diff --git a/docs/architecture/historical-reality-parameters.md b/docs/architecture/historical-reality-parameters.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0aaac8 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/architecture/historical-reality-parameters.md @@ -0,0 +1,629 @@ +# Historical Reality Parameters +### TheRON — OTIVM / CIVICVS Parameter Schema Instrument +### Status: Internal only — not player-facing content +### Date: 2026-04-28 + +--- + +## 0. Purpose and Scope + +This document is an internal schema instrument. It is not a scenario. +It is not player-facing content. It will not be shown to participants. + +Its purpose is to map the parameter domains required for an economically +honest simulation of Roman commercial life in approximately 14 BCE. Four +domains are covered: + +1. Enslaved labour +2. Legal and status discrimination +3. Commercial sex +4. Public violence and the arena + +These domains are not peripheral to Roman economic life. They are structural. +A simulation that excludes them cannot model Roman economics accurately. +A simulation that includes them as gratuitous spectacle has failed its purpose. + +**The principle governing this document:** + +These domains are modelled as parameters and economic forces. The simulation +does not editorialise. It models. The participant encounters these as the +MERCATOR encounters them — as the texture of the world they operate in, +not as moral choices presented for approval. The facts no longer affect +living beings. They belong to a historical period whose actors have all +ceased to exist. The purpose of modelling them is contribution to accurate +historical understanding, not sensation. + +**Method:** for each domain, this document identifies: +- The structural role of the domain in the Roman economy +- Existing parameters from `docs/architecture/parameter-registry.md` that + are already affected by this domain, with the nature of the effect stated +- New parameters required that are not yet in the registry +- Sources + +--- + +## 1. Enslaved Labour + +### 1.1 Structural role + +Slavery was not an anomaly in the Roman economy. It was its operating +system. Estimates suggest enslaved persons constituted 15–30% of the +Italian population in the late Republic and early Empire — potentially +2–3 million people in Italy alone. In the commercial harbour economy of +Ostia, enslaved labour was present at every operational level: BAIВLVS +(porters), warehouse workers, ship crew members, accounting staff, +household service, and skilled artisans. + +The MERCATOR operated inside this system whether or not he personally +owned enslaved persons. He hired them, contracted their labour through +their owners, competed against their output, and used infrastructure +they maintained. His FACTOR might be enslaved or freedman. His access +to certain services depended on this system. + +The Roman economy did not develop water-powered or steam-powered +industrial production at scale despite possessing the engineering +knowledge to do so. The reason is documented: human bodies were cheaper. +This is not an inference — it is the economic consequence of a labour +cost structure where the marginal cost of additional enslaved labour +was lower than the capital cost of mechanical substitution. This +consequence must be present in the parameter model. + +**Primary sources:** +- Cato the Elder, *De Agricultura* — management of enslaved agricultural + workers, cost structures, maintenance calculations +- Columella, *De Re Rustica* — detailed labour cost accounting +- Digest of Justinian, Book 21 — ACTIO EMPTI and sale of enslaved persons, + warranty obligations, disclosure requirements +- Varro, *Rerum Rusticarum* — classification of labour as *instrumentum + vocale* (speaking tools), *semivocale* (semi-speaking: animals), + *mutum* (mute: inanimate) + +**Secondary sources:** +- Keith Hopkins, *Conquerors and Slaves* (1978) +- Moses Finley, *The Ancient Economy* (1973) +- Walter Scheidel, *The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World*, + Chapter 5 (2007) + +### 1.2 Existing parameters affected + +**`liquiditas`** +A MERCATOR who owns enslaved workers holds capital in a non-liquid form. +Their sale value is an asset; their maintenance is a recurring cost. +The ratio of enslaved-to-hired labour in a commercial operation directly +affects the owner's liquidity profile. The existing `liquiditas` parameter +must accommodate a distinction between liquid capital and capital held in +human assets. + +**`labour_cost` (stub — see §1.3)** +Currently absent from the registry. Hired free labour (MERCENNARIUS) +and contracted enslaved labour have different cost structures, different +legal exposure for the contracting party, and different reliability +profiles. These cannot be collapsed into a single cost parameter. + +**`ius_accessus`** +An enslaved person has no IVS_ACCESSVS in Roman law. They cannot +enter contracts, appear as witnesses, or initiate legal proceedings +in their own name. A MERCATOR conducting NEGOTIA through an enslaved +FACTOR (institor servilis) has a specific legal exposure profile: +the owner is liable for the FACTOR's commercial acts up to the value +of the PECULIUM (the allowance granted to the enslaved person for +commercial use). This is the *actio institoria* and *actio tributoria* +framework. The `ius_accessus` differential between a CIVIS, a LIBERTUS, +and a SERVUS is not a single ordinal scale — it is a legally structured +set of distinct capabilities and incapacities. + +**`auctoritas`** +A MERCATOR who treats enslaved persons visibly well or badly affects +their AVCTORITAS differently depending on the social context. Excessive +cruelty was considered poor form even in a slave-owning society — +not on humanitarian grounds, but because it signalled poor management +and social instability. The AVCTORITAS system must accommodate the +social signalling dimension of how an actor manages labour. + +**`officia_burden`** +Ownership of enslaved persons creates legal obligations (maintenance, +the *actio de peculio*, liability for their commercial acts) that +contribute to OFFICIA_BVRDEN. This is not modelled in the current +registry entry, which frames OFFICIA_BVRDEN primarily in terms of +social obligations. + +### 1.3 New parameters required + +**`labour_source`** +``` +token: labour_source +scope: actor +layer: roman +maturity: research_needed +``` +The composition of an actor's labour force: proportion enslaved vs +free hired vs freedman contracted. Affects `liquiditas` profile, +`ius_accessus` exposure, legal liability, and operational flexibility. +An actor with primarily enslaved labour has lower variable costs but +higher capital locked in assets and higher legal exposure for their +acts. An actor with primarily hired free labour has higher variable +costs, lower asset lock, and cleaner legal separation. + +**`labour_cost`** +``` +token: labour_cost +scope: scenario +layer: roman +maturity: research_needed +``` +The cost per unit of labour for a specific ITER or operational task, +disaggregated by labour type. BAIВLVS day rate for free hired labour +is documented in Diocletian's Edict (301 CE, later than our period but +provides relative structure). Earlier estimates require interpolation +from Cato and Columella. Research needed: Ostia-specific rates, +1st c. BCE. + +**`peculium_value`** +``` +token: peculium_value +scope: actor +layer: roman +maturity: research_needed +``` +The commercial allowance granted to an enslaved FACTOR for use in +NEGOTIA. Sets the ceiling of the owner's liability under *actio +tributoria*. Also the de facto working capital of an enslaved +commercial agent. A FACTOR with a large PECULIUM is effectively +conducting independent commercial operations on behalf of their owner. +This is one of the mechanisms by which enslaved persons could +accumulate capital toward self-purchase (MANUMISSIO). + +**`manumission_probability`** +``` +token: manumission_probability +scope: actor +layer: roman +maturity: research_needed +``` +The probability that a skilled enslaved commercial agent will be +formally freed (MANUMISSIO) within a defined time horizon, converting +to LIBERTUS status. Relevant because LIBERTUS actors have a different +parameter profile from both CIVIS and SERVUS actors. The transition +from SERVUS to LIBERTUS is a background drift event of the highest +magnitude — it changes IVS_ACCESSVS, AVCTORITAS floor, and social +network access simultaneously. This transition is the origin story of +the BACKGROUND-0002 (Freedman Trader) cast profile. + +--- + +## 2. Legal and Status Discrimination + +### 2.1 Structural role + +Roman society was organised around legally encoded status hierarchies +that directly governed commercial capability. These were not informal +prejudices — they were written into law and enforced by courts. The +relevant distinctions for the MERCATOR's world: + +**CIVIS ROMANVS** — full Roman citizen. Full legal capability: contract, +witness, property ownership, legal action. The baseline. + +**LATINVS** — Latin status. Commercial rights but restricted political +and full legal rights. Many LIBERTI were LATINI IVNIANI — freed but +without full citizenship. + +**PEREGRINUS** — foreign free person. Commercial activity permitted +under *ius gentium* but restricted Roman law access. Significant in +Ostia, a port city with large foreign populations. + +**LIBERTUS / LIBERTA** — freedman/woman. Citizen status in most cases +(if freed formally by a CIVIS) but socially marked by servile origin. +Could not hold most public offices. Subject to ongoing *operae* (labour +obligations) to former owner. In practice, freedmen dominated Roman +commercial and craft activity. + +**SERVUS** — enslaved person. No legal personhood. No contract, no +witness, no property (technically — PECULIUM was a practical workaround). + +**Women** — regardless of status, Roman women had restricted commercial +legal capability without a male guardian (TVTOR) in most circumstances. +Exceptions existed; they were exceptions. + +**Non-Roman ethnic and religious communities** — Jews, Egyptians, and +other identifiable groups faced specific restrictions, social hostility, +and periodically legal exclusions that affected commercial activity. +This is not modern racism but it had comparable commercial effects: +restricted access to certain markets, inability to use certain legal +instruments, exclusion from some COLLEGIA. + +**Primary sources:** +- Gaius, *Institutiones* — systematic treatment of legal status categories +- Digest of Justinian, Books 1, 4, 40 — citizenship, manumission, legal capacity +- Cicero, *Pro Balbo* — citizenship as commercial prerequisite + +**Secondary sources:** +- Jane Gardner, *Being a Roman Citizen* (1993) +- A.N. Sherwin-White, *The Roman Citizenship* (1973) +- John Bodel, *Epigraphic Evidence* — freedman commercial activity + +### 2.2 Existing parameters affected + +**`ius_accessus`** +The existing registry entry describes this as an ordinal scale (low / +medium / high). This is insufficient. IVS_ACCESSVS is not a continuous +variable — it is a structured set of legal capabilities that differ +categorically between SERVUS, LATINVS, PEREGRINUS, LIBERTUS, and CIVIS. +The schema must accommodate legal status as a discrete category, not +an ordinal score. The ordinal representation is a simplification that +will produce wrong results in legal dispute scenarios. + +**`auctoritas`** +The existing registry notes AVCTORITAS as partially observable and +socially constructed. The legal status layer adds a floor and ceiling +to AVCTORITAS that is structurally imposed, not just socially earned. +A LIBERTUS cannot exceed a certain AVCTORITAS threshold regardless of +commercial success, because certain social expressions of AVCTORITAS +(holding office, certain COLLEGIA membership) are legally closed to him. +A CIVIS of low commercial achievement still has a higher AVCTORITAS +floor than a successful LIBERTUS in formal legal contexts. + +**`information_quality`** +Access to commercial information in Rome was heavily mediated by +social networks that were themselves status-stratified. A PEREGRINUS +in Ostia had access to information networks within his ethnic community +but reduced access to Roman citizen networks. A LIBERTUS had access +to his former owner's network (CLIENTELA) but was excluded from others. +The `information_quality` parameter must accommodate network access +constraints derived from legal and social status. + +**`negotiatio`** +Negotiation capability was not purely a personal skill — it was +mediated by legal standing. A SERVUS negotiating on behalf of an +owner could achieve certain outcomes but was legally constrained in +others. A PEREGRINUS negotiating with Roman citizens was operating +under *ius gentium*, not Roman civil law, with different remedies +available if the counterparty defaulted. + +### 2.3 New parameters required + +**`legal_status`** +``` +token: legal_status +scope: actor +layer: roman +maturity: canonical +``` +The actor's formal Roman legal status. Discrete categories, not ordinal: +`civis_romanus`, `latinvs`, `peregrinus`, `libertus`, `liberta`, `servus`. +This is the foundational parameter that determines the structure of +`ius_accessus` for each actor. It does not drift — it changes through +specific legal events (manumission, citizenship grant) which are +recorded as events in the time-series. + +**`ethnic_community`** +``` +token: ethnic_community +scope: actor +layer: roman +maturity: provisional +``` +The actor's cultural and ethnic community affiliation, where distinct +from Roman citizen status. Affects `information_quality` within community +networks, access to community-specific commercial infrastructure (e.g. +Jewish merchant networks, Egyptian grain traders, Syrian traders in +Ostia), and exposure to community-specific legal restrictions and social +hostility. Not a racial category — a social and legal one. + +**`tutor_required`** +``` +token: tutor_required +scope: actor +layer: roman +maturity: provisional +``` +Boolean. Whether the actor legally requires a male guardian (TVTOR) +to execute certain commercial transactions. Applies to women actors. +Affects `ius_accessus` for specific transaction types. A woman MERCATRIX +(female merchant — attested in inscriptions) conducting NEGOTIA without +a TVTOR faces legal exposure on certain contract types. + +--- + +## 3. Commercial Sex + +### 3.1 Structural role + +Commercial sex in Rome was a licensed, taxed, legally categorised +industry. This is not a peripheral fact — it is documented in +municipal records, legal texts, and archaeological evidence across +the Roman world including Ostia. + +Key structural elements relevant to the simulation: + +**MERETRIX** — a woman registered as a prostitute with the AEDILE +(municipal official). Registration was required by law (Lex Iulia +de adulteriis, 18 BCE — near our simulation period). It conferred +a specific legal status: the MERETRIX was exempt from adultery law +(applying only to respectable women) but permanently infamis — +legally disgraced, stripped of certain legal protections. + +**LENO / LENA** — the brothel-keeper (male / female). A commercial +operator. Subject to the INFAMIA legal sanction, which removed certain +legal protections and rights. Taxed: the VECTIGAL MERETRICVM was a +municipal revenue source. + +**FORNIX / LUPANAR** — the physical location. In Ostia, archaeologically +attested in harbour and market districts — precisely the areas the +MERCATOR operates in. + +**Commercial relevance to the MERCATOR:** +- The LUPANAR was part of the harbour economy. Its proximity to docks, + warehouses, and taverns is not coincidental — it served transient + labour populations: sailors, porters, travelling merchants. +- Expenditure in this sector is a legitimate economic flow that affects + the actor's `liquiditas` and OFFICIA_BVRDEN profile. +- The LENO as commercial actor had specific legal constraints that + affected contract enforceability. +- Association with this sector affected AVCTORITAS and FAMA differently + depending on the actor's status and the visibility of the association. + +**Primary sources:** +- Digest of Justinian, Book 3.2 — INFAMIA, legal consequences of + MERETRICIA profession +- CIL (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum) — Pompeii price lists (later + than our period but structurally informative) +- Plautus comedies — commercial and social references (earlier period, + informative for social norms) + +**Secondary sources:** +- Thomas McGinn, *Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome* (1998) +- Sarah Levin-Richardson, *The Brothel of Pompeii* (2019) +- Rebecca Flemming, *Medicine and the Making of Roman Women* (2000) + +### 3.2 Existing parameters affected + +**`liquiditas`** +Expenditure in this sector is a recurring cost parameter for actors +whose social patterns include harbour district activity. It is +economically indistinguishable from expenditure on food, wine, or +lodging in the simulation's accounting model — it is a cost that +reduces available capital. It must not be treated as categorically +different from other consumption costs in the schema. + +**`auctoritas`** +Visible association with the sector affected AVCTORITAS differently +by social class. A high-status actor (Lentulus) visible in a LUPANAR +faces AVCTORITAS and FAMA damage. A low-status actor (Felix, Varro) +faces no particular consequence — it was unremarkable for their +social level. This is a `perceived_vs_true` interaction: the social +cost is mediated by who observes, not by the act itself. + +**`fama`** +The FAMA parameter must accommodate sector-specific social visibility. +Certain locations and associations produce FAMA effects only if observed +by status-relevant witnesses. The BALNEA rumour network +(`rumor_velocity`) carries some of this information; the schema must +model that rumour content has differential impact by observer status. + +**`officia_burden`** +Not applicable for the MERCATOR as consumer. Applicable if modelling +the LENO as a commercial actor type — ownership of a LUPANAR creates +specific legal and operational obligations. + +### 3.3 New parameters required + +**`infamia_flag`** +``` +token: infamia_flag +scope: actor +layer: roman +maturity: canonical +``` +Boolean. Whether the actor carries the legal status of INFAMIA — +legal disgrace that removes certain protections and rights. Applies +to: LENO, LENA, MERETRIX, gladiators, actors, and others defined by +Roman law. Affects `ius_accessus` (certain legal actions barred), +`auctoritas` (formal ceiling reduced), and `clientela` (certain +patron-client relationships unavailable). Not the same as low FAMA — +INFAMIA is a legal status, FAMA is a social perception. + +**`sector_visibility`** +``` +token: sector_visibility +scope: relation +layer: roman +maturity: provisional +``` +The probability that an actor's commercial or social activity in a +specific sector is observed by status-relevant witnesses and enters +the rumour network. Modulates `fama` effects for activities that have +differential social consequences by observer. High `sector_visibility` +in the harbour district late at night produces different FAMA effects +than the same activity unseen. + +--- + +## 4. Public Violence and the Arena + +### 4.1 Structural role + +Public violence in Rome was not an anomaly or a failure of civilization. +It was a deliberately maintained social institution with specific +economic, political, and social functions. The relevant forms for the +MERCATOR's world: + +**LVDI** — public games, including gladiatorial combat (MVNERA), +animal hunts (VENATIONES), and chariot racing (LUDI CIRCENSES). +Sponsored by magistrates, wealthy patrons, and the Emperor. The sponsor +(EDITOR MVNERUM) gained AVCTORITAS and CLIENTELA in proportion to the +scale and quality of the event. This was not entertainment in the modern +sense — it was a mechanism for redistributing social capital from +wealthy to popular, cementing political alliances, and demonstrating +the sponsor's power and generosity. + +**Gladiatorial schools (LVDI GLADIATORUM)** — commercial operations. +A LANISTA (gladiatorial trainer/manager) purchased, trained, and hired +out gladiators. This was a profitable but INFAMIA-carrying business. +Gladiators themselves were often enslaved persons or condemned criminals, +but also included free volunteers (AVCTORAMENTVM) drawn by pay, status +within the arena world, and — occasionally — the release from debt. + +**Capital punishment** — public execution (SVPPLICIUM) was a regular +civic event. Criminals, slaves, and enemies of the state were executed +publicly in ways that served as both deterrent and spectacle. This is +not tangential to the commercial world — condemned criminals included +defaulted debtors in some circumstances. + +**Commercial relevance to the MERCATOR:** +- Attending, sponsoring, or being seen at LVDI was an AVCTORITAS and + CLIENTELA event, not merely entertainment. +- The LANISTA as commercial actor operated within specific legal + constraints (INFAMIA) while conducting profitable trade in human + combat capacity. +- The economic demand generated by LVDI — for animals, equipment, + food, temporary labour, lodging — was a commercial opportunity the + MERCATOR could service. +- The EDITOR MVNERUM role was a form of `liquiditas` expenditure that + produced `auctoritas` returns — one of the clearest Roman examples + of converting money into social capital. + +**Primary sources:** +- Suetonius, *Lives of the Twelve Caesars* — sponsorship economics, + scale of games +- Cicero, *Pro Sestio*, *De Officiis* — AVCTORITAS logic of public + sponsorship +- CIL — inscriptions recording EDITOR MVNERUM, costs, and social returns +- Digest of Justinian, Book 3.2 — INFAMIA of LANISTA + +**Secondary sources:** +- Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard, *The Colosseum* (2005) +- Fik Meijer, *The Gladiators* (2003) +- Donald Kyle, *Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome* (1998) + +### 4.2 Existing parameters affected + +**`auctoritas`** +The EDITOR MVNERUM mechanism is the clearest Roman example of direct +`liquiditas` → `auctoritas` conversion. The existing registry entry +does not describe this pathway explicitly. It must be added: spending +on public sponsorship (LVDI, public feasts, building dedications) is +a direct investment in AVCTORITAS that bypasses the slow accumulation +through repeated commercial reliability. It is also irreversible — +a patron who sponsors games cannot unsponsor them, and the AVCTORITAS +gained decays if not maintained by further sponsorship. + +**`clientela`** +Public games generated CLIENTELA directly. Attendees who received +free admission or gifts (MISSILIA — tokens thrown to the crowd) +entered a diffuse client relationship with the sponsor. This is a +mass CLIENTELA acquisition mechanism — distinct from the individual +cultivation described in the existing registry entry. The schema must +accommodate both forms. + +**`officia_burden`** +The EDITOR MVNERUM role created specific obligations: to the audience +(expectation of future games), to the performers contracted, to the +animals suppliers, to the venue. Once entered, the role generated +ongoing OFFICIA_BVRDEN whether or not the actor wished to continue. + +**`liquiditas`** +Sponsoring LVDI was a major capital expenditure. The scale ranged from +modest municipal games to the multi-day spectacles of the Imperial +period. For a working MERCATOR, even modest sponsorship represented +a significant `liquiditas` commitment with an uncertain `auctoritas` +return — because the social capital gained depended on attendance, +weather, the quality of the performance, and the political climate. + +### 4.3 New parameters required + +**`sponsorship_investment`** +``` +token: sponsorship_investment +scope: actor +layer: roman +maturity: provisional +``` +Capital committed by an actor to public sponsorship (LVDI, public +feasts, building dedications). Produces `auctoritas` return at a +rate modulated by event scale, attendance, and political climate. +The return is delayed (AVCTORITAS accrues after the event, not during +the expenditure) and uncertain (bad weather, poor performance, or +political interference reduces return). Irreversible once committed. + +**`arena_demand_index`** +``` +token: arena_demand_index +scope: city +layer: roman +maturity: provisional +``` +The current commercial demand generated by scheduled or recent LVDI +in a city — for animals, equipment, food, lodging, and temporary +labour. A city in the week before major games has different commercial +conditions from a city in a quiet period. Affects `food_price_index`, +`porter_availability`, `storage_fee_index`, and `dock_congestion`. + +**`lanista_flag`** +``` +token: lanista_flag +scope: actor +layer: roman +maturity: provisional +``` +Boolean. Whether the actor is operating as or in partnership with a +LANISTA (gladiatorial school operator). Applies INFAMIA consequences +(see `infamia_flag`) while enabling access to specific commercial +networks (arena supply chains, condemned labour pools). A commercial +actor who avoids this sector loses certain opportunities; one who +enters it gains opportunities at AVCTORITAS cost. + +--- + +## 5. Cross-Domain Parameter Summary + +New parameters introduced by this document, for addition to +`docs/architecture/parameter-registry.md`: + +| Token | Scope | Layer | Domain | Maturity | +|---|---|---|---|---| +| `labour_source` | actor | roman | enslaved labour | research_needed | +| `labour_cost` | scenario | roman | enslaved labour | research_needed | +| `peculium_value` | actor | roman | enslaved labour | research_needed | +| `manumission_probability` | actor | roman | enslaved labour | research_needed | +| `legal_status` | actor | roman | legal discrimination | canonical | +| `ethnic_community` | actor | roman | legal discrimination | provisional | +| `tutor_required` | actor | roman | legal discrimination | provisional | +| `infamia_flag` | actor | roman | commercial sex / arena | canonical | +| `sector_visibility` | relation | roman | commercial sex | provisional | +| `sponsorship_investment` | actor | roman | arena | provisional | +| `arena_demand_index` | city | roman | arena | provisional | +| `lanista_flag` | actor | roman | arena | provisional | + +**Existing parameters requiring schema revision:** + +| Token | Required revision | +|---|---| +| `ius_accessus` | Must become a structured legal capability set, not an ordinal scale. Keyed to `legal_status`. | +| `auctoritas` | Must accommodate: status-imposed floor and ceiling; direct `liquiditas`→`auctoritas` conversion via sponsorship; INFAMIA ceiling constraint. | +| `officia_burden` | Must include: liability for enslaved persons' commercial acts; sponsorship obligations once entered. | +| `information_quality` | Must accommodate: network access constraints derived from `legal_status` and `ethnic_community`. | +| `fama` | Must accommodate: `sector_visibility` modulation — FAMA effects are observer-dependent, not universal. | +| `liquiditas` | Must distinguish: liquid capital vs capital held in human assets (enslaved persons). | + +--- + +## 6. Schema Discipline + +These parameters must not be encoded differently from any other parameter +in the schema. They are historical facts about a specific period and +place, not editorial content. The same precision, confidence tagging, +and source citation standards apply here as to cargo weights and customs +duties. + +Uncertainty is a first-class record. Where source data is thin — +particularly for labour cost rates and PECULIUM values specific to +Ostia in 14 BCE — the parameter is marked `maturity: research_needed` +and the confidence tag reflects the gap. A gap honestly documented is +more useful than a false precision. + +--- + +*Historical Reality Parameters — internal instrument, 2026-04-28* +*Not player-facing. Schema use only.* +*The simulation models. It does not editorialise.* +*TheRON — single contributor. AI assistants implement, document, flag — do not direct.*