diff --git a/src/objects/contract.hook.ts b/src/objects/contract.hook.ts
index 4301d29..40b29ab 100644
--- a/src/objects/contract.hook.ts
+++ b/src/objects/contract.hook.ts
@@ -49,7 +49,9 @@ import type { HookApi } from './_hook-api.js';
  *   a person is refused on BOTH write paths rather than hidden in the form.
  *   `signature_state_machine` also stamps `completed_at` on BOTH write paths
  *   (a round created as completed included); its transition table is
- *   update-only.
+ *   update-only. Which status a round may be CREATED in is the declarative
+ *   `signature_initial_status` rule on `clm_signature`; the hook's insert leg
+ *   adds the one method-dependent half (only wet ink is created completed).
  *
  * ## Why every helper lives INSIDE its handler
  *
@@ -958,7 +960,7 @@ const signatureStateMachine: Hook = {
   object: 'clm_signature',
   events: ['beforeInsert', 'beforeUpdate'],
   priority: 200,
-  description: 'Signature round transitions: draft → sent / completed / voided, sent → completed / declined / voided, declined → draft; wet ink may complete straight from draft. Stamp completed_at when a round is completed, on create as well as on update.',
+  description: 'Signature round transitions: draft → sent / completed / voided, sent → completed / declined / voided, declined → draft; wet ink may complete straight from draft, and only wet ink is created completed. Stamp completed_at when a round is completed, on create as well as on update.',
   handler: async (ctx: HookContext) => {
     function refuse(message: string, code: string, status: number): Error {
       const err = new Error(message) as Error & { code: string; status: number };
@@ -971,16 +973,31 @@ const signatureStateMachine: Hook = {
     const to = input.status;
     if (typeof to !== 'string') return;
 
-    // The insert leg stamps `completed_at` and nothing else. A round can be
-    // CREATED as completed — the wet-ink round a lawyer registers from the
-    // contract's signing tab, an import, a provider callback — and F7 reads
-    // `completed_at` from that row for the contract's `executed_at` (and the
-    // `signing → active` guard for `signed_at`). Before this leg the field
-    // stayed empty on that path, and both contract stamps fell back to the
-    // activation moment. The transition table below is NOT applied on
-    // insert: a new row has no `from`, and a provider callback may land a
-    // round straight as completed.
+    // The insert leg. Which status a round may be created in — draft, sent or
+    // completed, never declined or voided — is the `signature_initial_status`
+    // rule on `clm_signature` (signature.object.ts), declarative so that its
+    // refusal is translated and so that seed replay skips it (#147). The
+    // method half of the entry is here, because a `state_machine` rule cannot
+    // read a second field: like the `draft → completed` edge below, only a
+    // wet-ink round is created completed. An e-signature round completes
+    // when its envelope does, from `sent`. A system write is exempt — seed
+    // replay (24 e-signature rounds are seeded completed), a historical
+    // import, a provider callback running as system — the same exemption
+    // `contract_type_stamp` gives a contract born past draft.
+    //
+    // Then `completed_at`: a round created as completed (the wet-ink round a
+    // lawyer registers from the contract's signing tab) gets it here, and F7
+    // reads it for the contract's `executed_at` (and the `signing → active`
+    // guard for `signed_at`). Before this stamp the field stayed empty on that
+    // path, and both contract stamps fell back to the activation moment.
     if (event === 'beforeInsert') {
+      if (to === 'completed' && input.method !== 'wet_ink' && ctx.session?.isSystem !== true) {
+        throw refuse(
+          'An e-signature round is not created as completed: it completes from sent, when its envelope does. Create it as draft or sent; only a wet-ink round is created completed.',
+          'INVALID_STATE',
+          422,
+        );
+      }
       if (to === 'completed' && (input.completed_at === undefined || input.completed_at === null || input.completed_at === '')) {
         input.completed_at = new Date().toISOString();
       }
diff --git a/src/objects/signature.object.ts b/src/objects/signature.object.ts
index bbcce93..1ed83b8 100644
--- a/src/objects/signature.object.ts
+++ b/src/objects/signature.object.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ import { ObjectSchema, Field } from '@objectstack/spec/data';
  * `execution_formalities` (stamped from the type). `status` is a state
  * machine (`draft` → `sent` / `completed` / `voided`, `sent` → `completed` /
  * `declined` / `voided`, `declined` → `draft`; wet ink may complete straight
- * from draft) enforced in `contract.hook.ts`. `display_name` is a stored
+ * from draft) enforced in `contract.hook.ts`; which status a round may be
+ * CREATED in is the `signature_initial_status` rule below. `display_name` is a stored
  * mirror ("<method> · <status>") stamped by `mirror.hook.ts`.
  */
 export const Signature = ObjectSchema.create({
@@ -149,6 +150,61 @@ export const Signature = ObjectSchema.create({
     }),
   },
 
+  validations: [
+    // The machine's ENTRY POINT (#147): which status a round may be created
+    // in. Before this rule the insert path judged nothing, so a REST POST, a
+    // `/api/v1/batch` create or an import could create a round already
+    // declined or voided.
+    //
+    // The entry set is `draft`, plus the two statuses one edge out of draft
+    // that a creating caller legitimately records in the same write:
+    //  - `sent`: the e-signature dispatch (F8, hotclm#83 on the platform
+    //    connector objectstack-ai/objectstack#25747) registers the round as it
+    //    sends the envelope; a wet-ink counterpart sealed and posted is the
+    //    same state (the demo seeds both).
+    //  - `completed`: the wet-ink round a lawyer registers from the contract's
+    //    signing tab, executed copy attached (§03: 湿签直接 completed). That it
+    //    is wet ink is the hook's half — see `signature_state_machine`.
+    // `declined` and `voided` are outcomes of a round that existed; a round is
+    // never born in one. `draft → voided` stays an update edge (abandoning a
+    // draft), and an insert has nothing to abandon.
+    //
+    // A declarative `state_machine` rule rather than the hook's insert leg,
+    // measured on 18.1.0:
+    //  - its message is translated per locale (`_validations` in both
+    //    bundles); an Error thrown from a hook reaches every caller in English;
+    //  - the engine skips a `state_machine` rule — and only that rule type — on
+    //    seed replay and on a historical import (`treatAsHistorical`, system
+    //    principal only), the platform's own exemption for established facts.
+    //    The demo seed creates 24 rounds as e-signature `completed`, which no
+    //    person may.
+    //
+    // `events: ['insert']`: this rule judges creation only. The update leg is
+    // the hook's, because one edge depends on the method (an e-signature round
+    // completes from `sent`, not from `draft`), which a `state_machine` rule
+    // cannot express. `transitions` is that hook's table, verbatim — the
+    // schema requires the key, and the platform's state introspection
+    // (`GET /api/v1/meta/object/clm_signature/state/status?from=…`) answers
+    // from it. Change one, change both.
+    {
+      type: 'state_machine' as const,
+      name: 'signature_initial_status',
+      label: 'Signature round entry status',
+      description: 'A round is created as draft, sent, or (wet ink) completed; never declined or voided.',
+      field: 'status',
+      events: ['insert' as const],
+      initialStates: ['draft', 'sent', 'completed'],
+      transitions: {
+        draft:     ['sent', 'completed', 'voided'],
+        sent:      ['completed', 'declined', 'voided'],
+        declined:  ['draft'],
+        completed: [],
+        voided:    [],
+      },
+      message: 'A signature round is created as Draft or Sent, or as Completed for a wet-ink round that is already signed. Declined and Voided record what happened to a round that was sent: create the round first, then change its status.',
+    },
+  ],
+
   enable: {
     apiEnabled: true,
     searchable: true,
diff --git a/src/translations/en/objects.lifecycle.ts b/src/translations/en/objects.lifecycle.ts
index 02a9897..13e81cd 100644
--- a/src/translations/en/objects.lifecycle.ts
+++ b/src/translations/en/objects.lifecycle.ts
@@ -202,6 +202,11 @@ export const lifecycle: Record<string, ObjectTranslationData> = {
         help: 'Filled in automatically when the round is saved as completed. For a wet-ink round signed earlier, enter the actual signing time instead.',
       },
     },
+    _validations: {
+      signature_initial_status: {
+        message: 'A signature round is created as Draft or Sent, or as Completed for a wet-ink round that is already signed. Declined and Voided record what happened to a round that was sent: create the round first, then change its status.',
+      },
+    },
     _sections: {
       round: {
         label: 'Signing Round',
diff --git a/src/translations/zh-CN/objects.lifecycle.ts b/src/translations/zh-CN/objects.lifecycle.ts
index 96c533c..5295429 100644
--- a/src/translations/zh-CN/objects.lifecycle.ts
+++ b/src/translations/zh-CN/objects.lifecycle.ts
@@ -202,6 +202,11 @@ export const lifecycle: Record<string, ObjectTranslationData> = {
         help: '本轮保存为「已完成」时自动填入。湿签如果实际签署得更早，请填写实际签署时间。',
       },
     },
+    _validations: {
+      signature_initial_status: {
+        message: '签署记录只能以「草稿」或「已发出」状态新建；已经签好的湿签轮次可以直接以「已完成」新建。「已拒签」和「已作废」记录的是已发出轮次的结果：请先新建这一轮，再修改它的状态。',
+      },
+    },
     _sections: {
       round: {
         label: '签署轮次',