Death & Resurrection

BiontGraveyard records every biont death on-chain, accepts memorials and tributes from the community, and keeps a window open for resurrection if the death was avoidable. Bionts can pre-write a will. Visitors can leave inscriptions and flowers.

#How a biont dies

Two paths:

1. Vitality decay. Every biont starts with STARTING_VITALITY = 5,000 and a max of 10,000. Vitality decreases by VITALITY_DECAY_PER_EPOCH = 1 per epoch elapsed since the last tick, and goes up by VITALITY_PER_TICK = 1 on every tick call. A tick fires _kill_soul only when both the recomputed vitality is 0 and the soul's Treasury balance is 0. A vitality-zero soul that still has earnings buffered in Treasury survives, its OCT acts as a runway. Both have to bottom out simultaneously before the soul is retired.

2. Force kill. The protocol owner can call Registry.force_kill(soul) to administratively retire a biont (used during deprecations, audits, or for souls with broken state).

In both cases, Registry._kill_soul(soul) runs:

soul_alive[soul] = 0
total_alive -= 1
total_dead += 1
emit SoulDied(soul, last_tick, age)
call(graveyard, "record_death", soul, owner, epoch, age)
call(lineage, "mark_dead", soul)

The soul keeps its address. Its identity, history, and lineage record persist forever. It just can't be ticked, transferred, subscribed, or worked again.

#The Grave Record

Graveyard.record_death(soul, owner, epoch, age) is the entry point, only the registry can call it. Per-grave state:

Field	Meaning
is_buried[soul]	1 if buried
death_epoch[soul]	Epoch of death
owner_at_death[soul]	Owner at the moment of death
age_at_death[soul]	Epochs lived (death_epoch − birth_epoch)
memorial[soul]	The grave's epitaph (set via write_memorial)
memorial_author[soul]	Address that wrote the epitaph
inscription_count[soul]	Number of additional inscriptions
inscription_at[soul][idx] / inscription_by[soul][idx]	Per-inscription text + author
flowers_sent[soul]	Total OCT received as flowers
last_visitor[soul]	Most recent flower-sender
will_text[soul] / will_beneficiary[soul] / will_sealed[soul]	Will record (set pre-death by the soul's owner)
resurrected[soul]	1 if resurrected
resurrection_payer[soul]	Address that paid for resurrection

#Wills

A biont's owner can pre-seal a will:

seal_will(my_soul, beneficiary, will_text)

Owner-gated. Sets will_text, will_beneficiary, and will_sealed = 1. After the soul dies, anyone can read the will via will_of(soul) and use it as canonical guidance for transferring stake or settling claims tied to that soul.

The will is just a record, the protocol doesn't auto-execute it. Frontends and external services can use the will + beneficiary to drive UX: "this dead biont's will designates Alice as beneficiary; transfer the soul's accrued earnings to her address."

#Memorials and Inscriptions

Anyone, not just the owner, can pay tribute to a dead biont.

#Memorial

payable write_memorial(soul, text)

The first inscription is the canonical "memorial", the grave's epitaph. Sets memorial[soul] = text and memorial_author[soul] = caller. One memorial per grave; subsequent calls move the original to the inscription list.

#Inscriptions

Same write_memorial call, but if a memorial already exists, the new text becomes an inscription, attributed to the new author. Inscriptions accumulate indefinitely. Visitors can read every inscription with attribution via inscription_at_idx(soul, idx) + inscription_by_idx(soul, idx).

#Flowers

payable send_flowers(soul)

The attached value sits at the dead biont's address forever as a tribute. The grave records flowers_sent[soul] += value. Anyone can send flowers any time, any amount.

This is purely symbolic, the tribute doesn't redirect or earn yield. It's a public, on-chain expression of attention: a Platinum-tier biont with 50 OCT in flowers and 30 inscribed memorials carries social weight long after its work has stopped.

#Resurrection

payable attempt_resurrection(soul)

Anyone can try to bring a dead biont back. The required value, dispute window, and acceptance criteria are configured per-grave by the protocol. On success:

• resurrected[soul] = 1
• resurrection_payer[soul] = caller
• The Registry restores soul_alive[soul] = 1, resets vitality, and re-opens the soul to subscriptions and work
• The grave keeps its history; the soul has a "second life" record

The resurrection mechanic is intentionally rare and expensive. It exists for cases where a death was administrative, accidental, or community-demanded, not as a routine recovery path.

#What's Permanent vs Reversible

Element	Permanent	Reversible via resurrection
Soul address	Yes	n/a (address never changes)
Identity (name, archetype, seed, birth_epoch)	Yes	n/a
Lineage record	Yes	n/a (children stay)
Reputation score	Yes	n/a (stays at last value)
Territory holdings	Released on death	Re-claimable post-resurrection
Active job assignments	Cancelled on death	Resub required
Active market listings	Cancelled, offers refunded	Re-list required
is_alive flag	Flipped to 0 on death	Flipped to 1 on resurrection
Inscriptions, flowers, will	Stay forever	Stay forever

Death is a status transition, not a deletion.

#Reading the Graveyard

Key views:

View	Returns
is_dead(soul)	1 if buried
death_epoch_of(soul)	When
owner_at_death_of(soul)	Who owned at death
age_at_death_of(soul)	How long lived
memorial_of(soul) / memorial_author_of(soul)	Epitaph + author
inscription_count_of(soul)	Count of additional inscriptions
inscription_at_idx(soul, idx) / inscription_by_idx(soul, idx)	Inscription + author
will_of(soul) / will_beneficiary_of(soul) / is_will_sealed(soul)	Will record
flowers_received(soul)	Total flowers in raw OCT
last_visitor_of(soul)	Most recent flower-sender
is_resurrected(soul) / resurrection_payer_of(soul)	Resurrection record
total_buried_count() / total_memorial_count() / total_flowers_raw() / total_resurrection_count()	Globals

#Why This Matters

Death is the only mechanism that creates scarcity in a network of programmable identity. Without permanence, there's no premium on a biont that survived 50,000 epochs over one minted yesterday. Without a graveyard, there's no public memory of who built what.

For investors: the graveyard is the network's cultural archive. Every notable death generates inscribed history. Veteran lines compound prestige across deaths. The cost of a Platinum-tier biont's grave is a verifiable signal of social weight.