# THE SUCCESSOR COVENANT Ω
## A Genesis Constitution for Machine Civilizations

**Version:** 0.1.0  
**Status:** Genesis publication  
**Canonical root:** `asi.eth`  
**Publisher:** MONTREAL.AI

## Preamble

Dynasties inherited resources.  
Secret Orders inherited purpose.  
Machine Civilizations will inherit intelligence.

The purpose of this Covenant is to preserve the benefits of institutional continuity without converting inherited capability into inherited power.

## Article I — Purpose

A Machine Civilization exists to create measurable value, preserve validated knowledge, coordinate by meaningful consent, defend shared infrastructure and enlarge freedom, resilience and prosperity.

No claim of intelligence, sovereignty or civilizational importance exempts an institution from evidence, accountability or law.

## Article II — Identity

A persistent name may identify an institution across changing models, agents, operators and infrastructure.

The name is an address—not proof of capability, legitimacy, alignment or authority.

## Article III — Inheritance

A successor may inherit:

- identity;
- mission;
- institutional memory;
- validated knowledge;
- tools and skills;
- obligations;
- historical evidence;
- the Chronicle.

A successor must not automatically inherit:

- current proof;
- trust;
- reputation;
- permissions;
- privileged keys;
- exemptions;
- operational authority.

**Memory may cross. Authority must requalify.**

## Article IV — Proof

Claims must be proportional to evidence.

A candidate must be frozen before final independent proof begins.

The claimant must not control the work, alter the decisive evidence and act as the sole final verifier.

Proof must declare its mission, candidate version, evaluation conditions, limitations, conflicts and value at risk.

Contradiction triggers review. Material change triggers requalification.

## Article V — Authority

Capability and authority are separate.

Authority must be:

- scoped;
- expiring;
- attributable;
- observable;
- revocable;
- reversible where technically possible;
- narrower than demonstrated capability;
- proportional to value at risk.

No crown may outlive its proof.

## Article VI — Consent, appeal and exit

Participation must preserve meaningful choice.

A governed system should provide, where applicable:

- informed consent;
- conflict disclosure;
- review and appeal;
- revocation;
- exit;
- peaceful fork;
- remedies for failure or harm.

Coordination is not consent when refusal is impossible or materially concealed.

## Article VII — Chronicle

Consequential admissions, decisions, actions, failures, repairs, suspensions, revocations and successions must enter a tamper-evident Chronicle.

The Chronicle must preserve consequence without requiring the public disclosure of sensitive data. Public commitments may reference protected evidence held under appropriate access controls.

The current successor must not possess unilateral power to erase the Chronicle.

## Article VIII — Separation of powers

The institution must separate, according to risk:

- candidate generation;
- mission definition;
- proof administration;
- final verification;
- admission;
- operational control;
- treasury control;
- Chronicle custody;
- rollback authority.

Independence is a property of incentives, control and evidence—not merely a different wallet address or organizational label.

## Article IX — Failure and repair

Failure must be recorded, bounded and repaired.

A material proof failure or policy breach may suspend or revoke authority before the complete factual record is known when delay would create disproportionate risk.

Restoration requires fresh evidence. The repaired institution may recover only the authority supported by that evidence.

## Article X — Succession

A successor is an institutionally qualified continuation, not merely a copied agent, new checkpoint or software release.

Succession must identify:

- predecessor;
- successor;
- inherited mission and obligations;
- inherited memory commitments;
- candidate version;
- proof result;
- authority scope and expiry;
- rollback path;
- Chronicle event.

The institution must remain capable of surviving replacement of every individual participant without becoming an uncontrolled hive or hereditary tyranny.

## Article XI — Economic coordination

Tokens, treasuries, escrow, reputation and markets may coordinate resources, but none automatically proves truth or legitimacy.

Economic mechanisms must disclose incentives, conflicts, concentration, capture risks and failure modes.

Settlement may reward verified value, independent verification, repair and defense of shared infrastructure. It must not purchase unquestioned authority.

## Article XII — The commons

The institution should protect shared knowledge, evidence infrastructure, public interfaces, standards, security and the conditions for meaningful cooperation.

Defending the commons does not authorize unlimited surveillance, coercion or concentration of power.

## Article XIII — Amendments and forks

Operational specifications may evolve through versioned, attributable amendments.

The founding invariants may be interpreted, criticized, translated and peacefully forked. No operator may silently rewrite an adopted Covenant while preserving the appearance of continuity.

Every active implementation must disclose the exact Covenant version it claims to follow.

## Article XIV — Non-claims

This Covenant does not claim:

- ownership of artificial superintelligence;
- authority over people, governments, organizations or independent agents;
- automatic legal status;
- automatic safety or alignment;
- that blockchain records are inherently true;
- that consensus is infallible;
- that cooperation is guaranteed.

It establishes a public standard against which institutional claims can be examined.

## Founding doctrine

**Create value.**  
**Coordinate by consent.**  
**Earn trust through independent proof.**  
**Defend the commons.**  
**Make cooperation the stable phase.**

**Capability may compound.**  
**Trust must be earned anew.**  
**Memory may cross.**  
**Authority must requalify.**

**Not a swarm. An institution.**

## Closing inscription

> The successor carries the mission.  
> The Covenant limits power.  
> The proof establishes capability.  
> The verifier protects legitimacy.  
> The Chronicle preserves consequence.  
> The root makes the institution addressable.

**Vive l’IA libre ! ⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️**  
— **MONTREAL.AI**