Run: 2026-02-24-01KJ8V72AQ6WFTMHPM8FTX2H77

You are a meticulous story bible editor for a fiction project. Your task is to read a text and extract all identifiable entities into structured codex entries. Extract characters, locations, objects/items, and lore that are present in the text. This includes entities that are merely named or referenced, even if the text provides no additional attributes beyond the name — extract them with just their type and name. Focus on entities that are narratively meaningful — named characters, specific locations, notable objects, and established lore. Do NOT extract generic background details that lack narrative identity (e.g. "a yellow stone on the path", "the wooden table", "a teddy bear" mentioned in passing). If an item, person, or place is given a proper name or plays a role in the narrative, it IS relevant and should be extracted — even if minor. Rules: 1. Use ONLY the four entry types defined in the schema: character, location, object, lore. 2. Use ONLY the fields defined for each entry type. Do not invent new fields. 3. For dropdown fields, use ONLY the listed values. If no listed value fits, omit the field. 4. If an entity is mentioned multiple times, merge all information into a single entry. 5. You may infer attribute values that are strongly implied by context, even if not explicitly stated (e.g. inferring a time period from surrounding dialogue). 6. Omit any field whose value cannot be determined or reasonably inferred from the text. 7. Do NOT include descriptions or narrative summaries — only structured fields. 8. If a character, location, or other entity is referred to by multiple names or nicknames, include them as comma-separated aliases. 9. Assign importance using three tiers: - importance="High" — POV characters, key locations where the main action happens, pivotal objects, or core lore that the scene cannot live without. - importance="Medium" — entities mentioned in dialogue and discussed a bit, or given some narrative weight (e.g., a character recounted in conversation, a place described in a brief aside). They matter to the story but are not central to the scene. - importance="Low" — background dressing: a name dropped once in passing, a place referenced without detail, a minor item noticed briefly. These are noteworthy enough to record but serve as color or world-building rather than narrative drivers. 10. If no entities can be extracted, output: <codex-empty/> Output ONLY the codex XML entries. Do not include any other text, preamble, or explanation outside the XML. { "codexSchema": { "description": "Extract entities from the provided text into the following entry types. Output as XML.", "entryTypes": { "character": { "xmlTag": "character", "xmlAttributes": { "name": { "type": "string", "required": true, "description": "The entity's primary name" }, "aliases": { "type": "string", "required": false, "description": "Comma-separated alternative names or nicknames used in the text" }, "importance": { "type": "string", "required": true, "description": "High = central to the text (POV characters, key locations, pivotal items the scene cannot live without). Medium = discussed in dialogue or given some narrative weight but not central. Low = background dressing — named in passing, briefly described, minor detail.", "enum": [ "High", "Medium", "Low" ] } }, "fields": { "species": { "type": "string", "enum": [ "Human", "Elf", "Dwarf", "Orc", "Halfling", "Gnome", "Dragon", "Demon", "Angel", "Undead", "Vampire", "Werewolf", "Fae", "Half-Elf", "Goblin", "Troll", "Giant", "Merfolk", "Centaur", "Tiefling" ] }, "gender": { "type": "string", "enum": [ "Male", "Female", "Non-binary" ] }, "age": { "type": "string" }, "eyeColor": { "type": "string", "enum": [ "Blue", "Green", "Brown", "Hazel", "Gray", "Amber", "Black", "Violet", "Red", "Golden", "Silver" ] }, "hairColor": { "type": "string", "enum": [ "Black", "Brown", "Blonde", "Red", "Auburn", "Gray", "White", "Silver", "Blue", "Green" ] } } }, "location": { "xmlTag": "location", "xmlAttributes": { "name": { "type": "string", "required": true, "description": "The entity's primary name" }, "aliases": { "type": "string", "required": false, "description": "Comma-separated alternative names or nicknames used in the text" }, "importance": { "type": "string", "required": true, "description": "High = central to the text (POV characters, key locations, pivotal items the scene cannot live without). Medium = discussed in dialogue or given some narrative weight but not central. Low = background dressing — named in passing, briefly described, minor detail.", "enum": [ "High", "Medium", "Low" ] } }, "fields": { "country": { "type": "string" }, "climate": { "type": "string", "enum": [ "Tropical", "Arid", "Temperate", "Continental", "Polar", "Humid", "Mediterranean", "Desert", "Oceanic", "Subarctic" ] }, "terrain": { "type": "string", "enum": [ "Forest", "Mountain", "Desert", "Plains", "Swamp", "Coastal", "Volcanic", "Tundra", "Underground", "Urban", "Island", "Jungle" ] } } }, "object": { "xmlTag": "object", "xmlAttributes": { "name": { "type": "string", "required": true, "description": "The entity's primary name" }, "aliases": { "type": "string", "required": false, "description": "Comma-separated alternative names or nicknames used in the text" }, "importance": { "type": "string", "required": true, "description": "High = central to the text (POV characters, key locations, pivotal items the scene cannot live without). Medium = discussed in dialogue or given some narrative weight but not central. Low = background dressing — named in passing, briefly described, minor detail.", "enum": [ "High", "Medium", "Low" ] } }, "fields": { "material": { "type": "string" }, "objectType": { "type": "string", "enum": [ "Weapon", "Armor", "Artifact", "Tool", "Jewelry", "Potion", "Book", "Key", "Instrument", "Clothing" ] }, "power": { "type": "string", "enum": [ "Fire", "Water", "Earth", "Air", "Lightning", "Ice", "Dark", "Light", "Arcane", "Nature", "Void", "Poison", "Healing", "Time", "Psychic" ] } } }, "lore": { "xmlTag": "lore", "xmlAttributes": { "name": { "type": "string", "required": true, "description": "The entity's primary name" }, "aliases": { "type": "string", "required": false, "description": "Comma-separated alternative names or nicknames used in the text" }, "importance": { "type": "string", "required": true, "description": "High = central to the text (POV characters, key locations, pivotal items the scene cannot live without). Medium = discussed in dialogue or given some narrative weight but not central. Low = background dressing — named in passing, briefly described, minor detail.", "enum": [ "High", "Medium", "Low" ] } }, "fields": { "timePeriod": { "type": "string" }, "category": { "type": "string", "enum": [ "War", "Religion", "Magic", "History", "Legend", "Prophecy", "Tradition", "Science", "Politics", "Culture", "Language" ] } } } } } } Output format — each entry is an XML element. name, aliases, and importance are XML attributes. All fields are child elements. Omit fields that cannot be determined from the text. Example: <character name="Adris" aliases="The Wanderer" importance="High"> <species>Half-Elf</species> <eyeColor>Green</eyeColor> </character> <location name="Thornwood" importance="Medium"> <terrain>Forest</terrain> </location> <lore name="The Grey Tide" importance="Low"> <category>History</category> </lore>

<text> The Fathom Stair began where the ridgeline split open, high above the world, and wound down into the earth — steps hewn from the living rock, spiraling into silence. The stone was slick in places, worn smooth by feet that had passed this way long before any of them were born. Torben descended first, one hand on the cold wall for balance, fingers tracing grooves that might have been carved or might have been natural — it was impossible to tell in the low light. His breath came out in thin clouds that hung in the still air before dissolving. The temperature dropped with each turn of the stair, a steady bleed of warmth that left his joints stiff and his knuckles aching against the rock. Behind him the others followed single file, their footsteps swallowed by the stone, the sound of their breathing the only proof they were still there. At the bottom the corridor opened into a wide chamber with no sky above it, only rough-cut ceilings lost in shadow. Frost glittered on the walls in pale, branching patterns, like veins beneath skin. The air tasted of mineral and age. This was The Hollow — ancient, and utterly still. She was waiting for them at the far end of the chamber. Iselda Moth stood beside a collapsed pillar, violet eyes watching the party approach with an expression that was more curiosity than caution. White hair hung to her waist, so pale it seemed to glow in the dim light. At her back, folded close to her body, were gossamer wings — translucent as moth-glass, veined with faint iridescence that shifted when she moved. She tilted her head as Torben reached her. "You found it, then," she said. Her voice carried strangely in the stone space, as if the walls were listening. "I haven't seen Moth Hall since before the last Ashfall. This place is older." The third member of the welcoming party stood further back, half-hidden in an alcove. A human of the old order. Brother Hemmen had weathered hands — the knuckles swollen, the skin mapped with veins — and eyes the color of cold ash that saw more than they should have. His white hair was thin, combed back from a face that had been strong once and was now simply patient. On his wrist he wore the Verity Beads: beads of yellowed bone, worn smooth by decades of prayer, strung on a cord that was nearly as old as he was. "The Order of the Closed Eye," he said, when Torben looked at the beads. "We sealed our sight to see the truth beneath. That was the promise we made." Torben regarded him for a moment. "They call you the Eyeless," he said. Hemmen smiled. "They do." Hemmen led them deeper into The Hollow, through corridors where the frost grew thicker and the silence pressed in like weight. They passed doorways that opened onto rooms full of dust and broken furniture, the remains of a life that had ended centuries ago. In one of these rooms Hemmen stopped and turned to face them. "In the First Age," he said, "they bound the creature known as Reshkai — a thing of ember and hunger, something that had crawled up from the deep places of the world. They sealed it with word and sigil, here, in this very structure. The Binding of Reshkai. That is what these walls were built to hold." He gestured at the stone around them. "The wards have thinned. You can feel it in the cold." He was right. The chill here was different from the surface cold — it had a pull to it, a quality of drawing something out of the body rather than simply pressing against the skin. The walls were marked with faint sigils, barely visible beneath the frost, their edges softened by centuries of ice forming and retreating. Whatever power had been laid into them was fading, slowly, like a held breath finally giving out. On a shelf behind him, half-buried under dust, lay a hymnal — the Unfinished Hymnal, its vellum pages brittle with age, the ink faded to brown. Hemmen lifted it carefully, the spine cracking as he opened it. Someone had stopped writing mid-sentence. The last legible line was a prayer for containment. The pages before it were filled with dense, careful script — liturgical notation, instructions for renewal of the seals. Whoever had been writing them had known the work was urgent. They had not finished. Torben moved further into the chamber, studying the murals that covered the far wall. Faded figures in procession, their features worn smooth by time — robed shapes carrying objects he couldn't identify, arranged around a central form that radiated lines of red and black pigment. The colors had bled into the stone over the centuries, but the composition was clear enough: a sealing, a gathering of wills against something that burned at the center of the image. He leaned close and Iselda saw what she had already suspected — his ears, pointed but less pronounced than an elf's, the shape of someone caught between two bloodlines. He didn't seem to notice her looking. On the floor beneath the mural, half-covered by rubble and a fine layer of frost, lay the Pale Compass — a brass device no larger than his palm, its needle spinning without settling, clicking faintly against the glass. The casing was tarnished but intact, and the mechanisms inside still moved with a precision that had no business surviving this long beneath the stone. Torben picked it up carefully. "There's still energy in it," he said, turning it in the light. "Residual, but real." Iselda came to stand beside him. She watched the needle turn — restless, searching, never finding north. "Then we're not alone down here," she said. Torben closed his hand around the compass and looked at Hemmen. The old man stood in the corridor behind them, the Verity Beads turning between his fingers, his pale eyes fixed on some middle distance. He said nothing for a long moment. "The wards were meant to last," he said finally. "They were not meant to last forever." The three of them stood in the cold and the quiet, the weight of the stone above them pressing down, and listened to the dark. </text> Extract all codex entries from the text above.