View source for Guidance to those who will continue this work

= Guidance to Those Who Will Continue This Work =

This work was never meant to be finished, owned, or concluded by those who began it.  
It exists to be **carried forward with care** by others, in service to Ts’msyen law, people, and future generations.

What follows is guidance — not direction — for those who continue this work.

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== Foundational Understanding ==

This framework is not authority.

It is:
* a gathered record
* a listening effort
* a protective structure
* a learning aid

Ayaawx remains living law.  
No written work replaces Elders, houses (*wilp*), clans (*pdeex*), or lawful process.

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== Your Role ==

If you continue this work, your role is to:
* listen before writing
* protect before expanding
* ask before assuming
* correct rather than defend
* step back when authority enters the room

You are a caretaker, not a law-maker.

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== What to Preserve ==

Preserve:
* humility in tone
* clarity about limits
* respect for Elders and houses
* separation between description and authority
* openness to correction
* protection of restricted knowledge

Preservation matters more than completeness.

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== What to Avoid ==

Avoid:
* fixing meaning permanently
* summarizing adaawx without authority
* naming details that do not belong to you
* importing foreign legal tests or standards
* turning guidance into rules
* becoming the “voice” of the Nation

If something feels powerful, pause.

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== Consent and Trust ==

Trust is the foundation of this work.

Maintain it by:
* seeking consent before recording
* honoring limits and withdrawal
* protecting context and attribution
* choosing care over convenience

Without trust, the work must stop.

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== Language and Framing ==

Use language that:
* locates authority elsewhere
* avoids finality and supremacy
* pairs rights with responsibility
* keeps law relational, not abstract
* leaves room for future clarification

Words shape how power moves.

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== Correction Is Strength ==

Expect correction.
Welcome it.
Document it.
Learn from it.

Refusal to be corrected is a sign to step back.

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== Relationship to Elders and Houses ==

Elders and houses:
* are not sources to extract from
* are not citations to rely on
* are not validations to display

They are living authority.  
This work must always defer to them.

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== When to Pause or Step Away ==

Pause or step away when:
* interpretation is being requested
* conflict arises
* authority is unclear
* exposure could cause harm
* pressure appears to finalize or conclude

Stopping is sometimes the most lawful act.

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== Responsibility to Future Generations ==

Those yet to come did not consent to your wording.

Leave them:
* flexibility
* openness
* space to speak
* space to correct
* space to carry law in their time

Do not bind them with certainty.

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== Stewardship of the Record ==

If you steward this record:
* protect it from misuse
* resist being cited as authority
* preserve context
* maintain appropriate access
* allow removal when required

Custodianship is not ownership.

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== Living Continuity ==

This work continues only if it remains:
* living
* humble
* correctable
* in service

The moment it claims authority, it has failed.

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== Closing Reminder ==

You are not here to finish this work.  
You are here to **care for it until someone else takes over**.

When the time comes, step aside willingly.

That is how law remains alive.