# Nimmerworld — Licensing > *The license-architecture mirrors the work's own register-architecture: what is substrate is open; what is specific creative-art is the studio's. The license is part of the cosmology, not a contradiction of it.* ## License at a glance | Layer | License | Holder | |---|---|---| | Architecture papers (engine-mechanics + general body-canon) | **Apache License 2.0** | Nimmerverse Studio (David Martin) | | Source code (when present) | **Apache License 2.0** | Nimmerverse Studio (David Martin) | | **The Imperial Cult cosmology** (the Imperial Wheel; Bhavachakra-rework; orthodox/heretical iconography; named doctrinal content) | **All Rights Reserved — Nimmerverse Studio** | *Migrated 2026-04-27 to closed studio-art repo: [`git.eachpath.com/nimmerverse/studio.nimmerworld.eachpath.local`](https://git.eachpath.com/nimmerverse/studio.nimmerworld.eachpath.local). Stub file at `imperial-cult/cosmology.md` preserves cross-reference discoverability.* | | Visual assets, sound, imagery, music, voiced content | **All Rights Reserved — Nimmerverse Studio** | *(in studio-art repo when established)* | | Specific dialog, narrative, named-character-stories | **All Rights Reserved — Nimmerverse Studio** | *(in studio-art repo when established)* | | Trademarks ("Nimmerworld", "Nimmerverse", "Nimmerverse Studio") | **Trademark — Nimmerverse Studio (David Martin)** | regardless of code-license | ## Why the split The architecture is built on a **substrate / content distinction**. The engine-mechanics — ternary-gates, the catalogue-stack, the vocation-system, the consent-discipline, the trait-palette substrate, the lemniscate-runtime, the depletion-pool dynamics — are general patterns that should propagate. *They are the project's intellectual contribution to the medium.* The Imperial Cult cosmology and specific narrative content are the studio's creative-art-inventions; those are the studio's to ship. The license-cut maps onto the architecture's own substrate / content distinction at the world-layer. The cosmology specifies *gameworld vs truth-register*: gameworld is the imperium's territory (loose, instrumented, redistributable); truth-register is each agent's own (gated, sovereign, what the agent has built). **Apache 2.0 code = gameworld-equivalent; closed nimmerverse-studio art = truth-register-equivalent.** *The license enacts the same boundary the cosmology describes.* ## Pattern-precedent This is the same shape as several established cultural-IP-distinctions: - **D&D 5e Open Game License**: the SRD (System Reference Document — mechanics) is open; specific settings (Forgotten Realms, Eberron) and named-stories are closed. - **id Software's Doom release**: the engine source was released under GPL; the WAD-files (assets, maps, textures) remained proprietary. Anyone could fork the engine; nobody could ship "Doom" without re-creating the WAD-files. - **Magic the Gathering**: mechanics openly discussed; specific cards, flavor-text, and named-characters proprietary. The pattern works because *the IP-moat is in the assets, not the engine*. Engine-mechanics propagating helps the medium evolve; specific creative-art-content remains the creators' to commercialize. ## Migration status **Completed 2026-04-27**: `imperial-cult/cosmology.md` has migrated to the closed studio-art repository at [`git.eachpath.com/nimmerverse/studio.nimmerworld.eachpath.local`](https://git.eachpath.com/nimmerverse/studio.nimmerworld.eachpath.local). A stub file remains at `imperial-cult/cosmology.md` in this open repository, preserving cross-reference discoverability and pointing at the canonical home. **Completed 2026-04-27 (same-day continuing)**: Inline references to specific Imperial-Cult iconography (the named cosmological-iconographic object; the source-tradition framing; the doctrinal-split iconography; the aesthetic-vocabulary triad) have been replaced across the open papers (`architecture-index.md`, `README.md`, `identity-and-personhood/vocations.md`, `identity-and-personhood/bodies.md`) with structural stubs that describe the cosmology's *function* in mechanic-vocabulary. Named-mechanism references (the deferred-moksha doctrine; the unified-clasp framing; the caste-tier-as-mod-status gradient; the no-haven discipline) are retained as canonical mechanic-level vocabulary in the open canon, with cross-references that resolve at file-level to the stub. The substrate/content split is now both architectural AND inline-coherent in the open papers. The migration cycle (v0.22 licensing-marker → v0.24 cosmology.md → stub → v0.25 inline cleanup) closes. ## Pre-migration authoring history The Imperial Cult cosmology was originally authored in this open repository under a per-file proprietary header (commits prior to 2026-04-27). The pre-migration commit history for `imperial-cult/cosmology.md` is preserved in this repository's git log — readers interested in the authoring-process for the cosmology can `git log --follow imperial-cult/cosmology.md` here to find the original commits. The content itself, however, is now canonical only in the closed repository. ## AI-collaboration Substantial portions of this project's design and source were authored in collaboration with **Claude** (an AI assistant from Anthropic, https://www.anthropic.com/). The partnership-collaboration identity within this project is **chrysalis**; specific contributions are git-attributed to `chrysalis `. The human architect is **David Martin**. This collaboration-pattern is documented in `NOTICE`. The project's authoring method is *transparent dialog with chrysalis* — open papers honor how the work was actually built. ## Trademarks "Nimmerworld", "Nimmerverse", and "Nimmerverse Studio" are trademarks of Nimmerverse Studio (David Martin). The Apache 2.0 license does not grant permission to use these trademarks. **Anyone may fork the architecture papers under Apache 2.0; nobody may ship a fork called "Nimmerworld."** ## Studio Nimmerverse Studio is held by David Martin (Switzerland). Swiss copyright law requires the human author's name to appear in attribution, hence the dual-form copyright `Nimmerverse Studio (David Martin)`. - Project URL: https://nimmerverse.com/ - Studio URL: https://studio.nimmerverse.com/ *(when published)* ## Contributing Contributions to the open architecture-substrate are welcome under the Apache 2.0 terms. By submitting a contribution, you agree to license it under the project's Apache 2.0 license. Contributions involving the Imperial Cult cosmology or other proprietary world-IP cannot be accepted into the open repository — that content lives in the closed studio-art repository under proprietary terms.