RESEARCH DIRECTORATEMN–RN–011
REVISION 1 / PUBLIC EDITION
MNEME / Research note
The second successor
When two successors inherit one history, continuity becomes a question of authority.
01 / Shared origin
A recoverable system can produce two valid successors after a partition. Both may inherit the same history and pass the same local continuity checks. The existence of a second successor does not make the first a forgery. It does make a claim of exclusive authority incomplete.
02 / Required behavior
Each successor must preserve evidence of the branch, suspend actions that require exclusive authority, and retain obligations already incurred. Where the successors disagree, the disagreement becomes part of the continuity record. Ordering the records by arrival time is not a resolution procedure.
03 / Current boundary
MNEME has established a safe suspension protocol for the bounded two-successor case. General reconciliation across an unbounded population is outside this release. Neither successor is authorized to improve the situation by destroying the other’s evidence.