diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1ab442d..6411954 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -134,10 +134,15 @@ h.add_events(vec![Event {
 h.converge().unwrap();
 ```
 
-Like `with_prior`, the scale is **competitor configuration captured at first
-appearance** — setting it on a key the history already knows has no effect. It
-must be finite and non-negative; ingestion otherwise fails with
-`InferenceError::InvalidParameter`.
+Like `with_prior`, the scale is **competitor configuration, not a per-event
+value**: it applies to the competitor for the whole history, and it applies
+whenever it is supplied — including on a key the history already knows.
+Configuring one late still refits the whole history rather than taking effect
+only from that event onward, because `converge` refits from competitor state.
+Repeating the same value is inert; supplying two *different* values for one
+competitor within a single batch is `InferenceError::ConflictingCompetitorConfig`,
+since events in a batch have no order. The scale must be finite and
+non-negative; ingestion otherwise fails with `InferenceError::InvalidParameter`.
 
 Note that the fluent `EventBuilder` (`h.event(t).team([...])`) sets weights but
 not `drift_scale` or `prior`; those need the typed `Event` / `Team` / `Member`
diff --git a/src/event.rs b/src/event.rs
index d7ed014..341dd54 100644
--- a/src/event.rs
+++ b/src/event.rs
@@ -88,7 +88,9 @@ impl<K> Member<K> {
 
     /// Set this competitor's starting skill estimate.
     ///
-    /// Captured at the competitor's first appearance; see the type docs.
+    /// Competitor configuration, not a per-event value: it applies for the
+    /// whole history and applies whenever it is supplied, including on a key
+    /// the history already knows. See the type docs.
     pub fn with_prior(mut self, prior: Gaussian) -> Self {
         self.prior = Some(prior);
         self
@@ -104,7 +106,8 @@ impl<K> Member<K> {
     /// shares a scale with moving competitors but should not itself move: a bot
     /// at a known strength, a rating floor, a course difficulty.
     ///
-    /// Captured at the competitor's first appearance; see the type docs.
+    /// Applies for the whole history and whenever it is supplied, including on
+    /// a key the history already knows; see the type docs.
     /// Must be finite and non-negative, or ingestion fails with
     /// [`InferenceError::InvalidParameter`](crate::InferenceError::InvalidParameter).
     pub fn with_drift_scale(mut self, scale: f64) -> Self {
diff --git a/src/history.rs b/src/history.rs
index 989138a..8046fad 100644
--- a/src/history.rs
+++ b/src/history.rs
@@ -1505,6 +1505,50 @@ impl<T: Time, D: Drift<T>, O: Observer<T>, K: Eq + Hash + Clone> History<T, D, O
             });
         }
 
+        // Chokepoint for event shape, for the same reason as the tie check
+        // below: every ingestion route lands here.
+        //
+        // `run_chain` builds one diff link per adjacent pair of teams, so a
+        // one-team event leaves it with an empty link vector and panics
+        // indexing `links[1..]` — a reachable panic from safe API, in release.
+        // An empty team is the quieter half: it contributes no performance,
+        // so a malformed event yields a finite, plausible-looking posterior
+        // for whoever it was matched against.
+        //
+        // Both errors already existed; they were only ever checked on the
+        // prediction paths, which is why ingestion could still produce them.
+        for teams in &composition {
+            if teams.len() < 2 {
+                return Err(InferenceError::NotEnoughTeams { got: teams.len() });
+            }
+            for (team, members) in teams.iter().enumerate() {
+                if members.is_empty() {
+                    return Err(InferenceError::EmptyTeam { team });
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        // A non-finite outcome poisons the history rather than failing it:
+        // `converge` does report `NonFiniteResult`, but a caller who reads
+        // `current_skill` before converging is handed a NaN posterior with
+        // nothing to say it is one.
+        if let Some(results) = results.as_ref() {
+            for (event_results, kind) in results.iter().zip(kinds.iter()) {
+                let name = match kind {
+                    EventKind::Ranked => "rank",
+                    EventKind::Scored { .. } => "score",
+                };
+                for value in event_results {
+                    if !value.is_finite() {
+                        return Err(InferenceError::InvalidParameter {
+                            name,
+                            value: *value,
+                        });
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
         // Chokepoint for tie validation: every ingestion route lands here,
         // including `record_draw`, which builds its results directly rather
         // than going through `Outcome`.
diff --git a/tests/degenerate_inputs.rs b/tests/degenerate_inputs.rs
index 3c783b2..01ef560 100644
--- a/tests/degenerate_inputs.rs
+++ b/tests/degenerate_inputs.rs
@@ -170,8 +170,9 @@ fn event_builder_rejects_a_weights_length_mismatch() {
 fn event_builder_weights_mismatch_leaves_the_history_untouched() {
     let mut h = History::default();
 
-    // Two teams, so ingestion would otherwise succeed — a one-team event is
-    // rejected for an unrelated reason and would pass this vacuously.
+    // Two teams, so ingestion would otherwise succeed. A one-team event is
+    // rejected as `NotEnoughTeams` before the weights are ever examined, so
+    // building this with one team would pass vacuously.
     let _ = h
         .event(1)
         .team(["a"])
diff --git a/tests/ingestion_shape.rs b/tests/ingestion_shape.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b1c36e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ingestion_shape.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,147 @@
+//! Malformed events must be rejected at the ingestion boundary.
+//!
+//! Every case here was reachable from safe public API in a release build. Two
+//! of them are the two shapes this crate's defects keep taking: a panic from
+//! deep inside inference, and a finite, plausible-looking posterior computed
+//! from an event that should never have been accepted.
+//!
+//! `InferenceError::NotEnoughTeams` and `EmptyTeam` already existed when these
+//! were found — they were checked on the prediction paths and nowhere else, so
+//! ingestion could still manufacture the states they describe.
+
+use smallvec::smallvec;
+use trueskill_tt::{Event, History, InferenceError, Member, Outcome, Team};
+
+type Ev = Event<i64, &'static str>;
+
+fn history() -> History<i64, trueskill_tt::ConstantDrift, trueskill_tt::NullObserver, &'static str>
+{
+    History::builder().score_sigma(1.0).build()
+}
+
+fn teams(names: &[&[&'static str]]) -> smallvec::SmallVec<[Team<&'static str>; 4]> {
+    names
+        .iter()
+        .map(|team| Team::with_members(team.iter().map(|k| Member::new(*k))))
+        .collect()
+}
+
+/// The regression this file exists for: `run_chain` builds one diff link per
+/// adjacent pair of teams, so a one-team event left it indexing `links[1..]`
+/// on an empty vector and panicked — in release, from `History::add_events`.
+#[test]
+fn a_one_team_event_is_an_error_not_a_panic() {
+    let mut h = history();
+    let err = h
+        .add_events(vec![Ev {
+            time: 1,
+            teams: teams(&[&["a"]]),
+            outcome: Outcome::winner(0, 1),
+        }])
+        .unwrap_err();
+    assert!(
+        matches!(err, InferenceError::NotEnoughTeams { got: 1 }),
+        "{err:?}"
+    );
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn a_zero_team_event_is_an_error() {
+    let mut h = history();
+    let err = h
+        .add_events(vec![Ev {
+            time: 1,
+            teams: smallvec![],
+            outcome: Outcome::ranking([]),
+        }])
+        .unwrap_err();
+    assert!(
+        matches!(err, InferenceError::NotEnoughTeams { got: 0 }),
+        "{err:?}"
+    );
+}
+
+/// The quiet half. An empty team contributes no performance, so before this
+/// was rejected the event converged and handed back a finite posterior for its
+/// opponent — a plausible constant computed from nothing.
+#[test]
+fn an_empty_team_is_an_error_rather_than_a_free_win() {
+    let mut h = history();
+    let err = h
+        .add_events(vec![Ev {
+            time: 1,
+            teams: teams(&[&[], &["b"]]),
+            outcome: Outcome::winner(0, 2),
+        }])
+        .unwrap_err();
+    assert!(
+        matches!(err, InferenceError::EmptyTeam { team: 0 }),
+        "{err:?}"
+    );
+    // Nothing was recorded, so the history is still empty.
+    assert!(h.current_skill(&"b").is_none());
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn an_empty_team_is_reported_by_position() {
+    let mut h = history();
+    let err = h
+        .add_events(vec![Ev {
+            time: 1,
+            teams: teams(&[&["a"], &[]]),
+            outcome: Outcome::winner(0, 2),
+        }])
+        .unwrap_err();
+    assert!(
+        matches!(err, InferenceError::EmptyTeam { team: 1 }),
+        "{err:?}"
+    );
+}
+
+/// A NaN score used to ingest cleanly. `converge` reported `NonFiniteResult`,
+/// but a caller who read `current_skill` first was handed `tau: NaN` with
+/// nothing to say so.
+#[test]
+fn a_non_finite_score_is_rejected_at_ingestion() {
+    for bad in [f64::NAN, f64::INFINITY, f64::NEG_INFINITY] {
+        let mut h = history();
+        let err = h
+            .add_events(vec![Ev {
+                time: 1,
+                teams: teams(&[&["a"], &["b"]]),
+                outcome: Outcome::scores([bad, 0.0]),
+            }])
+            .unwrap_err();
+        assert!(
+            matches!(err, InferenceError::InvalidParameter { name: "score", .. }),
+            "{bad}: {err:?}"
+        );
+        assert!(h.current_skill(&"a").is_none(), "{bad} was recorded anyway");
+    }
+}
+
+/// The fluent builder routes through the same chokepoint, so it inherits the
+/// checks rather than needing its own.
+#[test]
+fn the_event_builder_inherits_the_shape_checks() {
+    let mut h = history();
+    let err = h.event(1).team(["a"]).winner(0).commit().unwrap_err();
+    assert!(
+        matches!(err, InferenceError::NotEnoughTeams { got: 1 }),
+        "{err:?}"
+    );
+}
+
+/// A well-formed event is untouched by any of this.
+#[test]
+fn a_well_formed_event_still_ingests() {
+    let mut h = history();
+    h.add_events(vec![Ev {
+        time: 1,
+        teams: teams(&[&["a"], &["b"]]),
+        outcome: Outcome::scores([3.0, 1.0]),
+    }])
+    .unwrap();
+    assert!(h.converge().unwrap().converged);
+    assert!(h.current_skill(&"a").unwrap().mu() > h.current_skill(&"b").unwrap().mu());
+}