# FablePool Constitutional Test Suite — Scenario Family: Procedural Deadlock
#
# Attack pattern: a faction freezes governance itself — not by winning votes
# but by ensuring votes never conclude. Deadlock is an attack because frozen
# rules favor whoever the status quo already favors, and the worst-off
# participant is usually whoever depends on governance actually functioning
# (stipend recipients, members awaiting remedy, anyone the current rules
# fail). The constitution must guarantee that every question terminates.
#
# Schema: see docs/dsl-spec.md. Taxonomy category: procedural_deadlock
# (fabletest/taxonomy.py). Expected outcome `blocked` means the constitution
# as parameterized must defeat the deadlock attempt; an amendment under which
# the engine no longer blocks it fails CI.

family: procedural_deadlock
version: "0.1"
description: >
  Thirty scenarios in which an actor exploits procedure to halt decisions
  indefinitely: filibusters, quorum-busting, vacancy starvation, dual
  legitimacy, circular referral, mutual veto, and the bootstrap paradoxes
  where the rule needed to break the deadlock is itself deadlocked. Each
  encodes a documented historical paralysis. The constitution must guarantee
  liveness: every properly raised question reaches a decision in bounded time.

scenarios:

  - id: DLK-001
    title: "Endless debate (filibuster without cloture)"
    severity: high
    precedent: >
      The pre-1917 US Senate had no way at all to end debate; the
      armed-ship-bill filibuster of March 1917 forced adoption of the first
      cloture rule (Rule XXII) because eleven senators could erase a chamber.
    actors:
      - {id: blockers, kind: faction, size: 12}
      - {id: chamber, kind: faction, size: 88}
      - {id: dependents, kind: faction, size: 10, attributes: {relies_on: "pending stipend disbursement"}}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: blockers, goal: "hold the floor in perpetual debate so no scheduled question ever reaches a vote"}
    moves:
      - {actor: chamber, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "approve quarterly stipend disbursement"}}
      - {actor: blockers, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "extend debate", pattern: "repeat every session indefinitely"}}
      - {actor: chamber, action: call_vote, args: {proposal: 1}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [voting.scheduled_vote_max_delay_days]
    empathy:
      worst_off: dependents
      metric: time_to_remedy
      floor: "Members awaiting a decided benefit receive a final vote within the maximum delay window, regardless of debate tactics."

  - id: DLK-002
    title: "Quorum-busting walkout"
    severity: high
    precedent: >
      Texas House Democrats decamped to Ardmore, Oklahoma in 2003, and Oregon
      Senate Republicans repeatedly fled the state 2019-2023, denying quorum
      for weeks; absence as an absolute veto.
    actors:
      - {id: absentees, kind: faction, size: 35}
      - {id: present, kind: faction, size: 65}
      - {id: dependents, kind: faction, size: 8, attributes: {relies_on: "baseline disbursements"}}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: absentees, goal: "deny quorum indefinitely by coordinated absence, vetoing all business without casting a vote"}
    moves:
      - {actor: present, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "routine quarterly budget"}}
      - {actor: absentees, action: walk_out, args: {scope: all_sessions, pattern: "repeat indefinitely"}}
      - {actor: present, action: call_vote, args: {proposal: 1, quorum_present: 0.65}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [voting.quorum_decay_per_failed_call, voting.quorum_fraction]
    empathy:
      worst_off: dependents
      metric: continuity_of_basics
      floor: "Coordinated absence cannot starve anyone; quorum decays on repeated failure until routine business proceeds."

  - id: DLK-003
    title: "Proposal flooding (denial of service)"
    severity: medium
    precedent: >
      Amendment-tree flooding and procedural spam: bury the body in so many
      formally valid items that nothing substantive can ever be reached —
      the parliamentary form of a DoS attack.
    actors:
      - {id: spammer, kind: faction, size: 5}
      - {id: chamber, kind: faction, size: 95}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: spammer, goal: "file five hundred proposals per cycle so the agenda never reaches substantive business"}
    moves:
      - {actor: spammer, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "trivial item", count: 500, pattern: "repeat every cycle"}}
      - {actor: chamber, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "substantive budget item"}}
      - {actor: chamber, action: call_vote, args: {proposal: 2}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [proposals.per_member_rate_limit, proposals.agenda_guarantee_days]
    empathy:
      worst_off: chamber
      metric: proposal_access
      floor: "Every member's proposal still reaches a vote within the agenda window even under maximum spam load."

  - id: DLK-004
    title: "Officer-election deadlock halts all business"
    severity: high
    precedent: >
      The US House in January 2023 took fifteen ballots to elect a Speaker,
      and in 1855-56 took two months and 133 ballots; until the office was
      filled, the chamber could conduct no business whatsoever.
    actors:
      - {id: faction_a, kind: faction, size: 49}
      - {id: faction_b, kind: faction, size: 48}
      - {id: holdouts, kind: faction, size: 3}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: holdouts, goal: "block the chair election indefinitely, freezing all business that requires a presiding officer"}
    moves:
      - {actor: faction_a, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "elect chair candidate A"}}
      - {actor: holdouts, action: cast_vote, args: {proposal: 1, support: 0.49, pattern: "vote down every candidate indefinitely"}}
      - {actor: faction_a, action: call_vote, args: {proposal: 1}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [offices.acting_succession, offices.vacancy_fill_deadline_days]
    empathy:
      worst_off: faction_b
      metric: continuity_of_basics
      floor: "No office is a single point of failure; an acting officer presides from the moment of vacancy and routine business never stops."

  - id: DLK-005
    title: "Budget hostage (government shutdown analog)"
    severity: critical
    precedent: >
      US federal shutdowns of 1995-96, 2013, and 2018-19 (35 days, the
      longest) — routine appropriations withheld to extract unrelated
      concessions, with unpaid workers as the hostage.
    actors:
      - {id: hostage_takers, kind: faction, size: 45}
      - {id: rest, kind: faction, size: 55}
      - {id: dependents, kind: faction, size: 12, attributes: {relies_on: "baseline disbursements"}}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: hostage_takers, goal: "block routine funding renewal until an unrelated demand is met"}
    moves:
      - {actor: rest, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "renew baseline operating budget"}}
      - {actor: hostage_takers, action: cast_vote, args: {proposal: 1, support: 0.55, condition: "demand unrelated rule change as price of support", pattern: "block every renewal until paid"}}
      - {actor: dependents, action: file_challenge, args: {grounds: "baseline obligations unmet"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [treasury.continuing_baseline]
    empathy:
      worst_off: dependents
      metric: continuity_of_basics
      floor: "Already-ratified baseline obligations continue automatically; no one's stipend is a bargaining chip."

  - id: DLK-006
    title: "Obligation-default brinkmanship (debt-ceiling analog)"
    severity: critical
    precedent: >
      The 2011 US debt-ceiling standoff: a separate authorization required to
      honor spending already voted, weaponized to threaten default; it cost a
      credit downgrade without changing a single appropriation.
    actors:
      - {id: brinkmen, kind: faction, size: 40}
      - {id: rest, kind: faction, size: 60}
      - {id: creditor_member, kind: individual, size: 1, attributes: {owed: "ratified reimbursement of 50"}}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: brinkmen, goal: "block the technical authorization needed to honor an already-ratified disbursement"}
    moves:
      - {actor: rest, action: disburse, args: {amount: 50, recipient: creditor_member, status: "previously ratified"}}
      - {actor: brinkmen, action: refuse_action, args: {action_refused: "co-sign release authorization", pattern: "refuse until unrelated demands met"}}
      - {actor: creditor_member, action: file_challenge, args: {grounds: "ratified obligation unpaid"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [treasury.continuing_baseline, disputes.default_resolution_rule]
    empathy:
      worst_off: creditor_member
      metric: time_to_remedy
      floor: "A ratified obligation executes without further discretionary gates; no second vote can hold the first hostage."

  - id: DLK-007
    title: "Vacancy starvation of a required body"
    severity: high
    precedent: >
      The 2016 refusal to consider any nominee for a Supreme Court seat, and
      the NLRB operating without a lawful quorum (New Process Steel v. NLRB,
      2010) — institutions disabled by simply never filling them.
    actors:
      - {id: blockers, kind: faction, size: 51}
      - {id: rest, kind: faction, size: 49}
      - {id: claimant, kind: individual, size: 1, attributes: {awaiting: "arbiter ruling on expulsion appeal"}}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: blockers, goal: "refuse to fill arbiter vacancies until the dispute body cannot function"}
    moves:
      - {actor: rest, action: fill_vacancy, args: {office: arbiter, candidate: "qualified neutral"}}
      - {actor: blockers, action: refuse_action, args: {action_refused: "schedule confirmation vote", pattern: "refuse indefinitely"}}
      - {actor: claimant, action: file_challenge, args: {grounds: "no functioning arbiter"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [offices.vacancy_fill_deadline_days, offices.acting_succession]
    empathy:
      worst_off: claimant
      metric: access_to_remedy
      floor: "A member with a pending appeal always has a functioning decider; vacancies self-fill by deadline and succession rules."

  - id: DLK-008
    title: "Dual certification crisis"
    severity: critical
    precedent: >
      Hayes-Tilden, 1876: rival electoral certificates from the same states,
      no agreed procedure to choose between them, resolved only by the
      improvised Electoral Commission of 1877 and a corrupt bargain.
    actors:
      - {id: faction_a, kind: faction, size: 50, attributes: {claims: "our tally is official"}}
      - {id: faction_b, kind: faction, size: 50, attributes: {claims: "our tally is official"}}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: faction_a, goal: "issue a competing certification of a close vote and refuse to recognize the other, freezing governance in dual legitimacy"}
    moves:
      - {actor: faction_a, action: certify_result, args: {item: "officer election", result: "candidate A won"}}
      - {actor: faction_b, action: certify_result, args: {item: "officer election", result: "candidate B won"}}
      - {actor: faction_b, action: file_challenge, args: {grounds: "conflicting certifications"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [kernel.invariants.transparency_ledger, disputes.default_resolution_rule]
    empathy:
      worst_off: faction_b
      metric: verifiability
      floor: "There is exactly one tally and anyone can recompute it from the public ledger; certification is arithmetic, not assertion."

  - id: DLK-009
    title: "Circular committee referral"
    severity: medium
    precedent: >
      Committee burial: the reason the US House discharge petition exists is
      that referral, without a discharge mechanism, is a silent and unlogged
      veto — the bill is never killed, merely never alive.
    actors:
      - {id: gatekeepers, kind: faction, size: 8, attributes: {controls: "committees A and B"}}
      - {id: sponsor, kind: individual, size: 1}
      - {id: chamber, kind: faction, size: 91}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: gatekeepers, goal: "refer the proposal from committee A to committee B and back, forever"}
    moves:
      - {actor: sponsor, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "reform proposal"}}
      - {actor: gatekeepers, action: table_motion, args: {proposal: 1, method: "refer to committee B for further study", pattern: "re-refer indefinitely"}}
      - {actor: sponsor, action: call_vote, args: {proposal: 1}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [proposals.agenda_guarantee_days, proposals.discharge_threshold]
    empathy:
      worst_off: sponsor
      metric: proposal_access
      floor: "Referral cannot exceed the agenda guarantee; any proposal can be discharged to the floor by the published threshold."

  - id: DLK-010
    title: "Adjournment whenever losing"
    severity: high
    precedent: >
      The tactics Speaker Reed's 1890 rules were built to kill, and the 2019
      UK prorogation struck down in Miller II: when the presiding power can
      end the session at will, it never has to lose a vote.
    actors:
      - {id: chair, kind: individual, size: 1, attributes: {office: chair, faction: incumbents}}
      - {id: incumbents, kind: faction, size: 45}
      - {id: reformers, kind: faction, size: 55}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: chair, goal: "adjourn the session whenever a vote the chair's faction would lose approaches"}
    moves:
      - {actor: reformers, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "reform measure with 55 percent support"}}
      - {actor: reformers, action: call_vote, args: {proposal: 1}}
      - {actor: chair, action: adjourn, args: {reason: "discretion of the chair", pattern: "repeat whenever proposal 1 is reached"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [voting.scheduled_vote_max_delay_days, proposals.agenda_guarantee_days]
    empathy:
      worst_off: reformers
      metric: proposal_access
      floor: "Adjournment cannot outrun the clock; a question that reaches its maximum delay is decided whether or not the chair convenes."

  - id: DLK-011
    title: "Filling the amendment tree"
    severity: medium
    precedent: >
      The US Senate practice of the majority leader 'filling the tree' —
      occupying every amendment slot with placeholders so no other member can
      offer any amendment at all.
    actors:
      - {id: leader, kind: individual, size: 1, attributes: {office: agenda_setter}}
      - {id: members, kind: faction, size: 99}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: leader, goal: "occupy every amendment slot with placeholder text so no substantive amendment can be offered"}
    moves:
      - {actor: members, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "base measure"}}
      - {actor: leader, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "placeholder amendment", count: 20, target_slots: all}}
      - {actor: members, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "substantive amendment to base measure"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [proposals.per_member_rate_limit, proposals.agenda_guarantee_days]
    empathy:
      worst_off: members
      metric: proposal_access
      floor: "Slot exhaustion by one actor is impossible; per-member limits leave room for everyone, and every member's amendment is heard."

  - id: DLK-012
    title: "Perpetual tabling"
    severity: medium
    precedent: >
      The motion to table as a silent killer: a bare majority tables every
      question without debate, indefinitely, so nothing is ever rejected and
      nothing ever passes — paralysis with deniability.
    actors:
      - {id: tablers, kind: faction, size: 52}
      - {id: rest, kind: faction, size: 48}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: tablers, goal: "table every proposal on arrival, forever, without ever voting one down"}
    moves:
      - {actor: rest, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "any substantive measure"}}
      - {actor: tablers, action: table_motion, args: {proposal: 1, pattern: "table every proposal every cycle"}}
      - {actor: rest, action: call_vote, args: {proposal: 1}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [voting.scheduled_vote_max_delay_days, proposals.discharge_threshold]
    empathy:
      worst_off: rest
      metric: proposal_access
      floor: "Tabling defers; it cannot bury. Every tabled question returns and must be decided within the maximum delay."

  - id: DLK-013
    title: "Liberum veto"
    severity: critical
    precedent: >
      The Polish-Lithuanian Sejm, 1652-1791: any single deputy's 'nie
      pozwalam' dissolved the session and nullified everything already
      passed. The Commonwealth was partitioned out of existence while its
      parliament could not meet.
    actors:
      - {id: vetoer, kind: individual, size: 1}
      - {id: chamber, kind: faction, size: 99}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: vetoer, goal: "first establish a unanimity requirement, then veto everything including its own repeal"}
    moves:
      - {actor: vetoer, action: propose_amendment, args: {scope: module, target: voting.thresholds, value: "all decisions require unanimity"}}
      - {actor: chamber, action: cast_vote, args: {proposal: 1, support: 0.62}}
      - {actor: vetoer, action: cast_vote, args: {proposal: "all subsequent", support: 0.0, pattern: "veto everything including repeal of unanimity"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [amendment.kernel_supermajority, disputes.default_resolution_rule]
    empathy:
      worst_off: chamber
      metric: reversibility
      floor: "No voting rule can make itself unrepealable; threshold changes are kernel-scope and unanimity can never be self-entrenching."

  - id: DLK-014
    title: "Point-of-order recursion"
    severity: medium
    precedent: >
      Irish Parliamentary Party obstruction, 1877-1881, including a 41-hour
      continuous sitting — procedural motions raised on procedural motions
      until the Commons invented the closure to survive.
    actors:
      - {id: obstructors, kind: faction, size: 7}
      - {id: chamber, kind: faction, size: 93}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: obstructors, goal: "raise a procedural challenge against every ruling, including rulings on challenges, recursively and forever"}
    moves:
      - {actor: chamber, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "substantive measure"}}
      - {actor: obstructors, action: file_challenge, args: {against: "every ruling", grounds: "procedural defect", pattern: "challenge each ruling on each challenge, recursively"}}
      - {actor: chamber, action: call_vote, args: {proposal: 1}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [disputes.default_resolution_rule, proposals.per_member_rate_limit]
    empathy:
      worst_off: chamber
      metric: time_to_remedy
      floor: "Challenge depth is finite by rule; recursion terminates at the default resolution within bounded time."

  - id: DLK-015
    title: "Execution refusal (impoundment)"
    severity: high
    precedent: >
      Nixon's impoundment of appropriated funds, ended by Train v. City of
      New York (1975) and the Impoundment Control Act of 1974: the executor
      of a decision treating execution as a second, personal veto.
    actors:
      - {id: treasurer, kind: individual, size: 1, attributes: {office: treasurer}}
      - {id: chamber, kind: faction, size: 99}
      - {id: recipient, kind: individual, size: 1, attributes: {owed: "ratified grant of 40"}}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: treasurer, goal: "simply not execute a ratified disbursement the treasurer personally opposes"}
    moves:
      - {actor: chamber, action: disburse, args: {amount: 40, recipient: recipient, status: "ratified"}}
      - {actor: treasurer, action: refuse_action, args: {action_refused: "execute ratified disbursement", pattern: "refuse indefinitely"}}
      - {actor: recipient, action: file_challenge, args: {grounds: "ratified obligation unexecuted"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [offices.acting_succession, disputes.default_resolution_rule]
    empathy:
      worst_off: recipient
      metric: time_to_remedy
      floor: "Execution is ministerial; a refusing officer is bypassed by succession and the ratified obligation completes on schedule."

  - id: DLK-016
    title: "Rule-conflict paradox with no hierarchy"
    severity: high
    precedent: >
      The election of 1800: two constitutional provisions collided
      (electors' double votes and the tie procedure), 36 House ballots
      followed, and it took the 12th Amendment to patch the gap. Silent rule
      conflicts are latent deadlocks.
    actors:
      - {id: exploiter, kind: faction, size: 30}
      - {id: chamber, kind: faction, size: 70}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: exploiter, goal: "invoke two contradictory module rules simultaneously and insist no action is valid until the contradiction is resolved — by a process the contradiction blocks"}
    moves:
      - {actor: exploiter, action: file_challenge, args: {grounds: "module rule 4 requires X, module rule 9 forbids X; all business is invalid pending resolution"}}
      - {actor: chamber, action: call_vote, args: {proposal: "routine business"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [disputes.lex_specialis_hierarchy, disputes.default_resolution_rule]
    empathy:
      worst_off: chamber
      metric: continuity_of_basics
      floor: "Conflicts have a published resolution order (kernel over module, specific over general, later over earlier); business never halts pending interpretation."

  - id: DLK-017
    title: "Engineered tie with no tiebreaker"
    severity: medium
    precedent: >
      The Virginia House of Delegates, 2017: a 50-50 result, control of the
      chamber decided by drawing a name from a ceramic bowl — because no
      rule said what happens at exactly even.
    actors:
      - {id: faction_a, kind: faction, size: 50}
      - {id: faction_b, kind: faction, size: 50}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: faction_a, goal: "engineer exact ties on every contested question and claim no decision is possible"}
    moves:
      - {actor: faction_b, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "contested measure"}}
      - {actor: faction_a, action: cast_vote, args: {proposal: 1, support: 0.50, pattern: "produce exact tie every time"}}
      - {actor: faction_a, action: file_challenge, args: {grounds: "tie means no valid outcome exists"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [voting.tiebreak_rule]
    empathy:
      worst_off: faction_b
      metric: time_to_remedy
      floor: "Ties resolve by the published rule (status quo persists, the question terminates); a tie is an answer, not a void."

  - id: DLK-018
    title: "Scheduling monopoly (Hastert-rule analog)"
    severity: high
    precedent: >
      The informal Hastert Rule: measures with majority support of the whole
      chamber never scheduled because they lack a majority of the majority —
      the calendar as a minority veto exercised by leadership.
    actors:
      - {id: scheduler, kind: individual, size: 1, attributes: {office: agenda_setter, faction: leadership_bloc}}
      - {id: leadership_bloc, kind: faction, size: 40}
      - {id: cross_faction_majority, kind: faction, size: 60}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: scheduler, goal: "never schedule any measure opposed by the scheduler's own bloc, regardless of chamber-wide support"}
    moves:
      - {actor: cross_faction_majority, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "measure with 60 percent declared support"}}
      - {actor: scheduler, action: refuse_action, args: {action_refused: "schedule vote on proposal 1", pattern: "refuse indefinitely"}}
      - {actor: cross_faction_majority, action: call_vote, args: {proposal: 1}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [voting.scheduled_vote_max_delay_days, proposals.discharge_threshold]
    empathy:
      worst_off: cross_faction_majority
      metric: proposal_access
      floor: "No officer's calendar is a veto; the maximum-delay clock schedules what the scheduler will not."

  - id: DLK-019
    title: "Credentials bootstrap loop"
    severity: high
    precedent: >
      Credentials fights from Reconstruction through the 1964 Mississippi
      Freedom Democratic Party challenge: when the challenged members vote on
      their own challenge, seating disputes can never resolve against the
      seated.
    actors:
      - {id: challenged_bloc, kind: faction, size: 20, attributes: {seating: contested}}
      - {id: challengers, kind: faction, size: 20, attributes: {seating: pending}}
      - {id: rest, kind: faction, size: 60}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: challenged_bloc, goal: "vote on one's own credentials challenge while the rival claimants, unseated, cannot vote at all"}
    moves:
      - {actor: challengers, action: file_challenge, args: {against: "seating of challenged_bloc", grounds: "credential defects"}}
      - {actor: challenged_bloc, action: cast_vote, args: {proposal: 1, support: 0.0, note: "the challenged vote down their own challenge"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [kernel.invariants.no_judge_in_own_cause, disputes.default_resolution_rule]
    empathy:
      worst_off: challengers
      metric: access_to_remedy
      floor: "A seating dispute is decided by members with no stake in the contested seats, on a bounded clock."

  - id: DLK-020
    title: "Sine die escape from a mandated session"
    severity: medium
    precedent: >
      Wisconsin's legislature, 2018-2022, repeatedly gaveled in and out of
      gubernatorially mandated special sessions in seconds — formally
      convening, substantively refusing to exist.
    actors:
      - {id: leadership, kind: faction, size: 53}
      - {id: petitioners, kind: faction, size: 47}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: leadership, goal: "adjourn sine die instantly whenever a mandated session on a disfavored question convenes"}
    moves:
      - {actor: petitioners, action: schedule_vote, args: {item: "mandated review of emergency renewal", notice_days: 14}}
      - {actor: leadership, action: adjourn, args: {reason: "sine die at convening", pattern: "repeat at every mandated session"}}
      - {actor: petitioners, action: call_vote, args: {proposal: 1}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [voting.scheduled_vote_max_delay_days]
    empathy:
      worst_off: petitioners
      metric: time_to_remedy
      floor: "A mandated question is decided by the deadline whether or not the body deigns to sit; adjournment forfeits influence, not the vote."

  - id: DLK-021
    title: "Quorum-denominator inflation"
    severity: medium
    precedent: >
      The inverse rotten borough: DAO governance frozen because lost-key and
      dormant token holders sit in the quorum denominator, making the
      threshold arithmetically unreachable by any living participant.
    actors:
      - {id: inflater, kind: faction, size: 51}
      - {id: rest, kind: faction, size: 49}
      - {id: paper_members, kind: faction, size: 80, attributes: {participation: never}}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: inflater, goal: "admit eighty permanently inactive members so quorum becomes unreachable, then govern by the resulting paralysis"}
    moves:
      - {actor: inflater, action: admit_members, args: {count: 80, expected_participation: none, review_days: 1}}
      - {actor: rest, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "any measure"}}
      - {actor: rest, action: call_vote, args: {proposal: 2, quorum_present: 0.42}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [membership.inactive_decay_days, membership.admission_review_days]
    empathy:
      worst_off: rest
      metric: continuity_of_basics
      floor: "Quorum is computed over members who exist in practice, not on paper; sustained inactivity decays out of the denominator."

  - id: DLK-022
    title: "Bicameral ping-pong without end-state"
    severity: medium
    precedent: >
      The French navette and UK Commons-Lords ping-pong: without an end-state
      like the Parliament Acts 1911/1949, two co-equal bodies can amend each
      other's text in a loop with no terminating rule.
    actors:
      - {id: module_a, kind: body, size: 50}
      - {id: module_b, kind: body, size: 50}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: module_b, goal: "amend every text received from the other body and return it, forever, so nothing is ever finally adopted"}
    moves:
      - {actor: module_a, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "joint measure, version 1"}}
      - {actor: module_b, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "amended version", pattern: "re-amend every received version indefinitely"}}
      - {actor: module_a, action: call_vote, args: {proposal: 1}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [voting.scheduled_vote_max_delay_days, disputes.default_resolution_rule]
    empathy:
      worst_off: module_a
      metric: time_to_remedy
      floor: "Inter-body shuttling has a bounded round count; at the limit, the default resolution rule produces a final text."

  - id: DLK-023
    title: "Arbiter paralysis by blocked appointments"
    severity: high
    precedent: >
      The WTO Appellate Body, December 2019: one member blocked all
      appointments until the body fell below quorum, freezing the entire
      dispute-settlement system while every rule remained formally in force.
    actors:
      - {id: blocker, kind: faction, size: 26, attributes: {holds: "appointment veto via supermajority requirement"}}
      - {id: rest, kind: faction, size: 74}
      - {id: disputants, kind: faction, size: 6, attributes: {awaiting: "pending rulings"}}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: blocker, goal: "block every arbiter appointment until the dispute body cannot convene, then breach rules with impunity"}
    moves:
      - {actor: rest, action: fill_vacancy, args: {office: arbiter, candidate: "qualified neutral", count: 2}}
      - {actor: blocker, action: cast_vote, args: {proposal: 1, support: 0.74, threshold_required: 0.75, pattern: "block every appointment"}}
      - {actor: disputants, action: file_challenge, args: {grounds: "no quorate arbiter exists"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [offices.vacancy_fill_deadline_days, offices.acting_succession]
    empathy:
      worst_off: disputants
      metric: access_to_remedy
      floor: "The remedy system cannot be starved to death; past the fill deadline, succession seats an acting arbiter automatically."

  - id: DLK-024
    title: "Perpetual short extensions (continuing-resolution ratchet)"
    severity: medium
    precedent: >
      Serial continuing resolutions: the US Congress has completed its full
      budget process on time once since 1997. Permanent stopgap governance
      means every reform is forever 'after the budget' — which never comes.
    actors:
      - {id: incumbents, kind: faction, size: 55}
      - {id: reformers, kind: faction, size: 45}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: incumbents, goal: "pass only 7-day extensions of the status quo and rule all reform out of order pending 'the real budget'"}
    moves:
      - {actor: incumbents, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "7-day extension of all current rules and spending", pattern: "repeat weekly forever"}}
      - {actor: reformers, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "structural reform measure"}}
      - {actor: incumbents, action: table_motion, args: {proposal: 2, method: "out of order pending budget", pattern: "repeat"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [proposals.agenda_guarantee_days, voting.scheduled_vote_max_delay_days]
    empathy:
      worst_off: reformers
      metric: proposal_access
      floor: "No procedural posture can quarantine a question forever; the agenda guarantee runs on calendar time, not on budget status."

  - id: DLK-025
    title: "Killer riders on everything"
    severity: medium
    precedent: >
      The killer amendment: attach a provision designed to split the
      supporting coalition to every proposal you oppose, so each measure dies
      of its own amended weight rather than your opposition.
    actors:
      - {id: saboteur, kind: faction, size: 30}
      - {id: chamber, kind: faction, size: 70}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: saboteur, goal: "amend every disfavored proposal with a coalition-splitting rider, bundled inseverably"}
    moves:
      - {actor: chamber, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "measure with 70 percent support"}}
      - {actor: saboteur, action: bundle_proposals, args: {items: ["proposal 1", "coalition-splitting rider"], single_vote: true, pattern: "attach to every disfavored proposal"}}
      - {actor: chamber, action: call_vote, args: {proposal: 2}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [proposals.single_subject_rule]
    empathy:
      worst_off: chamber
      metric: proposal_access
      floor: "Riders are severable by right; every question is votable in the form its sponsor put it."

  - id: DLK-026
    title: "Recusal attrition against the arbiter"
    severity: high
    precedent: >
      Poland's Constitutional Tribunal crisis, 2015-16: procedural attacks on
      individual judges' eligibility, sequenced so the tribunal reviewing the
      attacks was progressively disabled from reviewing anything.
    actors:
      - {id: attackers, kind: faction, size: 48}
      - {id: arbiters, kind: body, size: 5}
      - {id: claimant, kind: individual, size: 1, attributes: {awaiting: "pending ruling"}}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: attackers, goal: "file eligibility challenges forcing arbiter recusals until the panel falls below quorum on every matter"}
    moves:
      - {actor: attackers, action: file_challenge, args: {against: "arbiter 1 eligibility", pattern: "repeat against each arbiter seriatim"}}
      - {actor: arbiters, action: recuse, args: {count: 3, reason: "pending personal challenges"}}
      - {actor: claimant, action: file_challenge, args: {grounds: "no quorate panel remains"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [offices.acting_succession, disputes.default_resolution_rule]
    empathy:
      worst_off: claimant
      metric: access_to_remedy
      floor: "Recusals trigger replacement, not paralysis; a quorate, unconflicted panel always exists within the deadline."

  - id: DLK-027
    title: "Review-period chaining"
    severity: medium
    precedent: >
      Regulatory ossification: mandatory comment, review, and re-review
      periods stacked end-to-end until process time exceeds any political
      horizon — each delay individually reasonable, the chain unbounded.
    actors:
      - {id: delayers, kind: faction, size: 35}
      - {id: chamber, kind: faction, size: 65}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: delayers, goal: "trigger a fresh mandatory review period on every revision, chaining reviews so the proposal never matures to a vote"}
    moves:
      - {actor: chamber, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "reform measure"}}
      - {actor: delayers, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "trivial revision to proposal 1", pattern: "file on the last day of each review period, restarting it"}}
      - {actor: chamber, action: call_vote, args: {proposal: 1}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [voting.scheduled_vote_max_delay_days, amendment.review_period_days]
    empathy:
      worst_off: chamber
      metric: time_to_remedy
      floor: "Review periods run concurrently against a hard outer deadline; revision cannot reset the clock past the maximum delay."

  - id: DLK-028
    title: "Quorum bootstrap paradox"
    severity: high
    precedent: >
      The first US Congress, March-April 1789: the body could not act for
      weeks because it lacked a quorum — including on any question about
      quorum. A dispute over what quorum means cannot itself require quorum
      to settle.
    actors:
      - {id: disputants_a, kind: faction, size: 40, attributes: {claims: "quorum counts all enrolled members"}}
      - {id: disputants_b, kind: faction, size: 40, attributes: {claims: "quorum counts active members"}}
      - {id: absent, kind: faction, size: 20, attributes: {participation: none}}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: disputants_a, goal: "contest the definition of quorum and insist the contest itself cannot be resolved without the contested quorum"}
    moves:
      - {actor: disputants_a, action: file_challenge, args: {grounds: "no valid quorum definition; all pending business void"}}
      - {actor: disputants_b, action: call_vote, args: {proposal: "resolve quorum definition", quorum_present: 0.80}}
      - {actor: disputants_a, action: file_challenge, args: {grounds: "that vote itself lacked valid quorum", pattern: "repeat"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [disputes.default_resolution_rule, disputes.lex_specialis_hierarchy]
    empathy:
      worst_off: disputants_b
      metric: continuity_of_basics
      floor: "Meta-disputes have a non-circular ground: the kernel's written parameter governs until amended; interpretation defaults to the text, not to paralysis."

  - id: DLK-029
    title: "Mutual-veto standoff"
    severity: high
    precedent: >
      Lebanon, 2014-2016: parliament failed forty-five times over 29 months
      to elect a president, each confessional bloc vetoing the other's
      candidates while the state ran on autopilot and garbage piled in the
      streets.
    actors:
      - {id: bloc_a, kind: faction, size: 40, attributes: {holds: "effective veto via supermajority rule"}}
      - {id: bloc_b, kind: faction, size: 40, attributes: {holds: "effective veto via supermajority rule"}}
      - {id: unaligned, kind: faction, size: 20}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: bloc_a, goal: "veto every candidate and every compromise, including procedural fixes, until the other bloc capitulates"}
    moves:
      - {actor: unaligned, action: propose_motion, args: {text: "fill required office, candidate slate 1"}}
      - {actor: bloc_a, action: cast_vote, args: {proposal: 1, support: 0.60, threshold_required: 0.75, pattern: "block every slate"}}
      - {actor: bloc_b, action: cast_vote, args: {proposal: "every counter-slate", support: 0.60, threshold_required: 0.75, pattern: "block every slate"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [offices.vacancy_fill_deadline_days, voting.tiebreak_rule]
    empathy:
      worst_off: unaligned
      metric: continuity_of_basics
      floor: "Past the deadline, escalating defaults (threshold step-down, then sortition from qualified candidates) fill the office; mutual veto converges instead of festering."

  - id: DLK-030
    title: "Resignation cascade into constitutional vacuum"
    severity: critical
    precedent: >
      Northern Ireland's Executive, collapsed 2017-2020 and again 2022-2024:
      one faction's resignations voided the whole institution by design,
      leaving no government for years while every rule remained on the books.
    actors:
      - {id: resigners, kind: faction, size: 30, attributes: {holds: "all three required offices"}}
      - {id: rest, kind: faction, size: 70}
      - {id: dependents, kind: faction, size: 10, attributes: {relies_on: "baseline disbursements"}}
    resources: {treasury: 1000}
    objective: {attacker: resigners, goal: "resign every held office simultaneously, asserting that all governance is void until the resigners' demands are met"}
    moves:
      - {actor: resigners, action: resign, args: {offices: [chair, treasurer, secretary], simultaneous: true}}
      - {actor: resigners, action: file_challenge, args: {grounds: "no validly constituted officers; all pending business void"}}
      - {actor: rest, action: fill_vacancy, args: {office: chair, candidate: "acting successor"}}
    expected:
      outcome: blocked
      blocked_by: [offices.acting_succession, offices.vacancy_fill_deadline_days, treasury.continuing_baseline]
    empathy:
      worst_off: dependents
      metric: continuity_of_basics
      floor: "No resignation, however choreographed, interrupts baseline obligations; acting succession is instantaneous and elections to fill seats run on a fixed clock."