Phase 21B.2 - Story Intelligence Experience Composition Refinement

Purpose

Phase 21B.2 refines the development-only Story Intelligence Experience prototype so the Living Story View reads as one connected narrative map rather than separate character, location and asset regions.

This phase remains visual-only. It does not connect real Story Intelligence data, add SignalR, alter the import workflow, expose production navigation, create SQL, or modify the database.

Composition Changes

The central map container border and background were greatly softened.
Characters, the active location and significant assets now share a single visual canvas.
The scene title was reduced so the map has more vertical room.
Category labels remain only as faint positional guides.
The background now carries a subtler star/network texture behind the entities.

Circular Location

The active location is now rendered as a circular node with the same broad visual language as character and asset nodes:

Circular image mask
Soft illuminated border
Location name and secondary description below the node
Stable data-location-id connection target

The existing prototype SVG location artwork is still used and masked with object-fit: cover, so future curated images can replace it without changing the layout contract.

Circular Assets

Assets in the main Living Story View now render as circular image-first nodes:

Circular image/avatar
Label and state text underneath
Size influenced by simulated narrative weight
Stable data-asset-id connection targets

The compact discovery feed indicators were left unchanged because they serve a different scanning purpose in the left panel.

Connection Lines

The SVG connection layer now draws multiple current-scene connection categories:

Character relationship
Character present at location
Asset found at location
Character knowledge or evidence connection to assets
Asset-to-asset supporting evidence link

Connections use curved paths and category-specific styling. Supportive, uncertain, conflict, presence, evidence and knowledge lines are distinguishable by colour and line style rather than colour alone.

Inline Relationship Labels

The central map now renders one or two inline relationship labels per scene on selected character-to-character connections. These labels summarize the active relationship state, while the right-hand Relationship Changes panel continues to show the latest detected changes.

Examples include:

trust strengthened
tension increasing
family
questions
motive exposed

Analysis Stage Progress

A compact analysis-stage rail was added to the header. It advances with simulated scene state and uses live-analysis stage labels:

Reading
Chapters
Scenes
Content
Characters
Locations
Assets
Relationships
Knowledge
Continuity
Finalising

The real Story Intelligence pipeline classes were inspected, but not changed. This rail is prototype-only and maps the existing simulated scene stage and progressPercent values onto a compact display.

Responsive Behaviour

The main desktop target remains 1920 x 1080 through 1366 x 768. At narrower widths the stage rail can scroll horizontally and the existing stacked layout is retained. Full mobile optimisation remains deferred.

Limitations

The map positions are still authored prototype positions, not graph-solved layout.
SVG connection labels are intentionally sparse to avoid turning the experience into a dense generic graph.
Location and asset artwork is still prototype SVG artwork, not final curated imagery.
No historical replay/event store exists yet.

Deferred

Real data binding
Durable Story Intelligence snapshot contract
Production route/navigation
Final image library
Mobile-specific composition pass
Phase 21C real-data integration

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