web: author picker on both forms + fire-gen background task

Both /stories/new and /stories/:id/continue now carry an author
<select> populated from the authors table. New-saga + continue
panels pre-select the parent story's author when continuing
(propagates the voice across sequels by default; user can override).

Background fire-generation: continue form has a 'fire generation
now' checkbox. When checked, the POST creates the seed story row
AND spawns a tokio::spawn task that calls continue_story::run()
in the background. The user redirects to the new story's detail
page and can refresh to watch status flow seed → generating →
cleaning → auditing → complete. Failure path logs to the
container's tracing output (and generation_runs rows pick up
'failed' status).

Unchecked behavior: same as before — sequel sits in 'seed' state
until 'skald continue' fires it manually. Useful for queuing
multiple drafts before committing the opus spend.

CSS adds .checkbox-label styling so the checkbox + label flow
horizontally with the rest of the form looking sane.

Compiles clean. Smoke-test: open /stories/.../continue, pick an
author, tick 'fire now,' submit. Should redirect to a 'generating'
status; opening generation log shows the running gen pass.

skald/src/web.rs

@@ -53,6 +53,29 @@ struct StoryRow {
     canon_fact_count: i64,
 }
 
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+struct AuthorOpt {
+    slug: String,
+    display_name: String,
+    tagline: Option<String>,
+}
+
+async fn fetch_authors(pool: &PgPool) -> Vec<AuthorOpt> {
+    let rows: Vec<(String, String, Option<String>)> = sqlx::query_as(
+        "SELECT slug, display_name, persona_tagline FROM authors ORDER BY display_name",
+    )
+    .fetch_all(pool)
+    .await
+    .unwrap_or_default();
+    rows.into_iter()
+        .map(|(slug, display_name, tagline)| AuthorOpt {
+            slug,
+            display_name,
+            tagline,
+        })
+        .collect()
+}
+
 async fn fetch_stories(pool: &PgPool) -> Vec<StoryRow> {
     let rows: Vec<(Uuid, String, String, i32, DateTime<Utc>, Option<i64>, Option<i64>, Option<i64>, Option<i64>)> = sqlx::query_as(
         r#"
@@ -103,11 +126,14 @@ pub struct NewStoryForm {
     prompt: String,
     #[serde(default)]
     word_count_target: String,
+    #[serde(default)]
+    author_slug: String,
 }
 
 async fn new_story_form(State(state): State<Arc<WebState>>) -> Html<String> {
     let stories = fetch_stories(&state.pool).await;
-    Html(render_shell(&stories, None, new_story_panel(None)).into_string())
+    let authors = fetch_authors(&state.pool).await;
+    Html(render_shell(&stories, None, new_story_panel(None, &authors)).into_string())
 }
 
 async fn new_story_create(
@@ -143,6 +169,14 @@ async fn new_story_create(
         .await
         .map_err(|e| (StatusCode::INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, e.to_string()))?;
 
+    // Pin the chosen author (if any) onto the new story.
+    let author_slug = form.author_slug.trim();
+    if !author_slug.is_empty() {
+        if let Ok(Some(awr)) = skald_core::authors::get_with_current_revision(&state.pool, author_slug).await {
+            let _ = skald_core::authors::assign_to_story(&state.pool, id, awr.author.id, awr.revision.id).await;
+        }
+    }
+
     Ok(Redirect::to(&format!("/stories/{}", id)))
 }
 
@@ -153,6 +187,10 @@ pub struct ContinueForm {
     direction: String,
     #[serde(default)]
     word_count_target: String,
+    #[serde(default)]
+    author_slug: String,
+    #[serde(default)]
+    fire: String, // "now" = spawn background gen; empty = just queue
 }
 
 async fn continue_form(
@@ -160,13 +198,23 @@ async fn continue_form(
     Path(id): Path<Uuid>,
 ) -> Result<Html<String>, StatusCode> {
     let stories = fetch_stories(&state.pool).await;
+    let authors = fetch_authors(&state.pool).await;
     let parent = stories
         .iter()
         .find(|s| s.id == id)
         .cloned()
         .ok_or(StatusCode::NOT_FOUND)?;
+    // Pre-select the parent's author if it has one.
+    let parent_author_slug = sqlx::query_scalar::<_, String>(
+        "SELECT a.slug FROM stories s JOIN authors a ON a.id = s.author_id WHERE s.id = $1",
+    )
+    .bind(id)
+    .fetch_optional(&state.pool)
+    .await
+    .ok()
+    .flatten();
     Ok(Html(
-        render_shell(&stories, Some(id), continue_panel(&parent)).into_string(),
+        render_shell(&stories, Some(id), continue_panel(&parent, &authors, parent_author_slug.as_deref())).into_string(),
     ))
 }
 
@@ -209,6 +257,39 @@ async fn continue_create(
     .await
     .map_err(|e| (StatusCode::INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, e.to_string()))?;
 
+    // Pin author (if chosen).
+    let author_slug = form.author_slug.trim();
+    if !author_slug.is_empty() {
+        if let Ok(Some(awr)) = skald_core::authors::get_with_current_revision(&state.pool, author_slug).await {
+            let _ = skald_core::authors::assign_to_story(&state.pool, id, awr.author.id, awr.revision.id).await;
+        }
+    }
+
+    // If user clicked "fire now," spawn a background gen task.
+    // Otherwise the sequel sits in seed state until CLI fires it.
+    if form.fire == "now" {
+        let database_url = std::env::var("DATABASE_URL").unwrap_or_else(|_| "postgresql://skald:skald@localhost:5432/skald".into());
+        let author_owned = if author_slug.is_empty() { None } else { Some(author_slug.to_string()) };
+        let direction_owned = direction.clone();
+        tokio::spawn(async move {
+            if let Err(e) = crate::continue_story::run(
+                &database_url,
+                id,
+                author_owned.as_deref(),
+                direction_owned.as_deref(),
+                target,
+                2, // recent_n
+                false, // skip_audit
+            )
+            .await
+            {
+                tracing::error!(story_id = %id, error = %e, "background continue task failed");
+            } else {
+                tracing::info!(story_id = %id, "background continue task succeeded");
+            }
+        });
+    }
+
     Ok(Redirect::to(&format!("/stories/{}", id)))
 }
 
@@ -371,21 +452,33 @@ fn render_shell(stories: &[StoryRow], current: Option<Uuid>, main: Markup) -> Ma
     }
 }
 
-fn new_story_panel(err: Option<&str>) -> Markup {
+fn new_story_panel(err: Option<&str>, authors: &[AuthorOpt]) -> Markup {
     html! {
         article.form-panel {
-            h1 { "New story" }
+            h1 { "Begin a new saga" }
-            p.muted { "Create a story stub. Actual generation lands when v0.3 wires the gen pipeline." }
+            (ornament())
+            p.muted { "Create a story row + pick its author. The gen pipeline fires on " code { "skald continue --story <id>" } " or via the continue form once you've drafted the first chapter." }
             @if let Some(e) = err { p.error { (e) } }
             form method="post" action="/stories/new" {
                 label { "Title"
                     input type="text" name="title" required;
                 }
-                label { "Seed prompt (optional)"
+                label { "Author (the soul that will write)"
-                    textarea name="prompt" rows="4" placeholder="What is this story about?" {}
+                    select name="author_slug" {
+                        option value="" selected { "— house voice (no author bound) —" }
+                        @for a in authors {
+                            option value=(a.slug) {
+                                (a.display_name)
+                                @if let Some(t) = &a.tagline { " — " (t) }
                             }
-                label { "Target word count (optional)"
+                        }
-                    input type="number" name="word_count_target" min="500" step="500";
+                    }
+                }
+                label { "Seed prompt (optional)"
+                    textarea name="prompt" rows="4" placeholder="What is this saga about? Setting, frame, conflict." {}
+                }
+                label { "Target word count per chapter (optional)"
+                    input type="number" name="word_count_target" min="500" step="500" placeholder="3000";
                 }
                 button type="submit" { "Create" }
             }
@@ -393,21 +486,42 @@ fn new_story_panel(err: Option<&str>) -> Markup {
     }
 }
 
-fn continue_panel(parent: &StoryRow) -> Markup {
+fn continue_panel(parent: &StoryRow, authors: &[AuthorOpt], parent_author_slug: Option<&str>) -> Markup {
     html! {
         article.form-panel {
             a.back href=(format!("/stories/{}", parent.id)) { "← back to " (parent.title) }
             h1 { "Continue: " (parent.title) }
-            p.muted { "Creates a child story stub with parent_story_id = " code { (parent.id) } ". Generation queued for v0.3." }
+            (ornament())
+            p.muted {
+                "Creates a child saga (parent_story_id = " code { (parent.id) } "). "
+                "Tick " strong { "fire now" } " to spawn the gen → cleanup → audit pipeline as a "
+                "background task — takes about 9 minutes of opus wall-clock. Otherwise the seed "
+                "row waits for " code { "skald continue" } "."
+            }
             form method="post" action=(format!("/stories/{}/continue", parent.id)) {
                 label { "Title for the sequel"
                     input type="text" name="title" required value=(format!("{} — continued", parent.title));
                 }
+                label { "Author (voice for this chapter)"
+                    select name="author_slug" {
+                        option value="" selected[parent_author_slug.is_none()] { "— house voice (no author bound) —" }
+                        @for a in authors {
+                            option value=(a.slug) selected[parent_author_slug == Some(a.slug.as_str())] {
+                                (a.display_name)
+                                @if let Some(t) = &a.tagline { " — " (t) }
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
                 label { "Direction (optional)"
-                    textarea name="direction" rows="4" placeholder="What should the sequel explore?" {}
+                    textarea name="direction" rows="5" placeholder="What should the sequel explore? Specific scenes, characters, beats." {}
                 }
                 label { "Target word count (optional)"
-                    input type="number" name="word_count_target" min="500" step="500";
+                    input type="number" name="word_count_target" min="500" step="500" placeholder="3000";
+                }
+                label.checkbox-label {
+                    input type="checkbox" name="fire" value="now";
+                    span { " fire generation now (background task, ~9 min)" }
                 }
                 button type="submit" { "Queue sequel" }
             }
@@ -971,6 +1085,13 @@ code { font-family: var(--mono); font-size: 0.9em; background: var(--surface-2);
 }
 .form-panel button:hover { border-color: var(--accent); background: var(--surface-2); }
 .form-panel .error { color: var(--crit); }
+.form-panel .checkbox-label {
+    flex-direction: row; align-items: center; gap: 10px;
+    color: var(--ink-muted); text-transform: none; letter-spacing: 0; font-family: var(--sans); font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal;
+}
+.form-panel .checkbox-label input[type=checkbox] {
+    width: 16px; height: 16px; accent-color: var(--accent);
+}
 
 /* ─── mobile: collapse sidebar inline above main, allow toggle ── */
 @media (max-width: 800px) {