Brought-by · witnessed-by

The two other names on a line of The Roll: who carried the Flame to you, and who saw you give your word.

Every entry into the Game has two other people in it, and the record says so. Brought-by names the Carrier — the one who thought of you, came to you, and handed you the Game. It is written once and never changes; a Carrier is not a rank, cannot be reassigned, and confers nothing. Witnessed-by names whoever was present when the word was spoken. A witness is not a judge and does not approve anything; they simply saw, and can say so afterward.

Two small fields, and between them they do most of the structural work of the Game. Brought-by makes the whole body a traceable lineage of trust rather than a list of subscribers: every person arrived through someone who knew them, which is exactly why the body cannot be bought, astroturfed, or joined by a crowd that nobody vouched for (Attraction, not promotion). Witnessed-by makes a word given into a fact the body can rely on without a registry: what is witnessed can be trusted; what nobody saw is only a claim (Witness).

They also make the Game's growth legible. Count the brought-by lines and you can see, without any centre reporting, how the Flame actually travelled — which Cells are planting and which have quietly stopped. A Cell that has passed nothing has told the body something about itself (Self-Sustenance and Self-Replication).

Neither field is a claim on anybody. A Cell born of your Flame is its own, not a branch of yours; you are its Home Cell and its Carrier, and that is all.

Also called: the two names on the line Stands on: The Roll · Carrier · The Flame · Trust Opens onto: Witness · Pass The Flame · The Gate · Home Cell · Attraction, not promotion · The Season Sheet In play: Gate · table Sources: The Minimum Standards of Interoperability — What a Holon Carries to Be a Cell (Projects, Kit v0, 2026-09-12; draft) · The DNA of Heaven, Parts VI and XII (Fable synthesis — the Carrier; the words at the Gate) · The Twelve Words, word 9 (current best understanding) Open: Nothing says what is written when a person arrives with no Carrier — walking in from the open door rather than being handed the Flame.