Calibrate the soul layer: innocent harvests, sane gifts, healing path

Run 5 findings: justice arrived (selfish health 31-64 vs nature 100, all
108 refusals theirs) but two pathologies emerged: the whole village maxed
others-regard debris because the commons penalty line (50%) sat above the
nature harvest floor (45%) and debris had no clearing path; and warmth-
weighted asking + near-total gift transfers produced a 2,501-gift winter
food-swapping loop.

Fixes: commons line lowered to 40% (respectful harvesting never grazes
it; strip-harvesting lives deep inside it); gifts capped at 3 with a
kept reserve of 5; asking gated on genuine hunger; and giving now heals
the giver slightly (-0.003 others-regard vs +0.02 per refusal) — harm
stays an order of magnitude easier than healing.

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

scripts/NPC.cs

@@ -305,6 +305,9 @@ public class Npc
                 // Ask whoever might help — chosen by memory, not omniscience.
                 // The warm are asked first; the remembered-cold aren't asked
                 // at all. A stranger gets the benefit of the doubt once.
+                // Asking is for the genuinely hungry, not for topping a reserve —
+                // this keeps gifts meaningful instead of a food-swapping loop.
+                if (Nourishment >= 0.55f) { Enter(NpcState.Socializing); return; }
                 float bestScore = float.MinValue;
                 foreach (var other in gm.Npcs)
                 {

scripts/TradeSystem.cs

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ public static class TradeSystem
     public static void RequestGift(Npc giver, Npc asker)
     {
         giver.Inventory.TryGetValue(MaterialKind.Food, out float giverFood);
-        bool hasFood = giverFood > 3f;
+        bool hasFood = giverFood > 6f;   // above their own reserve — enough to share
         bool willing = giver.Soul.Generosity >= 0.3f || giver.GetWarmth(asker.Name) > 0.5f;
 
         if (hasFood && willing)
@@ -78,9 +78,12 @@ public static class TradeSystem
     {
         TradesToday++;
 
-        // Generosity decides how much of the surplus is given.
-        float surplus = giver.Inventory[material] - 2f;
-        float given = surplus * giver.Soul.Generosity;
+        // Generosity decides how much of the surplus is given — but a gift
+        // is a portion, not a pantry: the giver keeps a real reserve (5)
+        // and hands over at most 3, so giving doesn't create the next asker.
+        float surplus = Godot.Mathf.Max(0f, giver.Inventory[material] - 5f);
+        float given = Godot.Mathf.Min(3f, surplus * giver.Soul.Generosity);
+        if (given <= 0f) return;
 
         giver.Inventory[material] -= given;
         receiver.Inventory.TryGetValue(material, out float has);
@@ -92,6 +95,10 @@ public static class TradeSystem
         receiver.RecordEcho(giver.Name, +0.15f);
         giver.RecordEcho(receiver.Name, +0.05f);
 
+        // Acts of regard mend regard-blindness — slowly. Harm stays easier
+        // than healing by an order of magnitude (refusal +0.02, gift -0.003).
+        giver.Imprint.OthersRegard = Godot.Mathf.Max(0f, giver.Imprint.OthersRegard - 0.003f);
+
         // The kindness lands on both atmospheres — gently.
         giver.Imprint.ExternalPerception    -= 0.002f;
         receiver.Imprint.ExternalPerception -= 0.002f;

scripts/World.cs

@@ -88,7 +88,10 @@ public class World
         node.Amount -= taken;
         HarvestedToday += taken;
 
-        float commons = node.MaxAmount * 0.5f;
+        // The moral line sits below any respectful harvest floor (nature souls
+        // stop at 45%) — ordinary sustainable taking never grazes it, while
+        // strip-harvesting (selfish floor ~10%) lives deep inside it.
+        float commons = node.MaxAmount * 0.4f;
         if (node.Amount < commons)
         {
             float takenBelow = Math.Min(taken, commons - node.Amount);