This circuit would be so much easier to implement if I would just let myself use J/K flip-flops, but:
1. the only cheap ones available are duals in 16-pin packages when I only need one per ring node and each ring node is an independent pcb, and
2. I very explicitly decided that the light at each node MUST be surrounded by a curious cloud of discrete components for the sake of art 😤
Update!
@MeiLin gave me the search engine shibboleth I needed to find this web page with a lovely and clever transistor circuit that I can try out!
It's even simple enough for me to try to breadboard it!
https://www.dos4ever.com/ring/ring.html
Edit:
... Oh wait this emulated schockley diode circuit requires obscene voltages in order to exceed the avalanche breakdown Vec. I uh... can't use that. I'll need to find other solutions. :x
At least I now know that what I'm designing is a bunch of giant, wall-mounted, concentric ✨ ring counters ✨ to be implemented using discrete components.
That's knowledge I can carry forward to more effectively find solutions, and I may have actually already found one I can already use, but alas it must wait until the work day ends.