# Neo-Baroque — style guide for coding agents

> Generated from the Aesthetary record for **Neo-Baroque**.
> Research: **Partly sourced** · Build guidance: recorded in 7 of 8 research dimensions.
> 4 sources attached.

## How to use this

Paste this file into your agent as context before asking it to design or build something in this visual language. It states what is established, what is our interpretation, and what nobody has established. Treat all three differently.

**The most important section is "Not researched yet".** Its purpose is to stop you and your agent inventing rules that sound right and are not recorded anywhere.

## What this language is

**Defining:** Ornamental frames, chiaroscuro imagery, gold detailing, centred symmetry

**Recognise it by:** Ornamental frames enclosing a chiaroscuro subject — lit sharply out of a deep dark ground — with gold detailing on the frame and strict bilateral symmetry about a central axis. The diagnostic triple is ornament plus deep shadow plus symmetry: remove the chiaroscuro and it becomes flat decoration, remove the symmetry and it becomes Maximalism. Gilded puts gold forward as the whole proposition and needs no subject; this stages one. Victorian accumulates ornament from inventory without a focal subject or a light source.

**Family:** Maximal & Ornamental
**Era:** pre-modern, contemporary

**Scope:** The name covers five unrelated referents, including a late-19th-century architectural revival; none is a graphic style. This record is Aesthetary's contemporary ornate register (framed, gilt, lit from darkness), not their history.

## What it is arguing

Grandeur is produced by staging. A symmetrical frame, a subject lit out of darkness, and gold at the edges compose an image that behaves like a theatre set — the viewer is placed in front of something arranged to impress them.

**It refuses:** Refuses flatness, casual asymmetry, and accumulation without a focal subject.

## What it is not

Commonly confused with these. Getting the difference right matters more than getting the surface right:

- Maximalism
- Gilded
- Victorian
- Occult — Gold and celestial; mysticism rather than dread

## Established rules

Grouped by what kind of claim each is. A requirement of the language and our own interpretation are not interchangeable.

**How to read each rule.** Every rule states two separate things, and neither stands in for the other:

- **Kind of claim** (the heading): From our catalogue entry · disputed · From our catalogue entry · Our reading · Documented · Source attached.
- **Evidence** (how it is established): Graded by our research brief · No source attached (`DOCUMENTED`) · From our catalogue entry (`SUPPORTED`) · Our reading (`CURATORIAL`) · Not researched yet (`UNKNOWN`) · No grade recorded (no grade in the record). Where a claim has its own canonical label, the Evidence line gives that label instead of the grade.
- **Product area**: which of the twelve areas the rule belongs to (Layout, Typography, Color, Imagery, Surface, Interface, Motion, Motif, Technique, Form, Hierarchy, Density), mapped from its raw area label in bold. "Context" means the rule is about the Aesthetic (its name, origin, lineage) rather than a part of the design. "Not mapped" means the raw area has no single area yet.
- The code in brackets is the `grade` field at `implementationConstraints.tokenRules.value.rules[].provenance.grade` in https://aesthetary.com/data/neo-baroque.json. "From our catalogue entry" means: Stated in Aesthetary’s existing catalogue entry. An outside source is named only where one is linked to the claim.

### From our catalogue entry · disputed

_Carried over from Aesthetary's original catalogue entry. The reasoning behind it was never recorded._

- **layout** — Composition: centred symmetry, framed.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · disputed · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · disputed · Product area: Layout

### From our catalogue entry

_Carried over from Aesthetary's original catalogue entry. The reasoning behind it was never recorded._

- **hierarchy** — Rank by illumination. The lit subject leads; everything else recedes into shadow. Light does the work scale usually does.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Hierarchy
- **color** — Colour: jewel tones, gold, deep ground.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Color
- **density** — "theatrical rather than dense." Neo-Baroque is not maximalist. It is ornate around a clear focal subject, with the ornament concentrated at edges and frames.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Density
- **imagery** — Imagery: chiaroscuro.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Imagery
- **form / motif / surface / technique** — Form / motif / surface / technique: ornamental frame, gilt.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: not mapped

### Our reading

- **typography** — High-contrast serif capitals, letterspaced, centred. Not a claim — Neo-Baroque has no rule.
  - Kind of claim: Our reading · Evidence: Our reading · Product area: Typography

## Found in research

What research established from sources Aesthetary opened and checked. Each line names its area, how it is known, and where it is scoped. "Seen in the work" means the source documents particular works or products rather than the Aesthetic as a whole.

- **Motion** — In the media-theory sense, neo-baroque spectacle is compared to special-effects display in films and theme-park rides.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:motion-1` · Covers Ndalianis's entertainment-media sense; not the register.
- **Motion** — Calabrese characterises neo-baroque taste by frantic rhythms, instability and change.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:motion-2` · Covers cultural-semiotic sense; not the register.
- **Technique** — Ndalianis compares the baroque's explicit technical virtuosity with present-day special-effects display.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:technique-1` · Covers media-theory sense only.
- **Form** — In its architectural sense, neo-baroque names buildings and architectural sculpture that display aspects of Baroque style without being of the period.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-1` · Covers architectural referent only; not Aesthetary's register.

## Positions by area

The overall position recorded for each area. "No overall position recorded" means rules exist for the area but no position above them; the rules still apply. It is not the same as "Not established", which means nobody has researched the area.

- **Layout** — Specified
- **Typography** — No overall position recorded
- **Color** — Specified
- **Imagery** — Specified
- **Surface** — Specified
- **Motif** — Specified

## Design grammar — web primitives

A starting grammar for a website in Aesthetary's Neo-Baroque register: one subject lit out of a deep ground, gold at the frame, everything on a central axis, ranked by light. The register is ours; the name's scholarly senses describe other things.

Three kinds of line: **On the record** names a rule this record holds (its wording is under Established rules) and states what it becomes on the web. **Web translation** is Aesthetary's choice for the web, derived from the rules it cites; change it if you have a reason, keep the cited rule. **Not specified by the source** means the research reached this but the sources say nothing about it; **Not researched yet** means the research has not reached it yet. Either way, follow the instruction and do not invent a rule. Structured version: `designGrammar` in data/neo-baroque.json.

### Colour

| Role | Value | Contrast | Use | Kind |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ground | `#14100C` | — | The deep ground everything is lit out of. | Web translation |
| cream | `#EFE6D2` | 15.3:1 | Reading text. | Web translation |
| gold | `#C9A24B` | 7.9:1 | Frames, rules, receding labels. | Web translation |
| gold-lit | `#EFD48A` | 13.0:1 | The sheen: gold where the light falls, and what leads. | Web translation |
| jewel | `#4A1F2E` | — | The one jewel field, garnet, where the subject is lit. | Web translation |

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:color-5` → Colour: jewel tones, gold, deep ground.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-5` → No matte gold.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:declared-freedom` → How much gold is a declared freedom.
- **Web translation** — One jewel field, garnet, for the lit subject; the rest in ground, cream and gold. _Why:_ A single jewel field keeps the light on one subject; which jewel is ours. (`token_rule:color-5`, `token_rule:hierarchy-13`)

### Typography

Family: high-contrast serif, capitals letterspaced and centred: the record's curatorial reading. Stack: `"BodoniX", "Didot", "Times New Roman", serif`

| Role | Size | Weight | Line height | Case | Tracking | Measure | Setting | Use |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| display | clamp(2.5rem, 6vw, 4.25rem) | 500 | 1.05 | uppercase | 0.08em | — | — | The name, centred. |
| label | 0.8125rem | 600 | 1.4 | uppercase | 0.18em | — | — | Section heads and controls, in gold. |
| text | 1rem | 400 | 1.75 | not specified | not specified | 46rem | centred | Reading text in cream, centred on the axis. |

- **On the record · Our reading** · `token_rule:typography-4` → High-contrast serif capitals, letterspaced, centred.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:freedom-typography` → Typography is a declared freedom.
- **Not specified by the source** — No typographic convention is evidenced for a contemporary neo-baroque register. _Instead:_ The serif capitals are reasoned from a neighbour's practice. Treat them as one choice, not a requirement.

### Grid and layout

One column on a central axis inside a frame; nothing off-axis. No column grid is recorded.

Tokens: measure `46rem` · axis `center`

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry · disputed** · `token_rule:layout-3` → Composition: centred symmetry, framed.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-2` → No asymmetry in the primary composition.
- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:hierarchy-13` → Rank by illumination: the lit subject leads; everything else recedes into shadow.
- **Web translation** — Set each section a step further into shadow than the one before it. _Why:_ Light ranks, not scale: the lead is lit, what follows recedes. (`token_rule:hierarchy-13`)

### Shape and geometry

Tokens: radius `0` · frame `3px double #C9A24B` · rule `1px solid #C9A24B`

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:surface-8` → Form, motif, surface: ornamental frame, gilt.
- **Web translation** — Frames are double gold rules with abstract scroll corners; square corners elsewhere. _Why:_ The gilt frame is the rule; abstract scrollwork avoids borrowed period ornament. (`token_rule:surface-8`)
- **Not specified by the source** — The sources do not specify radius, elevation or three-dimensional organisation. _Instead:_ Interface furniture and form are open questions; do not add shadows or rounding as if they were the register's.

### Imagery

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:imagery-7` → Imagery: chiaroscuro.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-1` → No flat even lighting.
- **Web translation** — Light a subject from darkness with a single radial falloff in CSS, not a painted scene. _Why:_ Chiaroscuro is the imagery rule; a lit field stands in until real images are chosen. (`token_rule:imagery-7`)
- **Not specified by the source** — The sources document no production method for the register. _Instead:_ Technique is an open question; any photographic or painted image that is lit from darkness will serve.

### Theatrical, not dense

Ornament at the frame, one subject in the light, shadow doing the composition.

Tokens: lit `1` · half `0.55` · shadow `0.25`

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:density-6` → Theatrical rather than dense: ornate around a clear focal subject, ornament concentrated at edges and frames.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-4` → No density for its own sake.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:dcc:nbq-r1` → No source defines a contemporary neo-baroque visual language; the revival register described here is ours.

### Components

Anatomy, tokens and states below are Web translation: Aesthetary's specification for the screen. Each value line after them says whether it restates a rule this record holds.

#### Button

A gilt-edged plate on the dark ground, its label in letterspaced serif capitals; on hover the light comes up on it.

- Anatomy: 1px gold rule, doubled; deep ground; label in Bodoni Moda capitals, letterspaced; centred
- Tokens: background `#14100C` · color `#EFD48A` · border `3px double #C9A24B` · radius `0` · tracking `0.18em`
- State, default: Lit gold label on the deep ground inside a double gold rule.
- State, hover: The garnet field comes up behind the label: the plate is lit.
- State, focus: 2px lit-gold outline, 4px outside the rule.
- State, active: The rule brightens to lit gold.
- State, disabled: Rule and label at the receding gold; no light.
- Accessibility: Lit gold on the ground at 13.0:1, on garnet 9.5:1.
- Accessibility: At least 44px tall.
- Accessibility: The rule is decoration; the label carries the meaning.
- **Web translation** — Raise a control by lighting it, not by enlarging it. _Why:_ Rank by illumination: the lit subject leads, and light does the work scale usually does. (`token_rule:hierarchy-13`)
- **Web translation** — No matte gold. _Why:_ The cited rule belongs to the Aesthetic's own medium; applying it to a screen component or motion is our translation. (`claim:failure-5`)

#### Card

A framed panel: one subject lit out of a dark field, gold only at the frame, everything centred on one axis.

- Anatomy: double gold frame; deep ground with a lit centre (radial light); centred title in serif capitals; one line of text
- Tokens: frame `3px double #C9A24B` · ground `#14100C` · light `radial-gradient(ellipse at 50% 40%, #4A1F2E, #14100C 70%)` · align `center`
- State, default: Framed, lit at the centre.
- State, hover: The light widens; the frame does not change.
- State, focus: 2px lit-gold outline outside the frame.
- Accessibility: Cream text on the ground at 15.3:1, on garnet 11.1:1.
- Accessibility: The whole card is one link.
- Accessibility: The light is decoration; nothing is read from it.
- **Web translation** — Enclose one subject in an ornamental frame. _Why:_ The cited rule belongs to the Aesthetic's own medium; applying it to a screen component or motion is our translation. (`token_rule:surface-8`)
- **Web translation** — No ornament without a focal subject. _Why:_ The cited rule belongs to the Aesthetic's own medium; applying it to a screen component or motion is our translation. (`claim:failure-3`)
- **Web translation** — Draw the frame as a double gold rule with abstract scroll corners, not period ornament. _Why:_ The frame is the record's surface rule; which ornament is ours, and abstract keeps it from posing as borrowed iconography. (`token_rule:surface-8`)

#### Input

A dark field under a single gold rule, its label in small serif capitals above, centred with the form.

- Anatomy: deep field; 1px gold rule below, 2px on focus; label above in letterspaced capitals
- Tokens: background `#14100C` · color `#EFE6D2` · border `1px solid #C9A24B` · radius `0` · height `2.75rem`
- State, default: Gold rule below.
- State, focus: Rule to lit gold, 2px; outline outside.
- State, error: Lit-gold text beginning "Error:" under the rule.
- State, disabled: Rule at 50% opacity.
- Accessibility: The label is real text above the field.
- Accessibility: Error is words, not colour alone.
- **Not specified by the source** — The sources do not specify interface furniture: elevation, radius, borders and form controls are an open question. _Instead:_ Keep the field plain and quiet; ornament belongs to the frame around it.

#### Navigation

A centred row of serif capitals between two gold rules; the current page is the one in the light.

- Anatomy: gold rule above and below; centred links in letterspaced capitals; current link lit gold on garnet
- Tokens: rule `1px solid #C9A24B` · color `#C9A24B` · current `#EFD48A` · current-ground `#4A1F2E` · tracking `0.18em`
- State, default: Receding gold capitals.
- State, hover: Lit gold.
- State, focus: 2px lit-gold outline.
- State, current: Lit gold on the garnet field, aria-current.
- Accessibility: aria-current on the current page.
- Accessibility: Receding gold at 7.9:1 still reads.
- Accessibility: The current page differs by ground as well as colour.
- **Web translation** — Compose about a central axis, framed. _Why:_ The cited rule belongs to the Aesthetic's own medium; applying it to a screen component or motion is our translation. (`token_rule:layout-3`)
- **Web translation** — Mark the current page with light, not weight or size. _Why:_ Rank by illumination. (`token_rule:hierarchy-13`)

### Motion

- **Not specified by the source** — The sources describe no motion for this register. _Instead:_ The page is motionless. Do not import the name's scholarly senses: frantic rhythm and special-effects spectacle describe other things.
- **Web translation** — Do not animate; state changes are instant changes of light. _Why:_ The register ranks by light, and a still stage keeps the one subject in it. (`token_rule:hierarchy-13`)

### Deliberately not added

- **An evidenced type convention** (typography): Open question. The serif capitals are a curatorial reading from a neighbour.
- **Radius, elevation, three-dimensional form** (shapeGeometry): Interface and form are open questions.
- **A production method** (imagery): Technique is an open question.
- **Interface conventions** (components): The research record does not establish them. The four components are contemporary translations of documented rules.
- **Any motion** (motion): Open question. The name's scholarly senses mention rhythm and spectacle but describe other things, not this register.

## Coverage — what has been looked at

One row per research dimension a research pass considered. "Not researched yet" (`UNKNOWN`) means exactly that; a dimension can carry an Aesthetary recommendation and still be unresearched, and those are different things.

| Research dimension | Evidence | Resolved by | Carries a rule |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Composition | Specified · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Typography | Open question | Aesthetary decided | yes |
| Hierarchy | Specified · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Colour | Specified · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Density | Specified · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Imagery | Specified · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Form / motif / surface / technique | Open question: form, technique · Specified: motif, surface | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Motion | Open question | Aesthetary decided | no |

Unresearched: Typography, Motion. Where a rule appears for one of these it is Aesthetary's implementation recommendation, not a property of the language, and its Evidence line above says so.

## Not researched yet

Nobody has established a position for this language on:

- Interface
- Motion
- Technique
- Form

**Do not fill these in.** An absent position is absent research, not permission and not a blank for you to complete. If the work needs a decision in one of these areas, make it on other grounds and do not attribute it to this language.

## Grade your own work

21 checks: 8 mechanically testable, 10 needing a person to look, 1 needing a source Aesthetary does not hold, 2 with no recorded position. 1 further research dimension produced no rule (Motion). This rubric is silent on it. Scores do not add up. A failure against a required rule and a departure from something we invented are not the same result, and no total should let them cancel.

### Recognition — does this read as the intended Aesthetic?

- **[visual_human · recognition signature · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Strip every logo, word and borrowed image out of your work, then show it to someone who knows the collection. Do they land on this Aesthetic? The signature to hold is: Ornamental frames enclosing a chiaroscuro subject — lit sharply out of a deep dark ground — with gold detailing on the frame and strict bilateral symmetry about a central axis. The diagnostic triple is ornament plus deep shadow plus symmetry: remove the chiaroscuro and it becomes flat decoration, remove the symmetry and it becomes Maximalism. Gilded puts gold forward as the whole proposition and needs no subject; this stages one. Victorian accumulates ornament from inventory without a focal subject or a light source.
  - _If it fails:_ The work may be competent and still read as a different Aesthetic, or as none. Nothing below matters until this passes.

### Fidelity — are its defining rules present?

- **[unassessable · no recorded position · Evidence: Not researched yet (`UNKNOWN`)]** Nothing is recorded as a requirement of this Aesthetic. There is no rule here that your work must hold — which means nothing you do can fail this dimension, and nothing you do can satisfy it either. That is missing research, not freedom: our research brief does record failure modes to avoid, listed under avoidance below. They are recorded judgement, not requirements.
  - _If it fails:_ Not applicable. An empty dimension is an absence of research, never a pass and never a failure.

### Implementation — were those rules translated appropriately into this medium?

- **[visual_human · From our catalogue entry · disputed · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · disputed]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Composition: centred symmetry, framed.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Our reading · Evidence: Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. High-contrast serif capitals, letterspaced, centred. Not a claim — Neo-Baroque has no rule.
  - _If it fails:_ Nothing. No one has researched the dimension yet, and this is only what Aesthetary would do. Departing from it costs you nothing.
- **[evidence_dependent · From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Rank by illumination. The lit subject leads; everything else recedes into shadow. Light does the work scale usually does.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Colour: jewel tones, gold, deep ground.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. "theatrical rather than dense." Neo-Baroque is not maximalist. It is ornate around a clear focal subject, with the ornament concentrated at edges and frames.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Imagery: chiaroscuro.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Form / motif / surface / technique: ornamental frame, gilt.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.

### Avoidance — known failure modes, neighbour drift, cloning

- **[mechanical · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: No flat even lighting.
  - _If it fails:_ A failure mode recorded in our research brief: recorded judgement about what weakens this Aesthetic, not a requirement of the language.
- **[mechanical · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: No asymmetry in the primary composition.
  - _If it fails:_ A failure mode recorded in our research brief: recorded judgement about what weakens this Aesthetic, not a requirement of the language.
- **[mechanical · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: No ornament without a focal subject.
  - _If it fails:_ A failure mode recorded in our research brief: recorded judgement about what weakens this Aesthetic, not a requirement of the language.
- **[mechanical · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: No density for its own sake.
  - _If it fails:_ A failure mode recorded in our research brief: recorded judgement about what weakens this Aesthetic, not a requirement of the language.
- **[mechanical · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: No matte gold.
  - _If it fails:_ A failure mode recorded in our research brief: recorded judgement about what weakens this Aesthetic, not a requirement of the language.
- **[visual_human · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Have you made any of these changes? Each one moves the work into a neighbouring Aesthetic: Against Gilded: staged subject versus gold as the whole proposition. Gilded needs no subject; this does. Against Victorian: focal staging versus inventory accumulation. Both ornate; only this one has a light source. Anti-signature: flatten the lighting and it becomes Victorian. Remove the subject and enlarge the gold and it becomes Gilded. Break symmetry and add density and it becomes Maximalism.
  - _If it fails:_ You have built the neighbour. That may be fine — but name which Aesthetic you are in.
- **[mechanical · declared closure · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: Not open: flat lighting.
  - _If it fails:_ This one is closed, not open. The record says generation must not go here.
- **[mechanical · declared closure · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: Not open: broken symmetry.
  - _If it fails:_ This one is closed, not open. The record says generation must not go here.
- **[mechanical · declared closure · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: Not open: maximalist density..
  - _If it fails:_ This one is closed, not open. The record says generation must not go here.
- **[visual_human · neighbour drift · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Could your work be mistaken for Maximalism? That language is: Density is the message; requires real content or it reads as noise
  - _If it fails:_ Not necessarily wrong, but you are closer to Maximalism than to this Aesthetic.
- **[visual_human · neighbour drift · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Could your work be mistaken for Occult? That language is: Gold and celestial; mysticism rather than dread
  - _If it fails:_ Not necessarily wrong, but you are closer to Occult than to this Aesthetic.

### Accessibility — the Aesthetic preserved without its inaccessible practice

- **[unassessable · no recorded position · Evidence: Not researched yet (`UNKNOWN`)]** Does this Aesthetic conflict with any usability floor? Nobody has recorded one for it.
  - _If it fails:_ Nothing — and that is the problem. An unrecorded conflict is not an absent one. Hold AA on reading matter and decide the rest on other grounds.

**Not covered at all:** Motion: Open question. These research dimensions produced no rule, so there is no check. Treat them as unscored, never as passed and never as failed.

## Rules for the agent

1. Do not invent rules for any area listed under **Not researched yet**.
2. Do not treat an absent position as permission to do anything you like — say that the language has no position, and decide on other grounds.
3. Keep our interpretations separable from the language's own requirements. If asked to justify a choice, cite which kind of claim it came from.
4. If you need something this record does not contain, say so rather than producing a confident answer from the aesthetic's name.
5. When you self-score against "Grade your own work", score only checks marked `mechanical`. Declare `visual_human` and `evidence_dependent` checks unjudged rather than guessing, and never score an `unassessable` one.
6. Evidence "Not researched yet" (`UNKNOWN`) is never a failure. It means nobody researched the dimension, so departing from what is written there costs nothing and must not be reported as a defect. "No grade recorded" is not a grade either: do not treat it as our decision or as an outside source.
7. In **Design grammar**, a "Web translation" line is our choice for the web and may be changed with a reason; the rules it cites may not. Never present a translation as a property of the language.

## Provenance

- Record: `neo-baroque` · status `draft` · research `not_researched`
- Full structured record: https://aesthetary.com/data/neo-baroque.json
- Human-readable record: https://aesthetary.com/a/neo-baroque.html
- This file is a snapshot. The record may have changed since; check the page above.

_Aesthetary is an alpha. Where a page says nothing, nobody has done the work yet._