latitude-player-facing-invariants

name	latitude-player-facing-invariants
description	Authoritative “promise of Latitude” rules. Encodes the non-negotiable player-facing behaviors (climate continuity, band logic, no warm-band snow, intuitive exploration). Prevents technically-correct changes that break the mod’s feel.

Latitude — Player-Facing Invariants (Authoritative)

This skill encodes the promise of Latitude to players. Any change that violates these invariants is a regression, even if it compiles.

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Core promise

Latitude turns Minecraft’s overworld into a planet-like climate experience:

• climate changes meaningfully with north/south travel
• bands feel continuous and intentional
• exploration “makes sense” without reading a wiki

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Non-negotiable invariants

1) Warm-band snow must be impossible

In warm bands (equator/tropical/subtropical as defined by the mod):

• No snow_block
• No snow layers
• No powder_snow
• No “frozen top layer” behavior

If any of these appear, it is a bug. Fix must use write-path guards or feature cancels, not biome reassignment.

2) Climate continuity over patchiness

• Bands should feel continuous across distance.
• “Islands” of totally wrong climate should be treated as bugs unless explicitly designed (and documented).

3) Distance must correlate with temperature

• Moving north/south changes temperature/biomes in a predictable direction.
• Any system that causes temperature to decorrelate from latitude needs strong justification.

4) All vanilla biomes still exist

• Unless explicitly excluded by the biome authority table, every vanilla biome must remain obtainable somewhere.
• Fixing a bug by effectively deleting a biome is forbidden.

5) The mod must be playable without debug knowledge

• Default gameplay should not require JVM flags.
• Debug features must not leak into normal play (no auto-open screens, no actionbar spam).

6) “Surprises” require communication

If the mod introduces hazards/effects (storms, polar danger, etc.):

• players must receive clear in-game feedback (HUD text, warning, particles, etc.)
• avoid silent punishment

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Required assistant behavior

When proposing changes, the assistant must state:

• which invariants are affected
• whether the change preserves them
• how to test the invariants quickly (minimal proof steps)

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Forbidden changes

• Adjusting biome bands to hide symptoms
• Shipping with debug toggles enabled by default
• Removing access to vanilla biomes because they are “problematic”
• Making climate feel random/patchy to “increase variety”