Chapter 1 · The story behind the names

Why is everything named after a Lich?

The lore is not decoration. Once you know one legend, most of the system's design falls into place.

One legend, two worlds.

1

A sorcerer wants to live forever.

Bodies age, break and die. Everything the sorcerer knows would die with them.

2

They hide their soul in a phylactery.

A small, protected object, kept somewhere safe, away from the body.

3

Destroy the body. The lich returns.

As long as the phylactery survives, the lich can rise again in a new body and carry on.

So: the server process is the mortal body, the Engine RoomVessel Engine RoomVessel The single running server process. It receives work, runs it and serves the web UI. click for connections & details →. The database is the Memory VaultPhylactery Memory VaultPhylactery The database. Anything committed here survives crashes and restarts. click for connections & details →, where the soul is kept. The whole thing that keeps coming back, with its memory and history, is the The AssistantLich The AssistantLich The complete AI assistant: server, database, models, memory and history, treated as one living whole. click for connections & details →. And you, the person who set it all up and is responsible for it, are the You, the OperatorMagus You, the OperatorMagus The person in charge. Sets things up, watches what happens, says yes or no, fixes mistakes. click for connections & details →.

See it happen

Kill the body. Watch the soul hold.

This is what Crash RecoveryReanimation Crash RecoveryReanimation After a crash or restart, the new process reads the records and decides what can safely continue. click for connections & details → means in practice. Crash the server, restart it, and watch how each job is judged honestly from the records.

try it · crash the server

Engine RoomVessel Engine RoomVessel The single running server process. It receives work, runs it and serves the web UI. click for connections & details → (memory only)

  • live chat stream
  • model passes in use
  • unsaved in-progress thoughts

Memory VaultPhylactery Memory VaultPhylactery The database. Anything committed here survives crashes and restarts. click for connections & details → (database)

  • A Translate a document QUEUED waiting in line
  • B Draft an email RUNNING mid-flight, no save point
  • C Delete old files AWAITING_CONSENT paused for your approval
  • D Summarise sources DONE finished

Everything is running. Four jobs are in different states.

Meet the cast

Flip a card to decode it.

Each fantasy name was picked because the creature or object does something like the software part.

The lore carries rules

Those dramatic one-liners are engineering rules.

When you meet a line like these in the docs, look for the rule underneath.

“The Ghoul may borrow the hand. It never inherits the Will.”Ghouls page

the rule Workers do the labour but never gain permissions. A worker can never approve its own action.

“Read the ashes before you call the dead by name.”Reanimation page

the rule After a crash, read the database records before resuming anything. Never guess what happened.

“Geography is not authority.”Crypt page

the rule A file being in a certain folder gives it no rights. Ownership is proven by records, not location.

“To change the manifestation, amend the law.”Codex page

the rule Never hand-edit the generated service files. Change the config (Codex / Runes) and run lychd bind.

“The Vessel passes. What it inscribed waits in the dark.”Phylactery page

the rule Only what is committed to the database survives a restart. Anything held in memory is lost.

“The Hexanomicon is prophecy. The Codex is law.”Codex page

the rule The docs describe the vision; the configuration decides what actually runs. A design is not a delivery.

The deeper layer

How the Lich is supposed to think.

The docs describe four equal jobs of a good mind, borrowed from an Indian model of the mind (the antaḥkaraṇa). They are design philosophy, not code modules. They explain why LychD values honest “I don’t know” answers and clear responsibility.

Listen Call Manas

Take in the request and open up the possible ways to respond.

Judge Blade Buddhi

Test each possibility against evidence and permission. Cut what does not hold up.

Remember Spirit Citta

Carry memory and experience forward, so the past can inform the present.

Own it Answer Ahaṃkāra

Take responsibility: this act and its consequences are mine. Including “I don’t know”.

“The Call opens. The Blade cuts. The Spirit carries. The Answer binds.”Lich page, Hexanomicon
Where the words come from

Six sources, one vocabulary.

Patrik mixes several traditions on purpose. Knowing which is which makes unfamiliar words less scary.

Fantasy games

Lich, Ghoul, Soulstone, Portal, Phylactery, Coven, Ward

The cast of characters. Each name hints at the role: servants, power sources, gateways, protection.

Alchemy

The Great Work, Transmutation, Ouroboros

Turning raw material into something better: the project’s image for how work becomes learning.

Indian philosophy

Manas, Buddhi, Citta, Ahaṃkāra, Karma, bīja, smṛti

A model of the mind used to describe how a good agent should listen, judge, remember and take responsibility.

Kabbalah

Tree of Life

Used as a design checklist for balancing pressures, like support and scrutiny, in agent teams.

Scripture & literature

Roadmap quotations (Genesis, John, Matthew…)

Each roadmap week opens with a quotation that sets its mood. Flavour, not doctrine.

Python

__new__, __init__, __iter__ …

Each roadmap week is also named after a Python “dunder” method, a nod for developers.

note You do not need to believe or study any of these traditions to work on LychD. Treat them like a design language. The engineering rules are always stated plainly in the Covenants and State of Work.

Quiz: did the story stick?

0/6 correct

  1. What is the Phylactery in LychD?

    Not quite. Like the lich hiding its soul, LychD keeps committed records in PostgreSQL, so they outlive the server process.

  2. A worker (Ghoul) wants to approve its own risky action. Is that allowed?

    Not quite. “The Ghoul may borrow the hand. It never inherits the Will.” Approval is a separate human step (HitL).

  3. The server crashes while a job is RUNNING with no save point. What happens after restart?

    Not quite. LychD refuses to guess. Without a safe checkpoint it records an honest failure instead of replaying work.

  4. What is the difference between a Soulstone and a Portal?

    Not quite. Both are Animators (model runtimes). LychD can start and stop a Soulstone; a Portal is controlled by someone else. Portals are refused today until the privacy gate exists.

  5. You want to know whether a feature actually works today. Where do you look?

    Not quite. ADRs say what was decided, the roadmap says what is planned, State of Work is the only place that says what is delivered.

  6. You want a different local model to run. What is the right move?

    Not quite. “To change the manifestation, amend the law.” Config lives in the Codex; binding generates the service files.