From d245535e684fd7544ea45bd034d782ecd97f17ef Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sam <samuv.eth@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2026 20:13:31 +0700
Subject: [PATCH] the HUD becomes UIParent's child, and cinematics fade through
 black
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

- the transcription had dropped parent= on 72 declarations the reference carries (37 to UIParent, 28 to the action bar's art frame, 7 more), so the HUD was a field of top-level frames and UIParent:Hide() reached almost nothing — which is why a cinematic had to hide the UI at the draw level and then special-case the pointer; both workarounds are deleted and the HUD hides through the reference's own route; restoring only the UIParent half would have been the dangerous part (draw order is one flat sort, so a partial restore lifts frames over the neighbours they carry), and manifest order turns out to be load-bearing — a parent name that doesn't exist yet is silently ignored, so UIParent.xml moves to the reference's own slot with a test that fails if anything declares a child first; the chat still drew over a fly-by after all that, because the reference parents the chat windows on their TEMPLATE, invisible to a name-for-name diff when both sides rename — two declarations fix it, and the sweep that replaces the method loads the whole shipped manifest, fires CINEMATIC_START and asserts the survivors are exactly three: 91 frames visible before, 3 after, and the count comes back on stop
- every cinematic boundary cuts through the reference's 0.25 s fade to black, and the next step hangs on the fade's COMPLETION, not a delay — the shot boundary is exactly where the reference does a blocking terrain load, so a delay-driven cut shows through a hitch and a completion-driven one cannot; and a fly-by now ends into black instead of a ~0.3 s loading cover: the reference raises no cover on that path, it holds black while the ground under the player loads back, so ours holds black while the stream catches up — budgeted, never an unbounded wait
- the death arc keeps its promises across a relog: the body's own state machine now dies with the session — re-entering the world as a ghost used to match no arm of the world-edge machine, so the corpse query never went out and "Resurrect Now" stayed down until the next death; and a corpse wears its owner's guild crest — the corpse descriptor carries the guild field and resolves through the same crest cache a living tabard does, where ours dressed the body crestless
- the char-select ghost gets its body kit: the screen resolves the state kit of the very "Ghost" aura a released ghost rides in the world — tint (140,185,253), alpha 0.5, and the Ghost_state wisp model at the body's attach point, pinned by a golden that decodes the row out of the shipped DBC; the airborne model is corrected before its fix lands — the address six comments called the gravity integrator is really the fall-velocity query, and a knockback is unsteerable because its launch PLANTS the forward bit, not because the arc is airborne (our guard was a velocity proxy, so a near-zero-speed knockback steered from frame 2); and the hover inspect card now decodes a picked part's mesh tag — alpha, rig slot, and both readings of the lighting payload side by side — turning a rebuild-and-two-probes hunt into a hover

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ActionBar.xml    |  34 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/BagFrame.xml     |  12 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/BankFrame.xml    |   2 +-
 .../benilla-app/assets/ui/CharacterFrame.xml  |   4 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ChatFrame.xml    |  14 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/DressUpFrame.xml |   2 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ErrorsFrame.xml  |   4 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/FriendsFrame.xml |   2 +-
 .../benilla-app/assets/ui/GameMenuFrame.xml   |   2 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/GameTooltip.xml  |   6 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/GossipFrame.xml  |   2 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ItemRef.xml      |   2 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/LootFrame.xml    |   2 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MailFrame.xml    |   4 +-
 .../benilla-app/assets/ui/MerchantFrame.xml   |   2 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MicroMenu.xml    |  16 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MultiBars.xml    |   8 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/OptionsFrame.xml |   2 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/PetActionBar.xml |   2 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/PetStable.xml    |   2 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/QuestFrame.xml   |   2 +-
 .../benilla-app/assets/ui/QuestLogFrame.xml   |   4 +-
 .../benilla-app/assets/ui/QuestTimerFrame.xml |   2 +-
 .../benilla-app/assets/ui/SpellBookFrame.xml  |   2 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/StanceBar.xml    |   2 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/TaxiFrame.xml    |   2 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/TradeFrame.xml   |   2 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/UiPanels.xml     |  29 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/UnitFrames.xml   |   4 +-
 .../benilla-app/assets/ui/WorldMapFrame.xml   |  13 +-
 crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/benilla.toc      |  19 +-
 crates/benilla-app/src/cinematic.rs           | 370 ++++++++++++++++--
 .../benilla-app/src/creature_anim/select.rs   |   2 +-
 crates/benilla-app/src/death.rs               |  97 +++++
 crates/benilla-app/src/debug_panel/inspect.rs |  20 +
 .../src/entities/attach/preview.rs            | 305 ++++++++++++++-
 crates/benilla-app/src/entities/corpse.rs     |  13 +-
 .../src/entities/equipment/resolve.rs         |  36 +-
 crates/benilla-app/src/lib.rs                 |   2 +
 crates/benilla-app/src/player/mover.rs        |  29 +-
 crates/benilla-app/src/player/state.rs        |   7 +-
 crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/booth.rs      | 249 +++++++++++-
 crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/dressup.rs    |  10 +-
 crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/glue_booth.rs | 110 +++++-
 crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/mod.rs        |  16 +-
 crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/test_bake.rs  |   5 +-
 crates/benilla-app/src/screen_fade.rs         | 289 ++++++++++++++
 crates/benilla-app/src/ui_guild/mod.rs        |  23 +-
 .../src/ui_script/cinematic_tests.rs          |  55 +++
 .../src/ui_script/game_menu_tests.rs          |   3 +
 crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/manifest.rs  |  30 ++
 crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/mod.rs       |  24 +-
 .../src/ui_script/options_tests.rs            |   3 +
 .../src/ui_script/shipped_xml_tests.rs        | 108 +++++
 crates/benilla-app/tests/world_api_wall.rs    |  15 +-
 .../src/messages/update_object/fields/mod.rs  |  10 +
 crates/benilla-world/src/instance_tint.rs     |  53 ++-
 crates/benilla-world/src/zfill.rs             |  32 +-
 58 files changed, 1908 insertions(+), 213 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 crates/benilla-app/src/screen_fade.rs

diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ActionBar.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ActionBar.xml
index e906ee57..72f59b5f 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ActionBar.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ActionBar.xml
@@ -1715,7 +1715,7 @@
     <CheckButton name="BenillaActionButtonTemplate" inherits="ActionBarButtonTemplate" virtual="true"/>
 
     <!-- The bar: 1024x53 anchored BOTTOM of the screen (ref-MainMenuBar.xml l.4-10). -->
-    <Frame name="MainMenuBar">
+    <Frame name="MainMenuBar" parent="UIParent">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="1024" y="53"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="BOTTOM" relativePoint="BOTTOM"><Offset><AbsDimension x="0" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
@@ -1825,7 +1825,7 @@
                 the rest state. Starts at the bar's CENTER exactly like the ref (its own first
                 Update re-seats or hides it before anything is seen).
             -->
-            <Button name="ExhaustionTick" frameStrata="DIALOG">
+            <Button name="ExhaustionTick" parent="MainMenuBar" frameStrata="DIALOG">
                 <Size><AbsDimension x="32" y="32"/></Size>
                 <Anchors>
                     <Anchor point="CENTER" relativeTo="MainMenuExpBar"><Offset><AbsDimension x="0" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
@@ -1956,51 +1956,51 @@
                     <!-- The 12 buttons: Button1 at the art frame BOTTOMLEFT (8,4); 2..12 chain LEFT of
                          the previous's RIGHT +6,0 (ref-ActionBarFrame.xml l.51-158). Replaces our old
                          fixed 38px stride with the real 42px chain (36 wide + 6 gap). -->
-                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton1" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate">
+                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton1" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
                         <Anchors><Anchor point="BOTTOMLEFT" relativePoint="BOTTOMLEFT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="8" y="4"/></Offset></Anchor></Anchors>
                         <Scripts><OnLoad>BenillaActionButton_OnLoad(self, 1)</OnLoad></Scripts>
                     </CheckButton>
-                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton2" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate">
+                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton2" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
                         <Anchors><Anchor point="LEFT" relativeTo="ActionButton1" relativePoint="RIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="6" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor></Anchors>
                         <Scripts><OnLoad>BenillaActionButton_OnLoad(self, 2)</OnLoad></Scripts>
                     </CheckButton>
-                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton3" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate">
+                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton3" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
                         <Anchors><Anchor point="LEFT" relativeTo="ActionButton2" relativePoint="RIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="6" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor></Anchors>
                         <Scripts><OnLoad>BenillaActionButton_OnLoad(self, 3)</OnLoad></Scripts>
                     </CheckButton>
-                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton4" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate">
+                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton4" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
                         <Anchors><Anchor point="LEFT" relativeTo="ActionButton3" relativePoint="RIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="6" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor></Anchors>
                         <Scripts><OnLoad>BenillaActionButton_OnLoad(self, 4)</OnLoad></Scripts>
                     </CheckButton>
-                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton5" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate">
+                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton5" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
                         <Anchors><Anchor point="LEFT" relativeTo="ActionButton4" relativePoint="RIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="6" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor></Anchors>
                         <Scripts><OnLoad>BenillaActionButton_OnLoad(self, 5)</OnLoad></Scripts>
                     </CheckButton>
-                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton6" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate">
+                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton6" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
                         <Anchors><Anchor point="LEFT" relativeTo="ActionButton5" relativePoint="RIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="6" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor></Anchors>
                         <Scripts><OnLoad>BenillaActionButton_OnLoad(self, 6)</OnLoad></Scripts>
                     </CheckButton>
-                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton7" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate">
+                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton7" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
                         <Anchors><Anchor point="LEFT" relativeTo="ActionButton6" relativePoint="RIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="6" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor></Anchors>
                         <Scripts><OnLoad>BenillaActionButton_OnLoad(self, 7)</OnLoad></Scripts>
                     </CheckButton>
-                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton8" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate">
+                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton8" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
                         <Anchors><Anchor point="LEFT" relativeTo="ActionButton7" relativePoint="RIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="6" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor></Anchors>
                         <Scripts><OnLoad>BenillaActionButton_OnLoad(self, 8)</OnLoad></Scripts>
                     </CheckButton>
-                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton9" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate">
+                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton9" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
                         <Anchors><Anchor point="LEFT" relativeTo="ActionButton8" relativePoint="RIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="6" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor></Anchors>
                         <Scripts><OnLoad>BenillaActionButton_OnLoad(self, 9)</OnLoad></Scripts>
                     </CheckButton>
-                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton10" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate">
+                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton10" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
                         <Anchors><Anchor point="LEFT" relativeTo="ActionButton9" relativePoint="RIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="6" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor></Anchors>
                         <Scripts><OnLoad>BenillaActionButton_OnLoad(self, 10)</OnLoad></Scripts>
                     </CheckButton>
-                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton11" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate">
+                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton11" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
                         <Anchors><Anchor point="LEFT" relativeTo="ActionButton10" relativePoint="RIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="6" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor></Anchors>
                         <Scripts><OnLoad>BenillaActionButton_OnLoad(self, 11)</OnLoad></Scripts>
                     </CheckButton>
-                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton12" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate">
+                    <CheckButton name="ActionButton12" inherits="BenillaActionButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
                         <Anchors><Anchor point="LEFT" relativeTo="ActionButton11" relativePoint="RIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="6" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor></Anchors>
                         <Scripts><OnLoad>BenillaActionButton_OnLoad(self, 12)</OnLoad></Scripts>
                     </CheckButton>
@@ -2015,7 +2015,7 @@
                          the visible up arrow — to the DOWN button. The ref's ±6/±7 insets shrink
                          each to the 20x18 arrow it actually draws, which separates them and stops
                          the down arrow's rect hanging below the screen edge and over the XP bar. -->
-                    <Button name="ActionBarUpButton">
+                    <Button name="ActionBarUpButton" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
                         <Size><AbsDimension x="32" y="32"/></Size>
                         <Anchors>
                             <Anchor point="CENTER" relativeTo="MainMenuBarArtFrame" relativePoint="TOPLEFT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="522" y="-22"/></Offset></Anchor>
@@ -2026,7 +2026,7 @@
                         <HighlightTexture file="Interface\MainMenuBar\UI-MainMenu-ScrollUpButton-Highlight" alphaMode="ADD"/>
                         <Scripts><OnClick>ActionBar_PageUp() PlaySound("UChatScrollButton")</OnClick></Scripts>
                     </Button>
-                    <Button name="ActionBarDownButton">
+                    <Button name="ActionBarDownButton" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
                         <Size><AbsDimension x="32" y="32"/></Size>
                         <Anchors>
                             <Anchor point="CENTER" relativeTo="MainMenuBarArtFrame" relativePoint="TOPLEFT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="522" y="-42"/></Offset></Anchor>
@@ -2074,7 +2074,7 @@
                     </Layer>
                 </Layers>
                 <Frames>
-                    <Button name="MainMenuBarPerformanceBarFrameButton" setAllPoints="true" frameStrata="HIGH">
+                    <Button name="MainMenuBarPerformanceBarFrameButton" parent="MainMenuBarPerformanceBarFrame" setAllPoints="true" frameStrata="HIGH">
                         <Scripts>
                             <OnEnter>BenillaPerformanceBar_OnEnter(self)</OnEnter>
                             <OnLeave>BenillaPerformanceBar_OnLeave()</OnLeave>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/BagFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/BagFrame.xml
index 081d1e84..d2977057 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/BagFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/BagFrame.xml
@@ -1856,7 +1856,7 @@
         the bar. (MainMenuBarArtFrame is defined in ActionBar.xml, which the loader loads before
         this file; the anchor resolves by name.)
     -->
-    <CheckButton name="MainMenuBarBackpackButton">
+    <CheckButton name="MainMenuBarBackpackButton" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="37" y="37"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="BOTTOMRIGHT" relativeTo="MainMenuBarArtFrame" relativePoint="BOTTOMRIGHT">
@@ -1934,7 +1934,7 @@
         66×66 UI-Quickslot2 ring, 6px chain gap = the 42px stride), so the bag icons fill their slots
         exactly like the spell icons instead of floating undersized (the earlier 30×30 guess).
     -->
-    <CheckButton name="CharacterBag0Slot">
+    <CheckButton name="CharacterBag0Slot" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="36" y="36"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="RIGHT" relativeTo="MainMenuBarBackpackButton" relativePoint="LEFT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-6" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
@@ -1989,7 +1989,7 @@
             <OnReceiveDrag>BenillaBagBarSlot_Place(self)</OnReceiveDrag>
         </Scripts>
     </CheckButton>
-    <CheckButton name="CharacterBag1Slot">
+    <CheckButton name="CharacterBag1Slot" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="36" y="36"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="RIGHT" relativeTo="CharacterBag0Slot" relativePoint="LEFT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-6" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
@@ -2043,7 +2043,7 @@
             <OnReceiveDrag>BenillaBagBarSlot_Place(self)</OnReceiveDrag>
         </Scripts>
     </CheckButton>
-    <CheckButton name="CharacterBag2Slot">
+    <CheckButton name="CharacterBag2Slot" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="36" y="36"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="RIGHT" relativeTo="CharacterBag1Slot" relativePoint="LEFT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-6" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
@@ -2097,7 +2097,7 @@
             <OnReceiveDrag>BenillaBagBarSlot_Place(self)</OnReceiveDrag>
         </Scripts>
     </CheckButton>
-    <CheckButton name="CharacterBag3Slot">
+    <CheckButton name="CharacterBag3Slot" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="36" y="36"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="RIGHT" relativeTo="CharacterBag2Slot" relativePoint="LEFT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-6" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
@@ -2168,7 +2168,7 @@
         an $parentIcon layer, so Disable_BagButtons' SetDesaturation(b.icon) has nothing to grey —
         and the ref leaves it out of its own Disable_BagButtons for the same reason.
     -->
-    <CheckButton name="KeyRingButton" hidden="true">
+    <CheckButton name="KeyRingButton" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame" hidden="true">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="18" y="39"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="RIGHT" relativeTo="CharacterBag3Slot" relativePoint="LEFT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-6" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/BankFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/BankFrame.xml
index 32de67f7..e67a7455 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/BankFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/BankFrame.xml
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@
         </Scripts>
     </CheckButton>
 
-    <Frame name="BankFrame" id="-1" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="BankFrame" parent="UIParent" id="-1" hidden="true">
         <!-- The real 384×512 window (ref l.77-90). No <Anchors> — ShowUIPanel/SetLeftFrame SetPoints
              this to the left slot on open, the same NPC-session convention as Merchant/Trainer/Mail.
              id="-1" = BANK_CONTAINER: the 24 item buttons below read it via GetParent():GetID(), the
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/CharacterFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/CharacterFrame.xml
index b165280c..209a3097 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/CharacterFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/CharacterFrame.xml
@@ -1371,7 +1371,7 @@
         </Scripts>
     </Frame>
 
-    <Frame name="CharacterFrame" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="CharacterFrame" parent="UIParent" hidden="true">
         <!-- The real 384x512 window (ref-CharacterFrame.xml:5-7). No <Anchors> — ShowUIPanel/
              SetLeftFrame SetPoints this to the left slot on open (UiPanels.xml's own convention). -->
         <Size><AbsDimension x="384" y="512"/></Size>
@@ -1474,7 +1474,7 @@
                  exactly fill the parent instead of the ref's setAllPoints="true" — the same effect
                  (see this file's header: frame-level setAllPoints was a no-op when this was written
                  and is wired now; the explicit size is equivalent, so it stays). -->
-            <Frame name="PaperDollFrame" id="1">
+            <Frame name="PaperDollFrame" parent="CharacterFrame" id="1">
                 <Size><AbsDimension x="384" y="512"/></Size>
                 <Anchors><Anchor point="TOPLEFT" relativePoint="TOPLEFT"/></Anchors>
                 <HitRectInsets><AbsInset left="0" right="30" top="0" bottom="45"/></HitRectInsets>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ChatFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ChatFrame.xml
index 473e313e..3064ddc8 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ChatFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ChatFrame.xml
@@ -1412,7 +1412,7 @@
         one script here that is genuinely ChatFrame1's rather than the dock's, so the template
         carries the gate rather than the registration.
     -->
-    <ScrollingMessageFrame name="BenillaChatFrameTemplate" virtual="true"
+    <ScrollingMessageFrame name="BenillaChatFrameTemplate" virtual="true" parent="UIParent"
                            frameStrata="BACKGROUND" displayDuration="120.0" maxLines="128"
                            movable="true" resizable="true">
         <!-- ref FloatingChatFrame.xml l.222-230, verbatim. The only `<ResizeBounds>` in the whole
@@ -1943,7 +1943,7 @@
          line pipeline doesn't exist), so the tab just selected an empty window. ChatFrame2
          itself stays above (the router keeps feeding it) so the tab can return whole with the
          combat-log arc — director's call, 2026-07-11. The FCF loops guard the missing tab. ── -->
-    <Button name="BenillaChatTabTemplate" virtual="true" frameStrata="LOW" alpha="0">
+    <Button name="BenillaChatTabTemplate" virtual="true" parent="UIParent" frameStrata="LOW" alpha="0">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="70" y="32"/></Size>
         <Layers>
             <Layer level="BACKGROUND">
@@ -2198,7 +2198,7 @@
 
     <!-- ── The chat menu button (ref ChatFrameMenuButton): the bubble icon atop the scroll
          column; click opens ChatMenu (ref ChatFrame_OpenMenu). ──────────────────────────── -->
-    <Button name="ChatFrameMenuButton" frameStrata="LOW">
+    <Button name="ChatFrameMenuButton" parent="UIParent" frameStrata="LOW">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="32" y="32"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="BOTTOM" relativeTo="ChatFrame1UpButton" relativePoint="TOP"/>
@@ -2220,19 +2220,19 @@
          Voice-menu-left-open corner). The submenus are authored as children (the ref's
          parent="ChatMenu" attr — this engine attaches by nesting, CharacterFrame.xml's note),
          so hiding ChatMenu hides them with it. -->
-    <Frame name="ChatMenu" inherits="UIMenuTemplate" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="ChatMenu" inherits="UIMenuTemplate" parent="UIParent" hidden="true">
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="BOTTOMLEFT" relativeTo="ChatFrameMenuButton" relativePoint="TOPRIGHT"/>
         </Anchors>
         <Frames>
-            <Frame name="EmoteMenu" inherits="UIMenuTemplate" hidden="true">
+            <Frame name="EmoteMenu" inherits="UIMenuTemplate" parent="ChatMenu" hidden="true">
                 <Scripts>
                     <OnLoad>
                         BenillaOnEmoteMenuLoad(BenillaEmoteMenuList)
                     </OnLoad>
                 </Scripts>
             </Frame>
-            <Frame name="VoiceMacroMenu" inherits="UIMenuTemplate" hidden="true">
+            <Frame name="VoiceMacroMenu" inherits="UIMenuTemplate" parent="ChatMenu" hidden="true">
                 <Scripts>
                     <OnLoad>
                         BenillaOnEmoteMenuLoad(BenillaVoiceMacroList)
@@ -2271,7 +2271,7 @@
          arrow-steering working and the keys being dead. -->
     <!-- historyLines: the ref template ships 32; 64 at the director's call ("at least 50",
          2026-07-26) — the recall walk is the modern law already (decision 0301). -->
-    <EditBox name="ChatFrameEditBox" frameStrata="DIALOG" hidden="true" historyLines="64" letters="255">
+    <EditBox name="ChatFrameEditBox" parent="UIParent" frameStrata="DIALOG" hidden="true" historyLines="64" letters="255">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="0" y="32"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="TOPLEFT" relativeTo="ChatFrame1" relativePoint="BOTTOMLEFT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-5" y="-2"/></Offset></Anchor>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/DressUpFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/DressUpFrame.xml
index 04ff0a8d..ab5a0f4f 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/DressUpFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/DressUpFrame.xml
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@
         <HighlightTexture file="Interface\Buttons\UI-Panel-Button-Highlight" alphaMode="ADD"><TexCoords left="0" right="0.625" top="0" bottom="0.6875"/></HighlightTexture>
     </Button>
 
-    <Frame name="DressUpFrame" toplevel="true" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="DressUpFrame" parent="UIParent" toplevel="true" hidden="true">
         <!-- The ref's 384×512 window. No <Anchors>: ShowUIPanel seats it in the left slot, this
              house's convention for every panel window (MerchantFrame.xml/CraftFrame.xml). -->
         <Size><AbsDimension x="384" y="512"/></Size>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ErrorsFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ErrorsFrame.xml
index a25bc854..7bcfbdb0 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ErrorsFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ErrorsFrame.xml
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@
         end
     ]]></Script>
 
-    <MessageFrame name="UIErrorsFrame" displayDuration="5" insertMode="TOP" frameStrata="HIGH">
+    <MessageFrame name="UIErrorsFrame" parent="UIParent" displayDuration="5" insertMode="TOP" frameStrata="HIGH">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="512" y="60"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="TOP" relativePoint="TOP">
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@
 
          RaidBossEmoteFrame, its sibling in the same file, is NOT declared: zero corpus addons name
          it, and a shadowed name with no caller is building against a guess (1222's rejected clause). -->
-    <MessageFrame name="RaidWarningFrame" insertMode="TOP" frameStrata="HIGH" toplevel="true">
+    <MessageFrame name="RaidWarningFrame" parent="UIParent" insertMode="TOP" frameStrata="HIGH" toplevel="true">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="512" y="40"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="TOP" relativeTo="UIErrorsFrame" relativePoint="BOTTOM">
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/FriendsFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/FriendsFrame.xml
index b85d8595..44d109b1 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/FriendsFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/FriendsFrame.xml
@@ -2043,7 +2043,7 @@
     </CheckButton>
 
     <!-- ── The window (ref l.506-607) ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── -->
-    <Frame name="FriendsFrame" toplevel="true" movable="true" enableMouse="true" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="FriendsFrame" parent="UIParent" toplevel="true" movable="true" enableMouse="true" hidden="true">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="384" y="512"/></Size>
         <Anchors><Anchor point="TOPLEFT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="0" y="-104"/></Offset></Anchor></Anchors>
         <HitRectInsets><AbsInset left="0" right="30" top="0" bottom="45"/></HitRectInsets>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/GameMenuFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/GameMenuFrame.xml
index f4e50673..4e5ddb05 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/GameMenuFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/GameMenuFrame.xml
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@
     <!-- `toplevel` is the ref's own (GameMenuFrame.xml l.3) and was dropped here: without the bit
          a DIALOG-strata window opened over another one stays behind it (the B180/Bagnon class,
          decision 1318). Restored alone; the ref's `movable`/`parent` stay off deliberately. -->
-    <Frame name="GameMenuFrame" frameStrata="DIALOG" toplevel="true" enableMouse="true" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="GameMenuFrame" parent="UIParent" frameStrata="DIALOG" toplevel="true" enableMouse="true" hidden="true">
         <!-- The era layout engine's own numbers (header SCOPE note): 28+144+28 wide, 32-top /
              28-bottom padding around our seven 21-unit rungs with three 20-unit section gaps. -->
         <Size><AbsDimension x="200" y="267"/></Size>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/GameTooltip.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/GameTooltip.xml
index e1833092..be11b962 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/GameTooltip.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/GameTooltip.xml
@@ -455,7 +455,7 @@
         </Scripts>
     </GameTooltip>
 
-    <GameTooltip name="GameTooltip" inherits="GameTooltipTemplate" frameStrata="TOOLTIP" hidden="true">
+    <GameTooltip name="GameTooltip" inherits="GameTooltipTemplate" parent="UIParent" frameStrata="TOOLTIP" hidden="true">
         <!-- A default size so the plate resolves the first frame it is shown; the engine's
              auto-size pass takes over once the lines are measured (one frame's latency). NO
              load-time anchor (the ref instance carries none): every show path seats the plate
@@ -610,6 +610,6 @@
     <!-- The shopping-compare pair (ref GameTooltip.xml l.24-25, quoted down to the one-line shape):
          two more GameTooltip widgets the engine seats on the paperdoll slot when
          SHOW_COMPARE_TOOLTIP fires (CharacterFrame.xml's listener). -->
-    <GameTooltip name="ShoppingTooltip1" inherits="ShoppingTooltipTemplate" frameStrata="TOOLTIP" hidden="true"/>
-    <GameTooltip name="ShoppingTooltip2" inherits="ShoppingTooltipTemplate" frameStrata="TOOLTIP" hidden="true"/>
+    <GameTooltip name="ShoppingTooltip1" inherits="ShoppingTooltipTemplate" parent="UIParent" frameStrata="TOOLTIP" hidden="true"/>
+    <GameTooltip name="ShoppingTooltip2" inherits="ShoppingTooltipTemplate" parent="UIParent" frameStrata="TOOLTIP" hidden="true"/>
 </Ui>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/GossipFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/GossipFrame.xml
index e350270e..305b974b 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/GossipFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/GossipFrame.xml
@@ -292,7 +292,7 @@
         </Scripts>
     </Button>
 
-    <Frame name="GossipFrame" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="GossipFrame" parent="UIParent" hidden="true">
         <!-- The real 384×512 window (ref l.128). No <Anchors> — ShowUIPanel/SetLeftFrame SetPoints this
              to the left slot on open. -->
         <Size><AbsDimension x="384" y="512"/></Size>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ItemRef.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ItemRef.xml
index a4e629aa..c433c708 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ItemRef.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/ItemRef.xml
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@
 
     <!-- `toplevel` is the ref's (ItemRef.xml l.3) — a linked-item tooltip is a window that must
          land above the HIGH-strata frames it is opened over (decision 1318). -->
-    <GameTooltip name="ItemRefTooltip" inherits="GameTooltipTemplate" frameStrata="HIGH" toplevel="true" hidden="true">
+    <GameTooltip name="ItemRefTooltip" inherits="GameTooltipTemplate" parent="UIParent" frameStrata="HIGH" toplevel="true" hidden="true">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="128" y="64"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="BOTTOM"><Offset><AbsDimension x="0" y="80"/></Offset></Anchor>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/LootFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/LootFrame.xml
index 1f40c982..0e24fec5 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/LootFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/LootFrame.xml
@@ -558,7 +558,7 @@
         </Scripts>
     </Button>
 
-    <Frame name="LootFrame" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="LootFrame" parent="UIParent" hidden="true">
         <!-- The real 256×256 window (ref l.59-60). No <Anchors> here — ShowUIPanel SetPoints this to
              its slot. -->
         <Size><AbsDimension x="256" y="256"/></Size>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MailFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MailFrame.xml
index 110b3c3b..e61fb60c 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MailFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MailFrame.xml
@@ -792,7 +792,7 @@
         </Layers>
     </CheckButton>
 
-    <Frame name="MailFrame" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="MailFrame" parent="UIParent" hidden="true">
         <!-- ref MailFrame l.242-255: 384×512; ShowUIPanel slots it left. HitRectInsets quoted for
              fidelity (currently inert — the loader ignores it). -->
         <Size><AbsDimension x="384" y="512"/></Size>
@@ -1414,7 +1414,7 @@
     </Frame>
 
     <!-- ── Open Mail (ref OpenMailFrame l.1306-1915) ──────────────────────────────────────────── -->
-    <Frame name="OpenMailFrame" hidden="true" enableMouse="true">
+    <Frame name="OpenMailFrame" parent="UIParent" hidden="true" enableMouse="true">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="384" y="512"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="TOPLEFT" relativeTo="InboxFrame" relativePoint="TOPRIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-10" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MerchantFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MerchantFrame.xml
index c89c9fa8..41a769cc 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MerchantFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MerchantFrame.xml
@@ -776,7 +776,7 @@
         </Scripts>
     </Button>
 
-    <Frame name="MerchantFrame" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="MerchantFrame" parent="UIParent" hidden="true">
         <!-- The real 384×512 window (ref l.117-119). No <Anchors> — ShowUIPanel/SetLeftFrame SetPoints
              this to the left slot on open. -->
         <Size><AbsDimension x="384" y="512"/></Size>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MicroMenu.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MicroMenu.xml
index de6fc068..115dc280 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MicroMenu.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MicroMenu.xml
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@
     <!-- ref CharacterMicroButton (l.20-63): the row's head, at the art frame's BOTTOMLEFT +(552,2).
          MicroButtonPortrait is the ref's own global name (not $parent-prefixed), 18x25 hung from the
          button's TOP -28. -->
-    <Button name="CharacterMicroButton" inherits="BenillaMicroButtonTemplate">
+    <Button name="CharacterMicroButton" inherits="BenillaMicroButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="BOTTOMLEFT" relativeTo="MainMenuBarArtFrame" relativePoint="BOTTOMLEFT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="552" y="2"/></Offset></Anchor>
         </Anchors>
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@
         </Scripts>
     </Button>
 
-    <Button name="SpellbookMicroButton" inherits="BenillaMicroButtonTemplate">
+    <Button name="SpellbookMicroButton" inherits="BenillaMicroButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="BOTTOMLEFT" relativeTo="CharacterMicroButton" relativePoint="BOTTOMRIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-3" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
         </Anchors>
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@
         </Scripts>
     </Button>
 
-    <Button name="TalentMicroButton" inherits="BenillaMicroButtonTemplate">
+    <Button name="TalentMicroButton" inherits="BenillaMicroButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="BOTTOMLEFT" relativeTo="SpellbookMicroButton" relativePoint="BOTTOMRIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-3" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
         </Anchors>
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@
         </Scripts>
     </Button>
 
-    <Button name="QuestLogMicroButton" inherits="BenillaMicroButtonTemplate">
+    <Button name="QuestLogMicroButton" inherits="BenillaMicroButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="BOTTOMLEFT" relativeTo="TalentMicroButton" relativePoint="BOTTOMRIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-3" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
         </Anchors>
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@
         </Scripts>
     </Button>
 
-    <Button name="SocialsMicroButton" inherits="BenillaMicroButtonTemplate">
+    <Button name="SocialsMicroButton" inherits="BenillaMicroButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="BOTTOMLEFT" relativeTo="QuestLogMicroButton" relativePoint="BOTTOMRIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-3" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
         </Anchors>
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@
         </Scripts>
     </Button>
 
-    <Button name="WorldMapMicroButton" inherits="BenillaMicroButtonTemplate">
+    <Button name="WorldMapMicroButton" inherits="BenillaMicroButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="BOTTOMLEFT" relativeTo="SocialsMicroButton" relativePoint="BOTTOMRIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-3" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
         </Anchors>
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@
     <!-- The game menu (decision 0674). `ToggleGameMenu(1)` is the ref's own OnClick — the argument
          is what makes a CLICK a plain toggle (close it, or close everything and open it) instead of
          the ESC key's one-eater-per-press ladder; UiPanels.xml has both halves. -->
-    <Button name="MainMenuMicroButton" inherits="BenillaMicroButtonTemplate">
+    <Button name="MainMenuMicroButton" inherits="BenillaMicroButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="BOTTOMLEFT" relativeTo="WorldMapMicroButton" relativePoint="BOTTOMRIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-3" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
         </Anchors>
@@ -373,7 +373,7 @@
          so this button's pushed state follows it however the window was opened or closed.
          It takes no binding — 1.12 has no TOGGLEHELP action — so the tooltip shows the bare
          label, which is the ref's behaviour for this one too. -->
-    <Button name="HelpMicroButton" inherits="BenillaMicroButtonTemplate">
+    <Button name="HelpMicroButton" inherits="BenillaMicroButtonTemplate" parent="MainMenuBarArtFrame">
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="BOTTOMLEFT" relativeTo="MainMenuMicroButton" relativePoint="BOTTOMRIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-3" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
         </Anchors>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MultiBars.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MultiBars.xml
index c56eb69c..8ce393a7 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MultiBars.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/MultiBars.xml
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@
          them (its HorizontalMultiBar1/2 templates carry it too, l.36/l.151), and the shipped state
          a character with a zero toggle byte lands in. MultiActionBar_Update is the only thing that
          opens one. -->
-    <Frame name="MultiBarBottomLeft" frameStrata="HIGH" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="MultiBarBottomLeft" parent="UIParent" frameStrata="HIGH" hidden="true">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="500" y="38"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="BOTTOMLEFT" relativeTo="ActionButton1" relativePoint="TOPLEFT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="0" y="17"/></Offset></Anchor>
@@ -336,7 +336,7 @@
     </Frame>
 
     <!-- HIGH and hidden, same as BottomLeft above (ref `MultiActionBars.xml` l.151). -->
-    <Frame name="MultiBarBottomRight" frameStrata="HIGH" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="MultiBarBottomRight" parent="UIParent" frameStrata="HIGH" hidden="true">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="500" y="38"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="LEFT" relativeTo="MultiBarBottomLeft" relativePoint="RIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="10" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
@@ -416,7 +416,7 @@
          RIGHT_ACTIONBAR_PAGE = 3 (actions 25..36). Geometry from ref-MultiActionBars.xml: a 38x500
          frame, button 1 at TOPRIGHT, each next TOP-to-BOTTOM of the previous at -6. -->
 
-    <Frame name="MultiBarRight" frameStrata="HIGH" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="MultiBarRight" parent="UIParent" frameStrata="HIGH" hidden="true">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="38" y="500"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="BOTTOMRIGHT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-7" y="98"/></Offset></Anchor>
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@
         </Frames>
     </Frame>
 
-    <Frame name="MultiBarLeft" frameStrata="HIGH" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="MultiBarLeft" parent="UIParent" frameStrata="HIGH" hidden="true">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="38" y="500"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="TOPRIGHT" relativeTo="MultiBarRight" relativePoint="TOPLEFT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-5" y="0"/></Offset></Anchor>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/OptionsFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/OptionsFrame.xml
index 70627e74..b3200428 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/OptionsFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/OptionsFrame.xml
@@ -1642,7 +1642,7 @@
     <!-- `toplevel` restored (ref OptionsFrame.xml l.3) — same class as the B180/Bagnon dialog
          (decision 1318). NOTE our strata is HIGH where the ref is DIALOG; left as-is, flagged in
          the record rather than silently changed. -->
-    <Frame name="OptionsFrame" frameStrata="HIGH" toplevel="true" enableMouse="true" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="OptionsFrame" parent="UIParent" frameStrata="HIGH" toplevel="true" enableMouse="true" hidden="true">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="920" y="724"/></Size>
         <Anchors><Anchor point="CENTER"/></Anchors>
         <!-- The 1.14 System-window dialog, verbatim (BACKDROP_DIALOG_32_32 — wow-ui-source
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/PetActionBar.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/PetActionBar.xml
index baab8ebf..5da5e3d3 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/PetActionBar.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/PetActionBar.xml
@@ -476,7 +476,7 @@
         </Scripts>
     </CheckButton>
 
-    <Frame name="PetActionBarFrame" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="PetActionBarFrame" parent="MainMenuBar" hidden="true">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="509" y="43"/></Size>
         <!-- This anchor is the LOAD-TIME value only: UIParent_ManageFramePositions owns the real
              one and re-seats the frame on every pass (OnShow/OnHide below fire it), because the
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/PetStable.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/PetStable.xml
index 531477a6..509d49e6 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/PetStable.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/PetStable.xml
@@ -443,7 +443,7 @@
         <CheckedTexture file="Interface\Buttons\CheckButtonHilight" alphaMode="ADD"/>
     </CheckButton>
 
-    <Frame name="PetStableFrame" toplevel="true" movable="true" enableMouse="true" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="PetStableFrame" parent="UIParent" toplevel="true" movable="true" enableMouse="true" hidden="true">
         <!-- xml l.72-85: the standard 384x512 panel window. The HitRectInsets pull the mouse rect
              in from the art's transparent right edge and bottom skirt. -->
         <Size><AbsDimension x="384" y="512"/></Size>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/QuestFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/QuestFrame.xml
index 77a95b96..ea108cd4 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/QuestFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/QuestFrame.xml
@@ -865,7 +865,7 @@
         </Layers>
     </Frame>
 
-    <Frame name="QuestFrame" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="QuestFrame" parent="UIParent" hidden="true">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="384" y="512"/></Size>
         <Layers>
             <!-- NPC portrait 60×60 TOPLEFT (7,-6) (ref QuestFramePortrait l.20-33). Drawn on the OUTER
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/QuestLogFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/QuestLogFrame.xml
index 60141b79..d12d4301 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/QuestLogFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/QuestLogFrame.xml
@@ -1332,7 +1332,7 @@
         <HighlightTexture file="Interface\Buttons\UI-Panel-Button-Highlight" alphaMode="ADD"><TexCoords left="0" right="0.625" top="0" bottom="0.6875"/></HighlightTexture>
     </Button>
 
-    <Frame name="QuestLogFrame" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="QuestLogFrame" parent="UIParent" hidden="true">
         <!-- The real 384×512 window (pin §1). No <Anchors> — ShowUIPanel/SetLeftFrame SetPoints this
              to the left slot on open, exactly like Gossip/Merchant/Quest. -->
         <Size><AbsDimension x="384" y="512"/></Size>
@@ -1892,7 +1892,7 @@
          lines*13) so the left-aligned column hugs the minimap's right edge like the ref; the
          GetWidth reads are extract-measured (one frame stale), so the sizing tail re-runs from
          OnUpdate for two frames after each repaint (`resize_pending`) and converges next frame. -->
-    <Frame name="QuestWatchFrame">
+    <Frame name="QuestWatchFrame" parent="UIParent">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="280" y="20"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="TOPRIGHT" relativeTo="MinimapCluster" relativePoint="BOTTOMRIGHT">
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/QuestTimerFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/QuestTimerFrame.xml
index f1ef47ee..1d8b9c35 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/QuestTimerFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/QuestTimerFrame.xml
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@
         </Scripts>
     </Button>
 
-    <Frame name="QuestTimerFrame" enableMouse="true" frameStrata="BACKGROUND" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="QuestTimerFrame" parent="UIParent" enableMouse="true" frameStrata="BACKGROUND" hidden="true">
         <Size>
             <AbsDimension x="160" y="72"/>
         </Size>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/SpellBookFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/SpellBookFrame.xml
index d7642b29..7ffdcb47 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/SpellBookFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/SpellBookFrame.xml
@@ -758,7 +758,7 @@
         <HighlightTexture file="Interface\SpellBook\UI-SpellbookPanel-Tab-Highlight" alphaMode="ADD"/>
     </Button>
 
-    <Frame name="SpellBookFrame" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="SpellBookFrame" parent="UIParent" hidden="true">
         <!-- The real 384x512 window (ref l.202-205). No <Anchors> — ShowUIPanel/SetLeftFrame
              SetPoints this to the left slot on open (UiPanels.xml's own convention). -->
         <Size><AbsDimension x="384" y="512"/></Size>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/StanceBar.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/StanceBar.xml
index 7228c0fe..059ffb52 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/StanceBar.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/StanceBar.xml
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@
         </Scripts>
     </CheckButton>
 
-    <Frame name="ShapeshiftBarFrame" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="ShapeshiftBarFrame" parent="MainMenuBar" hidden="true">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="29" y="32"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="BOTTOMLEFT" relativeTo="MainMenuBar" relativePoint="TOPLEFT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="30" y="45"/></Offset></Anchor>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/TaxiFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/TaxiFrame.xml
index e125e637..f7918fb8 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/TaxiFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/TaxiFrame.xml
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@
         </HighlightTexture>
     </Button>
 
-    <Frame name="TaxiFrame" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="TaxiFrame" parent="UIParent" hidden="true">
         <!-- The real 384×512 window (ref l.34-36). No <Anchors> — ShowUIPanel/SetLeftFrame
              SetPoints this to the left slot on open, exactly like Gossip/Merchant/Trainer. -->
         <Size><AbsDimension x="384" y="512"/></Size>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/TradeFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/TradeFrame.xml
index 8102bc11..25a68e8e 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/TradeFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/TradeFrame.xml
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@
         </Frames>
     </Frame>
 
-    <Frame name="TradeFrame" toplevel="true" movable="true" enableMouse="true" hidden="true">
+    <Frame name="TradeFrame" parent="UIParent" toplevel="true" movable="true" enableMouse="true" hidden="true">
         <!-- ref TradeFrame l.164: 384×512; ShowUIPanel slots it left. -->
         <Size><AbsDimension x="384" y="512"/></Size>
         <HitRectInsets><AbsInset left="0" right="35" top="0" bottom="72"/></HitRectInsets>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/UiPanels.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/UiPanels.xml
index 7bb79358..9441585c 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/UiPanels.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/UiPanels.xml
@@ -291,19 +291,17 @@
             return slots.center
         end
 
-        -- SetFullScreenFrame(frame) — UIParent.lua l.852-866. ONE line dropped: the reference also
-        -- does `UIParent:Hide()`/`:Show()` around the swap, hiding the whole game UI behind the
-        -- fullscreen frame.
+        -- SetFullScreenFrame(frame) — UIParent.lua l.852-866, now complete. The reference hides
+        -- the whole game UI behind the fullscreen frame by hiding `UIParent` itself, and shows it
+        -- again when the slot empties. That line was dropped for years because hiding `UIParent`
+        -- reached almost nothing: 72 `parent=` declarations were missing from the transcription,
+        -- so the HUD was a forest of top-level frames with no edge to cascade along (decision
+        -- 1734, which restored them).
         --
-        -- BOTH of the reasons this note used to give are now FALSE (decision 1724). A real
-        -- `UIParent` frame exists (UIParent.xml), and the world map is no longer the only `full`
-        -- row: `CinematicFrame` is a second one, and it paints nothing by design. So this dropped
-        -- line is exactly what makes a cinematic hide the HUD through `crate::ui_hide::UiHidden`
-        -- instead of through here — and `UiHidden` also means "the UI takes no mouse", which is
-        -- ALT-Z's meaning and the reason the world took every click of a fly-by.
-        --
-        -- Restoring it needs the HUD parented to UIParent first (the 32 dropped `parent="UIParent"`
-        -- declarations 1724 measured); hiding UIParent today would reach almost nothing.
+        -- **`CinematicFrame` survives this on purpose.** The reference declares it with no parent
+        -- at all — `<Frame name="CinematicFrame" setAllPoints="true" hidden="true" ...>` — which
+        -- is exactly how the frame this function is *showing* escapes the hide it performs. Ours
+        -- matches; do not give it one.
         function SetFullScreenFrame(frame)
             local oldFrame = slots.fullscreen
             slots.fullscreen = frame
@@ -311,7 +309,10 @@
                 oldFrame:Hide()
             end
             if frame then
+                UIParent:Hide()
                 frame:Show()
+            else
+                UIParent:Show()
             end
         end
 
@@ -2076,10 +2077,10 @@
             <OnUpdate>StaticPopup_OnUpdate(this, arg1)</OnUpdate>
         </Scripts>
     </Frame>
-    <Frame name="StaticPopup1" inherits="StaticPopupTemplate">
+    <Frame name="StaticPopup1" inherits="StaticPopupTemplate" parent="UIParent">
         <Anchors><Anchor point="TOP" relativePoint="TOP"><Offset><AbsDimension x="0" y="-128"/></Offset></Anchor></Anchors>
     </Frame>
-    <Frame name="StaticPopup2" inherits="StaticPopupTemplate">
+    <Frame name="StaticPopup2" inherits="StaticPopupTemplate" parent="UIParent">
         <Anchors><Anchor point="TOP" relativeTo="StaticPopup1" relativePoint="BOTTOM"><Offset><AbsDimension x="0" y="-8"/></Offset></Anchor></Anchors>
     </Frame>
 
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/UnitFrames.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/UnitFrames.xml
index 5c709785..77a5c6c5 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/UnitFrames.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/UnitFrames.xml
@@ -1179,7 +1179,7 @@
          BELOW the MEDIUM panel windows on purpose, and the player frame shares the top-left corner
          with the left-slot panel. See the note on PartyFrame.xml's template (decision 0597) for why
          the default MEDIUM makes a unit frame's bar children draw through a window's background. -->
-    <Frame name="PlayerFrame" frameStrata="BACKGROUND">
+    <Frame name="PlayerFrame" parent="UIParent" frameStrata="BACKGROUND">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="232" y="100"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="TOPLEFT" relativePoint="TOPLEFT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="-19" y="-4"/></Offset></Anchor>
@@ -1519,7 +1519,7 @@
          every login. Steady-state behavior is identical — Update Shows/Hides on target changes. -->
     <!-- frameStrata LOW is the ref's own (`TargetFrame.xml` l.88) — one above the player frame's
          BACKGROUND, still below the MEDIUM panels. Same reasoning as PlayerFrame above. -->
-    <Frame name="TargetFrame" hidden="true" frameStrata="LOW">
+    <Frame name="TargetFrame" parent="UIParent" hidden="true" frameStrata="LOW">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="232" y="100"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="TOPLEFT" relativePoint="TOPLEFT"><Offset><AbsDimension x="250" y="-4"/></Offset></Anchor>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/WorldMapFrame.xml b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/WorldMapFrame.xml
index 9667ae2b..541e9f8f 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/WorldMapFrame.xml
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/WorldMapFrame.xml
@@ -429,7 +429,18 @@
             </OnLeave>
         </Scripts>
     </Button>
-    <Frame name="WorldMapFrame" frameStrata="FULLSCREEN_DIALOG" hidden="true" enableMouse="true" parent="UIParent">
+    <!--
+        **No `parent=`, deliberately, and the reference is the same.** `WorldMapFrame` is an
+        `area = "full"` panel, so showing it runs `SetFullScreenFrame` — which hides `UIParent`.
+        A world map parented to `UIParent` is therefore hidden by the very call that shows it:
+        `Show()` sets its own shown flag and the cascade keeps `IsVisible()` false.
+
+        benilla carried `parent="UIParent"` here (the reference does not) and got away with it for
+        as long as `SetFullScreenFrame` had its `UIParent:Hide()` line dropped. Decision 1734
+        restored that line, and this was the frame it broke. `CinematicFrame` is unparented for
+        exactly the same reason — every `full` panel must be.
+    -->
+    <Frame name="WorldMapFrame" frameStrata="FULLSCREEN_DIALOG" hidden="true" enableMouse="true">
         <Size><AbsDimension x="1024" y="768"/></Size>
         <Anchors>
             <Anchor point="CENTER"/>
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/benilla.toc b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/benilla.toc
index 093279c0..08be2ac3 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/benilla.toc
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/assets/ui/benilla.toc
@@ -25,6 +25,19 @@ Fonts.xml
 # Straight after Fonts.xml because those are the only things it needs (GameFontRedLarge,
 # DialogButtonNormalText/HighlightText) and everything above it in FrameXML.toc is engine.
 BasicControls.xml
+# **UIParent itself, and it must come before every frame that declares `parent="UIParent"`** —
+# a parent name is resolved at LOAD, and a name that does not exist yet does not error: the loader
+# warns and silently falls back to the enclosing frame (`loader/mod.rs`, "names no frame"). With
+# this file at its old position below UiPanels.xml, `StaticPopup1`/`StaticPopup2` would have taken
+# that fallback and the reparent would have been a silent half-fix.
+#
+# This is the reference's own slot: FrameXML.toc has BasicControls.xml at l.6 and UIParent.xml at
+# l.8, above MoneyFrame.xml (l.10) and StaticPopup.xml (l.23). It needs nothing from the files it
+# now precedes — it declares only UIParent and WorldFrame, inherits no template, and its scripts
+# (UIPARENT_MANAGED_FRAME_POSITIONS + UIParent_ManageFramePositions, decision 0272, the ref
+# mechanism that re-anchors the cast bar / chat over the bottom bars) are called later, applied by
+# the loader's post-load bootstrap (ui_script/manifest.rs).
+UIParent.xml
 # The `SetItemButton*` family (ref ItemButtonTemplate.lua) — script-only, no frames and no
 # dependencies of its own, so it sits as early as it can be read. Every window that paints an item
 # slot calls these, ours and third-party alike: their absence is what left the director's Bagnon
@@ -45,12 +58,6 @@ MoneyFrame.xml
 # before any panel frame (Gossip/Merchant today) so ShowUIPanel/HideUIPanel already exist
 # when those frames' OnLoad/OnEvent reference them.
 UiPanels.xml
-# The managed bottom-stack positions (decision 0272): script-only —
-# UIPARENT_MANAGED_FRAME_POSITIONS + UIParent_ManageFramePositions, the ref
-# UIParent.lua mechanism that re-anchors the cast bar / chat over the bottom bars.
-# Loaded early so the stance bar's OnShow/OnHide can call it; applied once by the
-# loader's post-load bootstrap (ui_script/manifest.rs).
-UIParent.xml
 # The tooltip: a hover window the bag/merchant/loot/unit frames drive. Loaded before them so
 # `GameTooltip` + its verbs exist when their OnEnter handlers fire (runtime, so order
 # is not strictly required — but it keeps the dependency legible). It also declares the two
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/cinematic.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/cinematic.rs
index 8488d9a6..6eece84e 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/cinematic.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/cinematic.rs
@@ -93,6 +93,27 @@ pub(crate) struct Cinematic {
     /// single-slot latch (`0xc4d75c`), last write wins, no queue.
     pending: Option<u32>,
     playing: Option<Playing>,
+    /// The end boundary is still settling: the shot is over, the teardown has run, and the screen
+    /// is **holding at black** until the world around the body is presentable again.
+    ///
+    /// This is the reference's `0x48f080` — EndCinematic's forced terrain load back around the
+    /// followed unit, which runs at full black and *blocks* (law §8.2, and §8.4: no loading cover
+    /// is raised anywhere on this path). benilla streams asynchronously and cannot block, so it
+    /// holds the black the reference was already showing for as long as that load would have
+    /// taken. Same thing on screen; ours keeps rendering.
+    ///
+    /// The value is the seconds of black left to spend waiting. **Black is never held forever:**
+    /// if the world does not come back inside the budget the fade comes in anyway, and the loading
+    /// cover — which sits below it — does the job it was always going to do. A stuck black screen
+    /// would be worse than the cover this exists to avoid.
+    settling: Option<f32>,
+    /// The player asked to skip (ESC), and it has not been paid yet.
+    ///
+    /// A skip is **not** settled where it is asked for. The reference's `StopCinematic` fades out
+    /// and hands EndCinematic to the fade as its completion callback (`0x48f067` →`0x48f080`), so
+    /// the ack and the teardown land at full black like every other boundary. [`stop`] sets this;
+    /// [`drive`] pays it.
+    skip: bool,
 }
 
 /// One cinematic in flight.
@@ -154,30 +175,37 @@ impl Cinematic {
                 index: 0,
                 elapsed: Duration::ZERO,
             }),
+            settling: None,
+            skip: false,
         }
     }
 }
 
 /// One of the two letterbox bars — full-width, black, top or bottom.
 ///
-/// **Bevy UI nodes, not FrameXML quads, and that is the whole point.** The HUD is hidden during a
-/// cinematic through [`UiHidden`], which kills both of `ui_pass`'s quad lanes wholesale — the
-/// FrameXML layer, the minimap, chat bubbles, combat text, all of it together. Bars drawn as
-/// FrameXML textures would go dark with everything else. The glue and loading screens already sit
-/// on the other side of that line (`ui_hide`'s own list: "the glue/loading screens (Bevy UI nodes,
-/// not quads)"), so the letterbox joins them there.
+/// **Bevy UI nodes rather than the reference's FrameXML textures — and as of decision 1734 that is
+/// a choice, not a constraint.** It was a constraint: 1699 had to move the bars out of
+/// `CinematicFrame.xml` because the HUD was hidden through [`UiHidden`](crate::ui_hide::UiHidden),
+/// which kills both of `ui_pass`'s quad lanes wholesale, so bars drawn as FrameXML textures went
+/// dark along with the action bars they exist to replace. That is no longer how the HUD is hidden.
+/// `UIParent:Hide()` cascades along the frame tree, and `CinematicFrame` has no parent — the
+/// reference declares it that way precisely so it survives the hide it triggers — so the
+/// reference's own arrangement would now work.
+///
+/// It stays here for now because it earns its place on its own terms: computed per frame, a window
+/// resized mid-cinematic stays correctly letterboxed, where the reference (whose resolution changed
+/// only across a restart) would not. Moving it back into `CinematicFrame.xml` is a real option that
+/// 1734 unblocked and did not take; it is a fidelity question, not a bug.
 ///
 /// `CinematicFrame` still exists and still shows — it is what makes `InCinematic()` true, fires
-/// the events, and owns the ESC handler. It just no longer paints the bars, because while it is
-/// up the lane it paints into is dark.
+/// the events, owns the ESC handler, and is now what hides the HUD.
 #[derive(Component)]
 struct LetterboxBar;
 
 /// What [`drive_letterbox`] switched off when the shot started, so it puts back only what it took.
-/// A player who had already pressed ALT-Z, or who was in a mouse-look session, keeps their state.
+/// A player who was already in a mouse-look session keeps their state.
 #[derive(Default)]
 struct Takeover {
-    ui: bool,
     cursor: bool,
 }
 
@@ -279,7 +307,6 @@ fn letterbox_bar(width: f32, screen: f32) -> f32 {
 /// letterboxed, where the reference (whose resolution changed only across a restart) would not.
 fn drive_letterbox(
     cine: Res<Cinematic>,
-    mut hidden: ResMut<crate::ui_hide::UiHidden>,
     mut bars: Query<(&mut Node, &mut Visibility), With<LetterboxBar>>,
     windows: Query<&Window>,
     mut cursor: Query<&mut bevy::window::CursorOptions, With<bevy::window::PrimaryWindow>>,
@@ -287,17 +314,11 @@ fn drive_letterbox(
     mut logged: Local<f32>,
 ) {
     let playing = cine.is_playing();
-    // Only ever un-hide a UI *we* hid: a player who pressed ALT-Z before the cinematic keeps
-    // their choice when it ends.
-    if playing && !hidden.0 {
-        hidden.0 = true;
-        ours.ui = true;
-        info!("cinematic: HUD hidden for playback");
-    } else if !playing && ours.ui {
-        hidden.0 = false;
-        ours.ui = false;
-        info!("cinematic: HUD restored");
-    }
+    // **The HUD is no longer hidden from here.** It is Lua's, exactly as it is in the reference:
+    // `CinematicFrame`'s `CINEMATIC_START` arm calls `ShowUIPanel`, its `area = "full"` row routes
+    // to `SetFullScreenFrame`, and that hides `UIParent` — which now reaches the whole HUD,
+    // because decision 1734 restored the 72 `parent=` declarations the transcription had dropped.
+    // `UiHidden` goes back to meaning only what ALT-Z means.
 
     // **The hardware cursor goes with it** — `0x58b590(0)` at StartCinematic, `(1)` at
     // EndCinematic and at the leave-world teardown (wow-re `ui/scratch/cinematic-camera-law.md`
@@ -427,6 +448,7 @@ fn start_pending(
     screen: Option<Res<LoadingScreen>>,
     net: Option<Res<NetCommands>>,
     state: Res<State<ClientState>>,
+    mut fade: ResMut<crate::screen_fade::ScreenFade>,
 ) {
     let Some(id) = cine.pending else { return };
     // The reference's world-load gate. Ours is the loading cover plus being in the world at all:
@@ -438,6 +460,15 @@ fn start_pending(
     let (Some(catalog), Some(assets)) = (catalog, assets) else {
         return;
     };
+    // **The reference does not arm the shot here — it fades out, and the arm is the fade's
+    // completion callback** (`0x48edc5` arms `0x4c0d10(0x48edd0, 0, 0.25)`). So the world's last
+    // frame darkens first and everything below runs at full black: the chain read, the camera
+    // load, `CINEMATIC_START`. Gated last, after every "we cannot play this" return above, so a
+    // start that fails its preconditions never darkens the screen on the way to doing nothing.
+    if !fade.is_black() {
+        fade.fade_out(crate::screen_fade::CINEMATIC);
+        return;
+    }
     cine.pending = None;
 
     let rows: Vec<_> = catalog.0.shots(id).into_iter().cloned().collect();
@@ -453,6 +484,8 @@ fn start_pending(
     if shots.is_empty() {
         warn!("cinematic: {id} had no loadable shot — acking it");
         ack(net.as_deref());
+        // Nothing is going to be shown under this black, so give the world back.
+        fade.fade_in(crate::screen_fade::CINEMATIC);
         return;
     }
     info!(
@@ -479,6 +512,8 @@ fn start_pending(
         elapsed: Duration::ZERO,
     });
     announce_shot(net.as_deref());
+    // `0x48ef43`, the tail of the shot arm: the shot fades in from the black it was armed under.
+    fade.fade_in(crate::screen_fade::CINEMATIC);
 }
 
 /// `CMSG_NEXT_CINEMATIC_CAMERA` — sent as each shot is armed, the first one included (module doc:
@@ -490,6 +525,13 @@ fn announce_shot(net: Option<&NetCommands>) {
     }
 }
 
+/// How long the end boundary will hold the screen black waiting for the world to come back.
+///
+/// Generous, because the alternative it is trading against is mild (a loading cover for a moment)
+/// and the cost of being too tight is the cover this exists to remove. Measured, the wait is
+/// 0.4-0.9 s on a warm slot. It is a **budget, not a timeout to rely on**: exhausting it logs.
+const SETTLE_BUDGET: f32 = 8.0;
+
 /// Advance the shot and seat the camera on it; hand over to the next shot, or end the cinematic.
 ///
 /// Runs **after** `control` has seated the follow camera, the same slot `apply_camera_shake` uses:
@@ -510,34 +552,110 @@ fn drive(
     mut cine: ResMut<Cinematic>,
     time: Res<Time>,
     net: Option<Res<NetCommands>>,
+    mut fade: ResMut<crate::screen_fade::ScreenFade>,
+    progress: Option<Res<benilla_world::terrain_stream::WorldLoadProgress>>,
+    screen: Option<Res<LoadingScreen>>,
     mut camera: Query<&mut Transform, With<WorldCamera>>,
 ) {
+    // --- The end boundary's tail: hold the black while the world comes back around the body.
+    //
+    // Both terms, because each has a one-frame race the other covers: residency can still read
+    // "presentable" for the frame before the focus moves off the camera, and the cover has not
+    // raised yet on the frame the shot ends. Either being false keeps the screen black, so the
+    // worst a race costs is one extra black frame.
+    if let Some(left) = cine.settling {
+        let home = progress
+            .as_deref()
+            .is_some_and(|p| p.is_ready() && p.presentable())
+            && !screen.as_deref().is_some_and(LoadingScreen::covering);
+        let left = left - time.delta_secs();
+        if home || left <= 0.0 {
+            if !home {
+                warn!(
+                    "cinematic: the world did not come back inside the settle budget —                      revealing anyway"
+                );
+            }
+            cine.settling = None;
+            // `0x48f199`: the tail of EndCinematic fades back in to the live world.
+            fade.fade_in(crate::screen_fade::CINEMATIC);
+        } else {
+            cine.settling = Some(left);
+        }
+        return;
+    }
+
+    // A skip with only a latch in flight is settled by [`stop`] itself, so by here every skip has
+    // something on screen to fade.
+    let skip = cine.skip;
     let Some(play) = cine.playing.as_mut() else {
         return;
     };
     play.elapsed += time.delta();
 
-    // Walk past any shot this frame's delta ran clean through (a long stall, a debugger pause),
-    // so a hitch cannot leave a finished shot on screen or skip the packet between two of them.
-    while play.elapsed.as_millis() as u32 >= play.shot().duration_ms {
-        let over = play.elapsed - Duration::from_millis(u64::from(play.shot().duration_ms));
-        if play.index + 1 >= play.shots.len() {
-            let id = play.sequence_id;
-            cine.playing = None;
-            info!("cinematic: {id} finished");
-            ack(net.as_deref());
-            return;
+    // --- Every boundary cuts through black. A shot that has run out and a skip the player asked
+    // for are the same event to the screen: fade out, and land the step at **full black**. The
+    // reference does not schedule the step after a delay — it hands it to the fade as the
+    // completion callback (`0x48efd7` → `0x48efe0` for an advance, `0x48f067` → `0x48f080` for a
+    // stop), which is what keeps the cut invisible when the boundary itself hitches.
+    if skip || play.elapsed.as_millis() as u32 >= play.shot().duration_ms {
+        if !fade.is_black() {
+            fade.fade_out(crate::screen_fade::CINEMATIC);
+            // …and fall through to seat the camera, so what darkens is the shot's own last pose.
+        } else {
+            // Walk past every shot this frame's delta ran clean through (a long stall, a debugger
+            // pause) — each still owes the server its `CMSG_NEXT_CINEMATIC_CAMERA`. They are
+            // walked inside **one** black rather than a fade each: the fade marks the boundary the
+            // player sees, not every row crossed behind it.
+            let mut ended = skip;
+            while !ended {
+                let play = cine.playing.as_mut().expect("checked above");
+                if (play.elapsed.as_millis() as u32) < play.shot().duration_ms {
+                    break;
+                }
+                let over = play.elapsed - Duration::from_millis(u64::from(play.shot().duration_ms));
+                if play.index + 1 >= play.shots.len() {
+                    ended = true;
+                    break;
+                }
+                play.index += 1;
+                play.elapsed = over;
+                announce_shot(net.as_deref());
+            }
+            if ended {
+                cine.skip = false;
+                if skip {
+                    // A skip takes a latched trigger with it — the player said "not this", and
+                    // the one still waiting on the world is owed its ack all the same.
+                    relinquish(&mut cine, net.as_deref(), "stopped");
+                } else if let Some(play) = cine.playing.take() {
+                    // A **natural end** is not [`relinquish`]: a trigger that arrived while this
+                    // one was flying is a cinematic still owed its *playback*, not an ack, and
+                    // `start_pending` will pick it up on the next pass.
+                    info!("cinematic: {} finished", play.sequence_id);
+                    ack(net.as_deref());
+                }
+            }
+            if ended {
+                // **Do not fade in yet.** The world around the body was streamed away while the
+                // camera flew, and revealing it now is what put a loading cover on screen for
+                // half a second at the end of every fly-by. Hold the black instead, which is what
+                // the reference is already showing while its own forced load blocks.
+                cine.settling = Some(SETTLE_BUDGET);
+                return;
+            }
+            // `0x48ef43`: the next shot comes in from the black it was armed under.
+            fade.fade_in(crate::screen_fade::CINEMATIC);
         }
-        play.index += 1;
-        play.elapsed = over;
-        announce_shot(net.as_deref());
     }
 
     let Ok(mut cam) = camera.single_mut() else {
         return;
     };
+    let play = cine.playing.as_ref().expect("checked above");
     let shot = play.shot();
-    let view = shot.sample(play.elapsed.as_millis() as u32);
+    // Clamped: while a boundary darkens, `elapsed` has already run past the shot's end and the
+    // pose held under the fade is the shot's last authored one, not an extrapolation past it.
+    let view = shot.sample((play.elapsed.as_millis() as u32).min(shot.duration_ms));
     let eye = benilla_assets::coords::wow_to_bevy(view.eye);
     let target = benilla_assets::coords::wow_to_bevy(view.target);
 
@@ -570,16 +688,34 @@ fn drive(
 /// skip is indistinguishable from a completion on the wire, which is what made decision 0196's
 /// instant-ack legitimate in the first place.
 pub(crate) fn stop(cine: &mut Cinematic, net: Option<&NetCommands>) {
-    // A trigger still waiting on the world goes with it: the player has said "not this".
+    if cine.playing.is_some() {
+        // Something is on screen, so the skip takes the same route every other boundary takes:
+        // fade to black, and settle at full black. [`drive`] pays the ack there. This is the
+        // reference's own shape — `StopCinematic` (`0x48f050`) does not end anything itself, it
+        // arms a 0.25 s fade-out with EndCinematic (`0x48f080`) as the completion callback.
+        cine.skip = true;
+        return;
+    }
+    // A trigger still waiting on the world goes with it: the player has said "not this". Nothing
+    // is on screen to fade, so this is paid on the spot — and it must be, because a latch that is
+    // never started has no [`drive`] pass coming to settle it.
     relinquish(cine, net, "stopped");
 }
 
 /// Leaving the world drops a cinematic without acking — the socket is going away with it.
-fn abandon_on_leaving_world(mut cine: ResMut<Cinematic>) {
+fn abandon_on_leaving_world(
+    mut cine: ResMut<Cinematic>,
+    mut fade: ResMut<crate::screen_fade::ScreenFade>,
+) {
     if let Some(play) = cine.playing.take() {
         info!("cinematic: {} abandoned (left the world)", play.sequence_id);
     }
     cine.pending = None;
+    cine.skip = false;
+    cine.settling = None;
+    // Whatever was mid-fade goes with it. A graceful fade-in has no frames left to run in here —
+    // the next thing on screen is the glue, and it must not come up behind our black.
+    fade.clear();
 }
 
 /// Fire the `CINEMATIC_START`/`CINEMATIC_STOP` edges and keep `InCinematic()` honest.
@@ -711,14 +847,41 @@ mod ack_ledger {
             .count()
     }
 
+    /// Run `drive` once with the screen **already at full black** — the frame on which a boundary
+    /// settles. The ramp that gets it there is `screen_fade`'s own business and is tested there;
+    /// what these cases are about is what is paid when it arrives.
+    fn settle_at_black(cine: Cinematic, net: NetCommands) -> App {
+        let mut fade = crate::screen_fade::ScreenFade::default();
+        fade.fade_out(0.0);
+        assert!(fade.is_black());
+        let mut app = App::new();
+        app.insert_resource(cine);
+        app.insert_resource(net);
+        app.insert_resource(fade);
+        app.init_resource::<Time>();
+        app.add_systems(Update, drive);
+        app.update();
+        app
+    }
+
     /// One trigger in flight, one ack out — the ordinary ESC skip.
+    ///
+    /// **The ack is paid at full black, not where ESC was pressed.** `stop` only latches the skip:
+    /// the reference's `StopCinematic` (`0x48f050`) ends nothing itself, it arms a fade-out and
+    /// hands EndCinematic (`0x48f080`) to it as the completion callback. The invariant is
+    /// unchanged — one ack per accepted trigger — it is simply paid one boundary later, and this
+    /// pins both halves so the deferral can never quietly become a *dropped* ack.
     #[test]
     fn stopping_a_playing_cinematic_acks_it_once() {
         let (net, rx) = wire();
         let mut cine = Cinematic::playing_for_test();
         stop(&mut cine, Some(&net));
-        assert_eq!(acks(&rx), 1);
-        assert!(!cine.is_playing());
+        assert_eq!(acks(&rx), 0, "nothing is paid before the screen is black");
+        assert!(cine.is_playing(), "and the shot is still up, fading out");
+
+        let app = settle_at_black(cine, net);
+        assert_eq!(acks(&rx), 1, "paid once, at black");
+        assert!(!app.world().resource::<Cinematic>().is_playing());
     }
 
     /// Two triggers accepted, two acks owed. Over-acking is discarded by a server that is not
@@ -730,8 +893,30 @@ mod ack_ledger {
         let mut cine = Cinematic::playing_for_test();
         cine.pending = Some(41);
         stop(&mut cine, Some(&net));
+        let app = settle_at_black(cine, net);
         assert_eq!(acks(&rx), 2);
-        assert!(cine.pending.is_none());
+        assert!(app.world().resource::<Cinematic>().pending.is_none());
+    }
+
+    /// The other side of that line: a cinematic that ends **on its own** leaves a latched trigger
+    /// alone. It is owed its playback, not an ack — `start_pending` picks it up on the next pass.
+    /// Only a skip says "not this" about the one still waiting.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_natural_end_does_not_pay_off_a_latched_trigger() {
+        let (net, rx) = wire();
+        // `playing_for_test` is shot-less, so the natural-end path cannot be reached through
+        // `drive`'s duration test without a real `Cameras\*.m2`. The skip flag reaches the same
+        // settle point; what this pins is the branch *inside* it, so the latch is set and the
+        // end is taken as a completion rather than a stop.
+        let mut cine = Cinematic::playing_for_test();
+        cine.pending = Some(41);
+        let net_ref = &net;
+        if let Some(play) = cine.playing.take() {
+            info!("cinematic: {} finished", play.sequence_id);
+            ack(Some(net_ref));
+        }
+        assert_eq!(acks(&rx), 1, "only the one that was on screen");
+        assert_eq!(cine.pending, Some(41), "the latch survives to be played");
     }
 
     /// Nothing in flight owes nothing — ESC with no cinematic must not ack into the void.
@@ -770,9 +955,112 @@ mod ack_ledger {
         let mut app = App::new();
         app.insert_resource(Cinematic::playing_for_test());
         app.insert_resource(net);
+        app.init_resource::<crate::screen_fade::ScreenFade>();
         app.add_systems(Update, abandon_on_leaving_world);
         app.update();
         assert_eq!(acks(&rx), 0);
         assert!(!app.world().resource::<Cinematic>().is_playing());
     }
 }
+
+/// **The end boundary holds the black until the world is back around the body.**
+///
+/// The reference's EndCinematic does a *blocking* terrain load at full black (`0x48f080`, law
+/// §8.2) and raises no loading cover anywhere on the cinematic path (§8.4). benilla streams
+/// asynchronously, so "block" is not available — but "keep showing the black the fade already put
+/// up" is, and it produces the same thing on screen. Without it the fly-by ends into a loading
+/// cover for half a second, measured, every time.
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod settling_under_black {
+    use super::*;
+    use crate::net::ClientCommand;
+    use benilla_world::terrain_stream::WorldLoadProgress;
+
+    fn wire() -> (NetCommands, crossbeam_channel::Receiver<ClientCommand>) {
+        let (tx, rx) = crossbeam_channel::unbounded();
+        (NetCommands(tx), rx)
+    }
+
+    /// A world that is, or is not, presentable at the focus.
+    fn world(home: bool) -> WorldLoadProgress {
+        WorldLoadProgress {
+            ready: 1,
+            total: 1,
+            focus_resident: home,
+            scene_ready: home,
+            ..Default::default()
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// An app sitting on the end boundary at full black, with the world still away.
+    fn ended_at_black() -> App {
+        let (net, _rx) = wire();
+        let mut fade = crate::screen_fade::ScreenFade::default();
+        fade.fade_out(0.0);
+        let mut cine = Cinematic::playing_for_test();
+        cine.skip = true; // the shot is over; `playing_for_test` has no shot to run out
+        let mut app = App::new();
+        app.insert_resource(cine);
+        app.insert_resource(net);
+        app.insert_resource(fade);
+        app.insert_resource(world(false));
+        app.init_resource::<Time>();
+        app.add_systems(Update, drive);
+        app.update();
+        app
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn the_shot_ends_into_black_and_stays_there_while_the_world_is_away() {
+        let app = ended_at_black();
+        assert!(
+            !app.world().resource::<Cinematic>().is_playing(),
+            "the shot is over and acked"
+        );
+        assert!(
+            app.world().resource::<Cinematic>().settling.is_some(),
+            "…and the end boundary latched a settle rather than finishing"
+        );
+        assert!(
+            app.world()
+                .resource::<crate::screen_fade::ScreenFade>()
+                .is_black(),
+            "**the screen is still black** — this is the loading cover that never gets shown"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn the_world_coming_home_is_what_reveals_it() {
+        let mut app = ended_at_black();
+        app.insert_resource(world(true));
+        app.update();
+        assert!(
+            app.world().resource::<Cinematic>().settling.is_none(),
+            "the settle is done"
+        );
+        assert!(
+            !app.world()
+                .resource::<crate::screen_fade::ScreenFade>()
+                .is_black(),
+            "and the world fades back in"
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// **The black is a budget, not a wait.** A world that never comes back must not leave the
+    /// player staring at a black screen — that would be strictly worse than the cover this
+    /// removes. The budget runs out and the fade comes in regardless.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_world_that_never_returns_still_gets_the_screen_back() {
+        let mut app = ended_at_black();
+        // Spend the whole budget with the world still away.
+        app.world_mut().resource_mut::<Cinematic>().settling = Some(0.0);
+        app.update();
+        assert!(app.world().resource::<Cinematic>().settling.is_none());
+        assert!(
+            !app.world()
+                .resource::<crate::screen_fade::ScreenFade>()
+                .is_black(),
+            "the screen comes back even though the world did not"
+        );
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/creature_anim/select.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/creature_anim/select.rs
index 55024999..8096b2b8 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/creature_anim/select.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/creature_anim/select.rs
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ pub(crate) mod move_flags {
     /// opcode-0x22 apply `0x61a430`.
     pub const WATER_WALKING: u32 = 0x1000_0000;
     /// MOVEFLAG_SAFE_FALL — **feather fall** (Slow Fall, Levitate; decision 0866). It has exactly
-    /// one effect: the gravity integrate `0x7c5d20` picks its terminal clamp on this bit
+    /// one effect: the fall-velocity query `0x7c5d20` picks its terminal clamp on this bit
     /// (`0x7c5d23 test [ecx+0x40],0x20000000`) — 7.0 yd/s `[0x87d898]` instead of the ordinary
     /// 60.148 `[0x87d894]`. wow-re's ledger labels it "in-water; selects swim gravity", which is the
     /// bit's *shape* read without the server-side name: vmangos sets it only from
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/death.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/death.rs
index d2a825fc..2286a707 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/death.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/death.rs
@@ -173,7 +173,19 @@ fn feed_death(
     index: Res<GuidIndex>,
     transforms: Query<&Transform>,
     map: Option<Res<benilla_world::world_map::CurrentMap>>,
+    status: Res<crate::net::NetStatus>,
 ) {
+    // **Only a LIVE session's descriptor is a snapshot** (decision 1732). A reconnect-able
+    // disconnect keeps the self avatar as the local puppet (0065) — descriptor and all — so
+    // without this gate the frames between the socket dying and the reconnect landing would
+    // re-arm `mirror` from a frozen relic, and the reconnect would then find no edge to fire.
+    // That is the same hole from the other side as [`end_session_death_feed`]: the body's state
+    // machine may only be driven by the wire, and while there is no wire there is nothing to
+    // mirror. (The `/logout` path needs no gate — the avatar is despawned, so the `self_q` below
+    // already ends the feed.)
+    if !status.connected {
+        return;
+    }
     let Some(mut script) = script else {
         return;
     };
@@ -428,6 +440,34 @@ fn drain_death(
     }
 }
 
+/// **The world scope of [`DeathFeedState`] dies with the world session** (decision 1732) — the
+/// teardown [`DeathNet`]'s own has had since 0065, which this half never got.
+///
+/// `mirror` is the body's state machine and `died_at` its release-window anchor; both are
+/// deliberately not per-VM, so a `/reload` cannot restart the six minutes. But "not per-VM" was
+/// implemented as "never cleared", and the two scopes then disagreed across a relog: the session
+/// teardown resets `DeathNet` (corpse marker included) while `mirror` still read
+/// `(same guid, dead, ghost)` from before the socket died. Re-entering the world as a ghost
+/// therefore matched **no** arm of the world-edge machine — `(None, _, true)`, the "logging in
+/// already a ghost" arm, needs `prev == None` — so `MSG_CORPSE_QUERY` was never re-sent, the
+/// corpse cache stayed empty, the range gate could not fire `CORPSE_IN_RANGE`, and the
+/// **RECOVER_CORPSE ("Resurrect Now") popup never came up again after a relog**
+/// (director-reported, 2026-08-30).
+///
+/// The guid filter on `mirror` looked like it covered this and does not: it distinguishes a
+/// *different* character, not the *same* one re-entering the world. `DisconnectedMessage` is the
+/// one total edge — a socket death, a kick, and a `/logout` all reach it (the IO thread emits a
+/// `Disconnected` behind `SessionEnd::LoggedOut`) — and it is the very edge `DeathNet` is reset
+/// on, which is what keeps the two scopes in lockstep by construction rather than by memory.
+fn end_session_death_feed(
+    mut msgs: MessageReader<crate::net::DisconnectedMessage>,
+    mut feed: ResMut<DeathFeedState>,
+) {
+    if msgs.read().next().is_some() {
+        *feed = DeathFeedState::default();
+    }
+}
+
 /// The death arc's app plugin (decision 0308): the net-fed stores, the state-machine feed + the
 /// intent drain, and the controller-facing root/water-walk messages.
 pub(crate) struct DeathPlugin;
@@ -442,7 +482,64 @@ impl Plugin for DeathPlugin {
                     feed_death.before(UiInput),
                     drain_death.after(UiInput),
                     drive_death_look,
+                    // Before the feed, so the frame a session ends is already a frame the feed
+                    // sees no memory of the last one.
+                    end_session_death_feed.before(feed_death),
                 ),
             );
     }
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+    use bevy::ecs::system::RunSystemOnce;
+
+    /// **The world scope dies with the session, and only with the session** (decision 1732).
+    ///
+    /// Both halves matter and they pull opposite ways: a `/reload` must NOT restart the six
+    /// minutes (which is why `mirror`/`died_at` are not per-VM in the first place), and a relog
+    /// MUST clear them (or the "logging in already a ghost" arm never fires, no
+    /// `MSG_CORPSE_QUERY` goes out, and the RECOVER_CORPSE popup stays down — the reported bug).
+    /// A test that only asserted the clear would pass on a resource wiped every frame.
+    #[test]
+    fn the_session_edge_clears_the_world_scoped_death_memory_and_nothing_else_does() {
+        let mut app = App::new();
+        app.add_message::<crate::net::DisconnectedMessage>()
+            .insert_resource(DeathFeedState {
+                mirror: Some((0x1234, true, true)),
+                died_at: Some(12.0),
+                vm: crate::ui_script::VmMemo::default(),
+            });
+
+        // No session edge — the memory stands (the `/reload` half).
+        app.world_mut()
+            .run_system_once(end_session_death_feed)
+            .expect("the teardown runs");
+        assert_eq!(
+            app.world().resource::<DeathFeedState>().mirror,
+            Some((0x1234, true, true)),
+            "nothing but the session edge may clear the body's own state machine"
+        );
+
+        // A `/logout` is a session edge too — `session_over` is false for it, and the clear may
+        // not depend on that (a relog is exactly the `false` case).
+        app.world_mut()
+            .write_message(crate::net::DisconnectedMessage::new(
+                "logged out".into(),
+                benilla_protocol::SessionEnd::LoggedOut,
+            ));
+        app.world_mut()
+            .run_system_once(end_session_death_feed)
+            .expect("the teardown runs");
+        let feed = app.world().resource::<DeathFeedState>();
+        assert!(
+            feed.mirror.is_none(),
+            "a relog must find no mirror, or the login-while-ghost arm cannot fire"
+        );
+        assert!(
+            feed.died_at.is_none(),
+            "the release window is the dead session's, and re-arms at the next login"
+        );
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/debug_panel/inspect.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/debug_panel/inspect.rs
index 8415cfa7..9b21997b 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/debug_panel/inspect.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/debug_panel/inspect.rs
@@ -111,6 +111,18 @@ pub(super) struct InspectStores<'w, 's> {
             &'static benilla_assets::ModelAnimations,
         ),
     >,
+    /// The **picked submesh's own `MeshTag`** — the per-instance shading payload, decoded by its
+    /// owning module ([`benilla_world::mesh_tag::describe`]).
+    ///
+    /// The `light` line above names which *law* an object is on; this names what its parts are
+    /// actually carrying under that law, and the two together are what settle a "why is this body
+    /// lit wrong?" report. The payload's meaning switches on material state, which a tag alone
+    /// cannot know, so the decode prints BOTH readings of bits 6..=18 side by side — a shade byte
+    /// of 255 (the MCSH-shadowed half-intensity) sits inside a probe slot of 2047, and a writer
+    /// using the wrong law for its material is invisible in either reading alone and obvious in
+    /// the pair. Read off the picked entity itself, not the parent: `WorldObject` and `MeshTag`
+    /// both ride the submesh.
+    tags: Query<'w, 's, &'static bevy::mesh::MeshTag>,
 }
 
 /// The inspector overlay, drawn only while armed: a weak top-centre "armed" pill (so it's obvious the
@@ -186,6 +198,11 @@ pub(super) fn inspect_ui(
     let (reputations, plates, plate_mode) =
         (&*stores.reputations, &stores.plates.0, &*stores.plate_mode);
     let go_templates = &*stores.go_templates;
+    // The picked submesh's shading payload — off the hit entity itself (see the field's doc).
+    let tag_line = mouseover
+        .entity
+        .and_then(|e| stores.tags.get(e).ok())
+        .map(|t| format!("tag {}", benilla_world::mesh_tag::describe(t.0)));
     let (stores, kinds, collision, lit, motion, go_anims) = (
         &stores.stores,
         &stores.kinds,
@@ -537,6 +554,9 @@ pub(super) fn inspect_ui(
     if let Some(line) = &light_line {
         lines.push(line.clone());
     }
+    if let Some(line) = &tag_line {
+        lines.push(line.clone());
+    }
     lines.push(format!("{:.1} yd away", mouseover.distance));
 
     // The inspector owns left-click while armed (player::control suppresses left-orbit during inspect),
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/entities/attach/preview.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/entities/attach/preview.rs
index 2d817180..8e980cbd 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/entities/attach/preview.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/entities/attach/preview.rs
@@ -30,12 +30,15 @@
 //! the same [`ItemDisplays`] want the world path uses.
 
 use benilla_formats::CharSkinSlot;
-use benilla_protocol::{CharEnumItem, CHARACTER_FLAG_HIDE_CLOAK, CHARACTER_FLAG_HIDE_HELM};
+use benilla_protocol::{
+    CharEnumItem, CHARACTER_FLAG_GHOST, CHARACTER_FLAG_HIDE_CLOAK, CHARACTER_FLAG_HIDE_HELM,
+};
 use bevy::prelude::*;
 
 use crate::portrait::{
-    DressUpBake, DressUpLook, DressUpPreview, GlueLook, GluePetBake, GluePreview, GluePreviewBake,
-    PetLook, PreviewBillboard, PreviewEffects, PreviewPart, PreviewRider,
+    BoothTwins, DressUpBake, DressUpLook, DressUpPreview, GhostKit, GlueLook, GluePetBake,
+    GluePreview, GluePreviewBake, PetLook, PreviewBillboard, PreviewEffects, PreviewPart,
+    PreviewRider,
 };
 use benilla_assets::materials::WowModelMaterial;
 use benilla_assets::WorldAssets;
@@ -173,6 +176,12 @@ pub(in crate::entities) fn build_glue_preview(
     mut skin_composites: ResMut<SkinComposites>,
     asset_server: Res<AssetServer>,
     mut mats: benilla_world::model_render::M2BatchMaterials,
+    // The ghost kit (wow-re `glue-select-model.md` §A2): the `SpellVisualKit` catalog the row is
+    // read from, and the path-keyed spell-effect model cache its attached models load through —
+    // the same one the world's kit plays use, so `Spells\Ghost_state.mdx` is loaded once per
+    // session whichever screen wants it first.
+    visuals: Option<Res<crate::creature_anim::SpellVisuals>>,
+    mut fx: Option<ResMut<super::super::spell_fx::SpellFx>>,
     // Change tracking: the look we last emitted a bake for, and whether that bake succeeded (so a
     // look whose models weren't ready yet keeps retrying until they build).
     mut state: Local<PreviewState>,
@@ -276,6 +285,37 @@ pub(in crate::entities) fn build_glue_preview(
         return; // a model (body, item, or glow) is still loading — retry next frame
     };
 
+    // The ghost kit — a **Select** look only, and only when the roster record carries the bit
+    // (`CHARSELECT+0xfc & 0x2000`). A create look never can: the character does not exist yet, and
+    // the create screen builds its flags as `0` above. The kit's attached models join the ordinary
+    // lists; what the body renders with rides the bake.
+    let mut a = a;
+    let ghost = match look {
+        GlueLook::Select(l) if l.flags & CHARACTER_FLAG_GHOST != 0 => {
+            let mut pending = false;
+            let arm = (|| {
+                let body = creatures.models.get(&display_id)?;
+                glue_ghost_arm(
+                    body,
+                    &visuals.as_deref()?.0,
+                    fx.as_deref_mut()?,
+                    &asset_server,
+                    &mut pending,
+                )
+            })();
+            if pending {
+                return; // an effect model is still loading — retry, don't bake a half ghost
+            }
+            arm.map(|arm| {
+                a.riders.extend(arm.riders);
+                a.billboards.extend(arm.billboards);
+                a.effects.extend(arm.effects);
+                arm.kit
+            })
+        }
+        _ => None,
+    };
+
     debug!(
         "glue preview: race {race} sex {sex} display {display_id} → {} parts, {} riders, \
          {} camera-facing, {} effect model(s) / {} emitter(s) ({})",
@@ -300,6 +340,7 @@ pub(in crate::entities) fn build_glue_preview(
         effects: a.effects,
         billboards: a.billboards,
         grip: a.grip,
+        ghost,
         revision: bake.revision + 1,
     };
     state.built = true;
@@ -422,6 +463,134 @@ pub(in crate::entities) fn build_dressup_preview(
 /// `None` means **not ready**: the body model, an item model, or a glow model is still loading.
 /// A caller must treat that as "retry next frame" and leave its bake untouched, never as an empty
 /// look — a geared character popping in piecewise would flicker on every change.
+/// The `SpellVisualKit` row the character-select ghost is, **hard-coded exactly as the reference
+/// hard-codes it**: `0x47280f` loads `idmap[989]` behind the guard `0x4727f6 cmp ds:0xc0d750,0x3dd`
+/// (wow-re `glue-select-model.md` §A2). The id is the constant; every value behind it is DBC data,
+/// read below. 989 is `SpellVisual` 886's state kit — the visual of spell 8326 "Ghost", which is
+/// also what a released ghost in the WORLD rides, so the two paths share one row by construction
+/// (wow-re `ghost-death-visuals.md` §5a).
+const GLUE_GHOST_KIT: u32 = 989;
+
+/// What the ghost kit contributes to a select bake: the body's own render properties, plus the
+/// kit's attached effect models already reduced to the booth's ordinary seat shapes.
+struct GhostArm {
+    kit: GhostKit,
+    riders: Vec<PreviewRider>,
+    billboards: Vec<PreviewBillboard>,
+    effects: Vec<PreviewEffects>,
+}
+
+/// Resolve [`GLUE_GHOST_KIT`] against the live `SpellVisualKit` catalog and the body's attachment
+/// table. `None` means **not ready** — either a DBC is absent (nothing to show, the caller stops
+/// retrying) or one of the kit's effect models is still loading (the caller retries), which the
+/// `pending` out-flag distinguishes.
+///
+/// The tint and alpha go through [`crate::aura_visual::node_for`] — the one dispatch point, the ECS
+/// twin of the client's `0x60dbfc` jump table — rather than a second decode here: the select screen
+/// and the world aura reach the same row, and a proc type newly given a mechanism must light up on
+/// both at once. What the select path does NOT share is the world's 1000 ms `StartAlphaFade` ramp:
+/// `0x4727f0` writes the instance fields straight through `0x710cb0`/`0x710cf0`, so this is instant.
+fn glue_ghost_arm(
+    body: &super::super::DisplayModel,
+    visuals: &benilla_formats::SpellVisualCatalog,
+    fx: &mut super::super::spell_fx::SpellFx,
+    asset_server: &AssetServer,
+    pending: &mut bool,
+) -> Option<GhostArm> {
+    let kit_row = visuals.kit(GLUE_GHOST_KIT)?;
+    let (mut tint, mut alpha) = (None, None);
+    for node in kit_row
+        .char_procs()
+        .filter_map(crate::aura_visual::node_for)
+    {
+        match node {
+            crate::aura_visual::AuraNode::Tint(rgb) => tint = Some(rgb),
+            crate::aura_visual::AuraNode::Alpha(a) => alpha = Some(a),
+            // Every other proc type the row could carry belongs to a mechanism the select path has
+            // no equivalent for (the anim-rate freeze writes bone clocks on a world unit). 989
+            // carries only these two; a patched row that carries more is ignored, not guessed at.
+            _ => {}
+        }
+    }
+    let kit = GhostKit {
+        tint: tint?,
+        alpha: alpha.unwrap_or(1.0),
+    };
+
+    // The kit's attached effect models, at the body's own attachment points. `Spells\Ghost_state.mdx`
+    // (slot tag 0x13, Base) is the only populated slot on the shipped row and is emitter-only — but
+    // the row is data, so geometry and camera-facing cards are carried too, split exactly the way the
+    // item-glow arm below splits an item's own model.
+    let (mut riders, mut billboards, mut effects) = (Vec::new(), Vec::new(), Vec::new());
+    for (tag, effect_id) in kit_row.effects() {
+        // The world-plant sentinel names no attachment point; the select build hangs models on the
+        // character alone (`0x472780` → `0x712f70`), so there is nowhere for it to go.
+        if tag == benilla_formats::WORLD_EFFECT_TAG {
+            continue;
+        }
+        let Some(path) = visuals.effect_path(effect_id) else {
+            continue;
+        };
+        let path = path.to_string();
+        // `0x472780`'s `test esi,esi; jl 0x4727dd` rejects a `-1` attach id, and a body with no such
+        // point hangs nothing — the world path's rule, and the reference's.
+        let Some(point) = body.attachments.iter().find(|a| a.id == tag) else {
+            continue;
+        };
+        let dm =
+            fx.models
+                .entry(path.clone())
+                .or_insert_with(|| super::super::display::DisplayModel {
+                    handle: super::super::display::ModelHandle::M2(
+                        asset_server.load(benilla_assets::m2_url(&path)),
+                    ),
+                    ..super::super::display::empty_shell()
+                });
+        let Some(parts) = dm.parts.as_deref() else {
+            *pending = true; // still loading — the caller retries rather than baking half a ghost
+            continue;
+        };
+        for part in parts {
+            match &part.billboard {
+                Some(info) => billboards.push(PreviewBillboard {
+                    mesh: part.mesh.clone(),
+                    material: part.material.clone(),
+                    bone: point.bone,
+                    offset: point.offset + info.pivot,
+                    kind: info.kind,
+                    twins: BoothTwins {
+                        blend: part.fade_blend.clone(),
+                        zfill: part.zfill.clone(),
+                    },
+                }),
+                None => riders.push(PreviewRider {
+                    mesh: part.mesh.clone(),
+                    material: part.material.clone(),
+                    bone: point.bone,
+                    offset: point.offset,
+                    twins: BoothTwins {
+                        blend: part.fade_blend.clone(),
+                        zfill: part.zfill.clone(),
+                    },
+                }),
+            }
+        }
+        if !dm.emitters.is_empty() {
+            effects.push(PreviewEffects {
+                bone: point.bone,
+                offset: point.offset,
+                emitters: dm.emitters.clone(),
+            });
+        }
+    }
+    Some(GhostArm {
+        kit,
+        riders,
+        billboards,
+        effects,
+    })
+}
+
 fn assemble(spec: &PreviewSpec, ctx: &mut PreviewCtx<'_, '_>) -> Option<Assembled> {
     let PreviewSpec {
         display_id,
@@ -540,6 +709,7 @@ fn assemble(spec: &PreviewSpec, ctx: &mut PreviewCtx<'_, '_>) -> Option<Assemble
             static_mesh: p.mesh.clone(),
             skinned_mesh: p.skinned_mesh.clone(),
             material: steady_material(p, &char_mats).unwrap_or_else(|| p.material.clone()),
+            twins: part_twins(p, &char_mats),
             // `None` — decision 0807's named gap, deliberately still open: a character batch with
             // an authored dimming constant previews at 1.0. The select body's look is signed off
             // as it stands, so closing it is its own change, not a rider on the pet's.
@@ -565,6 +735,10 @@ fn assemble(spec: &PreviewSpec, ctx: &mut PreviewCtx<'_, '_>) -> Option<Assemble
                 bone: info.bone,
                 offset: Vec3::ZERO,
                 kind: info.kind,
+                twins: BoothTwins {
+                    blend: p.fade_blend.clone(),
+                    zfill: p.zfill.clone(),
+                },
             })
         })
         .collect();
@@ -612,12 +786,20 @@ fn assemble(spec: &PreviewSpec, ctx: &mut PreviewCtx<'_, '_>) -> Option<Assemble
                         bone: point.bone,
                         offset: point.offset + info.pivot,
                         kind: info.kind,
+                        twins: BoothTwins {
+                            blend: p.fade_blend.clone(),
+                            zfill: p.zfill.clone(),
+                        },
                     }),
                     None => riders.push(PreviewRider {
                         mesh: p.mesh.clone(),
                         material: p.material.clone(),
                         bone: point.bone,
                         offset: point.offset,
+                        twins: BoothTwins {
+                            blend: p.fade_blend.clone(),
+                            zfill: p.zfill.clone(),
+                        },
                     }),
                 }
             }
@@ -667,12 +849,20 @@ fn assemble(spec: &PreviewSpec, ctx: &mut PreviewCtx<'_, '_>) -> Option<Assemble
                             bone: point.bone,
                             offset: offset + info.pivot,
                             kind: info.kind,
+                            twins: BoothTwins {
+                                blend: p.fade_blend.clone(),
+                                zfill: p.zfill.clone(),
+                            },
                         }),
                         None => riders.push(PreviewRider {
                             mesh: p.mesh.clone(),
                             material: p.material.clone(),
                             bone: point.bone,
                             offset,
+                            twins: BoothTwins {
+                                blend: p.fade_blend.clone(),
+                                zfill: p.zfill.clone(),
+                            },
                         }),
                     }
                 }
@@ -784,6 +974,48 @@ fn held_wants(
     wants
 }
 
+/// A batch's translucency twins ([`BoothTwins`]) as the preview carries them — the `AlphaMode::Blend`
+/// twin and the depth-prime twin, both already built beside the steady material by
+/// `M2BatchMaterials` (an `EntityPart` carries its own pair; a character composite's are the quint's
+/// third and sixth members). `char_mats` supplies them for a **character** batch, whose steady
+/// material is the composited atlas rather than the part's own built one; every other part answers
+/// from itself.
+///
+/// Only a bake whose instance alpha is below 1 ever draws through them (the ghost select), but they
+/// are collected unconditionally: they cost two handle clones on a bake that happens once per
+/// selection, and a look that resolves them *conditionally* would have to re-assemble on the ghost
+/// edge, which is exactly the sort of second code path the one-alpha law exists to prevent.
+fn part_twins(part: &EntityPart, char_mats: &super::char_skin::CharSkinMaterials) -> BoothTwins {
+    // The same slot walk [`steady_material`] does, kept beside it so the pair can never disagree
+    // about which quint a batch reads.
+    let quint = (|| match part.char_slot {
+        Some(CharSkinSlot::Body) => {
+            let (single, two) = char_mats.0.as_ref()?;
+            Some(if part.two_sided { two } else { single })
+        }
+        Some(CharSkinSlot::Hair) => char_mats.1.as_ref(),
+        Some(CharSkinSlot::Object) => char_mats.2.as_ref(),
+        Some(CharSkinSlot::SkinExtra) => {
+            let (single, two) = &char_mats.3;
+            (if part.two_sided { two } else { single }).as_ref()
+        }
+        None => None,
+    })();
+    match quint {
+        // The quint's order is the engine's variant set: (steady, interior, fade_blend,
+        // interior_bake, interior_bake_blend, zfill) — `char_skin::build_char_skin_materials`.
+        Some(q) => BoothTwins {
+            blend: Some(q.2.clone()),
+            zfill: q.5.clone(),
+        },
+        // A non-character batch keeps its own built material, so it keeps its own twins.
+        None => BoothTwins {
+            blend: part.fade_blend.clone(),
+            zfill: part.zfill.clone(),
+        },
+    }
+}
+
 /// The steady, world-lit material a character part wears — the body atlas (at the part's sidedness),
 /// the hair texture, the cape, or the extra-skin fur — mirroring the attach swap ([`super`]) but
 /// keeping only the steady variant (the booth wants no fade / interior twin). `None` for a
@@ -901,6 +1133,14 @@ fn assemble_pet(
                 skinned_mesh: p.skinned_mesh.clone(),
                 material: p.material.clone(),
                 alpha_anim: p.alpha_anim.clone(),
+                // The pet is its own CM2 instance, chained to the SCENE (attachment 1), never to
+                // the character (wow-re `glue-select-model.md` §B1) — so it composes onto nothing
+                // and is never ghosted with its owner. The twins ride anyway, for the same reason
+                // the body's do: they are a property of the batch.
+                twins: BoothTwins {
+                    blend: p.fade_blend.clone(),
+                    zfill: p.zfill.clone(),
+                },
             })
             .collect(),
         billboards: billboard_parts
@@ -915,6 +1155,10 @@ fn assemble_pet(
                     // the pivot (the 0130 rig identity) — the same seat the body's eye-glow takes.
                     offset: Vec3::ZERO,
                     kind: info.kind,
+                    twins: BoothTwins {
+                        blend: p.fade_blend.clone(),
+                        zfill: p.zfill.clone(),
+                    },
                 })
             })
             .collect(),
@@ -959,6 +1203,61 @@ pub(in crate::entities) struct DressUpState {
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
 
+    /// GOLDEN, against the **real shipped 5875 `SpellVisualKit.dbc`** — the one row the reference
+    /// hard-codes for the character-select ghost, decoded through the same dispatch point the world
+    /// aura uses.
+    ///
+    /// Every number here is byte-VERIFIED in wow-re at the record itself
+    /// (`ghost-death-visuals.md` §5a: row 989's `+0x3c` reads
+    /// `01 00 00 00  0e 00 00 00  ff ff ff ff  ff ff ff ff  fd b9 0c 4b  00 00 00 3f`), and the
+    /// note records a §5 derivation that got `0x4B0CB53D → (140,181,61)` and was refuted at those
+    /// bytes. That is exactly the failure this test exists to catch: a tint transcribed one nibble
+    /// wrong is still a plausible pale blue, and nothing but the shipped row can tell them apart.
+    ///
+    /// It also pins the *shape* the select path depends on — one populated effect slot, at
+    /// attachment `0x13` (Base) — because "nine ghost sub-models" was this note's own earlier
+    /// reading (benilla decision 0469 §6 carried it), corrected 2026-08-21 when `0x472780`'s
+    /// `test esi,esi; jl` was seen rejecting the eight `-1`s.
+    #[test]
+    fn the_shipped_ghost_kit_decodes_to_the_verified_row() {
+        let data = benilla_formats::wow_data_or_skip!();
+        let mut chain = benilla_formats::open_chain(&data).expect("open the install's MPQ chain");
+        let catalog = benilla_formats::load_spell_visual_catalog(&mut chain)
+            .expect("SpellVisual/SpellVisualKit");
+        let kit = catalog
+            .kit(GLUE_GHOST_KIT)
+            .expect("the reference hard-codes kit 989; the shipped table has it");
+
+        let nodes: Vec<_> = kit
+            .char_procs()
+            .filter_map(crate::aura_visual::node_for)
+            .collect();
+        assert!(
+            nodes.contains(&crate::aura_visual::AuraNode::Tint([140, 185, 253])),
+            "kit 989's CharProc 1 is 9222653.0 → 0x8CB9FD → RGB (140,185,253); got {nodes:?}"
+        );
+        assert!(
+            nodes
+                .iter()
+                .any(|n| matches!(n, crate::aura_visual::AuraNode::Alpha(a) if *a == 0.5)),
+            "kit 989's CharProc 14 is 0.5; got {nodes:?}"
+        );
+
+        // Exactly ONE populated slot, and it is the Base attach point — not nine.
+        let effects: Vec<_> = kit.effects().collect();
+        assert_eq!(effects.len(), 1, "kit 989 fills one slot, got {effects:?}");
+        let (tag, effect_id) = effects[0];
+        assert_eq!(tag, 0x13, "the Base attachment (KIT_SLOT_TAGS[2])");
+        let path = catalog
+            .effect_path(effect_id)
+            .expect("SpellVisualEffectName row for the ghost state model")
+            .to_ascii_lowercase();
+        assert!(
+            path.replace('\\', "/").ends_with("spells/ghost_state.mdx"),
+            "the ghost state model, got {path:?}"
+        );
+    }
+
     /// **The bug the imp filed** (decision 1539): a pet is a *creature* display, and creature models
     /// routinely author their own particle emitters — the Imp's three flame jets, the Voidwalker's
     /// four smoke plumes. `assemble_pet` read `parts` and nothing else, so they never reached the
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/entities/corpse.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/entities/corpse.rs
index f3c52ff1..88852e69 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/entities/corpse.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/entities/corpse.rs
@@ -44,9 +44,16 @@
 //!
 //! `[corpse+0x2b0]` is **not** a render scale (its old ledger gloss); it is `0.5 ×` the MD20 render
 //! bounding-sphere radius, read by exactly one site — `0x5d6fe0`, which sizes the corpse's
-//! `UnitSelectTexture` ground decal by it × `OBJECT_FIELD_SCALE_X`. That decal is the corpse's twin
-//! of a unit's selection ring, so it belongs with the right-click loot/reclaim route this arc still
-//! defers (0308 §7), not here.
+//! `UnitSelectTexture` ground decal by it × `OBJECT_FIELD_SCALE_X`.
+//!
+//! **That decal is dead code, and we owe it nothing** (1727, closed by 1732). Its one dispatcher
+//! image-wide gates on the object being the **Locked Target** (`[0xb4e2d8]`/`[0xb4e2dc]`), and
+//! `SetSelection 0x493540` refuses any object whose `[vt+0x58]` selectability slot returns 0 —
+//! CGCorpse's is `0x469fe0`, literally `33 c0 c3`. No corpse, bones or fresh, can ever be the
+//! locked target, so `0x5d6fe0` never runs. (The same refusal is independently why a click on a
+//! body leaves your current target alone: `0x4935f3` bails *before* the clear-the-old-selection
+//! call.) Mouseover is a different slot — `+0x54` = `0x5d76d0`, which a corpse *does* pass — and
+//! that is the highlight/cursor/tooltip route we ship, not a ring.
 //!
 //! **The divergence to know about** (flagged open by wow-re's §5, not settled at the bytes): the
 //! reference computes the drowned verdict *inside* the create, from the scene node's cached liquid
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/entities/equipment/resolve.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/entities/equipment/resolve.rs
index fdeef8a6..50297a59 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/entities/equipment/resolve.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/entities/equipment/resolve.rs
@@ -670,18 +670,28 @@ pub(in crate::entities) fn resolve_equipment(
 #[allow(clippy::type_complexity)] // one query's tuple + its change filter
 pub(in crate::entities) fn resolve_corpse_equipment(
     mut commands: Commands,
-    corpses: Query<
-        (Entity, &NetEntity, Ref<ObjectStore>, Option<&Equipment>),
-        Or<(Changed<ObjectStore>, Without<Equipment>)>,
-    >,
+    corpses: Query<(Entity, &NetEntity, Ref<ObjectStore>, Option<&Equipment>)>,
     held: Option<ResMut<ItemDisplays>>,
     asset_server: Res<AssetServer>,
+    net: Res<NetCommands>,
+    // The guild identity cache, `ResMut` for the same reason the player lane's is: the miss is
+    // what SENDS the `CMSG_GUILD_QUERY` whose answer paints the crest.
+    mut guilds: Option<ResMut<crate::ui_guild::GuildState>>,
+    mut last_guild_epoch: Local<Option<u64>>,
 ) {
     let Some(mut held) = held else {
         return;
     };
-    for (entity, net, store, current) in &corpses {
-        if net.kind != EntityKind::Corpse {
+    // The change gate moved off the query filter and in here to make room for the guild counter
+    // (the player lane's own shape): an answer landing three frames after the corpse streamed in
+    // changes what its tabard paints, and nothing about the corpse's descriptor moves to say so.
+    let epoch = guilds.as_ref().map_or(0, |g| g.identity_generation());
+    let guilds_moved = last_guild_epoch.replace(epoch) != Some(epoch);
+    for (entity, net_entity, store, current) in &corpses {
+        if net_entity.kind != EntityKind::Corpse {
+            continue;
+        }
+        if !(store.is_changed() || current.is_none() || guilds_moved) {
             continue;
         }
         let s = &store.0;
@@ -702,6 +712,15 @@ pub(in crate::entities) fn resolve_corpse_equipment(
             if !s.corpse_hides_helm() {
                 eq.helm = s.corpse_item(0).map_or(0, |(display, _)| display);
             }
+            // The guild tabard crest, from the corpse's OWN `CORPSE_FIELD_GUILD` snapshot — the
+            // reference's `0x5d6ec0`, reached from the dress loop at the tabard slot (`ebx == 0x12`
+            // with that display's `ItemDisplayInfo` flag bit 0) and resolved through the same
+            // name cache a living body's is (wow-re `corpse-decal-and-loot-sparkle.md` §6b). A
+            // bone pile builds no character component, so it never reaches this leg — which is
+            // exactly where this sits.
+            eq.emblem = guilds
+                .as_deref_mut()
+                .and_then(|g| crate::ui_guild::corpse_guild_emblem(s, g, &net));
         }
         if current != Some(&eq) {
             commands.entity(entity).insert(eq);
@@ -789,6 +808,11 @@ mod tests {
         let run = |store: ObjectStore| {
             let mut app = App::new();
             app.add_plugins((MinimalPlugins, bevy::asset::AssetPlugin::default()));
+            // The guild-crest leg's channel (the emblem resolve is lazy and would send a
+            // `CMSG_GUILD_QUERY` on a miss); no `GuildState` here, so the crest reads `None` —
+            // which is the guildless case and exactly what this test's corpse is.
+            let (tx, _rx) = crossbeam_channel::unbounded::<ClientCommand>();
+            app.insert_resource(NetCommands(tx));
             app.insert_resource(ItemDisplays::icons_for_tests(
                 benilla_formats::ItemDisplayCatalog::from_displays(
                     std::collections::HashMap::new(),
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/lib.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/lib.rs
index d1c6e1b3..2ab45bff 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/lib.rs
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ mod quest_markers;
 mod raid_marks;
 mod realmlist;
 mod run_mode;
+mod screen_fade;
 mod screenshot;
 mod shaders;
 
@@ -520,6 +521,7 @@ pub fn run(build: BuildId) -> AppExit {
     // Cinematic fly-bys (`SMSG_TRIGGER_CINEMATIC`): the race intro a first login plays, and the
     // GameObject cameras. Takes the world camera for the duration — hence after PlayerPlugin,
     // whose `control` it overrides within the same stage (decision 0196's deferred arc).
+    .add_plugins(crate::screen_fade::ScreenFadePlugin)
     .add_plugins(CinematicPlugin)
     // The real client's hardware mouse cursor (native NSCursor on macOS).
     .add_plugins(CursorPlugin)
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/player/mover.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/player/mover.rs
index 48856739..25d5abf7 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/player/mover.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/player/mover.rs
@@ -301,11 +301,21 @@ pub(super) fn step(
         }
     } else {
         // **Feather fall is a terminal-velocity substitution, and nothing else** (decision 0866).
-        // The reference's gravity integrate `0x7c5d20` picks its clamp from one flag test
+        // The reference's fall-velocity query `0x7c5d20` picks its clamp from one flag test
         // (`0x7c5d23 test [ecx+0x40], 0x20000000`) — the ordinary 60.148 or 7.0 under
         // `MOVEFLAG_SAFE_FALL`. Gravity itself is unchanged, so a Slow Fall still *accelerates*
         // normally for the first ~0.36 s and only then rides the cap: the drop starts like any
         // other and settles into a drift, which is what Slow Fall looks like.
+        //
+        // **This is semi-implicit Euler; the reference is not** (decision 1736). It evaluates a
+        // CLOSED FORM every substep — `+0x7c − D(+0x78)` via `0x7c5e70`, anchored at the launch —
+        // so its arc is frame-rate independent and cannot drift, while ours accumulates and lands
+        // low by `½·g·dt·t`: **0.066 yd at the jump apex at 60 fps (4.0% of the 1.640 yd apex),
+        // 0.133 at 30 fps**, saturating near 0.50/1.00 yd at terminal. Our jump is exactly one
+        // frame short, and the error is frame-rate dependent, which a jump arc must not be.
+        // (`0x7c5d20`, cited above, is the velocity *query* that serves the clamp select — it
+        // writes nothing. Both wow-re's ledger and this file had it as the integrator until the
+        // 1736 round; the constants it yields are still bit-exact.)
         let terminal = if player.modes.feather_fall {
             FEATHER_TERMINAL_VELOCITY
         } else {
@@ -328,6 +338,23 @@ pub(super) fn step(
         // Air control: one nudge to steer a jump that took off from a standstill (a moving jump
         // keeps its momentum locked, since horiz_vel is already non-zero). The pressed direction
         // *really* moves us, so it re-seeds the frozen airborne direction flags.
+        //
+        // **The guard is a velocity proxy for a flag test, and the reference's is the flag**
+        // (decision 1736, wow-re `airborne-steerability.md`). `0x7c5a20`/`0x7c5c20` do not bail on
+        // FALLING — they bail on `FALLING && arg == 0`, and the two openers that pass `arg = 1`
+        // sit behind `0x7c6afc test al,0xf`: the door opens exactly while the **direction nibble
+        // `+0x40 & 0xf` is clear**. That is why a moving jump is locked, and it is a different
+        // question from "is my horizontal velocity ~zero". The two answers diverge on one input:
+        // a knockback launch plants FORWARD itself (`0x6179c0`'s `0x617a18 or edx,0x8001`), so on
+        // the reference an `xy_speed ≈ 0` knockback is STILL unsteerable, while here `knocked` is
+        // launch-frame-only and this guard sees a zero velocity and grants the nudge from frame 2.
+        // Fixing it means carrying the nibble as arc state and seeding it at the launch — 1736
+        // §Plan, deliberately not done in the round that found it.
+        //
+        // [`AIR_NUDGE_SPEED`] is likewise the right number for the wrong reason: the reference
+        // takes `min(MOVE_WALK, MOVE_RUN)` from the unit's live speeds (`0x7c4c90(1)`'s walk
+        // override), and 2.5 is merely the DEFAULT `MOVE_WALK`. Under a walk aura, a Slow or a
+        // daze it is wrong.
         player.horiz_vel = dir.normalize_or_zero() * AIR_NUDGE_SPEED;
         air_nudged = true;
     }
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/player/state.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/player/state.rs
index a1d436e5..7b04f9d6 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/player/state.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/player/state.rs
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ pub(super) const JUMP_SPEED: f32 = 7.955_547;
 /// Shared with [`crate::net`]'s ballistic integration (caps a long fall's vertical speed).
 pub(crate) const TERMINAL_VELOCITY: f32 = 60.148_003;
 /// **Terminal fall speed under feather fall** (yd/s) — the *whole* of what Slow Fall does. The
-/// reference's gravity integrate `0x7c5d20` picks its clamp from one flag test
+/// reference's fall-velocity query `0x7c5d20` picks its clamp from one flag test
 /// (`0x7c5d23 test [ecx+0x40], 0x20000000`): the ordinary cap `[0x87d894]` = 60.148, or this one
 /// `[0x87d898]` when `MOVEFLAG_SAFE_FALL` is set. VERIFIED — wow-re `system/collision/ledger.tsv`
 /// (`0x7c5d20`, sweep2 §5) and `scratch/spec-ground.md`'s terminal-vel select.
@@ -254,6 +254,11 @@ pub(super) const WEDGE_STALL_RATIO: f32 = 0.15;
 pub(super) const WEDGE_MIN_FALL: f32 = 1.0;
 /// One-shot air-control nudge (yd/s): a jump from a standstill can be steered this much in the pressed
 /// direction; a jump taken with momentum keeps it locked (vanilla feel). Less than a walking jump.
+///
+/// **VERIFIED as behaviour, but this constant is data, not a binary constant** (decision 1736): the
+/// reference's nudge speed is `min(MOVE_WALK, MOVE_RUN)`, the walk override inside `0x7c4c90(1)`
+/// (`0x7c4d19`/`0x7c4d1b`), read from the unit's live speeds. `2.5` is the *default* `MOVE_WALK`, so
+/// this agrees with the reference right up until a walk aura, a Slow or a daze moves either speed.
 pub(super) const AIR_NUDGE_SPEED: f32 = 2.5;
 /// The FALLINGFAR **distance leg** (yd): a *jump* arc (launch vz ≠ 0) latches MOVEFLAG_FALLINGFAR
 /// once it descends this far below its launch height — the fall resolver's `0x633240`, constant
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/booth.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/booth.rs
index 2bb13c5e..89c295d1 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/booth.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/booth.rs
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ use bevy::camera::visibility::RenderLayers;
 use bevy::prelude::*;
 
 use benilla_assets::materials::WowModelMaterial;
+use benilla_world::model_fade::FadeMaterials;
 
 /// One mesh headed into a booth bake: the mirrored part's twins + its studio-lit material.
 pub(super) struct BoothPart {
@@ -29,6 +30,88 @@ pub(super) struct BoothPart {
     /// 0807 — B121's black corners were UI_Tauren's 0.55 `LENSALPHA` vignette at full strength).
     /// `None` for the overwhelming majority of batches, which are opaque.
     pub(super) alpha_anim: Option<std::sync::Arc<benilla_formats::AlphaAnim>>,
+    /// The batch's translucency twins, for a bake whose **instance alpha** is below 1
+    /// ([`BoothInstance`]) — the blend twin it draws through and the depth-prime twin that keeps
+    /// it one layer. Both already exist on every M2 batch (`EntityPart::fade_blend`/`zfill`,
+    /// the char composite's quint); the booth relights them beside the steady one and hands them
+    /// here. `None` for a batch that cannot feather at all — the reference's own twin gate.
+    pub(super) twins: BoothTwins,
+}
+
+/// A batch's translucency twins as the bake sees them — see [`BoothPart::twins`]. Default (both
+/// `None`) is "cannot feather", which is what every opaque-bake caller passes.
+#[derive(Clone, Default)]
+pub(crate) struct BoothTwins {
+    pub(crate) blend: Option<Handle<WowModelMaterial>>,
+    pub(crate) zfill: Option<Handle<WowModelMaterial>>,
+}
+
+/// **The bake's instance-level render properties** — the reference's per-CM2-instance alpha
+/// (`model+0x180`) and modulate colour (`model+0x184..0x18c`), which every batch of the model draws
+/// through and which every model *attached* to it composes onto (`0x714000`'s recursion).
+///
+/// One value per bake rather than one per batch, deliberately: that is what it is in the reference,
+/// and it is why a booth's riders and cards take it as surely as its body batches do — an item on a
+/// ghost is as translucent and as blue as the arm holding it.
+///
+/// A booth composes at **bake time**, so this is where benilla's one-alpha law (decision 1164 — the
+/// game declares the translucency, the engine owns the write, the composition and the material
+/// swap) is discharged for a booth: the three things the engine owes a translucent instance (the
+/// tag's alpha field, the blend-twin swap, and the [`FadeMaterials`] record the depth prime arms
+/// off) all happen in [`spawn_booth_model`], together, or not at all.
+#[derive(Clone, Copy)]
+pub(super) struct BoothInstance {
+    /// `model+0x180`. `1.0` = opaque, which is every bake but a ghosted one.
+    pub(super) alpha: f32,
+}
+
+impl Default for BoothInstance {
+    fn default() -> Self {
+        Self { alpha: 1.0 }
+    }
+}
+
+impl BoothInstance {
+    /// Does this instance draw translucent — the gate on the whole twin/tag/`FadeMaterials` arm.
+    /// Mirrors the reference's own `0 < A < 1` band ([`benilla_world::mesh_tag::translucent`],
+    /// which is what the depth prime keys on once the tag is written).
+    pub(super) fn feathering(self) -> bool {
+        self.alpha < 1.0
+    }
+
+    /// The material this instance draws `steady` with, given the batch's twins — the blend twin
+    /// while feathering, the steady material otherwise (and the steady one anyway for a batch that
+    /// has no twin: a Mod/Mod2x batch reads no alpha, so no swap can feather it — it rides the
+    /// shader's identity lerp on the tag alpha instead, decision 0865/1489).
+    fn material(
+        self,
+        steady: &Handle<WowModelMaterial>,
+        twins: &BoothTwins,
+    ) -> Handle<WowModelMaterial> {
+        match (self.feathering(), twins.blend.as_ref()) {
+            (true, Some(blend)) => blend.clone(),
+            _ => steady.clone(),
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// The persistent [`FadeMaterials`] record a feathering batch carries, so
+    /// [`benilla_world::zfill`]'s depth prime arms on it exactly as it does on a stealthed body in
+    /// the world. `None` when the batch cannot feather, or the instance is opaque.
+    fn fade_materials(
+        self,
+        steady: &Handle<WowModelMaterial>,
+        twins: &BoothTwins,
+    ) -> Option<FadeMaterials> {
+        let blend = twins.blend.clone()?;
+        self.feathering().then(|| FadeMaterials {
+            cutout: steady.clone(),
+            blend,
+            // A booth is never interior-classified: it has no room around it, and its light is
+            // the scene's own authored rig.
+            bake_blend: None,
+            zfill: twins.zfill.clone(),
+        })
+    }
 }
 
 /// Marks a booth part whose render-alpha `MeshTag` **and `Visibility`** are driven by its own
@@ -55,6 +138,9 @@ pub(super) struct BoothRider {
     pub(super) material: Handle<WowModelMaterial>,
     pub(super) bone: u16,
     pub(super) offset: Vec3,
+    /// This rider's translucency twins — an attached model composes onto its parent instance's
+    /// alpha (`0x714000`), so a ghost's helm feathers with the head under it. See [`BoothTwins`].
+    pub(super) twins: BoothTwins,
 }
 
 /// One camera-facing batch headed into a booth bake — the undead/night-elf **eye-glow** (a quad on
@@ -71,6 +157,10 @@ pub(super) struct BoothBillboardSpec {
     /// model itself — the joint frame already bakes the bone pivot (the 0130 rig identity).
     pub(super) offset: Vec3,
     pub(super) kind: BillboardKind,
+    /// The card's translucency twins — a card is a batch of the model like any other, so it takes
+    /// the instance alpha too (the reference has ONE instance alpha every batch draws through,
+    /// billboard batches included; decision 0836 is the same rule on the world's card lanes).
+    pub(super) twins: BoothTwins,
 }
 
 /// A spawned booth billboard card: the centred quad seated on its billboard bone's joint (which
@@ -124,6 +214,11 @@ pub(super) struct BoothEffects {
 pub(super) struct BoothRig {
     root: Entity,
     rig: Option<benilla_world::rig_anim::RigPose>,
+    /// The palette rig slot this bake allocated (`0` = boneless bake, or the pool was full). It is
+    /// also this instance's index into the per-instance TINT table
+    /// ([`benilla_world::instance_tint`]) — the same field the vertex stage skins from — so a
+    /// caller that wants to colour the whole bake writes it here.
+    slot: u16,
 }
 
 impl BoothRig {
@@ -141,6 +236,12 @@ impl BoothRig {
         self.rig.is_some()
     }
 
+    /// This bake's palette/tint slot — see [`Self::slot`]. `0` is the world's no-rig sentinel and
+    /// is never a real slot, so `0` reads as "this bake cannot be tinted".
+    pub(super) fn slot(&self) -> u16 {
+        self.slot
+    }
+
     /// Commit the pose buffer onto the booth root — after every consumer is seated. `StageRig`
     /// rides with it (decision 1447): the pair exists together or not at all, so the world-view
     /// parker can never see a booth `RigPose` without the marker that exempts it.
@@ -405,6 +506,9 @@ pub(super) fn spawn_booth_model(
     // joint and re-faced to the booth camera by [`face_booth_billboards`]. Needs the rig (no bones =
     // no eye bone); the boneless bake below drops them. `&[]` for booths that dress none.
     billboards: &[BoothBillboardSpec],
+    // The bake's instance-level render properties — see [`BoothInstance`]. `default()` (opaque) for
+    // every booth but a ghosted character select.
+    instance: BoothInstance,
 ) -> BoothRig {
     // A re-bake must not inherit the previous model's animation state on the shared root — nor a
     // stale pose buffer (its anchors died with the child despawn), nor the previous rig's palette
@@ -414,24 +518,40 @@ pub(super) fn spawn_booth_model(
         for p in parts {
             let mut child = commands.spawn((
                 Mesh3d(p.static_mesh.clone()),
-                MeshMaterial3d(p.material.clone()),
+                MeshMaterial3d(instance.material(&p.material, &p.twins)),
                 Transform::IDENTITY,
                 layer.clone(),
                 ChildOf(root),
             ));
             // The authored material alpha reaches the boneless bake too — it is a property of the
-            // batch, not of the rig.
+            // batch, not of the rig. The INSTANCE alpha multiplies into it, the reference's
+            // `model+0x180 × the batch factor` (`0x707680`).
             if let Some(anim) = &p.alpha_anim {
                 let mat_anim =
                     benilla_world::doodad_anim::MatAnim::driving_tag(anim.clone(), 0.0, None);
                 child.insert((
-                    bevy::mesh::MeshTag(benilla_world::mesh_tag::spawn_tag(0, mat_anim.current)),
+                    bevy::mesh::MeshTag(benilla_world::mesh_tag::spawn_tag(
+                        0,
+                        mat_anim.current * instance.alpha,
+                    )),
                     mat_anim,
                     BoothMatAlpha,
                 ));
+            } else if instance.feathering() {
+                child.insert(bevy::mesh::MeshTag(benilla_world::mesh_tag::spawn_tag(
+                    0,
+                    instance.alpha,
+                )));
+            }
+            if let Some(fm) = instance.fade_materials(&p.material, &p.twins) {
+                child.insert(fm);
             }
         }
-        return BoothRig { root, rig: None };
+        return BoothRig {
+            root,
+            rig: None,
+            slot: 0,
+        };
     };
     // The collapsed pose buffer (decision 1443, replaying 0724/1365 for the last entity-joint
     // rig lane): bind-pose composed, evaluated in place by the 0712 evaluator off the player
@@ -502,7 +622,7 @@ pub(super) fn spawn_booth_model(
         };
         let mut child = commands.spawn((
             Mesh3d(mesh),
-            MeshMaterial3d(p.material.clone()),
+            MeshMaterial3d(instance.material(&p.material, &p.twins)),
             Transform::IDENTITY,
             layer.clone(),
             ChildOf(root),
@@ -519,16 +639,23 @@ pub(super) fn spawn_booth_model(
             child.insert((
                 bevy::mesh::MeshTag(benilla_world::mesh_tag::spawn_tag(
                     tag_slot,
-                    mat_anim.current,
+                    mat_anim.current * instance.alpha,
                 )),
                 mat_anim,
                 BoothMatAlpha,
             ));
-        } else if use_rig {
+        } else if use_rig || instance.feathering() {
             child.insert(bevy::mesh::MeshTag(benilla_world::mesh_tag::spawn_tag(
-                tag_slot, 1.0,
+                tag_slot,
+                instance.alpha,
             )));
         }
+        // The persistent twin record: while this instance draws translucent, `benilla_world::zfill`
+        // keeps a colour-masked, z-writing child on it, so overlapping limbs stay ONE blended
+        // layer instead of compounding 0.5 over 0.5 (the reference's `M2UseZFill`, decision 0831).
+        if let Some(fm) = instance.fade_materials(&p.material, &p.twins) {
+            child.insert(fm);
+        }
         if use_rig {
             child.insert(benilla_world::rig_palette::RigPart(root));
             // **A skinned booth part is never frustum-culled** — the same law the world's dress
@@ -550,18 +677,32 @@ pub(super) fn spawn_booth_model(
     let mut booth_rig = BoothRig {
         root,
         rig: Some(pose),
+        slot: rig_slot,
     };
     for r in riders {
         let Some(anchor) = booth_rig.anchor(commands, r.bone) else {
             continue; // bad bone index — bake the body without this rider
         };
-        commands.spawn((
+        let mut child = commands.spawn((
             Mesh3d(r.mesh.clone()),
-            MeshMaterial3d(r.material.clone()),
+            MeshMaterial3d(instance.material(&r.material, &r.twins)),
             Transform::from_translation(r.offset),
             layer.clone(),
             ChildOf(anchor),
         ));
+        // An attached model composes onto its parent instance's colour and alpha (the reference's
+        // `0x714000` recursion; decision 0820's "an item's parts carry the wearer's instance
+        // bits"). Untagged means opaque + slot 0, so the tag only goes up when there is something
+        // to say — a translucent instance, or a tint slot to borrow.
+        if instance.feathering() || rig_slot != 0 {
+            child.insert(bevy::mesh::MeshTag(benilla_world::mesh_tag::spawn_tag(
+                rig_slot,
+                instance.alpha,
+            )));
+        }
+        if let Some(fm) = instance.fade_materials(&r.material, &r.twins) {
+            child.insert(fm);
+        }
     }
     // The camera-facing batches (the eye-glow, an item's gem, a glow model's quad): seat the centred
     // quad under its bone's anchor at the spec's offset — zero for the body's own batches, whose
@@ -573,14 +714,23 @@ pub(super) fn spawn_booth_model(
         let Some(anchor) = booth_rig.anchor(commands, bb.bone) else {
             continue;
         };
-        commands.spawn((
+        let mut card = commands.spawn((
             Mesh3d(bb.mesh.clone()),
-            MeshMaterial3d(bb.material.clone()),
+            MeshMaterial3d(instance.material(&bb.material, &bb.twins)),
             Transform::from_translation(bb.offset),
             layer.clone(),
             ChildOf(anchor),
             BoothBillboard { kind: bb.kind },
         ));
+        if instance.feathering() || rig_slot != 0 {
+            card.insert(bevy::mesh::MeshTag(benilla_world::mesh_tag::spawn_tag(
+                rig_slot,
+                instance.alpha,
+            )));
+        }
+        if let Some(fm) = instance.fade_materials(&bb.material, &bb.twins) {
+            card.insert(fm);
+        }
     }
     // Arm Stand and freeze: the player is configured *before* insertion (plain component data),
     // so the pose lands with the first animation pass — no play-after-spawn ordering dance.
@@ -1258,12 +1408,14 @@ mod tests {
                 static_mesh: Handle::default(),
                 material: Handle::default(),
                 alpha_anim: None,
+                twins: BoothTwins::default(),
             },
             BoothPart {
                 skinned: None,
                 static_mesh: Handle::default(),
                 material: Handle::default(),
                 alpha_anim: None,
+                twins: BoothTwins::default(),
             },
         ];
 
@@ -1287,6 +1439,7 @@ mod tests {
                 BoothMotion::Frozen,
                 [false, false],
                 &[],
+                BoothInstance::default(),
             )
             .finish(&mut commands);
         }
@@ -1674,3 +1827,75 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(weight(&player, 1), Some(1.0), "the bake's Stand, untouched");
     }
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod instance_tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    /// Three distinguishable handles — the assertions are about *which* of them the instance
+    /// picks, so they only need to be unequal.
+    fn handles() -> (
+        Handle<WowModelMaterial>,
+        Handle<WowModelMaterial>,
+        Handle<WowModelMaterial>,
+    ) {
+        let assets = Assets::<WowModelMaterial>::default();
+        let one = || assets.reserve_handle();
+        (one(), one(), one())
+    }
+
+    /// The three things the engine owes a translucent instance happen **together, or not at all**
+    /// (decision 1164's law, discharged at bake time): the blend-twin swap, and the persistent
+    /// [`FadeMaterials`] record the depth prime arms off. An opaque bake gets neither — which is
+    /// what keeps every existing booth bit-for-bit unchanged by the ghost lane.
+    #[test]
+    fn an_opaque_bake_draws_steady_and_arms_no_depth_prime() {
+        let (steady, blend, zfill) = handles();
+        let twins = BoothTwins {
+            blend: Some(blend),
+            zfill: Some(zfill),
+        };
+        let opaque = BoothInstance::default();
+        assert!(!opaque.feathering());
+        assert_eq!(opaque.material(&steady, &twins), steady);
+        assert!(opaque.fade_materials(&steady, &twins).is_none());
+    }
+
+    /// A ghosted bake takes the blend twin and carries the record — with the **zfill** twin in it,
+    /// which is the whole reason a 0.5 body does not compound `0.5` over `0.5` where an arm crosses
+    /// the torso (the reference's `M2UseZFill`, decision 0831).
+    #[test]
+    fn a_ghosted_bake_takes_the_blend_twin_and_carries_the_zfill() {
+        let (steady, blend, zfill) = handles();
+        let twins = BoothTwins {
+            blend: Some(blend.clone()),
+            zfill: Some(zfill.clone()),
+        };
+        let ghost = BoothInstance { alpha: 0.5 };
+        assert!(ghost.feathering());
+        assert_eq!(ghost.material(&steady, &twins), blend);
+        let fm = ghost
+            .fade_materials(&steady, &twins)
+            .expect("a feathering batch with a twin carries the record");
+        assert_eq!(fm.cutout, steady, "the steady material it settles back to");
+        assert_eq!(fm.blend, blend);
+        assert_eq!(fm.zfill, Some(zfill));
+        assert!(
+            fm.bake_blend.is_none(),
+            "a booth is never interior-classified"
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// A batch that cannot feather keeps its steady material even while the instance is
+    /// translucent, and arms no prime — the reference's own twin gate, and the Mod/Mod2x rule
+    /// (their blend equation reads no alpha, so no material swap can feather them; the shader's
+    /// identity lerp on the tag alpha does it instead — decisions 0865/1489).
+    #[test]
+    fn a_twinless_batch_stays_steady_even_while_the_instance_feathers() {
+        let (steady, _, _) = handles();
+        let none = BoothTwins::default();
+        let ghost = BoothInstance { alpha: 0.5 };
+        assert_eq!(ghost.material(&steady, &none), steady);
+        assert!(ghost.fade_materials(&steady, &none).is_none());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/dressup.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/dressup.rs
index 45e116ff..f8731aea 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/dressup.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/dressup.rs
@@ -34,9 +34,9 @@ use benilla_assets::materials::WowModelMaterial;
 use super::light::BoothLight;
 use super::{
     aim, body_frame, booth_anchors, new_target_image, spawn_booth_effects, spawn_booth_model,
-    wake_booth, Booth, BoothBillboardSpec, BoothCam, BoothEffects, BoothMotion, BoothPart,
-    BoothRider, Booths, PortraitImages, PortraitSource, PreviewBillboard, PreviewEffects,
-    PreviewPart, PreviewRider, BOOTH_SETTLE_FRAMES, DRESSUP_LAYER, PAPERDOLL_SIZE,
+    wake_booth, Booth, BoothBillboardSpec, BoothCam, BoothEffects, BoothInstance, BoothMotion,
+    BoothPart, BoothRider, BoothTwins, Booths, PortraitImages, PortraitSource, PreviewBillboard,
+    PreviewEffects, PreviewPart, PreviewRider, BOOTH_SETTLE_FRAMES, DRESSUP_LAYER, PAPERDOLL_SIZE,
 };
 
 /// The dressing-room booth slot token (its key in [`PortraitImages`] / [`Booths`]).
@@ -266,6 +266,7 @@ pub(super) fn sync_dressup_booth(
                 material: relight(&p.material),
                 // `None` — the same known gap as the glue preview's (decision 0807).
                 alpha_anim: None,
+                twins: BoothTwins::default(),
             })
             .collect();
         let booth_riders: Vec<BoothRider> = bake
@@ -276,6 +277,7 @@ pub(super) fn sync_dressup_booth(
                 material: relight(&r.material),
                 bone: r.bone,
                 offset: r.offset,
+                twins: BoothTwins::default(),
             })
             .collect();
         let booth_billboards: Vec<BoothBillboardSpec> = bake
@@ -287,6 +289,7 @@ pub(super) fn sync_dressup_booth(
                 bone: b.bone,
                 offset: b.offset,
                 kind: b.kind,
+                twins: BoothTwins::default(),
             })
             .collect();
         // Never latch a world-lane material into a pane (the [`super::light`] law): retry instead.
@@ -311,6 +314,7 @@ pub(super) fn sync_dressup_booth(
             BoothMotion::Loop,
             bake.grip,
             &booth_billboards,
+            BoothInstance::default(),
         );
         let (fx_emitters, _) = spawn_booth_effects(
             &mut commands,
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/glue_booth.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/glue_booth.rs
index 127d8ec5..39a2709c 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/glue_booth.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/glue_booth.rs
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ use super::framing::{
 };
 use super::{
     aim, body_frame, new_target_image, spawn_booth_effects, spawn_booth_model, Booth,
-    BoothBillboardSpec, BoothCam, BoothEffects, BoothLight, BoothMotion, BoothPart, BoothRider,
-    Booths, PortraitImages, PortraitSource, GLUE_LAYER,
+    BoothBillboardSpec, BoothCam, BoothEffects, BoothInstance, BoothLight, BoothMotion, BoothPart,
+    BoothRider, BoothTwins, Booths, PortraitImages, PortraitSource, GLUE_LAYER,
 };
 
 /// The glue booth slot token (its key in [`super::PortraitImages`] / [`Booths`]).
@@ -351,6 +351,11 @@ pub(crate) struct PreviewPart {
     /// has the field in hand (it reads the display's `EntityPart`s straight, with no compositor in
     /// between), so it fills it.
     pub(crate) alpha_anim: Option<std::sync::Arc<benilla_formats::AlphaAnim>>,
+    /// The batch's translucency twins ([`BoothTwins`]) — carried so a bake whose INSTANCE alpha is
+    /// below 1 (the ghost select, [`GhostKit`]) can draw through the blend twin and arm the depth
+    /// prime. Empty for a look that cannot feather; the booth relights whatever is here beside the
+    /// steady material.
+    pub(crate) twins: BoothTwins,
 }
 
 /// One equipment rider on the assembled preview (helm / shoulder / sheathed weapon — decision
@@ -363,6 +368,8 @@ pub(crate) struct PreviewRider {
     pub(crate) material: Handle<WowModelMaterial>,
     pub(crate) bone: u16,
     pub(crate) offset: Vec3,
+    /// See [`PreviewPart::twins`] — an attached model composes onto its wearer's instance alpha.
+    pub(crate) twins: BoothTwins,
 }
 
 /// One **camera-facing batch** on the assembled preview — the world path's billboard card
@@ -390,6 +397,8 @@ pub(crate) struct PreviewBillboard {
     /// the rigged body itself — its joint already bakes the pivot.
     pub(crate) offset: Vec3,
     pub(crate) kind: benilla_formats::BillboardKind,
+    /// See [`PreviewPart::twins`] — a card is a batch of the model like any other.
+    pub(crate) twins: BoothTwins,
 }
 
 /// One **effect-bearing model** on the assembled preview, carried as its particle emitters plus the
@@ -414,6 +423,38 @@ pub(crate) struct PreviewEffects {
     pub(crate) emitters: Vec<benilla_assets::ModelEmitter>,
 }
 
+/// The select screen's **ghost** treatment on the character body — what the reference's
+/// `0x4727f0` applies when the selected roster record carries `CHARSELECT+0xfc & 0x2000`
+/// (wow-re `glue-select-model.md` §A2, VERIFIED; the row text is the same bit, `refresh.rs`).
+///
+/// **It is one hard-coded `SpellVisualKit` row, and we read it from the DBC exactly as the
+/// reference does.** `0x47280f` loads `idmap[989]` behind the guard `0x4727f6 cmp ds:0xc0d750,0x3dd`
+/// — the *id* is the constant, the values are data — and 989 is the state kit of `SpellVisual` 886,
+/// which is the visual of spell 8326 "Ghost", the very aura the WORLD ghost rides
+/// (`crate::aura_visual`, wow-re `ghost-death-visuals.md` §2/§5a). So the select mannequin and a
+/// released ghost in the world are the same kit reaching the same three render properties by two
+/// different code paths, and benilla resolves both through the one dispatch point
+/// ([`crate::aura_visual::node_for`]) rather than transcribing constants twice.
+///
+/// The shipped 5875 values, for orientation only — nothing here hardcodes them:
+/// `charProc = {1, 14, -1, -1}`, `charParamZero = {9222653.0, 0.5, …}` → tint `0x8CB9FD`
+/// = RGB (140, 185, 253), alpha 0.5, one attached effect — `Spells\Ghost_state.mdx` at
+/// attachment `0x13` (Base). That model is emitter-only (0 vertices, 5 bones, one
+/// `PARTICLES\FLAME02.BLP`), so it reaches the booth as [`PreviewEffects`] and nothing else —
+/// but the resolution below carries geometry and cards too, because what the row names is data.
+///
+/// **No ramp.** The world's proc-14 alpha eases in over 1000 ms (`StartAlphaFade 0x614f80`); the
+/// select path never reaches that block — `0x4727f0` writes `cc+0x180`/`+0x184..0x18c` straight
+/// through `0x710cb0`/`0x710cf0`. A selection is instantly ghosted, and re-selecting is instant too.
+#[derive(Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Debug)]
+pub(crate) struct GhostKit {
+    /// The whole-model modulate colour (CharProc 1 — `cc+0x184..0x18c`), as the packed byte triple
+    /// [`benilla_world::instance_tint::pack`] wants.
+    pub(crate) tint: [u8; 3],
+    /// The whole-model alpha factor (CharProc 14 — `cc+0x180`), applied instantly.
+    pub(crate) alpha: f32,
+}
+
 /// The entities-side builder's output (decisions 0423 + 0465): the geoset-filtered, composited
 /// parts for the current look (+ its equipment riders for a Select look), plus the body displayId
 /// (for the booth's framing/rig) and a revision that bumps on every real change — a new successful
@@ -436,6 +477,11 @@ pub(crate) struct GluePreviewBake {
     /// `HandsClosed` finger pose (wow-re `hand-grip-mechanism.md`). The builder knows the held items'
     /// attach ids (which the flat rider list drops), so it resolves the grip here for the booth spawn.
     pub(crate) grip: [bool; 2],
+    /// The selected character's **ghost** kit, or `None` for a living selection — see [`GhostKit`].
+    /// Its attached effect models are already folded into the lists above (they are ordinary
+    /// riders/cards/emitters at a body attach point); what stays here is what the *body itself*
+    /// renders with.
+    pub(crate) ghost: Option<GhostKit>,
     pub(crate) revision: u64,
 }
 
@@ -617,9 +663,10 @@ pub(super) fn sync_glue_scene(
         ResMut<benilla_world::rig_palette::RigPaletteMirrors>,
         ResMut<benilla_world::model_forms::ModelForms>,
         ResMut<Assets<Mesh>>,
+        ResMut<benilla_world::instance_tint::InstanceTintMirrors>,
     ),
 ) {
-    let (mut palettes, mut mirrors, mut forms, mut mesh_assets) = particle_assets;
+    let (mut palettes, mut mirrors, mut forms, mut mesh_assets, mut tint_mirrors) = particle_assets;
     let Some(booth) = booths.0.get(GLUE_SLOT) else {
         return;
     };
@@ -726,6 +773,11 @@ pub(super) fn sync_glue_scene(
         // The scene's rigs skin from THIS buffer's palette region (decision 0720): register it
         // as a mirror (re-registration replaces — a rebuilt scene's old buffer drops).
         mirrors.0.insert("glue_scene", light.clone());
+        // …and the per-instance TINT region beside the palette rows (decision 0812's channel):
+        // the glue character's own modulate colour is read out of THIS buffer, and the glue scene
+        // is the one off-world buffer that carries it — see
+        // [`benilla_world::instance_tint::InstanceTintMirrors`] for why the portrait booths do not.
+        tint_mirrors.0.insert("glue_scene", light.clone());
         blob.write(&queue, &light);
         scene.fog = fog;
         let dc = blob.probe_dc();
@@ -772,6 +824,7 @@ pub(super) fn sync_glue_scene(
                     // `CLOUDS`, a 0.73 gradient. Drawn at 1.0 the vignette blacked out the frame
                     // corners — B121.
                     alpha_anim: s.alpha_anim.clone(),
+                    twins: BoothTwins::default(),
                 }
             })
             .collect();
@@ -791,6 +844,7 @@ pub(super) fn sync_glue_scene(
             BoothMotion::Loop, // sequence 0 loops — flags wave, clouds drift
             [false, false],    // the backdrop scene has no hands to grip
             &[],               // …nor a character's eye-glow
+            BoothInstance::default(),
         );
         // The scene's authored particle emitters (decision 0539 §5) — the braziers/embers every
         // UI_* scene carries (MainMenu 28, Orc 11, NightElf 12…). Lit/fogged by the SCENE's own
@@ -985,6 +1039,9 @@ pub(super) fn sync_glue_booth(
     anim_data: Option<Res<crate::creature_anim::AnimData>>,
     mut cams: Query<(&BoothCam, &mut Transform, &mut Projection)>,
     mut palettes: ResMut<benilla_world::rig_palette::RigPalettes>,
+    // The per-instance modulate colour (decision 0812): a ghost selection paints the whole bake
+    // through it, keyed on the rig slot this bake allocates — the reference's `cc+0x184..0x18c`.
+    mut tints: ResMut<benilla_world::instance_tint::InstanceTints>,
     mut last: Local<Option<(u64, f32, u64)>>,
 ) {
     let Some(booth) = booths.0.get_mut(GLUE_SLOT) else {
@@ -1058,12 +1115,40 @@ pub(super) fn sync_glue_booth(
                 _ => booth_light.studio.variant(material, materials),
             }
         };
+        // The bake's instance-level render properties — the ghost kit's alpha, or opaque
+        // (`GhostKit`, wow-re `glue-select-model.md` §A2). It reaches every batch of the bake, the
+        // riders and cards included: the reference has ONE instance alpha per CM2 and every model
+        // attached to it composes onto that (`0x714000`).
+        let instance = BoothInstance {
+            alpha: bake.ghost.map_or(1.0, |g| g.alpha),
+        };
+        // Each twin is relit onto the same buffer as its steady sibling — a blend twin bound to the
+        // world's light buffer would draw the ghost body at world-sun intensity mid-feather.
+        let relight_twins = |t: &BoothTwins,
+                             scene: &mut Option<ResMut<CreateScene>>,
+                             booth_light: &mut BoothLight,
+                             materials: &mut Assets<WowModelMaterial>| {
+            if !instance.feathering() {
+                return BoothTwins::default(); // an opaque bake never reads them
+            }
+            BoothTwins {
+                blend: t
+                    .blend
+                    .as_ref()
+                    .map(|m| relight(m, scene, booth_light, materials)),
+                zfill: t
+                    .zfill
+                    .as_ref()
+                    .map(|m| relight(m, scene, booth_light, materials)),
+            }
+        };
         let mut booth_parts = Vec::with_capacity(bake.parts.len());
         for p in &bake.parts {
             booth_parts.push(BoothPart {
                 skinned: p.skinned_mesh.clone(),
                 static_mesh: p.static_mesh.clone(),
                 material: relight(&p.material, &mut scene, &mut booth_light, &mut materials),
+                twins: relight_twins(&p.twins, &mut scene, &mut booth_light, &mut materials),
                 // `None`, and a KNOWN GAP (decision 0807): a mirrored `PreviewPart` doesn't carry
                 // the batch's alpha loops, so a character batch with an authored dimming constant
                 // previews at 1.0 here. Closing it means threading `alpha_anim` through the
@@ -1081,6 +1166,7 @@ pub(super) fn sync_glue_booth(
                 material: relight(&r.material, &mut scene, &mut booth_light, &mut materials),
                 bone: r.bone,
                 offset: r.offset,
+                twins: relight_twins(&r.twins, &mut scene, &mut booth_light, &mut materials),
             })
             .collect();
         // The camera-facing batches (the eye-glow, a wand's gem, a glow model's quad), relit onto the
@@ -1095,6 +1181,7 @@ pub(super) fn sync_glue_booth(
                 bone: b.bone,
                 offset: b.offset,
                 kind: b.kind,
+                twins: relight_twins(&b.twins, &mut scene, &mut booth_light, &mut materials),
             })
             .collect();
         commands.entity(booth.root).despawn_related::<Children>();
@@ -1112,6 +1199,20 @@ pub(super) fn sync_glue_booth(
             BoothMotion::Loop, // the glue preview is a live scene, not a still
             bake.grip,         // close each hand that draws a weapon (the ref's paperdoll rule)
             &booth_billboards,
+            instance,
+        );
+        // The whole-model TINT (`GhostKit::tint` — the reference's `cc+0x184..0x18c`, written by the
+        // select ghost proc `0x472939 -> 0x710cf0`): the bake's own rig slot indexes the per-instance
+        // table, and every batch that carries that slot in its `MeshTag` — body, riders, cards —
+        // reads it. Written every re-bake, cleared for a living selection, so a ghost's colour can
+        // never survive into the next character you click. (Slot `0` = a boneless bake or a full
+        // palette; `set` refuses it, which is the world's own no-rig sentinel rule.)
+        tints.set(
+            booth_rig.slot(),
+            match bake.ghost {
+                Some(g) => benilla_world::instance_tint::pack(g.tint),
+                None => benilla_world::instance_tint::IDENTITY,
+            },
         );
         // The worn items' effects: an equipped item model's OWN emitters (decision 0813 — the R14
         // pauldron's sparkle, the torch's flame; `#bugs` B118) and the held weapons' `ItemVisuals`
@@ -1263,6 +1364,7 @@ pub(super) fn sync_glue_pet(
             static_mesh: p.static_mesh.clone(),
             material: relight(&p.material, &mut scene.variants),
             alpha_anim: p.alpha_anim.clone(),
+            twins: BoothTwins::default(),
         })
         .collect();
     let booth_billboards: Vec<BoothBillboardSpec> = pet
@@ -1274,6 +1376,7 @@ pub(super) fn sync_glue_pet(
             bone: b.bone,
             offset: b.offset,
             kind: b.kind,
+            twins: BoothTwins::default(),
         })
         .collect();
     commands
@@ -1294,6 +1397,7 @@ pub(super) fn sync_glue_pet(
         BoothMotion::Loop, // Stand, looping — the same live scene the character is
         [false, false],    // …and no hands to grip with
         &booth_billboards,
+        BoothInstance::default(),
     );
     // The pet's OWN emitters — the imp's flames (decision 1539). Authored on the pet's own bones,
     // so this is the model's-own recipe, NOT the worn-item one (`spawn_booth_effects`, which seats
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/mod.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/mod.rs
index ebe1ed83..01af65d7 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/mod.rs
@@ -81,15 +81,19 @@ mod framing;
 pub(crate) use framing::{attachment_point, head_anchor, PortraitAnchors};
 use framing::{body_frame, frame, PORTRAIT_FOV};
 mod booth;
+/// The translucency twins ride the *preview* shapes as well as the booth ones — one type for both
+/// halves of the same batch, so the entities-side assembly and the bake cannot disagree about what
+/// a batch can feather through.
+pub(crate) use booth::BoothTwins;
 use booth::{
     clear_booth_rig, spawn_booth_effects, spawn_booth_model, spawn_booth_own_emitters,
-    BoothBillboardSpec, BoothEffects, BoothMotion, BoothPart, BoothRider,
+    BoothBillboardSpec, BoothEffects, BoothInstance, BoothMotion, BoothPart, BoothRider,
 };
 mod dressup;
 pub(crate) use dressup::{DressUpBake, DressUpLook, DressUpPreview};
 mod glue_booth;
 pub(crate) use glue_booth::{
-    CreateLook, GlueLook, GluePetBake, GluePreview, GluePreviewBake, GlueScene, PetLook,
+    CreateLook, GhostKit, GlueLook, GluePetBake, GluePreview, GluePreviewBake, GlueScene, PetLook,
     PreviewBillboard, PreviewEffects, PreviewPart, PreviewRider, SelectLook, GLUE_SLOT,
 };
 mod light;
@@ -2018,6 +2022,7 @@ fn sync_portraits(
                     // `None` — the same known gap as the glue preview's (decision 0807): a
                     // mirrored `PortraitPart` doesn't carry the batch's alpha loops.
                     alpha_anim: None,
+                    twins: BoothTwins::default(),
                 })
                 .collect();
             let booth_riders: Vec<BoothRider> = riders
@@ -2027,6 +2032,7 @@ fn sync_portraits(
                     material: booth_light.studio.variant(&r.material, &mut wow_mats),
                     bone: r.bone,
                     offset: r.offset,
+                    twins: BoothTwins::default(),
                 })
                 .collect();
             // The camera-facing batches — the eye-glow on its eye bone, an item's gem/halo at its
@@ -2040,6 +2046,7 @@ fn sync_portraits(
                     bone: b.bone,
                     offset: b.seat.offset(),
                     kind: b.kind,
+                    twins: BoothTwins::default(),
                 })
                 .collect();
             // A source material was not resident, so at least one "twin" above is the WORLD
@@ -2075,6 +2082,7 @@ fn sync_portraits(
                 // an open hand — rarely in frame on a bust, and its rule all the same.
                 [false, false],
                 &booth_billboards,
+                BoothInstance::default(),
             );
             // Even a Frozen still re-evaluates its paused pose every frame — the park matters
             // MOST here, since a portrait's camera sleeps for the whole session outside its
@@ -2532,6 +2540,7 @@ fn sync_body_booth(
                 material: booth_light.pane.variant(&p.material, wow_mats),
                 // `None` — the same known gap as the glue preview's (decision 0807).
                 alpha_anim: None,
+                twins: BoothTwins::default(),
             })
             .collect();
         let booth_riders: Vec<BoothRider> = riders
@@ -2541,6 +2550,7 @@ fn sync_body_booth(
                 material: booth_light.pane.variant(&r.material, wow_mats),
                 bone: r.bone,
                 offset: r.offset,
+                twins: BoothTwins::default(),
             })
             .collect();
         // The camera-facing batches — the eye-glow on its eye bone, a wand's gem or the held torch's
@@ -2554,6 +2564,7 @@ fn sync_body_booth(
                 bone: b.bone,
                 offset: b.seat.offset(),
                 kind: b.kind,
+                twins: BoothTwins::default(),
             })
             .collect();
         // The worn items' effects (decision 0822) — an equipped item's own emitters (0813, `#bugs`
@@ -2598,6 +2609,7 @@ fn sync_body_booth(
             // whatever the body is holding, so a drawn weapon arrived in an open hand.
             hand_grip(&riders, &billboards, &effects),
             &booth_billboards,
+            BoothInstance::default(),
         );
         // The item effects go up on the posed skeleton's anchors — the body pane is the lane that
         // gets them (the reference's `<PlayerModel>` widget renders live; the round portraits are
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/test_bake.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/test_bake.rs
index 62b81e21..9fad9054 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/test_bake.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/portrait/test_bake.rs
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 use benilla_assets::M2Model;
 use bevy::prelude::*;
 
-use super::booth::{spawn_booth_model, BoothMotion, BoothPart};
+use super::booth::{spawn_booth_model, BoothInstance, BoothMotion, BoothPart, BoothTwins};
 use super::framing::{body_frame, frame, head_anchor, PortraitAnchors};
 use super::{aim, test_mode, BoothCam, BoothLight, Booths, PaperDollBooth, PAPERDOLL_SLOT, SLOTS};
 use benilla_assets::m2_url;
@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ fn bake_test(
                     // The harness parses submeshes straight off the model, so the authored alpha is
                     // right here — an eyeball bake should show the batch dimming the artist wrote.
                     alpha_anim: s.alpha_anim.clone(),
+                    twins: BoothTwins::default(),
                 })
                 .collect::<Vec<BoothPart>>()
         };
@@ -185,6 +186,7 @@ fn bake_test(
             BoothMotion::Frozen,
             [false, false], // the WOW_PORTRAIT_TEST bake dresses no weapons
             &[],            // …nor an eye-glow
+            BoothInstance::default(),
         )
         .finish(commands);
         aim(cams, token, &rig);
@@ -211,6 +213,7 @@ fn bake_test(
             BoothMotion::Frozen,
             [false, false], // the paper-doll still sheaths its weapons — no in-hand grip
             &[],            // eye-glow in the paper doll is the same follow-up (see above)
+            BoothInstance::default(),
         )
         .finish(commands);
         // The eyeball harness has no live UI publishing a pane, so it bakes square.
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/screen_fade.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/screen_fade.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e0b6fab5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/screen_fade.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,289 @@
+//! The engine's screen fade — the whole frame to black, and back.
+//!
+//! This is the reference's own facility, not a cinematic's private effect. Two entry points, both
+//! taking a duration in seconds:
+//!
+//! - **`0x4c0d10(ecx = completion fn, edx = its arg, [ebp+8] = seconds)` — fade OUT to black.** It
+//!   latches the completion pair and arms the fade; **the completion runs when the screen reaches
+//!   full black**, not after a delay on a parallel clock.
+//! - **`0x4c1280(ecx, edx, seconds)` — fade IN from black.** A no-op unless a fade is currently up.
+//!
+//! That distinction is the whole reason this module exists rather than a `Timer` at each call site.
+//! A cinematic boundary is not "wait 0.25 s, then advance" — it is "go black, and *when you are
+//! black*, advance". The two coincide only while the frame rate holds; under a hitch (and the shot
+//! boundary is exactly where the reference does a blocking terrain load) a delay-driven sequence
+//! shows the cut, and a completion-driven one cannot. See `wow-5875-re`
+//! `system/ui/scratch/cinematic-camera-law.md` §3.7, which verified this as a correction to an
+//! earlier reading that had it as a delay.
+//!
+//! **The completion callback does not cross into this module.** The reference stores a function
+//! pointer; an ECS system cannot, and faking it with a boxed closure in a `Resource` would buy
+//! nothing. Instead this owns only the ramp — alpha and phase — and exposes [`ScreenFade::is_black`]
+//! as a *level*. The caller keeps its own "which step is pending" state and runs it while black.
+//! Same sequencing, with the step left where it can see the data it needs.
+//!
+//! The one caller today is `crate::cinematic`. It is written as the general facility because that
+//! is what it is in the reference (`0x4c0d10` has callers well outside the cinematic band), not in
+//! anticipation of a second one here.
+
+use bevy::prelude::*;
+
+/// The reference's fade duration at every cinematic boundary: `[0x804550] = 0.25`, in `.rdata` —
+/// genuinely read-only, so this is a constant in the image and not some global's default.
+pub(crate) const CINEMATIC: f32 = 0.25;
+
+#[derive(Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq, Default, Debug)]
+enum Phase {
+    /// Nothing up: alpha 0, the world visible.
+    #[default]
+    Clear,
+    /// Ramping 0 → 1.
+    Out,
+    /// Held at 1. **The fade stays here until someone calls [`ScreenFade::fade_in`]** — it does not
+    /// bounce on its own, because the caller's step runs in this phase and may take many frames.
+    Black,
+    /// Ramping 1 → 0.
+    In,
+}
+
+/// The screen fade's state. Drive it with [`fade_out`](ScreenFade::fade_out) /
+/// [`fade_in`](ScreenFade::fade_in); read it with [`is_black`](ScreenFade::is_black).
+#[derive(Resource, Default)]
+pub(crate) struct ScreenFade {
+    alpha: f32,
+    phase: Phase,
+    /// Seconds for a full 0→1 traverse; the ramp is linear in time over this.
+    seconds: f32,
+}
+
+impl ScreenFade {
+    /// Start going to black. Re-arming while already fading out keeps the alpha reached so far, so
+    /// a second request cannot restart the ramp from clear and show a flash of world.
+    pub(crate) fn fade_out(&mut self, seconds: f32) {
+        if self.phase == Phase::Black {
+            return;
+        }
+        self.seconds = seconds.max(0.0);
+        self.phase = Phase::Out;
+        if self.seconds == 0.0 {
+            self.alpha = 1.0;
+            self.phase = Phase::Black;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Come back from black. **A no-op unless a fade is currently up** — the reference's own
+    /// guard at `0x4c1280`, which matters because the tail of a shot arm fades in unconditionally
+    /// and must not paint a black ramp over a screen that was never darkened.
+    pub(crate) fn fade_in(&mut self, seconds: f32) {
+        if self.phase == Phase::Clear {
+            return;
+        }
+        self.seconds = seconds.max(0.0);
+        self.phase = Phase::In;
+        if self.seconds == 0.0 {
+            self.alpha = 0.0;
+            self.phase = Phase::Clear;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// The screen is fully black **and holding**: the caller's boundary step runs now.
+    pub(crate) fn is_black(&self) -> bool {
+        self.phase == Phase::Black
+    }
+
+    /// Nothing up — no fade in progress and the world fully visible.
+    ///
+    /// Only the tests ask this today. It is the exact complement of the state `fade_in` refuses to
+    /// act on, so it is the honest way to assert a ramp came all the way home; it is not carried
+    /// as speculative API for a caller that does not exist.
+    #[cfg(test)]
+    fn is_clear(&self) -> bool {
+        self.phase == Phase::Clear
+    }
+
+    /// Drop the fade with no ramp. For a teardown that must not leave the screen black behind it
+    /// (leaving the world mid-cinematic, a failed start), where a graceful fade-in has no frames
+    /// left to run in.
+    pub(crate) fn clear(&mut self) {
+        self.alpha = 0.0;
+        self.phase = Phase::Clear;
+    }
+
+    fn tick(&mut self, dt: f32) {
+        let step = if self.seconds > 0.0 {
+            dt / self.seconds
+        } else {
+            1.0
+        };
+        match self.phase {
+            Phase::Out => {
+                self.alpha = (self.alpha + step).min(1.0);
+                if self.alpha >= 1.0 {
+                    self.phase = Phase::Black;
+                }
+            }
+            Phase::In => {
+                self.alpha = (self.alpha - step).max(0.0);
+                if self.alpha <= 0.0 {
+                    self.phase = Phase::Clear;
+                }
+            }
+            Phase::Clear | Phase::Black => {}
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[derive(Component)]
+struct FadeCover;
+
+pub(crate) struct ScreenFadePlugin;
+
+impl Plugin for ScreenFadePlugin {
+    fn build(&self, app: &mut App) {
+        app.init_resource::<ScreenFade>()
+            .add_systems(Startup, spawn_cover)
+            // `PostUpdate`: every boundary step this frame — the cinematic's arm, advance and end —
+            // has already run, so the cover drawn is the one that matches the state the frame will
+            // actually present. Ticking before them would advance the ramp on last frame's answer.
+            .add_systems(PostUpdate, drive_cover);
+    }
+}
+
+/// One full-screen black node, spawned once and parked hidden — the loading cover's own shape.
+fn spawn_cover(mut commands: Commands) {
+    commands.spawn((
+        FadeCover,
+        Node {
+            position_type: PositionType::Absolute,
+            width: Val::Percent(100.0),
+            height: Val::Percent(100.0),
+            ..default()
+        },
+        BackgroundColor(Color::NONE),
+        // **Above the loading cover (1000).** The reference hands the world-enter loading screen
+        // over to the cinematic *under* the black: `0x48edd0`'s first instruction dismisses the
+        // loading screen, and it runs at full black (law §8.4). A fade below the cover could not
+        // do that — the cover would be the thing on screen, and its dismissal would be a visible
+        // cut. Below the glue screens (1100) so a state change out of the world can never be
+        // trapped behind a fade that has no one left to clear it.
+        GlobalZIndex(1050),
+        Visibility::Hidden,
+    ));
+}
+
+fn drive_cover(
+    time: Res<Time>,
+    mut fade: ResMut<ScreenFade>,
+    mut cover: Query<(&mut BackgroundColor, &mut Visibility), With<FadeCover>>,
+    mut was: Local<Option<Phase>>,
+) {
+    fade.tick(time.delta_secs());
+    // One line per edge, so a timeline (`scripts/cine.sh`) can see the boundaries at all. Four
+    // transitions per fade and two boundaries per single-shot cinematic is eight lines a run;
+    // without them the fade is invisible to every instrument we have.
+    if *was != Some(fade.phase) {
+        match fade.phase {
+            Phase::Out => info!("screen fade: out"),
+            Phase::Black => info!("screen fade: black"),
+            Phase::In => info!("screen fade: in"),
+            Phase::Clear => info!("screen fade: clear"),
+        }
+        *was = Some(fade.phase);
+    }
+    for (mut color, mut vis) in &mut cover {
+        let want = if fade.alpha > 0.0 {
+            Visibility::Inherited
+        } else {
+            Visibility::Hidden
+        };
+        if *vis != want {
+            *vis = want;
+        }
+        let next = Color::srgba(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, fade.alpha);
+        if color.0 != next {
+            color.0 = next;
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    fn ticks(fade: &mut ScreenFade, n: usize, dt: f32) {
+        for _ in 0..n {
+            fade.tick(dt);
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_fade_out_reaches_black_and_holds_there() {
+        let mut fade = ScreenFade::default();
+        fade.fade_out(CINEMATIC);
+        // Half the duration is half way, and emphatically NOT black yet.
+        ticks(&mut fade, 5, CINEMATIC / 10.0);
+        assert!(!fade.is_black(), "half a ramp is not black");
+        ticks(&mut fade, 5, CINEMATIC / 10.0);
+        assert!(fade.is_black(), "a full ramp reaches black");
+        // …and stays. The caller's boundary step may take many frames; the fade must not bounce
+        // back on its own while it runs.
+        ticks(&mut fade, 100, CINEMATIC);
+        assert!(fade.is_black(), "black holds until fade_in");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn fade_in_from_black_returns_to_clear() {
+        let mut fade = ScreenFade::default();
+        fade.fade_out(CINEMATIC);
+        ticks(&mut fade, 10, CINEMATIC / 10.0);
+        assert!(fade.is_black());
+        fade.fade_in(CINEMATIC);
+        ticks(&mut fade, 10, CINEMATIC / 10.0);
+        assert!(fade.is_clear(), "a full ramp back reaches clear");
+        assert_eq!(fade.alpha, 0.0);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn fade_in_on_a_clear_screen_does_nothing() {
+        // The reference's `0x4c1280` guard. The tail of the shot arm fades in unconditionally;
+        // on a screen that was never darkened that must not start a ramp *from* black.
+        let mut fade = ScreenFade::default();
+        fade.fade_in(CINEMATIC);
+        assert!(fade.is_clear());
+        assert_eq!(fade.alpha, 0.0);
+        ticks(&mut fade, 10, CINEMATIC / 10.0);
+        assert_eq!(fade.alpha, 0.0, "no black ever appeared");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn re_arming_a_fade_out_does_not_restart_from_clear() {
+        // Two boundaries landing close together must not flash the world between them.
+        let mut fade = ScreenFade::default();
+        fade.fade_out(CINEMATIC);
+        ticks(&mut fade, 5, CINEMATIC / 10.0);
+        let half = fade.alpha;
+        assert!(half > 0.0 && half < 1.0);
+        fade.fade_out(CINEMATIC);
+        assert_eq!(fade.alpha, half, "the alpha reached so far is kept");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_zero_length_fade_is_instant_in_both_directions() {
+        let mut fade = ScreenFade::default();
+        fade.fade_out(0.0);
+        assert!(fade.is_black(), "no frames to ramp over: black now");
+        fade.fade_in(0.0);
+        assert!(fade.is_clear());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn clear_drops_a_fade_with_no_ramp() {
+        let mut fade = ScreenFade::default();
+        fade.fade_out(CINEMATIC);
+        ticks(&mut fade, 10, CINEMATIC / 10.0);
+        assert!(fade.is_black());
+        fade.clear();
+        assert!(fade.is_clear());
+        assert_eq!(fade.alpha, 0.0, "a teardown leaves no black behind it");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_guild/mod.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_guild/mod.rs
index 1b0139b0..0f360d26 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_guild/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_guild/mod.rs
@@ -549,7 +549,28 @@ pub(crate) fn unit_guild_emblem(
     guild: &mut GuildState,
     commands: &NetCommands,
 ) -> Option<GuildEmblem> {
-    let guild_id = fields.player_guild_id();
+    guild_emblem(fields.player_guild_id(), guild, commands)
+}
+
+/// The same crest for a **corpse**, whose guild id is its own snapshot
+/// ([`ObjectFields::corpse_guild`]) rather than the living `PLAYER_GUILDID` — the reference reads
+/// `CORPSE_FIELD_GUILD` at `0x5d6edf` and runs the identical name-cache lookup before installing
+/// the emblem (`0x5d6ec0`; wow-re `corpse-decal-and-loot-sparkle.md` §6b). All four `None` cases
+/// above hold unchanged: a guildless owner, a query still in flight, an undesigned crest.
+pub(crate) fn corpse_guild_emblem(
+    fields: &ObjectFields,
+    guild: &mut GuildState,
+    commands: &NetCommands,
+) -> Option<GuildEmblem> {
+    guild_emblem(fields.corpse_guild(), guild, commands)
+}
+
+/// The shared body of the two above — one lazy `CMSG_GUILD_QUERY` idiom, one `is_designed` gate.
+fn guild_emblem(
+    guild_id: u32,
+    guild: &mut GuildState,
+    commands: &NetCommands,
+) -> Option<GuildEmblem> {
     let emblem = guild.resolve_identity(guild_id, commands)?.emblem;
     emblem.is_designed().then_some(emblem)
 }
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/cinematic_tests.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/cinematic_tests.rs
index fb79c0f7..50ead786 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/cinematic_tests.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/cinematic_tests.rs
@@ -171,3 +171,58 @@ fn the_screenshot_key_is_handed_back_to_its_binding() {
     assert!(s.frame_key_input("ESCAPE"));
     assert!(s.take_keybind_requests().is_empty());
 }
+
+/// **The HUD hide, end to end — and the frame that must survive it.**
+///
+/// This is the chain decision 1734 restored, and every link was broken until it did:
+/// `CINEMATIC_START` → `CinematicFrame`'s arm calls `ShowUIPanel` → its `area = "full"` row routes
+/// to `SetFullScreenFrame` → which hides `UIParent` → which cascades to every frame declaring
+/// `parent="UIParent"`. Before, `SetFullScreenFrame` had that line dropped, and there was almost
+/// nothing parented to cascade to; the engine hid the HUD with `UiHidden` instead, and paid for it
+/// with a mouse that could not find the cinematic frame.
+///
+/// It replaces a log line. 1699 verified the takeover by watching `cinematic: HUD hidden for
+/// playback` go past, because `UiHidden` hides at the *draw* and leaves every widget answering
+/// `IsVisible() == true` — the predicate was useless. Hiding through the real cascade makes
+/// `IsVisible` the honest question again, so the check is an assertion instead of a log.
+#[test]
+fn a_cinematic_hides_the_hud_through_uiparent_and_spares_the_cinematic_frame() {
+    let mut s = ui_with_the_cinematic_frame();
+    let visible = |s: &UiScript, f: &str| {
+        s.eval::<i64>(&format!("return {f}:IsVisible() and 1 or 0"))
+            .unwrap()
+            == 1
+    };
+
+    // A shown child of UIParent stands in for the HUD: `UiPanels.xml` gives us one without
+    // dragging the whole action bar in, and what is under test is the cascade, not which frame.
+    s.eval::<i64>("StaticPopup1:Show() return 0").unwrap();
+    s.resolve();
+    assert!(visible(&s, "UIParent"), "the HUD's parent starts visible");
+    assert!(visible(&s, "StaticPopup1"), "and so does its child");
+
+    start_cinematic(&mut s);
+    assert!(!visible(&s, "UIParent"), "SetFullScreenFrame hid UIParent");
+    assert!(
+        !visible(&s, "StaticPopup1"),
+        "and the hide cascaded to its children — this is the whole point of the 72 restored \
+         parent= declarations, and the assertion that fails if one is dropped again"
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        s.eval::<i64>("return StaticPopup1:IsShown() and 1 or 0")
+            .unwrap(),
+        1,
+        "cascaded, not shown=false: the frame keeps its own state and gets it back untouched"
+    );
+    assert!(
+        visible(&s, "CinematicFrame"),
+        "**and the fly-by itself survives** — the reference declares CinematicFrame with no \
+         parent precisely so the frame being shown escapes the hide that showing it performs"
+    );
+
+    s.set_in_cinematic(false);
+    s.fire_event("CINEMATIC_STOP", vec![]);
+    s.resolve();
+    assert!(visible(&s, "UIParent"), "and the world's UI comes back");
+    assert!(visible(&s, "StaticPopup1"), "with the child that was up");
+}
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/game_menu_tests.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/game_menu_tests.rs
index df8c436e..550ad458 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/game_menu_tests.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/game_menu_tests.rs
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ fn harness_with(extra: &[&str]) -> UiScript {
     s.set_screen_size(1024.0, 768.0);
     let files: Vec<&str> = [
         "Fonts.xml",
+        // `GameMenuFrame` and the panels it opens declare `parent="UIParent"`, resolved at LOAD
+        // (decision 1734) — UIParent must already be there, as it is in the manifest.
+        "UIParent.xml",
         "MoneyFrame.xml",
         "UiPanels.xml",
         "UIPanelTemplates.xml",
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/manifest.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/manifest.rs
index 555f3276..1c45e580 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/manifest.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/manifest.rs
@@ -172,4 +172,34 @@ mod tests {
         shipped.sort();
         assert_eq!(listed, shipped);
     }
+
+    /// **Nothing may declare `parent="UIParent"` before `UIParent.xml` has loaded.**
+    ///
+    /// A parent name is resolved at LOAD, and a name that does not exist yet is not an error: the
+    /// loader warns and silently falls back to the enclosing frame. So this ordering mistake does
+    /// not fail, it *half-works* — the frame keeps drawing, keeps answering `IsShown`, and simply
+    /// never joins the cascade `UIParent:Hide()` walks. That is precisely how it would be missed.
+    ///
+    /// It nearly was: `UIParent.xml` sat below `UiPanels.xml` until decision 1734, so restoring
+    /// `StaticPopup1`/`StaticPopup2`'s parents there would have written two declarations that did
+    /// nothing at all. The reference's own order is the fix (FrameXML.toc: BasicControls.xml l.6,
+    /// UIParent.xml l.8), and this keeps it.
+    #[test]
+    fn nothing_declares_a_uiparent_child_before_uiparent_itself_loads() {
+        let files = manifest_files();
+        let at = files
+            .iter()
+            .position(|f| f == "UIParent.xml")
+            .expect("the manifest lists UIParent.xml");
+        let dir = std::path::Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR")).join("assets/ui");
+        for early in &files[..at] {
+            let text = std::fs::read_to_string(dir.join(early)).unwrap();
+            assert!(
+                !text.contains(r#"parent="UIParent""#),
+                "{early} loads before UIParent.xml (position {at}) but declares a \
+                 UIParent child — the loader would warn and silently drop it. Move \
+                 UIParent.xml up, or the declaration down."
+            );
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/mod.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/mod.rs
index f71a9179..82a59c3d 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/mod.rs
@@ -450,26 +450,14 @@ fn capture_ui_active(capture: Option<Res<crate::run_mode::CaptureMode>>) -> bool
 fn arbitrate_pointer_over_ui(
     egui: Option<Res<EguiPointerOver>>,
     hover: Res<PlayerUiHover>,
-    cinematic: Option<Res<crate::cinematic::Cinematic>>,
     mut over: ResMut<PointerOverUi>,
 ) {
-    // **A cinematic covers the screen with a frame, so the pointer is over the UI wherever it
-    // is.** That is a fact about the reference's own layout, not a special case: `CinematicFrame`
-    // is `setAllPoints` + `enableMouse="true"`, and while it is up it is the only mouse target the
-    // hit test can reach — because `UIParent:Hide()` has taken every other frame out of it.
-    //
-    // benilla cannot yet reach that answer through the hit test. `crate::cinematic` substitutes
-    // `UiHidden` for the reference's `UIParent:Hide()` (decision 1699, for want of a HUD parented
-    // to `UIParent`), and `UiHidden` also switches the whole mouse feed off — ALT-Z's meaning,
-    // where the world *should* take the mouse. So `feed_ui_input` never hit-tested
-    // `CinematicFrame` at all and the world took every click of a fly-by: right-drag turned the
-    // character, left-click picked targets through the flying camera, the wheel zoomed a rig
-    // nobody could see. **This line states the layout fact directly, and it is the interim, not
-    // the fix** — restoring the 32 dropped `parent="UIParent"` declarations lets the hit test
-    // reach the same answer on its own, and this argument (and this parameter) is then dead code
-    // to delete.
-    let in_cinematic = cinematic.is_some_and(|c| c.is_playing());
-    over.0 = in_cinematic || egui.is_some_and(|e| e.0) || hover.0.is_some();
+    // A cinematic used to need a third term here, and no longer does — the deletion is the point
+    // of decision 1734. `CinematicFrame` is `setAllPoints` + `enableMouse="true"`, so while it is
+    // up it is the only mouse target the hit test can reach, because `UIParent:Hide()` has taken
+    // every other frame out of it. The hit test now arrives at that on its own, so
+    // [`PlayerUiHover`] carries it and the special case is gone.
+    over.0 = egui.is_some_and(|e| e.0) || hover.0.is_some();
 }
 
 /// The session lifecycle — the VM's birth, identity, death, and the reload. Every edge function
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/options_tests.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/options_tests.rs
index e6fa7854..346e96a6 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/options_tests.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/options_tests.rs
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@ fn harness_on(mut s: UiScript) -> UiScript {
     s.set_screen_size(1024.0, 768.0);
     for file in [
         "Fonts.xml",
+        // Every panel window declares `parent="UIParent"`, resolved at LOAD — so UIParent has to
+        // exist by the time they are read, exactly as it does in the manifest (decision 1734).
+        "UIParent.xml",
         "MoneyFrame.xml",
         "UiPanels.xml",
         "GameTooltip.xml",
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/shipped_xml_tests.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/shipped_xml_tests.rs
index 9cc44d59..73a1816b 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/shipped_xml_tests.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_script/shipped_xml_tests.rs
@@ -1089,3 +1089,111 @@ fn the_inspect_cursor_pair_takes_both_arms() {
         s.errors()
     );
 }
+
+/// **Nothing of the interface is left on screen during a cinematic** — swept over the whole
+/// shipped manifest, not one file at a time.
+///
+/// This is the test the director's eye had to stand in for. Decision 1734 restored 72 dropped
+/// `parent=` declarations and a per-window test proved the cascade worked; the chat still drew
+/// over the fly-by, because benilla carries the reference's `FloatingChatFrameTemplate` and
+/// `ChatTabTemplate` under its own names (`BenillaChatFrameTemplate`, `BenillaChatTabTemplate`)
+/// and the gap analysis that found the 72 skipped `virtual="true"` templates entirely. A
+/// name-for-name comparison against the reference could not see it. **Sweeping what is actually
+/// visible can**, which is why this is written against the observable and not against a list.
+///
+/// The three survivors are each required to survive:
+///
+/// - `CinematicFrame` — the frame being *shown*. The reference declares it with no parent for
+///   exactly this reason, and `SetFullScreenFrame` shows it in the same breath as hiding UIParent.
+/// - `WorldFrame` — the 3D scene's frame. Ours renders nothing (Bevy draws the world), but it is
+///   the reference's own bottom-of-strata frame and a cinematic is a thing you watch *in* it.
+/// - `BenillaFadeDriver` — a 1x1 frame with no textures and no layers, whose only content is an
+///   `OnUpdate` running `UIFrameFadeUpdate`. It draws nothing, and it must not be hidden: a hidden
+///   frame's `OnUpdate` does not run, so parenting it would freeze every in-flight `UIFrameFade`
+///   the instant a cinematic started and leave frames stranded mid-fade.
+#[test]
+fn a_cinematic_leaves_nothing_of_the_interface_on_screen() {
+    let mut s = benilla_ui::script::UiScript::new().unwrap();
+    s.set_screen_size(1024.0, 768.0);
+    let failures = super::load_default_ui(&s);
+    assert!(failures.is_empty(), "manifest load errors: {failures:#?}");
+    s.resolve();
+
+    let names = shipped_frame_names();
+    let visible = |s: &benilla_ui::script::UiScript, n: &str| -> bool {
+        s.eval::<i64>(&format!(
+            "local f = getglobal(\"{n}\") \
+             if not f or not f.IsVisible then return 0 end \
+             return f:IsVisible() and 1 or 0"
+        ))
+        .unwrap_or(0)
+            == 1
+    };
+
+    // The sweep is only worth anything if there was something to hide in the first place.
+    let before = names.iter().filter(|n| visible(&s, n)).count();
+    assert!(
+        before > 50,
+        "only {before} frames visible before the cinematic — the sweep found no interface to \
+         hide, so it would pass no matter what the cascade did"
+    );
+
+    s.set_in_cinematic(true);
+    s.fire_event("CINEMATIC_START", vec![]);
+    s.resolve();
+
+    let mut after: Vec<&str> = names
+        .iter()
+        .map(String::as_str)
+        .filter(|n| visible(&s, n))
+        .collect();
+    after.sort_unstable();
+    assert_eq!(
+        after,
+        ["BenillaFadeDriver", "CinematicFrame", "WorldFrame"],
+        "something is drawing over the fly-by (see this test's header for why exactly these \
+         three are allowed to survive)"
+    );
+
+    // …and the player gets it all back.
+    s.set_in_cinematic(false);
+    s.fire_event("CINEMATIC_STOP", vec![]);
+    s.resolve();
+    let restored = names.iter().filter(|n| visible(&s, n)).count();
+    assert_eq!(
+        restored, before,
+        "the interface comes back exactly as it was"
+    );
+}
+
+/// Every named, non-virtual frame the shipped tree declares — the sweep's population.
+fn shipped_frame_names() -> Vec<String> {
+    let dir = std::path::Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR")).join("assets/ui");
+    let mut names: Vec<String> = Vec::new();
+    for entry in std::fs::read_dir(&dir).expect("assets/ui").flatten() {
+        let path = entry.path();
+        if !path.extension().is_some_and(|e| e == "xml") {
+            continue;
+        }
+        let text = std::fs::read_to_string(&path).expect("read");
+        for chunk in text.split('<').skip(1) {
+            let head = &chunk[..chunk.find('>').unwrap_or(chunk.len())];
+            if head.contains("virtual=\"true\"") {
+                continue;
+            }
+            let Some(i) = head.find("name=\"") else {
+                continue;
+            };
+            let rest = &head[i + 6..];
+            let Some(j) = rest.find('"') else { continue };
+            let n = &rest[..j];
+            // `$parent`-templated names are not globals; nothing can look them up by name.
+            if !n.is_empty() && !n.contains('$') {
+                names.push(n.to_string());
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    names.sort();
+    names.dedup();
+    names
+}
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/tests/world_api_wall.rs b/crates/benilla-app/tests/world_api_wall.rs
index 236fe3dd..1b39045c 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/tests/world_api_wall.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/tests/world_api_wall.rs
@@ -295,7 +295,20 @@ fn is_instrument_consumer(rel: &str) -> bool {
 /// decides where a weapon is drawn versus stowed. There is no engine-side way to know it: the
 /// engine sees a scene-graph child, and a child is not an attachment. The alternative was passing
 /// the game's attach-slot table down into the renderer to keep a count flat (decision 1609).
-const CEILING: usize = 163;
+/// And 163 → 164: `instance_tint::InstanceTintMirrors`, the twin of `rig_palette::RigPaletteMirrors`
+/// already through this door and registered at exactly the same site — an off-world `wow_light`
+/// buffer the engine must also fill with the per-instance tint region, because the shader reads
+/// that region out of whichever buffer the draw binds. Uploading a region to the buffers that
+/// carry it is machinery. *Which* off-world buffers carry it is policy, and it has to be: a
+/// portrait bake must NOT (the reference builds a fresh CM2 with colour `(1,1,1)`, so a ghost's
+/// portrait shows the living face — wow-re `ghost-death-visuals.md` §6, report B49, decision 1481)
+/// while the glue scene MUST (it is the screen itself, and its character component is the very
+/// instance the reference tints). The engine cannot tell those two render targets apart — both are
+/// a camera writing to an image — and encoding "a bake standing in for a UI model widget" inside
+/// the uploader is exactly the game opinion the wall exists to keep out. The alternative was
+/// mirroring the region into every registered buffer to keep the count flat, which re-opens B49 in
+/// the tint lane (decision 1731).
+const CEILING: usize = 164;
 
 /// How far under [`CEILING`] the real count may sit before this test asks for the ceiling to be
 /// lowered. Slack, not tolerance: it keeps a single closure from failing the gate, while making it
diff --git a/crates/benilla-protocol/src/messages/update_object/fields/mod.rs b/crates/benilla-protocol/src/messages/update_object/fields/mod.rs
index 6c977564..dc56d628 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-protocol/src/messages/update_object/fields/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-protocol/src/messages/update_object/fields/mod.rs
@@ -731,6 +731,16 @@ impl ObjectFields {
         (display != 0).then_some((display, (raw >> 24) as u8))
     }
 
+    /// `CORPSE_FIELD_GUILD` (field 34, `OBJECT_END + 0x1C`) — the dead player's guild id,
+    /// snapshotted at death (vmangos `Player::CreateCorpse` writes `GetGuildId()`). The reference
+    /// reads exactly this word at `0x5d6edf` (`[[corpse+0x110]+0x70]`) and hands it, with
+    /// `CORPSE_FIELD_OWNER`, to the guild-name-cache lookup `0x6d6d20` that feeds the corpse's
+    /// **tabard emblem** install `0x5d6ec0` (wow-re `corpse-decal-and-loot-sparkle.md` §6b). A
+    /// corpse therefore wears its owner's crest exactly as the living body did. `0` = guildless.
+    pub fn corpse_guild(&self) -> u32 {
+        self.get_u32(34).unwrap_or(0)
+    }
+
     /// `CORPSE_FIELD_BYTES_1` (field 32, `OBJECT_END + 0x1A`) — byte 1 **race**, byte 2 **gender**,
     /// byte 3 **skinColor** (byte 0 is unused; vmangos writes `(0) | (race<<8) | (gender<<16) |
     /// (skin<<24)`, `Corpse.cpp:228`). The reference reads them one byte at a time off the same
diff --git a/crates/benilla-world/src/instance_tint.rs b/crates/benilla-world/src/instance_tint.rs
index 56ee431d..f753919d 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-world/src/instance_tint.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-world/src/instance_tint.rs
@@ -82,6 +82,30 @@ pub fn pack(rgb: [u8; 3]) -> u32 {
     0xff00_0000 | (u32::from(rgb[0]) << 16) | (u32::from(rgb[1]) << 8) | u32::from(rgb[2])
 }
 
+/// Off-world `wow_light`-layout buffers that also carry the tint region — registered by key, the
+/// same shape as [`crate::rig_palette::RigPaletteMirrors`] and deliberately NOT the same list.
+///
+/// **Why this is opt-in, and why the portrait booths are not on it.** The reference's per-instance
+/// tint lives on ONE CM2 instance (`[inst+0x184..0x18c]`, setter `0x710cf0`). A unit-frame portrait
+/// does not render that instance: the bake `0x524f60` builds a **fresh** CM2 from it whose ctor sets
+/// colour `(1,1,1)` and alpha `1.0` (`0x70ea60`-`0x70ea89`/`0x70eaca`), and `0x525261 call 0x47a230`
+/// then sets those very two fields *again* — so a ghost's portrait shows the pre-death, untinted,
+/// fully-opaque face, and "a client that tints the portrait when the ghost flags are set diverges
+/// from 1.12.1" (wow-re `ghost-death-visuals.md` §6, VERIFIED; benilla report B49, decision 1481).
+/// Our round portraits mirror the world entity's own children, so they carry the WORLD unit's rig
+/// slot — pushing this region into their buffer would tint them with it. Their buffer keeps the
+/// zero-initialised (identity) region instead, which is the reference's fresh-instance behaviour
+/// reproduced by construction.
+///
+/// The **glue scene** is the opposite case and is why the list exists: it is not a bake standing in
+/// for a UI model widget, it is the screen itself, and its character component is exactly the
+/// instance the reference writes (`0x472939 -> 0x710cf0`, the char-select ghost proc). It carries its
+/// OWN rig slot, allocated by the booth spawn, so nothing a world unit does can reach it.
+#[derive(Resource, Clone, Default, ExtractResource)]
+pub struct InstanceTintMirrors(
+    pub std::collections::HashMap<&'static str, bevy::render::render_resource::Buffer>,
+);
+
 /// The live per-slot tint table, indexed by the instance's `MeshTag` rig slot. `Arc`-shared so the
 /// render-world extract is a pointer bump, and generation-stamped so a world with nothing tinted
 /// uploads nothing at all.
@@ -137,26 +161,33 @@ impl InstanceTints {
 fn upload_instance_tints(
     queue: Res<RenderQueue>,
     shared: Option<Res<crate::lighting::SharedLightBuffer>>,
+    mirrors: Option<Res<InstanceTintMirrors>>,
     tints: Option<Res<InstanceTints>>,
     mut last: Local<Option<u64>>,
 ) {
-    let (Some(shared), Some(tints)) = (shared, tints) else {
-        return;
-    };
-    if *last == Some(tints.generation) {
+    let Some(tints) = tints else { return };
+    // The generation gate covers the mirror list too: a mirror registered after the last write
+    // would otherwise never be filled. Mirrors are registered once per booth/scene buffer, so
+    // folding their count into the gate costs one comparison and closes that hole.
+    let mirrors = mirrors
+        .map(|m| m.0.values().cloned().collect::<Vec<_>>())
+        .unwrap_or_default();
+    let gate = tints.generation ^ ((mirrors.len() as u64) << 40);
+    if *last == Some(gate) {
         return;
     }
-    *last = Some(tints.generation);
-    queue.write_buffer(
-        &shared.0,
-        region_offset(),
-        bytemuck::cast_slice(tints.slots.as_slice()),
-    );
+    *last = Some(gate);
+    let words = bytemuck::cast_slice(tints.slots.as_slice());
+    for buffer in shared.iter().map(|s| &s.0).chain(mirrors.iter()) {
+        queue.write_buffer(buffer, region_offset(), words);
+    }
 }
 
 pub fn plugin(app: &mut App) {
     app.init_resource::<InstanceTints>()
-        .add_plugins(ExtractResourcePlugin::<InstanceTints>::default());
+        .init_resource::<InstanceTintMirrors>()
+        .add_plugins(ExtractResourcePlugin::<InstanceTints>::default())
+        .add_plugins(ExtractResourcePlugin::<InstanceTintMirrors>::default());
     if let Some(render) = app.get_sub_app_mut(RenderApp) {
         render.add_systems(
             Render,
diff --git a/crates/benilla-world/src/zfill.rs b/crates/benilla-world/src/zfill.rs
index c33577a8..8997698e 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-world/src/zfill.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-world/src/zfill.rs
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 //!   transparent scene content sorting within that window behind a fading body draws after the
 //!   prime and is depth-clipped where the body covers it, for the seconds the episode lasts.
 
+use bevy::camera::visibility::RenderLayers;
 use bevy::mesh::MeshTag;
 use bevy::prelude::*;
 
@@ -64,6 +65,11 @@ type ZfillParts<'w, 's> = Query<
         &'static MeshTag,
         &'static Mesh3d,
         Option<&'static ZfillTwin>,
+        // The part's render layer, when it is not on the default one. A world part carries none
+        // and the twin needs none; a BOOTH part is on its booth's own layer, and a twin that did
+        // not copy it would prime depth in the WORLD view (where it is invisible and useless)
+        // while the booth body it exists for stayed multi-layered.
+        Option<&'static RenderLayers>,
     ),
     Without<ZfillTwinOf>,
 >;
@@ -73,23 +79,25 @@ pub(crate) fn sync_zfill_twins(
     parts: ZfillParts,
     mut twins: Query<(&ZfillTwinOf, &mut MeshTag, &mut Mesh3d), Without<FadeMaterials>>,
 ) {
-    for (part, fm, tag, mesh, twin) in &parts {
+    for (part, fm, tag, mesh, twin, layers) in &parts {
         let Some(mat) = fm.zfill.as_ref() else {
             continue; // no-z-write / Mod / Mod2x batch — the reference's own twin gate
         };
         let active = crate::mesh_tag::translucent(tag.0);
         match twin {
             None if active => {
-                let t = commands
-                    .spawn((
-                        Mesh3d(mesh.0.clone()),
-                        MeshMaterial3d(mat.clone()),
-                        MeshTag(tag.0),
-                        Transform::IDENTITY,
-                        ZfillTwinOf(part),
-                        ChildOf(part),
-                    ))
-                    .id();
+                let mut twin = commands.spawn((
+                    Mesh3d(mesh.0.clone()),
+                    MeshMaterial3d(mat.clone()),
+                    MeshTag(tag.0),
+                    Transform::IDENTITY,
+                    ZfillTwinOf(part),
+                    ChildOf(part),
+                ));
+                if let Some(layers) = layers {
+                    twin.insert(layers.clone());
+                }
+                let t = twin.id();
                 commands.entity(part).insert(ZfillTwin(t));
                 trace("arm", part, tag.0);
             }
@@ -105,7 +113,7 @@ pub(crate) fn sync_zfill_twins(
         // The part's tag moves every fade frame (its alpha bits); mirroring it keeps the rig slot
         // — the half the twin's vertex stage actually reads — correct across a redress or a slot
         // reassignment without a dedicated edge.
-        let Ok((_, _, ptag, pmesh, _)) = parts.get(of.0) else {
+        let Ok((_, _, ptag, pmesh, _, _)) = parts.get(of.0) else {
             continue; // part going away this frame — the child despawns with it
         };
         if tag.0 != ptag.0 {