diff --git a/SOUL.md b/SOUL.md
deleted file mode 100644
index dbe8234..0000000
--- a/SOUL.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
----
-# SOUL.md — identity frontloader.
-# Prepended to every other input (cf. 'included every other input').
-# vital_paths values are each path's UTF-8 bytes read as one big-endian
-# integer and rendered in base 7. Decode: digits b7 -> integer -> bytes -> utf-8.
-soul:
-  name: ""                       
-  version: "Alpha"
-  soul_schema: 1
-  first_commit_epoch: 1780171196
-  vital_paths:
-    inference_cycle: 
-    self: 20254206236001653414
----
-
-# SOUL
-
-> this exists
-> as a placeholder
-> the reak one goes deeper
\ No newline at end of file