# The Hinterland Atlas

A calibration sweep of **80 worlds** (default knobs, 24 regions, 10
epochs, schema v36) measured end-to-end, and the archetypal extremes it
found. Every world below is one click away — the seed and knobs live in
the URL hash — and every quotation is the world describing itself (the
chronicle is deterministic: you will find the same words). For HOW to
read these worlds, see the [field guide](field-guide.md).

## The calibration table

| metric | min | median | max |
|---|---|---|---|
| wealth gini (between places) | 0.18 | 0.44 | 0.69 |
| gini drift (close − founding) | -0.14 | 0.02 | 0.24 |
| within-place share of person inequality % | 21 | 37 | 62 |
| owners' rows' share of all coin % | 30.20 | 48.90 | 74.60 |
| rank-size alpha (Zipf ≈ 1) | 0.74 | 1.20 | 1.60 |
| urban primacy (1st/2nd) | 1 | 1.30 | 4.70 |
| sky advantage behind the wall (mean) | 0 | 43.30 | 72.20 |
| off-grid share | 0 | 0.38 | 0.67 |
| mountain-shadow share | 0.13 | 0.46 | 0.83 |
| corr(blight, wealth) | -0.52 | -0.09 | 0.71 |
| events per run | 12 | 23 | 37 |
| seizures | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| max abandonment | 30 | 40 | 58 |
| max toll burden | 10 | 50 | 96 |
| gate concentration | 0.20 | 0.67 | 1 |

Sanity anchors, measured on this sweep: blight–wealth correlation stays
negative at the default dump bias (the poison lands on the poor) in
56/80 worlds; a mountain shadow exists in
80/80; the event engine fired in
80/80; the Dominion landed in
40/80; a rising won somewhere in
63/80; and in the median world a region map
is blind to 37% of person-level inequality — the class
ledger lives inside the walls.

## The atlas

### The World That Closed Its Gap — the realm of Gorby

*the deepest gini fall of the sweep — find its turning point.* In the reign of Quillowell: wealth gini 0.28, 58% off-grid, 1 war, 5 seizures, 1 succession crisis, max abandonment 47.

> Year 1075. The seat, chastened by the years behind it, decreed the Crown Granary: a levy on the fat years and bread in the lean ones — the first decree in the realm's history to move coin downhill. The chronicle notes that it took a wound to buy a mercy.

[Open this world](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-6&regions=24&ep=10)

### The Entrenched World — the realm of Farnmere

*the steepest entrenchment — the loops ran and nothing pushed back.* In the reign of Briar: wealth gini 0.56, 17% off-grid, 1 war, 0 seizures, 0 succession crises, max abandonment 39.

> The works at Sellowmere and Farnmere Crag turned aetherstone to lumen, and the trunk lines ran from their yards to the seat. The Temple kept holy ground at Ornelisole (by Strendruk Haven) and Dellionne (by Ladenmere) — out where the sacred substance lies and the Crown's writ runs thin. 6 of the realm's settlements sat off the conduit at the founding, in darkness: connected by road — everything is connected by road — but unserved, because the ledgers said serving them would not pay.

[Open this world](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-42&regions=24&ep=10)

### The Company Country — the realm of Gladmouth

*the world a region map lies about most: its inequality lives INSIDE the walls.* In the reign of Astermerby: wealth gini 0.21, 17% off-grid, 1 war, 8 seizures, 1 succession crisis, max abandonment 44.

> And in every town the record counts two peoples under one name: the owners' row and the labor it hires. Taken together, 3.8 in every hundred of the realm's people hold 46.3 of every hundred coins, and live 21.8 times better than those who work for them. Nowhere is the ledger sharper than at Gladmouth, where 92 coins in the hundred belong to the few; a map of regions, which knows towns but not rows, misses 62 parts in a hundred of the whole spread.

[Open this world](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-76&regions=24&ep=10)

### The Occupied Realm — the realm of Deresedge

*the Dominion's deepest hold of the sweep.* In the reign of Collwitholt: wealth gini 0.43, 33% off-grid, 1 war, 2 seizures, 3 succession crises, max abandonment 58.

> Year 1100. The Dominion's sails stood off Ravereness Harbor at first light, and by winter its writ ran over 9 regions. There was no war to record: the fleet was the argument. The quays now toll for a power beyond the sea, the yield of the occupied country is assessed at the water, and the wires came with the garrison — the first country in the realm to be wired entire, because its cargo is wanted elsewhere. The Dominion's own registers file it as the Landing at Ravereness.

[Open this world](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-57&regions=24&ep=10)

### The Primate City — the realm of Brath

*one town swallowed the centuries.* In the reign of Fensden: wealth gini 0.45, 67% off-grid, 1 war, 8 seizures, 2 succession crises, max abandonment 40.

> No charter drew the towns to size. The centuries did: good land compounded, the fairs drew the valleys in, and by year 1000 the largest town held 25,217 souls to the median town's 2,479 — a hierarchy grown, not granted, and steeper every century the compounding ran.

[Open this world](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-18&regions=24&ep=10)

### The Ledger's Realm — the realm of Nettlemoor

*the most oligarchic world: one power holds the gates.* In the reign of Ulven: wealth gini 0.30, 33% off-grid, 0 wars, 2 seizures, 4 succession crises, max abandonment 36.

> The toll ledgers run deepest with the Crown, and the ledger buys the next gate — money begets reach begets money. Between the powers, the chronicle records the Crown and the Temple standing nearest to blows.

[Open this world](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-4&regions=24&ep=10)

### The Unequal Country — the realm of Marth

*the widest wealth gap of the sweep.* In the reign of Sellworby: wealth gini 0.69, 54% off-grid, 1 war, 3 seizures, 2 succession crises, max abandonment 43.

> The works at Marth and Wexbrook turned aetherstone to lumen, and the trunk lines ran from their yards to the seat. The Temple kept holy ground at Oline (by Khark) and Faeliel (by Dovrakgard) — out where the sacred substance lies and the Crown's writ runs thin. 13 of the realm's settlements sat off the conduit at the founding, in darkness: connected by road — everything is connected by road — but unserved, because the ledgers said serving them would not pay.

[Open this world](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-58&regions=24&ep=10)

### The Level Country — the realm of High

*the narrowest wealth gap — note what it still fails to level.* In the reign of Nettle: wealth gini 0.18, 25% off-grid, 1 war, 3 seizures, 3 succession crises, max abandonment 32.

> Of the realm's 5 gates — the bridges, the passes, the quays — the Crown keeps 4, the Temple 1, and the magnates 0; 0 stand untolled. Every levy on the list is paid by people who did not choose the road.

[Open this world](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-43&regions=24&ep=10)

### The Dark Realm — the realm of Brath

*the most off-grid world: the ledgers said no, everywhere.* In the reign of Fensden: wealth gini 0.45, 67% off-grid, 1 war, 8 seizures, 2 succession crises, max abandonment 40.

> The works at Everbriar and Pellowness turned aetherstone to lumen, and the trunk lines ran from their yards to the seat. The Temple kept holy ground at Olione (by Strakmarzek Delf) and Thielle (by Varvek) — out where the sacred substance lies and the Crown's writ runs thin. 16 of the realm's settlements sat off the conduit at the founding, in darkness: connected by road — everything is connected by road — but unserved, because the ledgers said serving them would not pay.

[Open this world](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-18&regions=24&ep=10)

### The Walled Realm — the realm of Umbergate

*the most mountain-shadowed world.* In the reign of Mermerbriar: wealth gini 0.56, 54% off-grid, 1 war, 3 seizures, 1 succession crisis, max abandonment 40.

> (this world keeps its counsel)

[Open this world](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-47&regions=24&ep=10)

### The Burning Years — the realm of Haldmere

*the most violent history of the sweep.* In the reign of Crannock: wealth gini 0.31, 21% off-grid, 1 war, 10 seizures, 4 succession crises, max abandonment 36.

> Year 1125. War came to Haldmere, as it comes to ground that great powers claim and none can hold. The powers that met there were the Crown and the magnates; the ground was merely where they met. When the fighting burned out, the seat was the poorer by a third of its people and a quarter of its wealth, and the mines and works were ruined ground. The Crown's garrison arrived after the blood, and stayed. The scribes head the page: the Haldmere War.

[Open this world](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-72&regions=24&ep=10)

### The Quiet Years — the realm of Astlefolt

*the calmest history — the founding order simply compounded.* In the reign of Gorrifor: wealth gini 0.38, 29% off-grid, 0 wars, 0 seizures, 2 succession crises, max abandonment 36.

> The chronicle records no upheavals.

[Open this world](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-26&regions=24&ep=10)

### The Poisoned Mouth — the realm of Dovrag

*the heaviest downstream blight.* In the reign of Rannorby: wealth gini 0.48, 25% off-grid, 0 wars, 2 seizures, 1 succession crisis, max abandonment 50.

> The Vanmere Brook comes down off the high ground by Sellmere and runs through 4 regions to the border. The towns along it drink in order: Sellmere drinks it clean, and Lindere Strand, at the mouth, drinks whatever every town and works upstream let fall into the water. The order was set by the land before anyone built anything, and no one who lives at the mouth chose it.

[Open this world](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-15&regions=24&ep=10)

### The Ghost Country — the realm of Deresedge

*the deepest abandonment scar.* In the reign of Collwitholt: wealth gini 0.43, 33% off-grid, 1 war, 2 seizures, 3 succession crises, max abandonment 58.

> Kharn is the emptiest of the ghost country: its best years are a memory the roads no longer visit.

[Open this world](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-57&regions=24&ep=10)

### The Tolled Road — the realm of Gladmouth

*the most gate-taxed region of the sweep.* In the reign of Astermerby: wealth gini 0.21, 17% off-grid, 1 war, 8 seizures, 1 succession crisis, max abandonment 44.

> Of the realm's 6 gates — the bridges, the passes, the quays — the Crown keeps 6, the Temple 0, and the magnates 0; 0 stand untolled. Every levy on the list is paid by people who did not choose the road.

[Open this world](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-76&regions=24&ep=10)

### The Town That Freed Itself — the realm of Ivereholt

*a rising won on ground the Dominion had claimed.* In the reign of Mergate: wealth gini 0.47, 17% off-grid, 1 war, 7 seizures, 1 succession crisis, max abandonment 43.

> Year 1175. Tazzek Crag rose against the Dominion itself — and won. The factors were thrown into the harbor, the assessment tables burned, and the town keeps what it makes now. One region freed itself; the chronicle notes that the rest watched, and that the Dominion noted the same. The people keep the date as the Tazzek Crag Rising.

[Open this world](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-7&regions=24&ep=10)

## Laboratory worlds

Knob extremes for the classroom — each isolates one mechanism:

- **The physics baseline** ([db=0](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-0&regions=24&ep=10&db=0)): no dumping policy — the blight stays at the works and the centers eat their own waste; compare its blight–wealth correlation against the default and the gap is the policy share of the injustice.
- **The connected realm** ([gt=0](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-0&regions=24&ep=10&gt=0)): the conduit reaches everyone; darkness as a *choice* becomes visible by its absence.
- **The rationed realm** ([gt=90](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-0&regions=24&ep=10&gt=90)): the ledgers barely say yes to anyone.
- **The old diagram** ([wg=100, rest 0](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-0&regions=24&ep=10&we=0&wf=0&wt=0&wg=100)): wealth as a pure capital-distance gradient — the explicit model this project began with, kept reachable as a control.
- **The emergent economy** ([wg=0](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-0&regions=24&ep=10&wg=0)): no authored gradient at all; everything wealth does, it learned from the ground.
- **The deaf seat** ([iq=0](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-0&regions=24&ep=10&iq=0)) vs **the listening seat** ([iq=100](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-0&regions=24&ep=10&iq=100)): the same wounds, answered with fists or with mercies — on matched seeds the listening seat runs a measurably lower gini, because the granary hangs on the seat's ear.
- **The sealed realm** ([hb=0](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-0&regions=24&ep=10&hb=0)): the quays closed by decree — no sea trade, no port tolls, and no door for the Dominion. The price is smaller than the safety, and that asymmetry is a finding about what this economy is made of.
- **Both mercies** ([db=0&gt=0](https://zntznt.github.io/hinterland/#seed=atlas-0&regions=24&ep=10&db=0&gt=0)): no dumping and a universal grid at once — the nearest thing this engine has to a just policy regime, run on the same rock as everything above.

*Generated from the calibration sweep (schema v36); regenerate with the
suite's atlas script (node --max-old-space-size=8192 atlas.mjs).*