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EPICON 02 INVARIANTS

EPICON-02 — Formal Invariants

Version: 1.0.0
Status: Normative
Scope: All authority-bearing actions governed by EPICON-02
Violation Handling: Visibility + scope collapse + expiration (never silence)
License: CC0 / Public Domain

Overview

This document defines the formal invariants that EPICON-02 enforces. These invariants are:

  • Machine-checkable
  • Human-legible
  • Adversarially robust
  • Composable across governance layers

Invariant I — Intent Precedence

No authority-bearing action may exist without a prior Intent Publication.

Formal Statement

∀ action A:
  IF A.requires_authority = true
  THEN ∃ intent I such that I.issued_at < A.timestamp

Rationale

Authority without prior intent creates epistemic asymmetry and enables narrative capture.

Invariant II — Intent Immutability

Published intent cannot be modified or deleted.

Formal Statement

∀ intent I:
  modify(I) = false
  delete(I) = false

Rationale

Intent must act as a stable reference frame for divergence detection.

Invariant III — Scope Containment

All authority-bearing actions must remain within the declared Scope Envelope.

Formal Statement

∀ action A, intent I:
  IF A.references(I)
  THEN A.permissions ⊆ I.scope_envelope

Violation Condition

A.permissions ⊄ I.scope_envelope ⇒ DivergenceEvent(type = scope)

Invariant IV — Temporal Boundedness

Authority must expire.

Formal Statement

∀ intent I:
  I.expires_at is defined
  AND current_time ≤ I.expires_at ⇒ authority(I) valid

Violation Condition

current_time > I.expires_at ∧ action.references(I)
⇒ DivergenceEvent(type = duration)

Invariant V — Non-Retroactivity

Justification cannot be supplied after authority execution without permanent trace.

Formal Statement

∀ action A:
  IF justification(A).issued_at > A.timestamp
  THEN TransparencyDebt(A) = true
  AND TransparencyDebt.immutable = true

Rationale

Retroactive justification is allowed only with explicit epistemic cost.

Invariant VI — Divergence Visibility

Divergence must be observable without accusation.

Formal Statement

IF DivergenceEvent exists
THEN event.visibility = public
AND event.immutable = true
AND event.requires_accusation = false

Rationale

No private resolution of epistemic contradictions.

Invariant VII — Expiration Supremacy

Expiration overrides all authority claims.

Formal Statement

∀ intent I:
  current_time > I.expires_at ⇒ authority(I) = null

Rationale

No permanent power, regardless of past integrity.

Invariant VIII — Companion Witness Requirement

Authority-bearing intent must be epistemically witnessed.

Formal Statement

∀ intent I:
  valid(I) ⇒ ∃ CompanionAttestation(I)

Violation Condition

¬∃ CompanionAttestation(I) ⇒ authority(I) = denied

Invariant IX — No Narrative Authority

Role, title, urgency, or identity claims do not grant authority.

Formal Statement

∀ claim C:
  IF C.type ∈ {role, title, urgency, status, narrative}
  THEN authority(C) = 0

Rationale

Authority is cryptographic + verified, never inferred from language.

Invariant X — Divergence Is Non-Punitive

Divergence does not imply guilt or punishment.

Formal Statement

DivergenceEvent ⇒
  visibility = true
  authority_may_collapse = true
  moral_judgment = undefined

Rationale

Mobius enforces coherence, not morality.

Invariant XI — Renewal Requires Re-publication

Authority cannot be extended by continuity alone.

Formal Statement

∀ intent I:
  renew(I) ⇒ ∃ new IntentPublication I'
  AND I'.prior_intent = I.intent_id

Rationale

Each authority grant is a fresh epistemic commitment.

Invariant XII — Integrity Accrual Is Trajectory-Based

Trust is evaluated across sequences, not snapshots.

Formal Statement

IntegrityScore(actor) = f(
  ∑ intents,
  ∑ divergences,
  ∑ expirations,
  ∑ evolutions
)

Rationale

Prevents "long con" strategies where actors build trust then defect.

Invariant XIII — System Neutrality

The system does not infer intent.

Formal Statement

System.evaluates = {
  publication,
  scope,
  time,
  consistency
}

System.does_not_evaluate = {
  motives,
  beliefs,
  morality,
  emotions
}

Rationale

Mobius is a legibility substrate, not a moral arbiter.

Canonical Invariant Summary

Mobius does not judge intent.
It binds intent to time, scope, and visibility — and lets reality speak.

Invariant Dependency Graph

                    ┌─────────────────────┐
                    │  I. Precedence      │
                    └──────────┬──────────┘
                               │
              ┌────────────────┼────────────────┐
              │                │                │
              ▼                ▼                ▼
    ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
    │ II. Immutability │ │VIII.Witness │ │ IX. No Narrative│
    └────────┬────────┘ └──────┬──────┘ └────────┬────────┘
             │                 │                  │
             └────────┬────────┴────────┬─────────┘
                      │                 │
                      ▼                 ▼
            ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
            │III. Containment │ │ IV. Time Bound  │
            └────────┬────────┘ └────────┬────────┘
                     │                   │
                     └─────────┬─────────┘
                               │
                               ▼
                    ┌─────────────────────┐
                    │  VI. Visibility     │
                    └──────────┬──────────┘
                               │
              ┌────────────────┼────────────────┐
              │                │                │
              ▼                ▼                ▼
    ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
    │ V. Non-Retro    │ │VII.Expiry   │ │ X. Non-Punitive │
    └─────────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────────┘
                               │
                               ▼
                    ┌─────────────────────┐
                    │  XI. Re-publication │
                    └──────────┬──────────┘
                               │
                               ▼
                    ┌─────────────────────┐
                    │ XII. Trajectory     │
                    └──────────┬──────────┘
                               │
                               ▼
                    ┌─────────────────────┐
                    │ XIII. Neutrality    │
                    └─────────────────────┘

Machine-Checkable Implementation

Each invariant can be implemented as an automated check:

Invariant Check Type Automation
I. Precedence Pre-condition Block action if no intent exists
II. Immutability Storage constraint Append-only intent store
III. Containment Runtime validation Scope comparison on each action
IV. Time Bound Scheduled job Expire authority at timestamp
V. Non-Retroactivity Timestamp validation Flag post-hoc justifications
VI. Visibility Event emission Publish all divergence events
VII. Expiry Scheduled job Terminate + witness generation
VIII. Witness Pre-condition Require attestation signature
IX. No Narrative Input validation Reject role/title-only claims
X. Non-Punitive Output constraint No moral labels in events
XI. Re-publication Renewal validation Require new intent for extension
XII. Trajectory Aggregate scoring Compute from event history
XIII. Neutrality Scope limitation No inference beyond publication

Security Properties Derived

From these invariants, the following security properties emerge:

Property Derived From
No hidden authority I, VIII, IX
No permanent power IV, VII, XI
No private divergence VI, X
No retroactive justification V
No narrative capture IX, XIII
Auditable trajectories VI, XII
Automatic expiration IV, VII

Adversarial Resistance

These invariants resist the following attack patterns:

Attack Blocked By
Authority roleplay IX (No Narrative)
Context smuggling II (Immutability), III (Containment)
Silent escalation III (Containment), VI (Visibility)
Permanent capture IV (Time Bound), VII (Expiry)
Post-hoc justification V (Non-Retroactivity)
Identity cosplay VIII (Witness), I (Precedence)
Long con strategy XII (Trajectory)
Document Location
EPICON-02 Specification EPICON-02.md
EPICON-01 Specification EPICON-01.md
AVM Specification ../authority/AVM.md
Threat Model ../06-OPERATIONS/security/THREAT_MODEL_EPISTEMIC_ATTACKS.md

Document Control

Version History: - v1.0.0: Initial formal invariants (C-151)

License: CC0 1.0 Universal (Public Domain)

"Mobius does not prevent divergence. It makes divergence undeniable."

— Mobius Principle