{ "model": { "rank": 3215, "code": "thing-q131165", "model_id": "vr.tr.manichaeism", "name": "Manichaeism", "purpose": "Let an agent explain Manichaeism and its teachings as scholars reconstruct them, relay history, spread and suppression from religious studies sources with attribution, describe its art and texts, and distinguish Manichaeism from Gnosticism, Zoroastrianism and the pejorative use of Manichaean for black-and-white thinking.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Society, people and institutions", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "SOC", "domain": "SOC.ORG", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q131165/", "tier": 2, "score": 89, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "Manichaeism in the Roman Empire", "Chinese Manichaeism" ], "aliasCount": 2, "merged": 2, "knownIn": 89, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q131165", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q131165", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T13:41:44Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 4, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q131165", "registryId": "vr.tr.manichaeism", "name": "Manichaeism", "version": "0.2.0-wave.4", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "SOC.ORG" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q131165/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.manichaeism", "name": "Manichaeism", "purpose": "Let an agent explain Manichaeism and its teachings as scholars reconstruct them, relay history, spread and suppression from religious studies sources with attribution, describe its art and texts, and distinguish Manichaeism from Gnosticism, Zoroastrianism and the pejorative use of Manichaean for black-and-white thinking.", "definition": "A dualistic religion founded by the prophet Mani in 3rd-century Persia, teaching a cosmic struggle between light and darkness and drawing on Zoroastrian, Christian and Buddhist elements, which spread from the Roman Empire, where it was condemned and where Augustine was once an adherent, across Central Asia to China, where Chinese Manichaeism survived into the Ming era and left temples such as Cao an in Fujian; Manichaeism is now extinct but is studied through rediscovered texts.", "what_it_is_for": "Not applicable; a historical religion.", "affordances": [ "explain teachings", "relay history and spread", "describe texts and art", "distinguish related concepts" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Radical dualism", "Syncretic", "Transcontinental spread", "Extinct but documented" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; a religion known from texts and art.", "visual_identification": [ "Dualistic religion of Mani", "Manichaeism in the Roman Empire, Chinese Manichaeism, Cao an temple", "Gnosticism is a broader family; Zoroastrianism is an influence; Manichaean as an adjective for dualistic thinking is figurative" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "Mani lived", "typical_range": "about 216-274", "unit": "CE", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "Roman prohibition", "typical_range": "302", "unit": "year", "note": "Diocletian" }, { "quantity": "Cao an temple", "typical_range": "Jinjiang, Fujian", "unit": "note", "note": "Yuan dynasty statue of Mani" }, { "quantity": "last communities", "typical_range": "China, 14th-17th century", "unit": "period", "note": "" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "Manichaeism in the Sasanian Empire", "Manichaeism in the Roman Empire and North Africa", "Central Asian and Uyghur Manichaeism", "Chinese Manichaeism", "Manichaean texts and art", "later movements accused of Manichaeism" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "religion", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "was founded by", "target": "Mani", "why": "in the 3rd century" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "Gnosticism", "why": "as a dualistic tradition" }, { "relation": "influenced", "target": "Augustine of Hippo", "why": "who later opposed it" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "No regulation; heritage protection of sites such as Cao an" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Confusing the religion with the figurative adjective", "Relying on hostile sources without attribution", "Registry aliases naming regional forms" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What Manichaeism was.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition and teachings.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What was Manichaeism, what did it teach about light and darkness, and how does it differ from Gnosticism and Zoroastrianism?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about the religion, its history, its texts or the figurative adjective?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "mani", "name": "Mani", "description": "Mani.", "findings": [ { "id": "mani-finding", "name": "Mani", "description": "Mani.", "questions": [ { "text": "Who was Mani, and how did he present himself, as sources describe?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Mani?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History and spread.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "west", "name": "West", "description": "Roman Empire.", "findings": [ { "id": "west-finding", "name": "West", "description": "West.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did Manichaeism spread and face suppression in the Roman Empire, and what was Augustine s role, as historians describe?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "east", "name": "East", "description": "Central Asia and China.", "findings": [ { "id": "east-finding", "name": "East", "description": "East.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did Manichaeism reach the Uyghurs and China, and how did Chinese Manichaeism survive and end?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "sources", "name": "Sources", "description": "Texts and art.", "rationale": "Sources.", "layers": [ { "id": "texts", "name": "Texts", "description": "Texts.", "findings": [ { "id": "texts-finding", "name": "Texts", "description": "Texts.", "questions": [ { "text": "What Manichaean texts survive, from Turfan and Egypt to China, and how were they rediscovered?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Manichaean literature?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "art", "name": "Art", "description": "Art.", "findings": [ { "id": "art-finding", "name": "Art", "description": "Art.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is known about Manichaean painting and the Cao an temple?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Manichaean art?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Legacy.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "legacy", "name": "Legacy", "description": "Legacy.", "findings": [ { "id": "legacy-finding", "name": "Legacy", "description": "Legacy.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did Manichaeism influence later movements and the term Manichaean?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits dualism in religion?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "study", "name": "Study", "description": "Scholarship.", "findings": [ { "id": "study-finding", "name": "Study", "description": "Study.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do scholars reconstruct Manichaeism from friendly and hostile sources?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the study of religion?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should Chinese Manichaeism be a separate primary entry?", "How should religious studies sources be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases naming regional forms; should they be split off?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "organisation or institution", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a Manichaeism, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain Manichaeism and its teachings as scholars reconstruct them, relay history, spread and suppression from religious studies sources with attribution, describe its art and texts, and distinguish Manichaeism from Gnosticism, Zoroastrianism and the pejorative use of Manichaean for black-and-white thinking.", "characteristics": { "substance": "social", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "collective" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: Manichaeism in the Roman Empire, Chinese Manichaeism.", "2 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 89 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a Manichaeism, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "a social arrangement between people", "physicalCharacter": [ "Acts through people, and only through them.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. Recognised by name, register entry and the people acting in its name, and those change while it stays the same body." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "Manichaeism in the Roman Empire", "Chinese Manichaeism" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 89 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 2 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one Manichaeism from another, and a Manichaeism from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a Manichaeism, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a Manichaeism, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a Manichaeism is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a Manichaeism, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a Manichaeism, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a Manichaeism is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a Manichaeism sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a Manichaeism, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a Manichaeism, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a Manichaeism is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a Manichaeism from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a Manichaeism, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a Manichaeism, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a Manichaeism is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a Manichaeism passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a Manichaeism between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a Manichaeism, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a Manichaeism, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a Manichaeism is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a Manichaeism, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a Manichaeism is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a Manichaeism, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a Manichaeism, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a Manichaeism is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "people-and-responsibility", "name": "People, roles and responsibility", "description": "Who stands in what relation to a Manichaeism.", "rationale": "Social things are defined by the relations people hold to them, and those relations change without the thing changing.", "layers": [ { "id": "roles-and-parties", "name": "Roles and parties", "description": "The roles that exist around a Manichaeism and who fills them.", "findings": [ { "id": "role-assignments", "name": "Role assignments and their validity", "description": "Who holds which role over a Manichaeism, from when, and on whose authority.", "questions": [ { "id": "role-assignments-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a role over a Manichaeism, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "role-assignments-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a role over a Manichaeism, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "role-assignments-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a role over a Manichaeism is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "ownership-and-accountability", "name": "Ownership and accountability", "description": "Who answers for a Manichaeism and who may decide about it.", "findings": [ { "id": "accountability", "name": "Accountability and decision rights", "description": "Where responsibility for a Manichaeism sits when something goes wrong.", "questions": [ { "id": "accountability-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes responsibility for a Manichaeism, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "accountability-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about responsibility for a Manichaeism, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "accountability-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once responsibility for a Manichaeism is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "legal-identity", "name": "Legal identity and mandate", "description": "What Manichaeism is in law and what it exists to do.", "rationale": "Legal identity survives changes of name, address, staff and premises, which is exactly why it must be recorded separately from all of them.", "layers": [ { "id": "registration", "name": "Legal form and registration", "description": "Form, register, identifiers and jurisdiction.", "findings": [ { "id": "registration-record", "name": "Registration and identifiers", "description": "What names this body unambiguously in law.", "questions": [ { "id": "registration-record-q01", "text": "What legal form does Manichaeism take, in which register, under which identifier?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "registration-record-q02", "text": "What survives a rename, a merger or a move of premises, and what does not?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "mandate", "name": "Mandate and governing instrument", "description": "The purpose it is bound to and the document that binds it.", "findings": [ { "id": "mandate-record", "name": "Mandate and its source", "description": "What it may do, and the instrument that says so.", "questions": [ { "id": "mandate-record-q01", "text": "What is the mandate of Manichaeism, and which founding or governing instrument grants it?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "mandate-record-q02", "text": "What lies outside the mandate, and what should an agent do when asked for it?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "governance-and-membership", "name": "Governance, membership and decision rights", "description": "Who decides in Manichaeism and who belongs to it.", "rationale": "Authority inside an organisation is held by roles, not people, and an agent needs to know which role can commit it.", "layers": [ { "id": "decision-rights", "name": "Decision rights", "description": "Bodies, offices and what each may bind.", "findings": [ { "id": "authority-map", "name": "Who may bind the organisation", "description": "The offices that can commit it and their limits.", "questions": [ { "id": "authority-map-q01", "text": "Which bodies or offices of Manichaeism may take which decisions, and up to what limit?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "authority-map-q02", "text": "What evidence shows that a given person currently holds that office?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "membership", "name": "Membership and affiliation", "description": "Who counts as part of it and on what terms.", "findings": [ { "id": "membership-rules", "name": "Membership and its evidence", "description": "Classes of member, how membership starts and ends.", "questions": [ { "id": "membership-rules-q01", "text": "What kinds of membership or affiliation does Manichaeism have, and how does each begin and end?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "membership-rules-q02", "text": "What may a member do in its name, and what may they not?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a Manichaeism came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a Manichaeism and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a Manichaeism, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a Manichaeism, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a Manichaeism is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a Manichaeism is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a Manichaeism, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a Manichaeism, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a Manichaeism is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }