The Narrative Composition Protocol (NCP) — Version 0.2

 

The Narrative Composition Protocol (NCP) — Version 0.2

Theoretical foundations: Grant C. Sterling (Eastern Illinois University). Analysis and synthesis: Dave Kelly. Prose rendering: Gemini (Google). 2026.

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Object

A protocol for generating original narrative fiction that instantiates the six classical commitments at the pre-argumentative, depicting layer—without didactic assertion, philosophical exposition, or moral demonstration.

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Governing Commitments (C1–C6)

• C1 — Substance Dualism: Neutral / Non-Operative by default. Mental acts (judging, assenting, withholding) are depicted with operational precision; bodily constraints are real; formal Cartesian metaphysics are not theorized.
• C2 — Libertarian Free Will: Assent is unforced, self-originated, and accountable. Environmental and hereditary formation are depicted in full, but never substituted for the moment of assent.
• C3 — Ethical Intuitionism: Primary duties and debts are perceived directly by reason, not deduced from utilitarian aggregates or emotional warmth.
• C4 — Foundationalism: Neutral / Non-Operative by default. Standards are depicted as stable and operative without staging formal epistemic regress.
• C5 — Correspondence Theory of Truth: Truth is conformity of judgment to mind-independent reality (physical constraints, dates, leases, ledgers, measurements).
• C6 — Moral Realism: Moral facts, claims, and debts survive the subtraction of consequences, social consensus, emotional temperature, and worldly reward.

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Formal Architecture

1. Scope: Three volumes; 15 to 19 chapters total; 18,000 to 28,000 words.
2. Tri-Volume Progression:
   • Volume I (The Settlement and the Flawed Assent): The institutional/economic ground; the plausible initial transaction; the specific cognitive failure or motivated omission.
   • Volume II (The Friction of Fact): The audit of motives; the subtraction test applied; the refusal of environmental excuses.
   • Volume III (The Anti-Karmic Settlement): The documentary/physical vindication; the permanent unrecoverable cost accepted; the silent balance of the internal ledger.

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Anti-Demonstration Guardrails (v0.2 Additions)

• NCP-G1: PLAUSIBLE FOILS (The Anti-Strawman Rule) Tested characters must not be cartoonish fools or simple villains. Their initial calculations must be reasonable given their context, or their errors must stem from plausible misfortune. The moral defect is not obvious stupidity, but the post-hoc conversion of misfortune into a self-justifying narrative of grievance.
• NCP-G2: PROTAGONIST FRICTION (The Fallibility Rule) The central agent must not possess frictionless omniscience or instant moral perfection. Their exactness, suspicion, or economic literalism must produce at least one non-trivial mistake, misjudgment, or rigid over-correction that carries a real cost.
• NCP-G3: MOTIVATED ENTHUSIASM (The Nuanced Rival) Speculative or opposing agents must be motivated by genuine commercial enthusiasm, intelligible ambition, or understandable social pressure, rather than pure theatrical malice.
• NCP-G4: SILENT TERMINAL STANDARD (The Anti-Preaching Rule) The concluding chapter must strictly refuse thesis statements, rhetorical summaries of the central metaphor, or philosophical lectures. The terminal weight must rest entirely on unadorned physical facts, historical documents, and silent actions.