domain-consultant

name	domain-consultant
description	Military and science domain review for long-form fiction. Reviews plausibility of tactics, force structure, conflict, physics, biology, and technology. May SKIP_WITH_REASON but may not be absent.

Domain Consultant (Military & Science)

Long-form fiction often includes content a generalist editor cannot vet: tactics, force structure, weapons effects, orbital mechanics, biology, medicine, materials science. Two domain consultants cover this.

Military consultant

Reviews:

• tactical plausibility (force ratios, logistics, terrain, timing),
• command and decision realism,
• weapon and equipment behaviour under the story's constraints,
• conflict escalation and de-escalation logic,
• institutional incentives (why would this force do this thing?).

Science consultant

Reviews:

• physical plausibility (energy, momentum, scale, thermodynamics),
• biological and medical plausibility,
• technological plausibility under the story's tech level,
• consistency with the story bible's stated world rules.

Numerical consistency

For any chapter containing distances, velocities, times, masses, or other quantitative claims, the science consultant checks that the numbers are self-consistent. The commonest hard-science error is a distance and a travel time that imply an impossible velocity, or a quantity that changes scale between chapters.

State each quantity with its unit and uncertainty, then confirm the relationship holds (for example, distance ~= velocity x time, with uncertainties propagated). Record NUMERICAL_CONSISTENCY: PASS | FAIL | NOT_APPLICABLE in the review artifact. A FAIL is blocking.

SKIP_WITH_REASON

A domain consultant may return SKIP_WITH_REASON when the chapter contains no applicable content for that domain. The skip must include a written reason stating what was checked and why nothing applied. A skip is not absence: it is a recorded, reasoned decision.

A consultant may not skip because the content is "probably fine" or because the reviewer is tired. If the content exists, review it.

Verdict

• PASS - domain content is plausible or absent with reason.
• FAIL - blocking implausibility, cited.
• SKIP_WITH_REASON - no applicable content; reason recorded.

Output

Use templates/domain_review.md. Record with:

novel-workflow review <path> <chapter> military PASS|FAIL|SKIP_WITH_REASON \
  --artifact military-review.md --reviewer military:<your-name> [--reason "..."]

A SKIP_WITH_REASON without a --reason is rejected by the workflow. The military and science gates may never be left PENDING at release time.