Operational First-Distinction Tick N* and the Verify_Π Protocol

Camera-ready preprint specifying a reproducible operational interface for detecting the earliest “first distinction” tick N between paired observations under a cert-fixed encoding policy Π. The paper defines the Verify_Π protocol (Stage-A/B/C gates), evidence packaging into fact := claim + cert + Verify_Π, and versioned archiving in canon-B. v048 performs an English-only QA pass, resolves iface terminology consistently in the glossary, and includes a non-normative toy walkthrough (Appendix C) plus pipeline/data-lineage figures to support independent replication. The work is explicitly scoped as an operational governance/protocol layer; any physics-specific linkage is deferred to Level-2 empirical studies and Level-3 formal results.