diff --git a/apps/guildhall_chronicle/lib/guildhall/chronicle/application.ex b/apps/guildhall_chronicle/lib/guildhall/chronicle/application.ex
index ef36e75..6c28b91 100644
--- a/apps/guildhall_chronicle/lib/guildhall/chronicle/application.ex
+++ b/apps/guildhall_chronicle/lib/guildhall/chronicle/application.ex
@@ -1,19 +1,13 @@
 defmodule Guildhall.Chronicle.Application do
-  # See https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/Application.html
-  # for more information on OTP Applications
   @moduledoc false
-
   use Application
 
   @impl true
   def start(_type, _args) do
     children = [
-      # Starts a worker by calling: Guildhall.Chronicle.Worker.start_link(arg)
-      # {Guildhall.Chronicle.Worker, arg}
+      Guildhall.Chronicle.Consumer
     ]
 
-    # See https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/Supervisor.html
-    # for other strategies and supported options
     opts = [strategy: :one_for_one, name: Guildhall.Chronicle.Supervisor]
     Supervisor.start_link(children, opts)
   end
diff --git a/apps/guildhall_chronicle/lib/guildhall/chronicle/consumer.ex b/apps/guildhall_chronicle/lib/guildhall/chronicle/consumer.ex
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..53d533c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/guildhall_chronicle/lib/guildhall/chronicle/consumer.ex
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+defmodule Guildhall.Chronicle.Consumer do
+  @moduledoc """
+  Consumes Chronicle events and projects them into the Ops DB.
+
+  See DESIGN-OPS-DB-CHAIN-OF-CUSTODY-0001 §2.5 for the projector
+  design — idempotent insert, checkpoint recovery, catch-up on
+  restart, backpressure handling.
+
+  Stub — the transport (gRPC vs NATS vs Kafka) and the Chronicle
+  event schema are not yet finalized. This module will subscribe
+  to the chosen transport and call into the Ops DB repo for each
+  event, updating `projector_checkpoint` after a successful batch.
+  """
+  use GenServer
+  require Logger
+
+  def start_link(opts \\ []) do
+    GenServer.start_link(__MODULE__, opts, name: __MODULE__)
+  end
+
+  @impl true
+  def init(_opts) do
+    Logger.info("Chronicle.Consumer started (stub — no transport configured)")
+    {:ok, %{last_entry_id: nil}}
+  end
+end
diff --git a/apps/guildhall_orchestrator/lib/guildhall/orchestrator/application.ex b/apps/guildhall_orchestrator/lib/guildhall/orchestrator/application.ex
index 51f7f10..49946ba 100644
--- a/apps/guildhall_orchestrator/lib/guildhall/orchestrator/application.ex
+++ b/apps/guildhall_orchestrator/lib/guildhall/orchestrator/application.ex
@@ -1,19 +1,13 @@
 defmodule Guildhall.Orchestrator.Application do
-  # See https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/Application.html
-  # for more information on OTP Applications
   @moduledoc false
-
   use Application
 
   @impl true
   def start(_type, _args) do
     children = [
-      # Starts a worker by calling: Guildhall.Orchestrator.Worker.start_link(arg)
-      # {Guildhall.Orchestrator.Worker, arg}
+      Guildhall.Orchestrator.CeremonyOrchestrator
     ]
 
-    # See https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/Supervisor.html
-    # for other strategies and supported options
     opts = [strategy: :one_for_one, name: Guildhall.Orchestrator.Supervisor]
     Supervisor.start_link(children, opts)
   end
diff --git a/apps/guildhall_orchestrator/lib/guildhall/orchestrator/ceremony_orchestrator.ex b/apps/guildhall_orchestrator/lib/guildhall/orchestrator/ceremony_orchestrator.ex
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cf23dea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/guildhall_orchestrator/lib/guildhall/orchestrator/ceremony_orchestrator.ex
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+defmodule Guildhall.Orchestrator.CeremonyOrchestrator do
+  @moduledoc """
+  Coordinates ceremony workflows by (eventually) watching substrate
+  CeremonyRequest CRDs and notifying witnesses via PubSub.
+
+  Currently a stub — the K8s CRD watcher will be wired in once the
+  `:k8s` package is added and a kubeconfig is available.
+
+  ### Orchestrator vs engine
+
+  This module ORCHESTRATES (notifies humans, collects signatures,
+  broadcasts status). The substrate `CeremonyEngine` DECIDES
+  (evaluates Accord conditions, advances the state machine).
+
+  See DESIGN-ORG-OPS-FRAMEWORK-0001 §3.2 for the separation.
+  """
+  use GenServer
+  require Logger
+
+  def start_link(opts \\ []) do
+    GenServer.start_link(__MODULE__, opts, name: __MODULE__)
+  end
+
+  @doc """
+  Broadcast a ceremony status change to all LiveView subscribers.
+
+  Called by the K8s watcher (future) or manually in tests. Fans
+  out on both the per-ceremony topic and the wildcard topic.
+  """
+  def broadcast_ceremony_status(ceremony_id, status) do
+    Phoenix.PubSub.broadcast(
+      Guildhall.PubSub,
+      "ceremony:#{ceremony_id}",
+      {:ceremony_status, ceremony_id, status}
+    )
+
+    Phoenix.PubSub.broadcast(
+      Guildhall.PubSub,
+      "ceremony:*",
+      {:ceremony_status, ceremony_id, status}
+    )
+  end
+
+  @impl true
+  def init(_opts) do
+    Logger.info("CeremonyOrchestrator started (stub — no K8s watcher yet)")
+    {:ok, %{watcher: nil}}
+  end
+end