The weapon licence, the peer line, and the steward gets his vest back

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/config.js

@@ -729,11 +729,13 @@ export const UI = { hot: '#d9705f', warm: '#e0cc72', pick: '#cbd06a', cream: '#e
                     // palette is near it, so "pink means a weapon is in there" needs no explaining
                     pink: '#ff5cf0' };
 
-// THE TIN TIERS (the leagues, phase 4; settled: tin-tier, NO starting loadout). The league
-// unlocks what a won duel's tin can PAY, independent of the run's own barrel gates — "weapons are
-// only ever won" stays literal, the league just deepens the pot: lasers join the duel ladder at
-// league 3, rockets at 4, and league 5 duels pay DOUBLE tins. The world board is not devalued by
-// starting inventory, and every weapon still arrives through resolveInterlude('P').
+// THE WEAPON LICENCE (the leagues; settled: tin-tier, NO starting loadout; hardened 2026-08-29,
+// Oliver: "in den Truhen sind nach wie vor alle Waffen verfügbar"). The league is a LICENCE and
+// the run's `from` gates stay the PACING: a weapon exists for you only when the league says it is
+// yours AND the run has reached it — barrels and duel tins agree (an OR on the tins just moved
+// his complaint one screen over). Below league 3 there are no lasers anywhere, ever; the gore
+// director's tuned income curve is untouched for licensed players. League 5 duels pay DOUBLE
+// tins. "Weapons are only ever won" stays literal.
 export const TIN_LEAGUE = { laser: 3, rocket: 4 };
 export const TIN_DOUBLE_LEAGUE = 5;
 
@@ -915,6 +917,10 @@ export const leagueOf = lg => LEAGUES[Math.min(LEAGUES.length, Math.max(1, lg |
 // which league a LADDER POSITION belongs to — THE CLIMB's tempo reads this (the world speeds up
 // as the run crosses each band border), and it is what makes the club read as five territories
 export const leagueOfRung = n => LEAGUES.find(l => n <= l.band[1]) || LEAGUES[LEAGUES.length - 1];
+// the DISPLAYED level of a ladder position (the walk-on card's "am I its peer yet?" line,
+// 2026-08-29): the ladder spread over the profile's 50 levels. Display only — nothing scales
+// off it. 49 = profile.LEVEL_CAP - 1 (config cannot import profile; the cycle runs the other way).
+export const foeLevel = n => Math.round(1 + (n - 1) / (LADDER - 1) * 49);
 
 // The tournament, PER LEAGUE. Same shape CUP_ROUNDS always had (name/band/need) — round one is a
 // single game so a run opens fast, and the body's pool still scales with `need` (matchOpponent).