docs(runicnpc): stage 9b built; INSTALL and COMMANDS; RunicNPC required (D315, D316)

- runicnpc/PLAN.md: 9b built and measured; D315 (the performance check records
  today's cost, the warning says it, idle overhead is runicnpc-rust#13) and D316
  (the picker keeps Rust's own; a step on a server without RunicNPC is refused
  on save).
- runicnpc/INSTALL.md (new): requirements, the installer and egg, by hand
  without Runic Gateway, Kits and ZoneManager reported not installed, its files,
  the cost warning with stage 9's numbers, caps, and after a Rust update.
- runicnpc/COMMANDS.md (new): every /rnpc verb and console command with its
  permission, options and defaults, and how to read rnpc.status.
- rust-link/INSTALL.md: RunicNPC is required; the installer refuses a bundle
  without it and doctor fails. (The plan named modules/rust/OPERATING.md, which
  is a verbatim uMod mirror; this is the operator guide that lists Kits.)
- rust-link/PROTOCOL.md: §19.16, every NPC placement needs RunicNPC; no message
  changes shape.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01E14m6SuuY6i1vASFeGDBeY

rust-link/INSTALL.md

@@ -7,13 +7,13 @@ the design of record is [`../modules/rust/PLAN.md`](../modules/rust/PLAN.md) §3
 ## What this installs
 
 Two components per Rust server, released together as a **bundle** — an exact pair CI has checked
-speaks one protocol, never "the latest of each" — and, from RunicNPC's stage 4, a third:
+speaks one protocol, never "the latest of each" — and a third, RunicNPC, which is required:
 
 | Component | What it is | Released from |
 |---|---|---|
 | **The plugin** | `RunicGateway.cs`, one file that runs unchanged on Oxide and Carbon — and beside it, from protocol 13, the optional **ZoneManager helper** `RunicGatewayZones.cs` (PLAN_FIXES D181, D182), installed by default | [Rust-Plugins](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/Rust-Plugins/releases) |
 | **The sidecar** | `rust-link-sidecar`, which the plugin dials on loopback and the website reaches over HTTP | [Rust-Link](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/Rust-Link/releases) |
-| **RunicNPC** | `RunicNPC.cs`, Runic Gateway's NPC plugin ([`../runicnpc/PLAN.md`](../runicnpc/PLAN.md)), placed beside the bridge **when the bundle carries it**: from RunicNPC's stage 4, the latest RunicNPC release that answers the API the bridge needs (D224). Optional until RunicNPC's stage 9; it needs **Kits**, like the bridge | [runicnpc-rust](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/runicnpc-rust/releases) |
+| **RunicNPC** | `RunicNPC.cs`, Runic Gateway's NPC plugin ([`../runicnpc/PLAN.md`](../runicnpc/PLAN.md)), placed beside the bridge: the latest RunicNPC release that answers the API the bridge needs (D224). **Required** since RunicNPC's stage 9 (D310): without it the bridge refuses every NPC an event places, Rust's own scientists included, and Admin → Rust → Servers shows the server as incomplete. It needs **Kits**, like the bridge. Its own guide is [`../runicnpc/INSTALL.md`](../runicnpc/INSTALL.md) | [runicnpc-rust](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/runicnpc-rust/releases) |
 
 The game server opens no port for the bridge: the plugin is the client and the sidecar the
 listener, on `127.0.0.1`. **One sidecar serves one Rust server.** A community running six servers
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ There are three ways to set a server up. They produce the same result:
 - **Oxide or Carbon is installed, and the server has started once** with it, so its directories
   exist. The bridge is a plugin; a vanilla server has nothing to load it.
 - **Kits and ZoneManager** from uMod are what the reward and zone features use. The bridge works
-  without them and names what is missing; nothing here installs them.
+  without them and names what is missing; nothing here installs them. **RunicNPC needs Kits** and
+  will not load without it, so without Kits no event can place NPCs.
 - **The website has the Rust module**, and you are an administrator on it. Servers are added at
   **Admin → Rust → Servers** (`/admin/rust/servers`).
 
@@ -122,8 +123,8 @@ When you create a server from it:
 
 **The install** downloads the sidecar, its launcher and the plugin from the bundle, checks each
 against the bundle's checksum, and only then places them: the sidecar in `rust-link/`, the plugin in
-`oxide/plugins/` or `carbon/plugins/`. When the bundle carries RunicNPC, `RunicNPC.cs` goes beside the plugin
-(its data directory is left for RunicNPC to make). Any mismatch fails the install with the reason, before
+`oxide/plugins/` or `carbon/plugins/`. `RunicNPC.cs` goes beside the plugin (its data directory is left for RunicNPC to make); a bundle
+without RunicNPC is refused. Any mismatch fails the install with the reason, before
 anything is placed.
 
 **The first boot** prints, in the console, the token the sidecar generated — **once** — and a line
@@ -156,8 +157,8 @@ history, and the token is unchanged.
    [`v2/rust/current.json`](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/installer/src/branch/bundles/v2/rust/current.json)
    on the installer's `bundles` branch. It names the sidecar binary for your platform and the
    plugin tarball, each with a `sha256`.
-2. **Download and verify** both against those checksums (`sha256sum -c`, or `Get-FileHash`) — and, when
-   the bundle has an `npc` entry, RunicNPC's tarball too. Copy `runicnpc/RunicNPC.cs` from it into the same
+2. **Download and verify** both against those checksums (`sha256sum -c`, or `Get-FileHash`) — and RunicNPC's
+   tarball, the bundle's `npc` entry, too. Copy `runicnpc/RunicNPC.cs` from it into the same
    plugins directory as the bridge. **Do not create `data/RunicNPC/` yourself**: RunicNPC makes it on first
    load, and one made from outside the game (a panel's file manager) is not writable by it.
 3. **The plugin:** copy `runicgateway-rust-plugin/RunicGateway.cs` from the tarball into
@@ -225,7 +226,7 @@ With the installer:
 
 | | |
 |---|---|
-| `doctor --game rust [--server-id <id>]` | Per server: the framework; whether the plugin file is still the one deployed; each helper deployed beside it, as a **warning** when missing or edited (the bridge runs without one, and the row says what that costs); RunicNPC, when the bundle carried it, the same way (without it the site's NPC profiles and placements and events' profile NPCs are off); that the plugin's config names this server; the required uMod plugins; the service; and `/health` through to **plugin connected**. A stopped server is a warning; a running one whose plugin never connected is a failure, printed with the framework versions the plugin is known good on |
+| `doctor --game rust [--server-id <id>]` | Per server: the framework; whether the plugin file is still the one deployed; each helper deployed beside it, as a **warning** when missing or edited (the bridge runs without one, and the row says what that costs); RunicNPC as a **failure** when it is missing or was never installed (it is required: without it every NPC an event places is refused), and a warning when edited by hand; that the plugin's config names this server; the required uMod plugins; the service; and `/health` through to **plugin connected**. A stopped server is a warning; a running one whose plugin never connected is a failure, printed with the framework versions the plugin is known good on |
 | `update --game rust` | Moves the sidecar and every server's plugin to the current bundle, and restarts the sidecars. Always all servers together — they share one binary |
 | `uninstall --game rust [--server-id <id>] [--purge]` | Removes the service, the plugin file, its helpers and RunicNPC. **Keeps the plugin's config** and RunicNPC's `data/RunicNPC/` (an admin's placements and routes) — it is the website's, and it names the server. `--purge` also removes the sidecar config (the token) and the database. Removing the last server removes the shared binary too |