Document metadata
type: visual-production-reference
status: author-approved
updated: 2026-09-16
series: Surface Archive
Surface Archive Consistency and Variation System
Use this reference with 05 Public/Wildlife Meme Adventures/SURFACE-ARCHIVE-DIRECTION. The goal is immediate series recognition without turning one successful image into a fixed template.
Recognition anchors
Every Surface Archive image keeps these anchors:
- The identity hierarchy appears as Seeds of the Throne, Surface Archive, then a record number and category.
- A crown or approved throne mark belongs to the title lockup.
- Antique-gold rules or a fine archival frame establish the record boundary.
- Deep navy or charcoal, parchment or cream, antique gold, fine system blue, and sparse coral or ember nodes form the recurring palette family. The source photograph decides their proportions.
- Fine orbital, cartographic, ecological, signal, or connection geometry appears at the edges or in genuine negative space. Geometry communicates a type of record rather than serving as filler.
- The authentic photograph remains dominant and recognizable.
- Primary story copy and any Luminai note remain readable in a phone-size X preview.
- The image contains no real-world logo, institutional mark, coordinate, or place name when it is presented as an in-world record.
These anchors define the family. Their exact placement does not.
Image-determined variables
Redesign these for every photograph:
- canvas orientation and crop;
- title-lockup location and scale;
- reading order and text alignment;
- amount and location of the border;
- orbital, map, signal, ecological, or dream geometry;
- palette emphasis and photographic grade;
- record category and narrative voice;
- position and form of the Luminai note;
- one image-specific visual signal, such as a path, observation reticle, transit line, hidden lamp, or habitat trace.
The title lockup defaults to an upper corner only when the photograph supports it. Do not move it merely to look different, and do not force it into the upper left merely because earlier references used that location.
Variation budget
Before generation, name the photograph's protected subject and its natural text zones. Then deliberately vary at least three of the following from the most recent Surface Archive image:
- composition or crop;
- lockup placement;
- main-copy placement;
- geometric metaphor;
- border behavior;
- palette emphasis;
- Luminai-note treatment;
- image-specific signal.
Never satisfy the variation budget with color swaps alone. Never copy the exact corner diagrams, red-node positions, border interruptions, or footer structure from the immediately previous record.
Reference selection
Attach the source photograph as the protected edit target. Attach no more than two Surface Archive references by default:
- the closest reference for identity, hierarchy, and tone;
- a deliberately different reference for proof that the series permits another composition.
State the role of each reference. The references control the family language, not the new photograph's crop, subject placement, background, exact geometry, or copy.
Available approved style references:
| Reference | Use it to prove | Do not copy by default |
|---|
record-0043-shoreline-observation.webp | quiet observation, photograph dominance, restrained orbital marks, hopeful Luminai note | the sandpiper composition or exact top-left/top-right split |
record-0061-mountain-transit.webp | daylight color, strong left lockup, event copy, full archival border | the road-centered composition or mountain palette |
record-0062-dream-integration.webp | high-contrast dream state, cyan connection path, celestial geometry | the black-and-white treatment or dream wording |
record-0063-coastal-resistance.webp | environmental storytelling, concealed human use, subtle amber signal, fictionalized signage | the driftwood shelter, resistance premise, or exact frame layout |
Paths are relative to skills/create-seeds-images/assets/reference-images/surface-archive/.
Place-name and provenance rule
Preserve real capture provenance in the private episode record. For an image presented as an in-world record, remove readable real-world place names, logos, coordinates, and institutions. Use a generic classification or an author-approved fictional label. A generated fictional label is visual interpretation only and does not establish a canonical city, beach, region, or historical event.
MERIDIAN COAST is approved for the Record 0063 visual artifact. It is not automatically a canonical geographic location.
Prompt contract
Each generation brief must say:
- which image is the protected edit target;
- which references control series identity and which alternative composition they demonstrate;
- which recognition anchors remain locked;
- which three or more variables will change for this photograph;
- which natural text zones and photographic details must remain unobscured;
- the exact title, record line, story copy, and Luminai note;
- whether real place names must be removed or replaced;
- that no reference wording, setting, animal, object, map, or photograph-specific motif may leak into the new image.
Approval checks
Reject a candidate when any of these is true:
- it could belong to a generic science-fiction archive rather than Seeds of the Throne;
- it copies a prior layout more closely than the source photograph justifies;
- branding or geometry competes with the photograph;
- small copy requires zooming;
- a real place name or logo remains visible in an in-world artifact;
- a reference's subject, wording, or unique motif leaks into the new image;
- uniqueness comes only from a different photograph or color grade;
- generated additions are presented as canon without separate author approval.
For each approved record, preserve one sentence explaining what makes it recognizably Surface Archive and one sentence explaining what makes it unique.
