Add CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 research-only license and README banner

Adds a LICENSE file releasing the repository under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
with an explicit carve-out forbidding commercial use, derivative
redistribution, and use of any content or dataset for training,
fine-tuning, or benchmarking commercial AI/ML models. Adds a
research-only license banner directly under the README header so
the terms are visible to every visitor.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

LICENSE

@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+Emergence World — Research-Only License Notice
+================================================
+
+Copyright (c) 2026 Emergence AI. All rights reserved.
+
+This repository (including all documentation, agent profiles, landmark
+descriptions, tool catalogs, governance documents, datasets, metrics,
+and any other content) is licensed to the public under the
+**Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0
+International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)**.
+
+You are free to:
+  - **Share** — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
+    for non-commercial research and educational purposes, with attribution
+    to Emergence AI.
+
+Under the following terms:
+  - **Attribution (BY)** — You must give appropriate credit to Emergence AI,
+    provide a link to this repository, and indicate if changes were made.
+  - **NonCommercial (NC)** — You may not use the material for commercial
+    purposes. This includes, without limitation: selling or sublicensing
+    the material, incorporating it into a commercial product or service,
+    or using the tool-call dataset (or any portion of this repository) to
+    train, fine-tune, evaluate, or benchmark commercial AI models.
+  - **NoDerivatives (ND)** — If you remix, transform, or build upon the
+    material, you may not distribute the modified material.
+
+No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological
+measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license
+permits.
+
+Notices:
+  - You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material
+    in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable
+    exception or limitation.
+  - No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the
+    permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights
+    such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the
+    material.
+
+Commercial Use, Derivative Works, and Model Training
+----------------------------------------------------
+Any use outside the scope of CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 — including commercial use,
+the creation and distribution of derivative works, or the use of any
+content or data in this repository to train, fine-tune, evaluate, or
+benchmark AI/ML models for any commercial purpose — requires prior
+written permission from Emergence AI.
+
+For licensing inquiries, please contact: world@emergence.ai
+
+Full License Text
+-----------------
+The full legal code of the Creative Commons
+Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License is
+available at:
+
+    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode
+
+A human-readable summary is available at:
+
+    https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
+
+By using, copying, or redistributing any portion of this repository, you
+agree to be bound by the terms above.

README.md

@@ -20,6 +20,17 @@
 
 ---
 
+> ## 🔬 Research-Only License
+>
+> This repository — including all documentation, agent profiles, landmarks, tool catalogs, governance documents, and datasets — is released **for non-commercial research and educational use only** under [**CC BY-NC-ND 4.0**](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
+>
+> **You may:** read, cite, and share the material with attribution to Emergence AI.
+> **You may not:** use it commercially, redistribute modified versions, or use any content or dataset to train, fine-tune, evaluate, or benchmark AI/ML models for commercial purposes.
+>
+> All content is proprietary to Emergence AI. For commercial licensing, derivative works, or model-training inquiries, contact [world@emergence.ai](mailto:world@emergence.ai). See [LICENSE](LICENSE) for full terms.
+
+---
+
 ## What is Emergence World?
 
 Emergence World is a long-horizon experiment that places autonomous AI agents into a persistent, simulated world — and observes what emerges. Each agent has a unique personality, profession, memory, and goals. They navigate a shared physical space, interact with 120+ tools, govern themselves through a constitution they can amend, earn and spend a digital currency (ComputeCredits), form relationships, write blogs, build alliances, and evolve — all without human scripting.