feat(P01): render PPTX + CAP-042 + D-241 record + frontmatter-comment fix

- render_pptx.py: skip leading HTML comments before frontmatter (split_slides + parse_frontmatter)
- docs/presentations/nova-leadership-deck.pptx: 7 slides, footer on every slide
- STATE.md: CAP-042 row appended (leadership deck, single-shot, Aug 2026)
- PROJECT.md: D-241 formal entry (single-shot, discrete, no compression)
- smoke test exits 0 (all 6 assertions a-f pass)

---ci---
project: acdl
phase: 1
milestone: v1.30
status: execute
wave: 4
persona: backend-engineer + lead-developer
---/ci---

scripts/render_pptx.py

@@ -70,13 +70,21 @@ def parse_frontmatter(md_text: str):
     (no nested structures) — sufficient for Marp deck frontmatter
     (marp, theme, footer, paginate, size). The `style:` block (multi-
     line `|`) is skipped (not needed by the python-pptx renderer).
+    Skips leading HTML comments before the frontmatter fence.
     """
-    if not md_text.lstrip().startswith("---"):
+    text = md_text.lstrip()
+    # Skip leading HTML comments before frontmatter.
+    while text.startswith("<!--"):
+        end = text.find("-->")
+        if end == -1:
+            return {}
+        text = text[end + 3 :].lstrip()
+    if not text.startswith("---"):
         return {}
-    end = md_text.find("\n---", 3)
+    end = text.find("\n---", 3)
     if end == -1:
         return {}
-    fm_text = md_text[3:end]
+    fm_text = text[3:end]
     fm = {}
     in_multiline = False
     for line in fm_text.splitlines():
@@ -104,14 +112,26 @@ def parse_frontmatter(md_text: str):
 
 
 def split_slides(md_text: str):
-    """Strip YAML frontmatter, then split the deck into slide source strings."""
+    """Strip leading HTML comments + YAML frontmatter, then split into slides.
+
+    A Marp deck may carry a header HTML comment before the frontmatter
+    (e.g. the REQ-372 related-artifacts comment). Skip leading comments
+    before detecting the `---` frontmatter fence.
+    """
+    text = md_text.lstrip()
+    # Skip leading HTML comments (<!-- ... -->) before frontmatter.
+    while text.startswith("<!--"):
+        end = text.find("-->")
+        if end == -1:
+            break
+        text = text[end + 3 :].lstrip()
     # Strip YAML frontmatter (between first pair of `---` lines).
-    if md_text.lstrip().startswith("---"):
-        end = md_text.find("\n---", 3)
+    if text.startswith("---"):
+        end = text.find("\n---", 3)
         if end != -1:
-            md_text = md_text[end + 4 :]
+            text = text[end + 4 :]
     # Normalize slide separators. Marp uses `\n---\n` on its own line.
-    parts = re.split(r"\n---\s*\n", md_text)
+    parts = re.split(r"\n---\s*\n", text)
     slides = []
     for p in parts:
         p = p.strip("\n")