FABRIC-3.md §H: close gap #3 -- word card IS the existing ACL system

Checked capsules/ACL.4th directly: both existing modes (STRICT, TTL)
already default to allow=1, matching the word card's default-permissive
baseline. Since each VM has its own dictionary, existing per-word ACL
state is already scoped per-session for free. Confirmed: the word card is
the existing acl_ttl/acl_allow/acl_mode/acl_pinned system reused as-is,
not a new parallel structure. Surfaces one new follow-on gap: creator-
ceiling enforcement at VM birth time isn't designed anywhere yet.

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

FABRIC-3.md

@@ -3629,10 +3629,21 @@ the message card at once — one card per relevant axis. **Confirmed: an action
 the cards for the dimensions it actually touches** — a pure VM-level operation only checks the
 VM card, not the full stack every time.
 
-Whether/how the existing word-level ACL (`acl_ttl`/`acl_allow`/`acl_mode`/`acl_pinned` on
+**Word-ACL reconciliation resolved 2026-09-02.** Checked `capsules/ACL.4th` directly: both
-`DictEntry`, see `.claude/CLAUDE.md`'s "Word-Level ACL System") folds into or reconciles with
+existing modes (`STRICT` — "always allow, TTL stays 0 (recheck always)"; `TTL` — "compute TTL
-this new stack-of-cards model is unresolved — the word card (H.5) explicitly reuses one piece
+from heat; set allow=1") already default to `allow=1` — no path in the current system denies
-of it (`ACL-TTL`), but the rest is open.
+by default, already matching the word card's "default-permissive baseline" almost exactly.
+Since each VM has its own dictionary (H.10), the existing per-word ACL state is already
+naturally scoped per-session, for free. **Confirmed: the word card is not a new parallel
+structure — it's the existing `acl_ttl`/`acl_allow`/`acl_mode`/`acl_pinned` system, wholesale,
+reused as-is.** The stack-of-cards framing is new vocabulary for what already exists, not a
+new mechanism.
+
+**The one genuinely new piece, not present in today's system at all**: creator-ceiling
+enforcement. Nothing today caps a newly-birthed VM's word-ACL state against its parent's —
+this needs to happen somewhere in capsule birth (copying/capping the child dictionary's
+`acl_allow`/`acl_mode`/`acl_pinned` against the parent's own values at birth time). Where
+exactly this lands in the birth flow is not yet designed.
 
 ### H.4 — VM card
 
@@ -3747,10 +3758,11 @@ Explicitly open items surfaced during this capture pass, none decided yet:
 2. **CLOSED 2026-09-02 — `parent` and `name` session fields (H.2).** Confirmed as-is, no
    adjustment. All five session fields now confirmed (still subject to the general
    "revisiting... around and around" caveat, but no longer an open gap specifically).
-3. **Word-level ACL reconciliation (H.3).** How (or whether) the existing
+3. **CLOSED 2026-09-02 — word-level ACL reconciliation (H.3).** The word card *is* the
-   `acl_ttl`/`acl_allow`/`acl_mode`/`acl_pinned` `DictEntry` fields fold into the stack-of-
+   existing `acl_ttl`/`acl_allow`/`acl_mode`/`acl_pinned` system, wholesale, no new parallel
-   cards model, beyond the one confirmed reuse (`ACL-TTL` as the word card's escape hatch,
+   structure. New follow-on gap surfaced by this closure: creator-ceiling enforcement at VM
-   H.5).
+   birth time isn't designed anywhere yet (nothing today caps a child's word-ACL state against
+   its parent's).
 4. **CLOSED 2026-09-02 — temporary-elevation invocation path (H.5).** Trigger decided: a live
    message-based request (`ELEVATE-REQUEST` on `common` or a private topic, Zuse's session
    grants/`NACK`s, write happens on receipt via `ACL-ALLOW!`/`ACL-TTL!`), gated by a