-LAW-0003.md
+
+---
+
+## 0. Design Intent
+
+The eldest son and legal heir of a powerful political house has bound himself to long military service.
+
+Since youth he has rejected comfort, seeking danger in mines, ships, racing teams, and hard labor among common men. Now news spreads that he has signed for twenty-five years with a frontier legion, declaring he will earn fame rather than inherit it.
+
+No riot has begun. No magistrate has ruled. No sword has been drawn.
+
+Yet his father rages, rivals recalculate, younger siblings suddenly matter, recruiters become cautious, and the city debates whether a son belongs first to himself or to his house.
+
+Known facts are uncertain:
+
+- binding enlistment or dramatic gesture
+- father can void terms or cannot
+- commission expected or common rank chosen
+- genuine principle or youthful theatre
+- rivals already exploiting succession doubt
+- heir intends return or exile through glory
+
+The participant must learn that powerful families treat heirs as assets, while ambitious heirs may claim personhood at cost.
+
+---
+
+## 1. Scene Constraints
+
+Location: forum square near military records office and statue court in Ostia, late morning after news spreads.
+
+Primary signals:
+
+- household servants searching for the heir
+- recruiters refusing comment
+- citizens praising courage
+- clients whispering about succession
+- younger brother suddenly surrounded by flatterers
+- father’s litter expected any moment
+
+Selection method: participant chooses whose interpretation to follow.
+
+---
+
+## 2. Opening Scene Draft
+
+The city loved courage most when it belonged to someone else’s son.
+
+Crowds clustered outside the military records office where no official notice had been posted and therefore everyone knew everything.
+
+Marcus Atilius Varro stood near the steps where he could see the doors, the street, and any man running from family duty.
+
+Lucius Fabius Felix arrived smiling like a man who smelled inheritance disorder.
+
+“No fire. No flood. No tax seizure,” Felix said. “Only nobility injuring itself. Delightful.”
+
+Varro nodded toward the crowd.
+
+“Three household slaves searching with descriptions.”
+
+“Then he is handsome or expensive.”
+
+Gaius Licinius Crispus approached already offended by applause.
+
+“Has any valid instrument been filed?”
+
+Felix answered first.
+
+“Several opinions.”
+
+Crispus ignored him.
+
+“Rumor says oath witnessed at dawn,” Varro said.
+
+“Rumor often forges signatures.”
+
+Quintus Cornelius Lentulus Minor arrived too quickly to seem detached.
+
+“The house of Sergii does not produce deserters,” Lentulus said.
+
+Felix nodded.
+
+“It may now produce volunteers.”
+
+Titus Varenus Secundus came from the records door carrying dust on his sandals.
+
+“Something was filed,” he said. “Clerk pale. Officer amused.”
+
+Varro asked, “Rank?”
+
+“Unknown.”
+
+A quiet voice came from beside a column.
+
+“Which means important.”
+
+Publius Terentius Chresimus stood with two copied notes and no patience.
+
+Felix sighed.
+
+“Even scandal receives transcripts.”
+
+Chresimus said, “The youth requested frontier assignment, no ceremonial delay, no household exemptions.”
+
+Lentulus stared.
+
+“That is insanity.”
+
+Secundus replied:
+
+“That is expensive sincerity.”
+
+A baker nearby shouted:
+
+“To the heir who works for bread!”
+
+Sales improved immediately.
+
+Felix pointed.
+
+“There. First patriot.”
+
+Crispus folded his hands.
+
+“If his father retains household authority, signatures may not suffice.”
+
+Felix smiled.
+
+“So law returns to blood.”
+
+Varro said, “How old?”
+
+“Twenty-two,” Chresimus replied.
+
+“Then dangerous.”
+
+Lentulus frowned.
+
+“He has always been dangerous. Last year he crewed a grain barge in winter.”
+
+Felix asked, “Why?”
+
+“To see if bargemen lied.”
+
+Secundus nodded once.
+
+“They usually do.”
+
+The younger brother of the house crossed the square escorted by men who had ignored him yesterday.
+
+Varro noticed first.
+
+“There.”
+
+“What?” Crispus asked.
+
+“Succession has feet.”
+
+The younger brother looked stunned but attempted dignity.
+
+Felix admired him.
+
+“Rapid growth.”
+
+A woman in fine dress said loudly that true Roman blood seeks hardship.
+
+Another said louder that true Roman blood obeys fathers.
+
+The crowd divided instantly.
+
+Crispus said, “Useful distinction.”
+
+Felix replied, “Market segmentation.”
+
+A recruiter emerged, saw the crowd, and retreated back inside.
+
+Secundus laughed once.
+
+“Wise.”
+
+Lentulus asked, “Can the father cancel this?”
+
+Crispus answered first.
+
+“Depends what was sworn, before whom, and whether influence outruns paperwork.”
+
+Chresimus added:
+
+“Also whether the son wishes cancellation.”
+
+Felix said, “Or whether cancellation now damages prestige more than service.”
+
+Varro watched the street.
+
+“Litter coming.”
+
+A heavy household litter approached at speed. Servants cleared space badly.
+
+The father descended.
+
+A formidable man, controlled enough to frighten without shouting.
+
+He asked only one question:
+
+“Where is he?”
+
+No one answered.
+
+Felix admired the silence.
+
+“Civic unity.”
+
+The father turned to the records office.
+
+“If any clerk has accepted nonsense, I will correct it.”
+
+Crispus murmured:
+
+“There.”
+
+“What?” Lentulus asked.
+
+“Conflict between authority and process.”
+
+The father entered.
+
+The crowd swelled closer.
+
+Secundus said, “If the son joins common ranks, he dies quickly or rises honestly.”
+
+Lentulus replied, “He should command.”
+
+“He wishes not to be given command,” Chresimus said.
+
+Felix smiled slowly.
+
+“A rare addiction to merit.”
+
+A client of the family whispered that marriage negotiations with two houses were now uncertain.
+
+Varro said, “There.”
+
+“What now?” Crispus asked.
+
+“The real wound.”
+
+Chresimus nodded.
+
+“Alliance delays. Dowry shifts. Rivals advance.”
+
+The father emerged angrier but not victorious.
+
+No cancellation had yet occurred.
+
+The crowd understood this instantly.
+
+Applause began somewhere reckless.
+
+Felix nearly laughed himself ill.
+
+The father announced:
+
+“My son is unwell and temporarily misguided.”
+
+The square enjoyed this too much.
+
+Lentulus winced.
+
+“Cruel.”
+
+Felix said, “Public weakness is always communal entertainment.”
+
+A dusty young man appeared at the far end of the square carrying travel pack, plain cloak, and no escort.
+
+The heir.
+
+He bowed to his father first.
+
+Then to no one else.
+
+Silence took the square.
+
+He said calmly:
+
+“I will return worthy or not at all.”
+
+The father replied:
+
+“You will return now.”
+
+The son answered:
+
+“I have already left.”
+
+Even Crispus respected that sentence.
+
+Varro asked quietly, “What matters now?”
+
+Secundus answered first.
+
+“Whether officers accept him before family reaches them.”
+
+Lentulus said, “Whether public praise traps the father.”
+
+Crispus said, “Whether filed oath binds.”
+
+Felix said, “Which rival courts the younger brother.”
+
+Chresimus said, “Inheritance revisions tonight.”
+
+They all looked at him.
+
+“If the father changes wills, the house enters war by ink.”
+
+The son turned toward the road.
+
+No guards moved.
+
+No one wished to be first.
+
+Varro stepped after him.
+
+“I’ll learn whether he understands service.”
+
+Secundus moved with him.
+
+“I’ll tell him what winter marches cost.”
+
+Lentulus adjusted his cloak.
+
+“I will learn which houses now seek the younger brother.”
+
+Crispus drew himself up.
+
+“I will determine what filings survive paternal anger.”
+
+Felix turned toward the applauding crowd.
+
+“I will sell courage to men staying home.”
+
+Chresimus tied his copies.
+
+“I will learn whether the father rewrites succession before supper.”
+
+Felix looked back once.
+
+“Six men. One noble son. None of us discussing honor.”
+
+Varro answered without turning.
+
+“We are discussing ownership.”
+
+---
+
+## 3. Choice Presentation
+
+> The heir has chosen danger over inheritance. Whose reading of the square do you trust?
+
+| Choice | Background |
+|---|---|
+| Follow Varro to test whether resolve survives reality. | Former Legionary |
+| Follow Felix to exploit panic, prestige, and succession rumors. | Freedman Trader |
+| Follow Lentulus to track noble alliances and family reactions. | Noble Younger Son |
+| Follow Crispus to inspect filings, authority, and legal capacity. | Failed Magistrate |
+| Follow Secundus to judge military truth against romantic ambition. | Camp Logistician |
+| Follow Chresimus to trace wills, heirs, and power by ink. | Guild Scribe |
+
+---
+
+## 4. What This Scene Teaches
+
+- Heirs are often treated as family assets.
+- Legal adulthood may still collide with household power.
+- Public praise can limit private control.
+- Military service can be merit-seeking or status theatre.
+- Succession uncertainty changes alliances immediately.
+- Wills may become weapons faster than swords.
+
+---
+
+## 5. Canonical Success Condition
+
+If the participant stops asking:
+
+“Will he become a hero?”
+
+and starts asking:
+
+“Who loses control if he does?”
+
+then this dialogue is functioning correctly.