diff --git a/.claude/CLAUDE.md b/.claude/CLAUDE.md
index 9775217..13676c6 100644
--- a/.claude/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/.claude/CLAUDE.md
@@ -10,12 +10,13 @@ This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with co
 
 > **Superseded subsystem docs (Captain Bob, 2026-08-15):** `.claude/TRIPOD.md`,
 > `.claude/HERMES.md`, `.claude/ARTEMIS.md`, and `.claude/CONSOLE.md` are all superseded —
-> `FABRIC-0.md` and `FABRIC-1.md` (both design history/archival as of 2026-08-25) and
-> `FABRIC-2.md` (current/living, read this one first) are the sole authoritative source for
-> Tripod/Hermes/Artemis/Console work now. The four subsystem docs remain in the repo as
-> historical record only; each carries its own superseded-header pointing here. Do not treat
-> them as current, do not read them for design authority, and do not cite them in place of
-> `FABRIC-0.md`/`FABRIC-1.md`/`FABRIC-2.md`.
+> `FABRIC-0.md`, `FABRIC-1.md`, and `FABRIC-2.md` (all design history/archival as of
+> 2026-09-04) and `FABRIC-3.md` (current/living, topic: bare metal boot, read this one first)
+> are the sole authoritative source for Tripod/Hermes/Artemis/Console work now. The four
+> subsystem docs remain in the repo as historical record only; each carries its own
+> superseded-header pointing here. Do not treat them as current, do not read them for design
+> authority, and do not cite them in place of `FABRIC-0.md`/`FABRIC-1.md`/`FABRIC-2.md`/
+> `FABRIC-3.md`.
 
 > **Scope:** This repo is LithosAnanke — the bare-metal UEFI kernel that boots StarForth
 > directly on hardware. StarForth (the hosted FORTH-79 VM) has its own separate repository
diff --git a/FABRIC-2.md b/FABRIC-2.md
index 2d938a6..75188df 100644
--- a/FABRIC-2.md
+++ b/FABRIC-2.md
@@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
 # FABRIC-2.md — the Stadium, continued again
 
-**Status:** Living working document, opened 2026-08-25 as the successor to `FABRIC-1.md`
-(now closed/archival — see its own header). This document does not repeat `FABRIC-1.md`'s
-design argument or history; it restates only outcomes, with pointers back to the section
-that derived them. Read `FABRIC-0.md` for the original "why," `FABRIC-1.md` for everything
-derived through 2026-08-25, this document for what's left as of that date onward.
+**Status: CLOSED/ARCHIVAL as of 2026-09-04.** Was the living working document, opened
+2026-08-25 as the successor to `FABRIC-1.md`. Closed after §I (the full consolidated punch
+list) was worked through to completion — every item either closed with a dated note or
+correctly left open pending a physical machine (§I.6). `FABRIC-3.md` is the new living
+document, topic **bare metal boot** — read that one first. This document does not repeat
+`FABRIC-1.md`'s design argument or history; it restates only outcomes, with pointers back to
+the section that derived them. Read `FABRIC-0.md` for the original "why," `FABRIC-1.md` for
+everything derived through 2026-08-25, this document for everything from 2026-08-25 through
+2026-09-04.
 
 **Provenance.** Everything in Section A below is a full, non-sampled carry-forward of every
 open (`- [ ]`) item in `FABRIC-1.md` as of 2026-08-25 — 51 items, confirmed by
diff --git a/FABRIC-3.md b/FABRIC-3.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..12da9c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/FABRIC-3.md
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+# FABRIC-3.md — bare metal boot
+
+**Status:** Living working document, opened 2026-09-04 as the successor to `FABRIC-2.md`
+(now closed/archival — see its own header). Topic for this document, per direct instruction:
+**bare metal boot** — getting LithosAnanke to actually boot on real hardware, not just QEMU.
+`FABRIC-2.md` §I.6 (Milestone 8) already named this as the one item that pass couldn't close
+from a coding session at all, for exactly this reason — it needs a real machine and a human
+physically present. This document is where that work, and everything downstream of it, gets
+tracked.
+
+**How to use this document going forward.** New findings, new punch-list items, and new
+decisions for bare-metal-boot work get added here, not to `FABRIC-2.md`. Same discipline every
+prior document in this series used: write the decision and its reasoning down before building,
+close items with a dated note citing real evidence, never silently drop a stale claim.
+
+---
+
+## I.1 — Task 1: merge `v2.0.1` into `master`, verify build/function equivalence
+
+**Written up before executing**, per direct instruction and this series' own standing
+discipline.
+
+**Why this is task 1.** `FABRIC-2.md`'s entire 7-step closure pass (§I.1–§I.5, §I.7, plus
+today's FABRIC-series rename) happened on the `v2.0.1` branch, not `master`. Before any real
+bare-metal-boot work starts, that work needs to land where `.claude/CLAUDE.md` says the
+project's sole production line actually lives: `master`. Doing this first, cleanly, before
+starting new work avoids ever having two divergent lines to reconcile later.
+
+**Investigated before writing this up, not assumed:**
+- `git merge-base --is-ancestor master v2.0.1` — **true**. `master` (local HEAD `d2a0305`) is
+  a strict ancestor of `v2.0.1` (HEAD `b031b80`) — `v2.0.1` is exactly `master` plus 47 commits
+  forward, no divergent history on either side. This means the "merge" is a pure **fast-forward**,
+  not a real three-way merge — nothing to resolve, no conflict possible.
+- `origin/master` carries exactly one commit beyond local `master` (`58c59e8`, "Initial
+  commit") that local `master` hadn't fetched yet — confirmed already contained in `v2.0.1`'s
+  own history (`git merge-base --is-ancestor 58c59e8 v2.0.1` — true), so it introduces no
+  discrepancy either.
+- `master`'s own tree still has the *old* `FABRIC.md`/`FABRIC-2.md`/`FABRIC-3.md` naming
+  (unrenamed) — expected, since today's rename commit (`b031b80`) only exists on `v2.0.1` so
+  far. The fast-forward brings the rename to `master` along with everything else; nothing
+  separate needs doing for it.
+
+**Plan:**
+1. Fast-forward `master` to `v2.0.1`'s tip (`git checkout master && git merge --ff-only v2.0.1`)
+   — refuses loudly instead of silently doing a real merge if the ancestor relationship somehow
+   isn't what the investigation above found, so this step re-verifies its own precondition.
+2. Push `master` to `origin`.
+3. **Verify build/function equivalence on a genuinely clean tree**, not by inference: `git clean`
+   (after confirming nothing untracked-but-wanted is present), then the full acceptance sequence
+   `.claude/CLAUDE.md` already mandates for any kernel change — `clean qemu` on all three
+   architectures, in the foreground, one at a time, each reaching `ok>` and shutting down
+   cleanly. Since the tree is byte-identical to `v2.0.1`'s post-fast-forward, this is expected
+   to reproduce exactly what `v2.0.1`'s own last acceptance pass already showed — the point of
+   re-running it here is to confirm that expectation holds on `master` itself, not to assume it
+   from the fast-forward alone.
+4. Return to `v2.0.1` as the working branch afterward (`.claude/CLAUDE.md`'s own rule: always
+   return to the correct working branch after any out-of-branch work), unless told otherwise.
+
+**Not yet done — this section will be updated with results once execution completes.**
diff --git a/FABRIC-4.md b/FABRIC-4.md
index a60f739..0e65eae 100644
--- a/FABRIC-4.md
+++ b/FABRIC-4.md
@@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
 # FABRIC-4.md — forward-looking design notes
 
-**Status:** Not a successor to `FABRIC-2.md` and not a punch-list document. `FABRIC-2.md` is
-still the living document — nothing here supersedes it, and this file doesn't follow the
-close-and-carry-forward discipline `FABRIC-0.md` → `FABRIC-1.md` → `FABRIC-2.md` used (that
-chain triggers on *closing* a document; `FABRIC-2.md` isn't closed). This is a separate,
-lower-discipline scratchpad for design ideas caught early — theory-stage, pre-punch-list,
-often missing a stated "why" on purpose (captured as raised, not fully justified yet). An idea
-graduates out of here into `FABRIC-2.md` §I (or wherever `FABRIC-2.md` is by then) once it has
-a real scope, not before.
+**Status:** Not a successor to `FABRIC-3.md` and not a punch-list document. `FABRIC-3.md` is
+the current living document (bare metal boot, opened 2026-09-04, successor to the now-closed
+`FABRIC-2.md`) — nothing here supersedes it, and this file doesn't follow the
+close-and-carry-forward discipline `FABRIC-0.md` → `FABRIC-1.md` → `FABRIC-2.md` → `FABRIC-3.md`
+used (that chain triggers on *closing* a document; `FABRIC-3.md` isn't closed). This is a
+separate, lower-discipline scratchpad for design ideas caught early — theory-stage,
+pre-punch-list, often missing a stated "why" on purpose (captured as raised, not fully
+justified yet). An idea graduates out of here into `FABRIC-3.md` (or wherever the living
+document is by then) once it has a real scope, not before.
 
 ---