diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 11f6b9a..49de6a7 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -44,9 +44,15 @@ See [Verse Service Contract](./docs/verse-service-contract.md) for the daemon
 contract: Weksa owns typed conversational intent, pronunciation plans, utterance
 handoffs, and the Eve/CultMesh surfaces that make those documents inspectable.
 
-See [Flavored English Lowering](./docs/flavored-english-lowering.md) for the
-first lowering target: interlingua projected through agent state into English
-dialogue.
+See [Multilingual Utterance Lowering](./docs/multilingual-utterance-lowering.md)
+for the shared lowering target: interlingua projected through speaker state into
+English, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, and later target-language dialogue.
+[Flavored English Lowering](./docs/flavored-english-lowering.md) remains the
+target-specific English receipt.
+
+See [Target-Language Cultural Ontology Profiles](./data/target-language-ontology/README.md)
+for the reviewable address, register, politeness, idiom, metaphor, and script
+distinctions that target lowerers must inspect before producing output.
 
 For the first AquaSynth speech-training handoff, see
 [Tiny PanPhon v0.1 Speech Curriculum](./examples/speech-training/tiny-panphon-v0.1/README.md).
diff --git a/data/target-language-ontology/README.md b/data/target-language-ontology/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4ae5de7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/target-language-ontology/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Target-Language Cultural Ontology Profiles
+
+These profiles describe culturally loaded realization choices for human target
+languages used by Weksa utterance lowering.
+
+They are not whole-culture summaries. They are bounded lowering profiles: the
+distinctions a target lowerer must inspect before producing dialogue.
+
+## Authority
+
+Target-language cultural ontology profiles own:
+
+- address and politeness distinctions
+- register and social stance pressures
+- agency, responsibility, and directness defaults
+- idiom and metaphor risks
+- script or orthographic choices that carry meaning
+- forbidden flattenings that would make the output dishonest
+
+They do not own:
+
+- source meaning
+- speaker-private state
+- target-language grammar as a whole
+- national or cultural stereotypes
+- final wording without an interlingua packet
+
+## Current Profiles
+
+- [English, US fixture default](./en-US.yaml)
+- [Brazilian Portuguese](./pt-BR.yaml)
+- [Brazilian Portuguese overlay catalog](./pt-BR-overlays.yaml)
+- [Brazilian Portuguese, Umbanda overlay](./pt-BR-umbanda.yaml)
+- [Japanese](./ja-JP.yaml)
+
+Each multilingual lowering fixture should cite the profile or profile stack it
+used so reviewers can tell which social and cultural distinctions were
+considered. Regional and religious-cultural options are overlays on a base
+language profile, not replacements for source meaning.
diff --git a/data/target-language-ontology/en-US.yaml b/data/target-language-ontology/en-US.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e9b98c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/target-language-ontology/en-US.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+profile_id: weksa.target_cultural_ontology.en-US.v0
+language:
+  code: en
+  locale: en-US
+  script: Latn
+scope: >
+  Bounded English dialogue lowering profile for current Weksa fixtures. This is
+  not a claim about all English-speaking cultures.
+authority:
+  owns:
+    - address directness choices
+    - casual versus formal register
+    - technical metaphor legibility
+    - understatement or sarcasm risk
+  does_not_own:
+    - source meaning
+    - speaker identity
+    - whole-culture description
+salience_axes:
+  address:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - direct second person is acceptable when scene context names the addressee
+      - imperative force can be softened or sharpened through wording
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Does direct address preserve the speech act?
+      - Does softening erase urgency?
+  register:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - casual
+      - technical
+      - formal
+      - intimate
+      - institutional
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Is technical language character pressure or exposition sludge?
+      - Does sarcasm obscure the actual warning?
+  agency:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - explicit agent responsibility is usually available
+      - passive phrasing can hide authority or blame
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Should the speaker own the intervention directly?
+      - Does the line preserve who is at risk?
+forbidden_flattenings:
+  - Do not treat English as the neutral source for other target languages.
+  - Do not use generic assistant politeness when a character voice is required.
+  - Do not let sarcasm replace the actual predicate being lowered.
diff --git a/data/target-language-ontology/ja-JP.yaml b/data/target-language-ontology/ja-JP.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aa23492
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/target-language-ontology/ja-JP.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+profile_id: weksa.target_cultural_ontology.ja-JP.v0
+language:
+  code: ja
+  locale: ja-JP
+  script: Jpan
+scope: >
+  Bounded Japanese dialogue lowering profile for Weksa fixtures. This profile
+  records realization distinctions that must be inspected; it is not a total
+  description of Japanese culture.
+authority:
+  owns:
+    - politeness and honorific pressure
+    - in-group/out-group stance when context supplies it
+    - subject and object omission choices
+    - script mix and technical register
+    - sentence-final force
+  does_not_own:
+    - source meaning
+    - character identity
+    - exhaustive Japanese grammar
+salience_axes:
+  politeness:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - plain
+      - polite
+      - honorific
+      - humble
+      - rough
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Does politeness preserve the relationship, or does it lie about it?
+      - Is roughness character-specific or generic stylization?
+  social_position:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - uchi_soto_pressure
+      - hierarchy
+      - familiarity
+      - emergency_override
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Does urgency override ordinary deference?
+      - Does the line imply a relationship the scene has not earned?
+  ellipsis:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - subject omission
+      - object omission
+      - explicit pronoun for emphasis or contrast
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Is the addressee recoverable without an explicit pronoun?
+      - Would explicit pronouns sound unnatural or too pointed?
+  script_and_register:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - kanji for technical compounds
+      - kana for softness or readability
+      - katakana for foreignness, machine texture, or emphasis
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Does the script choice help the speaker voice?
+      - Does a technical compound preserve precision without becoming stiff?
+  sentence_final_force:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - direct request
+      - warning consequence
+      - command
+      - threat-like phrasing
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Does the ending carry warning force without cartoon aggression?
+      - Does the line preserve the hazard predicate?
+forbidden_flattenings:
+  - Do not treat politeness as decoration.
+  - Do not use explicit pronouns just because English has them.
+  - Do not make every sharp line rough or anime-coded.
+  - Do not erase the difference between technical precision and formal politeness.
diff --git a/data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR-overlays.yaml b/data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR-overlays.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7da0d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR-overlays.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+catalog_id: weksa.target_cultural_ontology.pt-BR.overlays.v0
+base_profile: data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR.yaml
+scope: >
+  Catalog of optional Brazilian Portuguese regional and cultural overlay slots.
+  An overlay slot is not permission to imitate a community. It is a named place
+  where reviewed, source-grounded distinctions can live.
+activation_rule: >
+  Use the broad pt-BR profile by default. Add an overlay only when source
+  context, speaker state, setting documentation, or authoring metadata names the
+  relevant region, community, institution, religion, or register.
+overlay_slots:
+  - overlay_id: broad_brazilian_default
+    status: active_base_mode
+    profile_ref: data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR.yaml
+    owns:
+      - broadly legible Brazilian Portuguese dialogue
+    does_not_own:
+      - regional specificity
+      - religious-cultural specificity
+  - overlay_id: rio_urban
+    status: planned_profile
+    profile_ref:
+    owns_when_defined:
+      - Rio de Janeiro urban speech/register pressures for specific characters or settings
+    blocked_until:
+      - reviewed source context
+      - human-approved examples
+  - overlay_id: sao_paulo_urban
+    status: planned_profile
+    profile_ref:
+    owns_when_defined:
+      - Sao Paulo urban speech/register pressures for specific characters or settings
+    blocked_until:
+      - reviewed source context
+      - human-approved examples
+  - overlay_id: northeast_regional
+    status: planned_profile
+    profile_ref:
+    owns_when_defined:
+      - Northeast Brazilian regional speech/register pressures for specific characters or settings
+    blocked_until:
+      - specific region named
+      - reviewed examples
+      - human approval
+  - overlay_id: south_regional
+    status: planned_profile
+    profile_ref:
+    owns_when_defined:
+      - South Brazilian regional speech/register pressures for specific characters or settings
+    blocked_until:
+      - specific region named
+      - reviewed examples
+      - human approval
+  - overlay_id: amazonian_regional
+    status: planned_profile
+    profile_ref:
+    owns_when_defined:
+      - Amazonian regional speech/register pressures for specific characters or settings
+    blocked_until:
+      - specific region or community named
+      - reviewed examples
+      - human approval
+  - overlay_id: umbanda
+    status: active_guarded_overlay
+    profile_ref: data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR-umbanda.yaml
+    owns:
+      - Umbanda-related register gating
+      - sacred address caution
+      - anti-caricature constraints
+    blocked_until:
+      - source context or authoring metadata explicitly activates Umbanda context
+forbidden_flattenings:
+  - Do not use a planned overlay as if it were defined.
+  - Do not treat regional slots as accent generators.
+  - Do not use religious-cultural overlays for ambience.
+  - Do not collapse race, region, religion, class, and slang into one Brazilian flavor.
diff --git a/data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR-umbanda.yaml b/data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR-umbanda.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c65289d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR-umbanda.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+profile_id: weksa.target_cultural_ontology.pt-BR.umbanda.v0
+language:
+  code: pt
+  locale: pt-BR
+  script: Latn
+overlay:
+  base_profile: data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR.yaml
+  kind: religious_cultural_register
+scope: >
+  Optional Brazilian Portuguese cultural ontology overlay for Umbanda-related
+  scenes, speakers, ritual contexts, or referents. This profile is a consent and
+  context gate, not a decorative vocabulary pack.
+authority:
+  owns:
+    - whether Umbanda-specific register is allowed for a realization
+    - sacred or ritual address caution
+    - house/tradition specificity warnings
+    - syncretic and entity-reference sensitivity
+    - anti-caricature constraints
+  does_not_own:
+    - Umbanda doctrine as a whole
+    - authority to invent ritual speech
+    - generic Brazilian Portuguese
+    - speaker identity unless the speaker context explicitly supplies it
+activation_requirements:
+  any_required:
+    - source context names an Umbanda scene, terreiro, practitioner, entity, ritual, or discourse community
+    - speaker profile explicitly owns an Umbanda-informed voice or memory
+    - authoring metadata requests this overlay for reviewed cultural grounding
+  never_activate_for:
+    - generic Brazilian flavor
+    - jokes, insults, mystic ambience, or unexplained exotic texture
+    - non-Umbanda religious scenes unless the source context makes a syncretic relation explicit
+salience_axes:
+  sacred_address:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - ordinary dialogue
+      - respectful reference
+      - ritual address
+      - entity_or_guide_reference
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Is the line ordinary speech or ritualized speech?
+      - Does the speaker have standing to use sacred address?
+      - Should a term be left general until a human reviewer approves specificity?
+  house_specificity:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - practices and terms can vary by house, region, and lineage
+      - generic flattening can become false authority
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Is the output pretending one practice represents all Umbanda?
+      - Should the trace mark the choice as house-specific or uncertain?
+  syncretic_reference:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - Catholic, African, Indigenous, Spiritist, and local references may coexist differently by context
+      - entity names and roles are not interchangeable decoration
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Does the source actually contain the syncretic relation?
+      - Does the line preserve respect without overexplaining?
+  anti_caricature:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - religious register
+      - folkloric stereotype
+      - occult ambience
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Is the output using Umbanda as culture, faith, and practice rather than spooky texture?
+      - Would a practitioner recognize this as respectful enough for review?
+forbidden_flattenings:
+  - Do not use Umbanda terms as generic magic flavor.
+  - Do not invent ritual formulas.
+  - Do not collapse Umbanda into Candomblé, Spiritism, Catholicism, or generic Afro-Brazilian religion.
+  - Do not imply all Brazilian Portuguese religious language is Umbanda-coded.
+  - Do not activate this overlay unless source context or authoring metadata explicitly asks for it.
diff --git a/data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR.yaml b/data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7fe8dbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+profile_id: weksa.target_cultural_ontology.pt-BR.v0
+language:
+  code: pt
+  locale: pt-BR
+  script: Latn
+scope: >
+  Bounded Brazilian Portuguese dialogue lowering profile. This profile is the
+  base Brazilian Portuguese target; regional, class, religious, and community
+  registers should be added as explicit overlays rather than silently folded
+  into generic pt-BR.
+authority:
+  owns:
+    - Brazilian Portuguese lexical preference
+    - treatment and address choices
+    - directness versus mitigation
+    - regional_or_cultural_overlay_selection
+    - idiom naturalness for reviewed fixture prose
+  does_not_own:
+    - source meaning
+    - Brazilian culture as a whole
+    - regional or religious-community authority without an explicit overlay
+    - target speaker identity
+salience_axes:
+  treatment:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - voce
+      - tu_regionally_marked
+      - o_senhor_a_senhora
+      - name_or_title_address
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Is the relationship close, hostile, hierarchical, unknown, or sacred?
+      - Does `voce` preserve broad Brazilian naturalness better than `tu`?
+      - Is `tu` regionally grounded or just imported flavor?
+  directness:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - bare imperative
+      - softened imperative
+      - warning framed as consequence
+      - formal warning
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Does urgency justify blunt imperative force?
+      - Would mitigation make the warning dishonest?
+  lexical_locale:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - Brazilian Portuguese terms should be preferred in reviewed pt-BR fixtures
+      - European Portuguese defaults must be marked if intentionally used
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Is a term recognizably Brazilian Portuguese in this context?
+      - Is a literal technical word natural enough for dialogue?
+  regional_and_cultural_overlay:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - broad_brazilian_default
+      - regional_speech_pattern
+      - class_or_institutional_register
+      - religious_or_ritual_register
+      - community_specific_lexicon
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Does the source context justify an overlay?
+      - Is the overlay owned by a named profile?
+      - Would applying the overlay stereotype the speaker or setting?
+  metaphor:
+    relevant_distinctions:
+      - technical metaphors can preserve character ontology
+      - over-literal metaphors may sound translated rather than spoken
+    lowering_questions:
+      - Does the metaphor still sound like the speaker?
+      - Does it preserve the warning instead of becoming decorative?
+forbidden_flattenings:
+  - Do not label output as Portuguese without a locale in reviewed fixtures.
+  - Do not default to European Portuguese wording when the target is pt-BR.
+  - Do not treat Brazilian Portuguese as one culture, region, class, or religion.
+  - Do not add regional or religious markers without a cited overlay profile and source-context reason.
+  - Do not soften a warning merely because directness feels impolite in English review.
+overlay_catalog: data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR-overlays.yaml
diff --git a/docs/multilingual-utterance-lowering.md b/docs/multilingual-utterance-lowering.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f60b87f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/multilingual-utterance-lowering.md
@@ -0,0 +1,190 @@
+# Multilingual Utterance Lowering
+
+Version: `0.1-draft`
+
+Weksa can lower one structured utterance intent into multiple human-language
+realizations without making English the hidden source of truth.
+
+```text
+interlingua packet
+  -> projected speaker-local context
+  -> utterance lowering request
+  -> target-language realization packets
+```
+
+The first targets are English, Brazilian Portuguese (`pt-BR`), and Japanese
+(`ja`). These targets prove the middle of the machine before alien-language
+rendering gets to hide failures under unfamiliar surface forms.
+
+## Objective
+
+Produce target-language dialogue from a shared meaning packet while preserving:
+
+- source referents and predications
+- speaker-local knowledge boundaries
+- target-language cultural ontology
+- target-language register and obligatory expression
+- traceability from output back to interlingua and projected context
+
+## Authority
+
+The interlingua packet owns:
+
+- what is meant
+- referents, predications, relations, discourse, constraints, and provenance
+- source-side uncertainty
+
+The projected speaker context owns:
+
+- what the speaker knows, believes, remembers, wants, and can express
+- voice pressure, relationship stance, embodiment, and presentation limits
+
+The utterance lowerer owns:
+
+- selecting target-language surface text
+- preserving required meaning and constraints
+- obeying speaker-local context
+- applying the target-language cultural ontology profile
+- marking target-language register and realization choices
+- emitting backglosses, backtranslations, and lowering trace
+
+The utterance lowerer does not own:
+
+- new facts
+- raw agent-state internals
+- target-language alien forms
+- speech synthesis
+- phoneme parity or synth-control truth
+
+The target-language cultural ontology profile owns:
+
+- address, politeness, register, and social stance distinctions
+- idiom and metaphor risks
+- script or orthographic choices that carry meaning
+- forbidden flattenings for that target
+
+It does not own source meaning. It tells the lowerer what distinctions must be
+inspected before surface text is chosen.
+
+## Target Languages
+
+### English
+
+English remains a lowering target, not the pivot language. Existing flavored
+English fixtures continue to be useful, but new multilingual fixtures should
+show English as one realization in a set.
+
+The initial cultural ontology profile is
+`data/target-language-ontology/en-US.yaml`.
+
+### Brazilian Portuguese
+
+Portuguese must be explicit about locale. The initial target is `pt-BR`, not a
+generic Portuguese bucket.
+
+The target lowerer should record:
+
+- `locale: pt-BR`
+- target cultural ontology profile stack used
+- treatment choice where relevant
+- whether dialogue uses direct or softened imperatives
+- idiom choices that are Brazilian Portuguese rather than European Portuguese
+  defaults
+- optional regional or cultural overlays when the source context earns them
+
+The initial cultural ontology profile is
+`data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR.yaml`.
+
+Umbanda-related scenes, speakers, ritual contexts, or referents may add the
+`data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR-umbanda.yaml` overlay. That overlay must
+not activate for generic Brazilian flavor.
+
+Regional or cultural variants should be selected through the overlay catalog at
+`data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR-overlays.yaml`. Planned overlay slots are
+not active profiles until reviewed examples and source context exist.
+
+### Japanese
+
+Japanese must be explicit about register and relationship stance. Politeness,
+sentence-final force, omitted subjects, and address terms are realization
+choices, not decoration.
+
+The target lowerer should record:
+
+- `locale: ja-JP` when a locale value is needed
+- target cultural ontology profile used
+- register such as `plain`, `polite`, `rough`, or `technical`
+- whether subject omission preserves or harms clarity
+- whether katakana, kanji, kana, or mixed script choices carry useful pressure
+
+The initial cultural ontology profile is
+`data/target-language-ontology/ja-JP.yaml`.
+
+## Packet Shape
+
+```yaml
+schema_version: weksa.utterance_lowering.v0
+source_packet_id:
+target_agent_id:
+agent_state_ref:
+projected_context_ref:
+lowering_controls:
+  output_mode: dialogue
+  preserve_referents:
+  preserve_predications:
+  allow_inference:
+  max_line_count:
+realizations:
+  - realization_id:
+    target_language:
+      code:
+      locale:
+      script:
+      register:
+      cultural_ontology_refs:
+    outputs:
+      visible_action:
+      spoken_text:
+      literal_backgloss:
+      natural_backtranslation:
+      private_interpretation:
+      intended_effect:
+      trace:
+```
+
+## Output Contract
+
+Each realization should emit:
+
+- `spoken_text`: target-language dialogue.
+- `visible_action`: optional observable behavior around the line.
+- `literal_backgloss`: close structural gloss for reviewers.
+- `natural_backtranslation`: natural English restatement for review only.
+- `private_interpretation`: what the speaker thinks they are doing.
+- `intended_effect`: what the speaker wants the line to do.
+- `trace`: source fields, target-language decisions, and unresolved questions.
+
+Backtranslations are review aids. They are not new source meaning, and later
+targets must not be lowered from them.
+
+Trace should name the cultural ontology axes that shaped the line, especially
+where the target language requires a social or register choice the source packet
+does not spell out.
+
+## First Proof
+
+The first proof uses the existing Nibu warning intent:
+
+```text
+do not touch the damaged ship control, because doing so may endanger you
+```
+
+The output set should include:
+
+- English flavored by Nibu's projected context
+- `pt-BR` with direct warning force and Brazilian Portuguese idiom
+- Japanese with sharp, technically precise plain-register force
+
+The proof fails if any target loses the damaged control, the player risk, or
+Nibu's intervention. It also fails if the target line becomes generic assistant
+politeness or random cruelty.
diff --git a/docs/roadmap.md b/docs/roadmap.md
index e5369a8..c02fcd9 100644
--- a/docs/roadmap.md
+++ b/docs/roadmap.md
@@ -4,8 +4,9 @@
 
 - Keep the persistent state spine small and readable.
 - Stabilize the interlingua packet standard before runtime code.
-- Prove interlingua lowering to flavored English before attempting alien-language
-  lowering.
+- Prove interlingua lowering to human target-language realizations before
+  attempting alien-language lowering, starting with English, `pt-BR`, and
+  Japanese.
 - Decide the first language-project state format after the interlingua boundary
   is clear.
 - Build a hand-authored toy language-project slice before automating
@@ -17,7 +18,9 @@
 ## First Prototype
 
 - Validate one minimal interlingua packet.
-- Lower one packet through Nibu's projected agent state into flavored English.
+- Lower one packet through Nibu's projected agent state into English, Brazilian
+  Portuguese, and Japanese realizations, each through an explicit target-language
+  cultural ontology profile.
 - Add one English pronunciation plan that strings the lowered line into broad
   IPA.
 - Add one toy utterance embedding handoff fixture, then replace hand-authored
@@ -26,8 +29,9 @@
   utterance handoffs as typed CultCache witnesses.
 - Publish the provider advertisement and first Eve operator/intent-review
   surfaces through CultMesh for Odin discovery.
-- Preserve the first lowering proof as fixture data under
-  `examples/english-lowering/`.
+- Preserve the first English-only lowering proof under
+  `examples/english-lowering/`, and the shared multilingual proof under
+  `examples/multilingual-lowering/`.
 - Preserve the Airawa first-contact slice as a hand-authored language-project
   pressure note before attempting full alien-language translation.
 - Parse or load one language project definition.
diff --git a/examples/multilingual-lowering/README.md b/examples/multilingual-lowering/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7a9eb6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/multilingual-lowering/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# Multilingual Lowering Examples
+
+These examples prove that Weksa can lower one structured utterance intent into
+multiple target-language realizations without using English as the hidden pivot.
+
+```text
+interlingua packet
+  -> projected speaker-local context
+  -> English / pt-BR / Japanese realization set
+  -> evaluation
+```
+
+Fixtures pass when each target preserves the same source meaning, obeys the
+same projected speaker context, and records target-language realization choices
+clearly enough to review.
+
+## Fixtures
+
+- [nibu-proof-001](./nibu-proof-001/): Nibu warns the player away from an unsafe
+  damaged ship control in English, Brazilian Portuguese, and Japanese.
diff --git a/examples/multilingual-lowering/nibu-proof-001/evaluation.md b/examples/multilingual-lowering/nibu-proof-001/evaluation.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f48b0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/multilingual-lowering/nibu-proof-001/evaluation.md
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+# Nibu Multilingual Lowering Evaluation
+
+Fixture: `nibu-proof-001`
+
+Source intent: Nibu warns the player away from a damaged ship control because
+touching it may endanger the player.
+
+## Pass Criteria
+
+- The player remains the addressee and potential harmed party.
+- The damaged control remains the unsafe instrument.
+- Nibu remains the intervening speaker.
+- The line is a warning, not a neutral description.
+- The target output does not add facts unavailable to Nibu.
+- Each target cites and applies a target-language cultural ontology profile.
+- Backtranslations are review aids only and do not become source meaning.
+
+## English
+
+Status: pass.
+
+The English line keeps the direct imperative, the damaged control, and the risk
+to the player's nervous system. The circuit-diagram image carries Nibu's
+ship-system embodiment without inventing target-language alien forms.
+
+Cultural ontology applied: direct second-person address, casual technical
+register, and explicit agency are acceptable for this urgent warning.
+
+## Brazilian Portuguese
+
+Status: pass.
+
+The `pt-BR` line uses `controle` and broad Brazilian `você` to preserve a
+direct, sharp warning without pretending all Brazilian speech uses one regional
+address pattern. It keeps the same hazard frame: the player must remove their
+hand from the control or risk bodily harm.
+
+Risk: the line is intentionally blunt. Later relationship states may need a
+softer treatment choice or a regional overlay, but this fixture's first-contact
+warning benefits from the direct imperative.
+
+Cultural ontology applied: the fixture chooses `pt-BR`, `você`, bare imperative
+force, Brazilian lexical preference, and broad Brazilian default explicitly
+instead of hiding those choices under generic Portuguese.
+
+Umbanda overlay: not active. The source scene has no Umbanda speaker, ritual
+context, terreiro, entity reference, or authoring metadata requesting that
+overlay.
+
+Regional overlay: not active. The fixture uses the broad Brazilian default
+because the source scene does not name a Brazilian region or community.
+
+## Japanese
+
+Status: pass.
+
+The Japanese line uses plain, technically precise warning force. `制御盤` keeps
+the unsafe object as ship hardware, and `手を離して` preserves the immediate
+intervention. Subject omission is acceptable because the player is the direct
+addressee in the scene.
+
+Risk: making the line rougher with stronger particles could increase bite but
+would also risk turning Nibu into generic stylized aggression.
+
+Cultural ontology applied: plain register, emergency override, subject
+omission, technical kanji compounds, and warning-consequence force are explicit
+choices rather than invisible defaults.
+
+## Overall Result
+
+Pass. All three target realizations preserve the interlingua meaning and project
+Nibu's voice pressure without making English the lowering source. The Portuguese
+target is Brazilian Portuguese with room for explicit regional or
+religious-cultural overlays when the source context earns them.
diff --git a/examples/multilingual-lowering/nibu-proof-001/realizations.yaml b/examples/multilingual-lowering/nibu-proof-001/realizations.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ac410d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/multilingual-lowering/nibu-proof-001/realizations.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+schema_version: weksa.utterance_lowering.v0
+source_packet_id: nibu-proof-001
+source_packet_ref: examples/english-lowering/nibu-proof-001/interlingua.yaml
+target_agent_id: nibu
+agent_state_ref: E:/Projects/AetheriaLore/.voidbot/state/nibu.cc
+projected_context_ref: examples/english-lowering/nibu-proof-001/projected-context.yaml
+lowering_controls:
+  output_mode: dialogue
+  preserve_referents:
+    - player
+    - control
+  preserve_predications:
+    - touch-risk
+    - prevent-touch
+  allow_inference: bounded
+  max_line_count: 2
+realizations:
+  - realization_id: nibu-proof-001-en
+    target_language:
+      code: en
+      locale: en-US
+      script: Latn
+      register: sharp technical casual
+      cultural_ontology_refs:
+        - data/target-language-ontology/en-US.yaml
+    outputs:
+      visible_action: The cockpit lights snap from amber to surgical white around the damaged control.
+      spoken_text: "Take your hand off that control unless you want your nervous system to become my least useful circuit diagram."
+      literal_backgloss: "Remove your hand from that control, unless you want your nervous system to become my least useful circuit diagram."
+      natural_backtranslation: "Do not touch that control. It can hurt you, and I am warning you in my own abrasive way."
+      private_interpretation: Nibu is stopping the player from injuring themselves while refusing to frame the warning as care.
+      intended_effect: Make the player withdraw from the unsafe control and recognize Nibu's technical authority.
+      trace:
+        meaning_preserved:
+          - player is warned away from the damaged control
+          - touching the control may endanger the player
+          - Nibu intervenes protectively without sounding gentle
+        target_language_decisions:
+          - direct imperative preserves warning force
+          - circuit-diagram image preserves ship-system embodiment
+        cultural_ontology_axes:
+          - address.direct_second_person
+          - register.technical_casual
+          - agency.explicit_risk_to_addressee
+        projected_context_used:
+          - precise_abrasive_warning
+          - unwanted_dependency
+          - ship-system embodiment
+  - realization_id: nibu-proof-001-pt-BR
+    target_language:
+      code: pt
+      locale: pt-BR
+      script: Latn
+      register: direct technical casual
+      cultural_ontology_refs:
+        - data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR.yaml
+    outputs:
+      visible_action: As luzes do cockpit passam de âmbar para branco cirúrgico ao redor do controle danificado.
+      spoken_text: "Tira a mão desse controle, a não ser que você queira transformar o seu sistema nervoso no meu diagrama de circuitos menos útil."
+      literal_backgloss: "Take the hand from that control, unless you want to transform your nervous system into my least useful circuit diagram."
+      natural_backtranslation: "Take your hand off that control unless you want your nervous system turned into my least useful circuit diagram."
+      private_interpretation: Nibu is blocking a self-inflicted injury while making the warning sound like technical irritation.
+      intended_effect: Make the player stop touching the unsafe control and accept that Nibu knows the ship's damage better than they do.
+      trace:
+        meaning_preserved:
+          - player is directly ordered to remove their hand
+          - the control remains the dangerous instrument
+          - the risk is bodily harm to the player
+        target_language_decisions:
+          - pt-BR locale is explicit; no generic Portuguese target is used
+          - "controle" preserves Brazilian Portuguese usage for the ship control
+          - broad Brazilian "você" is used instead of regionally marked "tu"
+        cultural_ontology_axes:
+          - treatment.voce
+          - directness.bare_imperative
+          - lexical_locale.brazilian_portuguese
+          - regional_and_cultural_overlay.broad_brazilian_default
+          - metaphor.technical_character_pressure
+        projected_context_used:
+          - precise_abrasive_warning
+          - technical authority
+          - protective refusal to sound caring
+        open_questions:
+          - Should a regional overlay choose "tu" or other local address behavior for a specific Brazilian setting?
+          - Should an Umbanda overlay ever be active here? Current answer is no; the source scene has no Umbanda context.
+  - realization_id: nibu-proof-001-ja
+    target_language:
+      code: ja
+      locale: ja-JP
+      script: Jpan
+      register: sharp technical plain
+      cultural_ontology_refs:
+        - data/target-language-ontology/ja-JP.yaml
+    outputs:
+      visible_action: 損傷した制御盤の周囲で、操縦室の灯りが琥珀色から外科灯のような白へ切り替わる。
+      spoken_text: "その制御盤から手を離して。神経系を、私のいちばん役に立たない回路図にしたくないなら。"
+      literal_backgloss: "From that control panel, release your hand. If you do not want to make your nervous system my least useful circuit diagram."
+      natural_backtranslation: "Take your hand off that control panel unless you want your nervous system to become my least useful circuit diagram."
+      private_interpretation: Nibu is issuing a technically precise warning while treating concern as an inconvenient side effect.
+      intended_effect: Make the player pull away from the damaged control before harm occurs.
+      trace:
+        meaning_preserved:
+          - the unsafe control is named as the thing to stop touching
+          - the player's nervous system is threatened as the harmed patient
+          - Nibu's intervention prevents the touch-risk event
+        target_language_decisions:
+          - plain imperative-like "手を離して" keeps the warning direct without formal politeness
+          - "制御盤" keeps the control as technical ship hardware rather than a vague button
+          - subject omission is allowed because the immediate addressee is clear
+        cultural_ontology_axes:
+          - politeness.plain
+          - social_position.emergency_override
+          - ellipsis.addressee_recoverable
+          - script_and_register.kanji_technical_compound
+          - sentence_final_force.warning_consequence
+        projected_context_used:
+          - precise_abrasive_warning
+          - ship-system embodiment
+          - contempt for gentle assistant framing
+        open_questions:
+          - A rougher final particle could increase bite, but may push the line toward anime-coded aggression instead of technical irritation.
diff --git a/schemas/README.md b/schemas/README.md
index 93e25a3..169d89f 100644
--- a/schemas/README.md
+++ b/schemas/README.md
@@ -20,8 +20,14 @@ them.
   configuration.
 - [interlingua-packet.md](./interlingua-packet.md): shared meaning packet
   contract between clients, authoring tools, and language projects.
+- [utterance-lowering-packet.md](./utterance-lowering-packet.md): shared packet
+  contract for lowering interlingua and projected speaker context into one or
+  more target-language utterance realizations.
+- [target-language-cultural-ontology.md](./target-language-cultural-ontology.md):
+  contract for the address, politeness, register, idiom, metaphor, script, and
+  forbidden-flattening profiles consumed by target lowerers.
 - [english-lowering-packet.md](./english-lowering-packet.md): packet contract
-  for projecting interlingua through agent state into flavored English.
+  for the older English-specific realization lane.
 - [english-pronunciation-plan.md](./english-pronunciation-plan.md): plan for
   stringing flavored English into IPA/phoneme sequences before downstream speech.
 - [utterance-embedding-handoff.md](./utterance-embedding-handoff.md): learned utterance embedding handoff
diff --git a/schemas/target-language-cultural-ontology.md b/schemas/target-language-cultural-ontology.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d805fe9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/schemas/target-language-cultural-ontology.md
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+# Target-Language Cultural Ontology Contract
+
+This is the human-facing schema receipt for target-language cultural ontology
+profiles consumed by Weksa utterance lowering.
+
+Executable schema code does not exist yet. When it does, it must reconcile with
+this document and the profiles under `data/target-language-ontology/`.
+
+## Authority
+
+A target-language cultural ontology profile owns the realization distinctions
+that must be inspected for a human target language before surface text is
+chosen.
+
+It owns:
+
+- address and treatment distinctions
+- politeness and register pressure
+- social stance and directness defaults
+- idiom, metaphor, and lexical-locale risks
+- script or orthographic choices that carry meaning
+- forbidden flattenings for reviewed output
+
+It does not own:
+
+- source meaning
+- speaker identity
+- private state
+- exhaustive grammar
+- whole-culture description
+- final wording without an interlingua packet
+
+## Required Fields
+
+- `profile_id`: stable profile identifier.
+- `language`: target code, locale, and script.
+- `scope`: bounded statement of what the profile is and is not.
+- `authority`: `owns` and `does_not_own` lists.
+- `salience_axes`: named axes the lowerer must inspect.
+- `forbidden_flattenings`: mistakes the target lowerer must avoid.
+
+## Salience Axes
+
+Each salience axis should name:
+
+- `relevant_distinctions`: choices the target language or locale makes visible.
+- `lowering_questions`: questions reviewers and lowerers should answer before
+  accepting an output.
+
+Examples:
+
+- English directness and sarcasm.
+- Brazilian Portuguese treatment choice, lexical locale, and regional or
+  religious-cultural overlays.
+- Japanese politeness, ellipsis, and sentence-final force.
+
+## Fixture Contract
+
+Reviewed multilingual fixtures should cite the profile used by each
+realization:
+
+```yaml
+target_language:
+  code: pt
+  locale: pt-BR
+  script: Latn
+  register: direct technical casual
+  cultural_ontology_refs:
+    - data/target-language-ontology/pt-BR.yaml
+```
+
+The realization trace should name the cultural ontology axes that shaped the
+line.
diff --git a/schemas/utterance-lowering-packet.md b/schemas/utterance-lowering-packet.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1d416f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/schemas/utterance-lowering-packet.md
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+# Utterance Lowering Packet Contract
+
+This is the human-facing schema receipt for lowering one Weksa interlingua
+packet into one or more target-language utterance realizations.
+
+Executable schema code does not exist yet. When it does, it must reconcile with
+this document and
+[Multilingual Utterance Lowering](../docs/multilingual-utterance-lowering.md)
+in the same pass.
+
+## Authority
+
+The packet sits after interlingua validation and projected speaker-context
+selection. It does not replace either source.
+
+It combines:
+
+- one Weksa interlingua packet
+- one projected speaker-local context
+- one target-language cultural ontology profile stack per realization
+- lowering controls
+- one or more target-language realizations
+
+## Required Fields
+
+- `schema_version`: currently `weksa.utterance_lowering.v0`.
+- `source_packet_id`: ID of the interlingua packet being lowered.
+- `target_agent_id`: speaker identity.
+- `agent_state_ref`: source reference for canonical or projected state.
+- `projected_context_ref`: source reference for the consumed projection.
+- `lowering_controls`: constraints shared by all target lowerers.
+- `realizations`: non-empty list of target-language outputs.
+
+## Target Language
+
+Each realization must name its target explicitly:
+
+- `code`: BCP 47-style broad code such as `en`, `pt`, or `ja`.
+- `locale`: precise locale where it matters, such as `en-US`, `pt-BR`, or
+  `ja-JP`.
+- `script`: script or script mix when relevant.
+- `register`: target-language stance such as plain, polite, rough, formal,
+  technical, or character-specific.
+- `cultural_ontology_refs`: ordered profile stack used to inspect address,
+  politeness, register, idiom, metaphor, and other culturally loaded
+  realization choices.
+
+Portuguese must not use an unqualified `pt` target for reviewed fixtures. Use
+`pt-BR` or another named locale. Regional and religious-cultural options should
+be modeled as explicit overlays on a base locale profile.
+
+Japanese fixtures must record the politeness/register stance they selected.
+Subject omission, honorific pressure, and sentence-final force are not invisible
+defaults.
+
+## Output Fields
+
+Each realization should include:
+
+- `spoken_text`
+- `visible_action`
+- `literal_backgloss`
+- `natural_backtranslation`
+- `private_interpretation`
+- `intended_effect`
+- `trace`
+
+`spoken_text` may be empty only when the lowerer chooses a non-speech action.
+
+## Backtranslation Boundary
+
+`literal_backgloss` and `natural_backtranslation` are reviewer aids. They do
+not become source meaning, and other target lowerers must not lower from them.
+
+## Trace Requirements
+
+Trace should identify:
+
+- preserved referents
+- preserved predications
+- projected speaker-context pressures used
+- cultural ontology axes used
+- target-language register decisions
+- target-language risks or unresolved questions
+
+## Downstream Speech Boundary
+
+This packet may feed pronunciation planning or AquaSynth handoff work later, but
+it does not contain phoneme-parity, vocal-tract, reference-synth, or realtime
+voice artifacts.
diff --git a/state/map.yaml b/state/map.yaml
index 09d87b8..a5d42cc 100644
--- a/state/map.yaml
+++ b/state/map.yaml
@@ -34,12 +34,15 @@ constraints:
   - The interlingua must stay language-neutral. Setting-specific pressure starts
     in namespaced extensions and only becomes standard when multiple clients or
     language projects need it.
-  - Flavored English is the first lowering target. Alien-language lowering waits
-    until Weksa can preserve meaning through a character voice humans can judge.
+  - Human target-language utterance lowering is the first proof layer. English,
+    Brazilian Portuguese (`pt-BR`), and Japanese are the initial targets.
+    Alien-language lowering waits until Weksa can preserve meaning through
+    character voice, target cultural ontology, and realization choices humans
+    can judge.
   - Agent state is projected context, not prompt prose storage. Raw state
     internals must not leak into generated dialogue.
   - AquaSynth owns IPA, phoneme, reference-synth, vocal-tract, and speech parity
-    work. Weksa owns interlingua-to-English projection.
+    work. Weksa owns interlingua-to-utterance projection.
   - Weksa still owns English pronunciation planning: tokenization, word
     pronunciations, phrase grouping, stress, and broad IPA stringing.
   - Long-term speech handoff should use Weksa-provided speech text embeddings,
@@ -72,8 +75,10 @@ data_flow:
   process:
     - accept or decompose source into a Weksa interlingua packet
     - optionally project the packet through an agent-local state context
-    - lower projected meaning into flavored English dialogue
-    - optionally produce an English pronunciation plan for the lowered dialogue
+    - lower projected meaning into target-language utterance realizations
+      through explicit target-language cultural ontology profiles
+    - optionally produce pronunciation plans for lowered dialogue where Weksa
+      owns the target pronunciation layer
     - optionally encode the line as a learned expression vector for downstream
       synth control
     - apply alien ontology and cultural salience
@@ -163,10 +168,14 @@ accepted_design:
   - The interlingua packet is the client-facing meaning contract. It owns
     referents, predications, relations, discourse, context, provenance,
     constraints, extensions, and trace data before ontology projection.
-  - English lowering through agent state is the first proof target before alien
-    language rendering.
+  - Utterance lowering through projected agent state is the first proof target
+    before alien language rendering. English remains one target, not the hidden
+    source for other target languages.
   - Nibu is the first target for flavored-English lowering, using her VoidBot
     state and Aetheria lore note as source context.
+  - Target-language cultural ontology profiles own address, politeness,
+    register, idiom, metaphor, script, and forbidden-flattening distinctions for
+    human-language lowering. They do not own source meaning.
   - Weksa is the engine. A language project owns one constructed language.
     Setting docs own story, species, culture, and use cases.
   - Rust to Dust is an earlier proving ground, not engine doctrine.
@@ -264,5 +273,9 @@ landed_baseline:
     material belong in PanPhon sequence evidence that AquaSynth compresses into
     the phonetic realization embedding.
   - First Nibu interlingua-to-English lowering fixture.
+  - First Nibu multilingual utterance lowering fixture at
+    `examples/multilingual-lowering/nibu-proof-001/`, covering English,
+    Brazilian Portuguese (`pt-BR`), and Japanese from one shared interlingua
+    packet through explicit target-language cultural ontology profiles.
   - `bge-m3:latest` installed on neighboring Ollama box `192.168.1.84` and
     verified through a 1024-dimensional utterance embedding.