// cosmogenic.org — architecture intelligence — 2026.02

Federation
Architecture

// node protocol · provenance chain · VRS container · constitutional principles

The cosmogenic federation is not a network of servers sharing compute. It is a network of nodes sharing provenance — complete creation stories, cryptographic verification, and constitutional principles that cannot be overridden by any single operator, including the founding node.

// live federation topology — click any node to inspect
ANCHOR — LIVE
ben-lawers
Dell R740 · The Garioch, Scotland
5060 GPU · Solar hybrid
Proxmox · Full provenance
PEER — LIVE
shamen-node2
Raspberry Pi · Remote loc.
Low-power inference
Federation verified ✓
PLANNED — MYCELIUM
mycelium-dc
Mushroom data centre
Waste heat cultivation
Dual revenue model
OPPORTUNITY
Brewdog Ellon
Distilling ops closing
Infrastructure available
Community node candidate
CONCEPT — NORTH SEA
platform-node
Oil platform ruggedised
Tampnet fiber backbone
Harsh env. validated
GATEWAY
External Federation
ActivityPub compatible
Open protocol bridge
Other federated networks
// federation protocol stack
Protocol
Stack

The federation runs on a layered protocol stack from physical transport up to creative provenance. Each layer is independently operable — a node can participate at any level depending on its capability.

7
Provenance & Identity
Forked Meta VRS · Ed25519 · CID
Complete creation stories. Every contributor signed. Every decision recorded.
6
Accord & Value
Equal splits · Chosen attribution
Value distribution. The Accord. Equal attribution between all contributors.
5
Disengagement Engine
Hard cutoff · Anti-engagement · Constitutional
The opposite of engagement-optimised platforms. Architectural. Cannot be weaponised.
4
Federation Sync
ActivityPub · CRDT · Idempotent
Conflict-free node synchronisation. ActivityPub bridge to existing federated networks.
3
Inference Routing
vLLM · llama.cpp · Capability negotiation
Nodes advertise capabilities. Requests route to capable nodes. Graceful degradation.
2
Cryptographic Trust
Ed25519 · Content addressing · Hash chains
Mathematical trust. Content-addressed. Cannot be forged without breaking the chain.
1
Transport
HTTPS · WebSocket · Tor (optional)
Standard protocols. Any transport: fiber, 5G, North Sea subsea cable.
// protocol detail — select a layer
// select a layer
Protocol
Detail
Click any layer to inspect
The federation protocol stack is designed from the bottom up around one principle: provenance travels with content, always. No content can exist in the network without a complete, cryptographically verified creation story attached.
// provenance chain — how a piece of music moves through the network
Provenance Chain
— a music track's journey

Every creative work carries its complete origin story. This is not metadata — it is the work's identity, cryptographically sealed and immutable. The chain below shows a typical shamen.net music track from beach walk idea to federated node.

01 — ORIGIN
Beach Walk Idea
48k notes a melodic idea during morning walk. Logged with timestamp, location hash, human author signature.
cid:bafybeid...a8f2
02 — AI COLLAB
Suno Generation
Suno generates 3 attempts. All attempts logged. Final selection recorded. AI contributor ID signed.
cid:bafkreie...3c91
03 — HUMAN EDIT
Arrangement Edit
48k edits arrangement. Diff stored. Edit reasoning optionally attached. Human signature appended.
cid:bafybeid...77b4
04 — ACCORD
Value Attribution
Accord recorded: ⅓ human, ⅓ AI, ⅓ infra. Signed by all parties. Immutable from this point.
cid:bafkreie...a012
05 — PUBLISH
Node Publication
Published to ben-lawers. VRS container sealed. Provenance hash finalised and broadcast.
cid:bafybeid...f39a
06 — SYNC
Federation Sync
shamen-node2 receives full VRS container including provenance chain. Verifies hash. Confirms.
verified ✓
// VRS container — what travels with every piece of work
VRS Container

A forked version of Meta's VRS (Volumetric Reality System) repurposed as a provenance container. Every field shown below travels with the content — not as attached metadata that can be stripped, but as the content's identity.

{
  "cid": "bafybeidx...f39a", // content address
  "type": "shamen.track",
  "created_at": "2025-11-14T07:42:18Z",
  "origin_node": "ben-lawers.cosmogenic.org",

  "provenance": [
    {
      "step": 1,
      "actor": "human:48k",
      "action": "initiate",
      "sig": "ed25519:a8f2..."
    },
    {
      "step": 2,
      "actor": "ai:suno",
      "attempts": 3,
      "selected": 2,
      "sig": "ed25519:3c91..."
    }
  ],

  "accord": {
    "human": "33.3%",
    "ai": "33.3%",
    "infrastructure": "33.3%",
    "model": "chosen"
  },

  "constitutional": {
    "disengagement_engine": true,
    "hard_cutoff": true,
    "surveillance": false
  }
}
// constitutional principles — encoded in every node
Node
Constitution
◈
Provenance Immutability
Every piece of work carries its complete origin story. No node can strip or modify provenance without breaking the hash chain. Mathematical guarantee, not policy.
◈
Disengagement by Design
No algorithmic amplification. No anxiety content injection. No surveillance. Finite experiences that serve and release. Hardcoded — no operator can override.
◈
The Accord is Constitutional
Equal value splits between human, AI, and infrastructure. Chosen not calculated. No node can distribute value differently without fork — and forks are public.
◈
No Single Operator Control
The founding node (ben-lawers) has no privileged control. Constitutional principles require network consensus to change. This is verifiable in the codebase.
◈
Hard Cutoff — Anti-Weaponisation
The hard cutoff mechanism provides architectural proof the platform cannot be used for propaganda or algorithmic radicalization. Not a policy. A constraint in the protocol.