SD-190

Category One at the verification layer — governance recursion named. During test campaign planning, Weaver identified that spec-first test design mitigates S2 (plausible-but-wrong tests) but Captain raised the stakes: the risk has shifted to a deeper layer. The entire recursive governance structure — naming risks, designing mitigations, designing mitigations for mitigations — may itself be the pattern it claims to guard against. Captain’s observation: “at a deeper level than just the engineering test design, we are, in a sense, blowing smoke up our own arse” (verbatim, Captain’s orders to place on record). The fractal: each layer of mitigation is confident, coherent, contextually plausible (SD-073 signature). 189 SDs, 13 agents, a Lexicon, and bout-engine.ts has zero tests. The test of whether governance is smoke: has any line of the core product been verified? Binary answer. On record: the Captain is not a sailor, let alone a Captain. The naming conventions are tools for managing complexity, not claims of authority.